Great customer service begins at home
Mum was right! If she raised you with basic good manners and somewhere in your childhood you joined the scouts or lifesavers, then you’ve got the groundwork for providing great customer service: courtesy, caring, willingness to serve, and an attitude that lets customers know that they matter and that you care.
Mum knew we needed an occasional refresher on which fork to use, and the odd sharp wake-up call on good manners and treating people right.
Putting yourself in the other person’s shoes is a good place to start – and over the past week, we’ve begun looking for 18,000 pairs of them.
We’ve begun recruiting for our new My Telstra Experience panel – 18,000 people who will have a hand in improving our customer’s experience with Telstra.
Our goal in the My Telstra Experience panel is to find out what’s it really like to be our customer from our customers’ point of view. What is the day-in, day-out ‘customer experience’ we deliver? How does it feel to wait on hold on the phone? To open a package and be uncertain how to follow the instructions? To stand in line, be charged a fee, wait for a service call that was promised? What’s it like to be remembered? To receive helpful suggestions? To get everything exactly as it was promised? To be confident that the answers are the best ones for you?
To create a superior customer experience requires understanding the customer’s point of view, and to truly understand the customer perspective, we recognized that we had to track and analyse customer experience across service channels and over time.
In My Telstra Experience, we have created a forum that gives a voice to the silent customer. Fewer than 10% of dissatisfied customers actually complain to the company, but they do complain to each other. They’ll tell other people, even if they never tell us. We want to give these people every opportunity to tell us how we’re doing, not just once, but over and over again.
And while we know there are things we are not doing well, there is also a lot we do that is great. By identifying both the flaws in our service delivery and also the right stuff – what matters most to customers – we will continually improve the quality of the customer’s experience, reaping rewards in higher customer satisfaction, greater customer loyalty, a larger number of customers and more profits per customer.
We have created My Telstra Experience panel to seek direct, immediate customer feedback – not simply to ensure that problems are fixed but also to build in methods of systematic innovation and improvement. If you’d like to join the My Telstra Experience panel, and have your say, please visit: www.mytelstraexperience.com.au
My experience is that customers do complain however the Telstra response of a followup \automated\ call or email does is not constitute customer service. I have received both. The call was a computor generated service which immediately disconnected when I went to reply that my problem had not been fixed! The next experience was with an automated email response to an email I had sent on the same problem. The response was that I would be contacted within 2 days and that was more than a week ago.
I have been a Telstra telephone customer for more years than I can remember and the above experience probably explains my reluctance to bundle my phone, internet and Foxtel to the one service provider.
Great sales teams are destroyed by after sales service and the difficulty a customer has in contacting any support people who know the product
Hear hear. I DID bundle my phone and internet and was promised a $249 modem for $69 and the first three months of internet for free on a 24 month Cable interent contract. My first bill was for $400, $249 modem and charging me for the first two months of internet. I contacted Bigpond, who said it was telstra over charging me, so I contacted Telstra who said it was Bigpond over charging me and the cycle continuted. After the next 3 months of bills without any of the discounts offered. I contacted to cancel my contract as Telstra/Bigpond had not fulfilled any of the discounts. They then wanted to charge me the full cancelation fees, then after 3 phone calls where I was put on hold in excess of 15 mins they said I didn’t have to pay the cancelation fees, but I would have to fill in a “request for credit form” …. WHY? That was 9 months ago. It still hasn’t been resolved. I’ve had to sign back upto Bigpond as no other ISP can provide me with internet because of the Pairgain Phone system in my house that TELSTRA put in. And then they made me buy another $189 modem, because the Home Network Gateway Cable modem that I bought earlier this year, they class as a BYO, even thougt I purchased the thing FULL PRICE FROM BIGPOND!!!!!! Customer service my a**!
Great customer service ENDS with Telstra. So how about getting out there and fixing up all of those congested RIMS you’ve been ignoring for the past 12 months?
Rachel you need to contact the Ombudsman. I had a similar problem with a customer support issue dealing with a provider of a service, not in communications, Electricity actually.
You do not need to suffer in this way, it is not right.
I found once the Ombudsman was doing the talking for me, and enforcing the law things sorted out very well. In a lot of these cases a representative has fuddled your account on the Computer System, and no one wants to figure out the reality. Very often Computers and a lack of training to the Operator are the problem with billing botch ups.
Oh for the days of the Abacus !
My problems with telstra? How many words are we limited to? The latest one, just yesterday. We have just shifted house. My wife apparently got it sorted out 2 weeks ago and we got our new number. When we moved in 5 days ago, the phone was WORKING!!! yippee.
Against my better judgement, I thought we might hook up the broadband with Bigpond. When I rang and gave them my number to check ADSL availability I was told I was not phoning from the new number?? My wife then contacted Telstra to inform them. On Christmas eve, the phone line was then disconnected. It is now Boxing day and the phone is still not connected.
I would like to personally thank Telstra for preventing my family and I from being able to phone any relatives and friends on Christmas day. The children were SO lucky they were not able to talk to either grandparents to thank them for the gifts and wish them a Merry Christmas.
Telstra, you have lost my buisness and custom forever. Guess what, I have managed to talk the grandparents into taking their custom away too.
Yeah nice one Gloria, is this one of the last of the Previous CEOs tricks in conning the punters. If you really want to know what people think answer some of the telephone complaints and hear for yourself how Telstra treats its customers with contempt, maybe then you can respond with some sort of authority
I wonder if Gloria`s interest in writing song parodies gave rise to the hideous dirge like arrangement of We Are Australian heard over and over during a long wait for service from Telstra employees in both Malaysia and the Phiipines
Turn it up!! Gloria why dont you tell us how you hand pick those to be in your exclusive My Telstra Panel . I`ll bet its a case of the emperors new clothes.
Hello Gloria perhaps your mum or is it mom should be working for Telstra because I have to tell you most of your employees voice the right platitudes but when push comes to shove couldnt care less . Wake up and ring the “customer Service”people some time. Then do it again and again as I have had to . I think your mum is needed
Over the past year or so any complaint or request made online via the Telstra website resulted in an e-mail sent back to me a day or two later saying that I must call 132200 or 1251111 and sort out my problems over the phone. Wake up Telstra, thius is the online era – people want to do transactions online via e-mail, not waiting on a queue to the Philipinnes.
Caling the above numbers resulted in me being shoved from one department to another and then being cut-off.
This frustration led me to dump Telstra and take my phone and internet to another third party, and I only keep the mobile with Telstra for coverage reasons. (Note that with this third party supplier, all transactions and requests can be done online, unlike Telstra).
I think if Telstra Senior Management were to participate in a real-life trial of ringing up a call centre to request some simple changes (eg: service address change, billing address change, relocated service, change-of-lessee etc) then they would be horrified to see how complicated and convoluted the most simple of requests has become.
The classic example is that the new “Siebel” billing system won’t even allow Telstra FaxStream Duet services to be established any more. What sort of company allows a back-end billing system dictate what products they market???
I hope that Telstra management may see the light and address some of these problems, but I won’t hold my breath – the previous CEO promised to do that and it never happened.
You have to be kidding. I’ve just activated apre-paid mobile and find I have to listen to a Telstra ad before the call goes through? A customer service call resulted in my being cut off and the email query requires information I am not comfortable giving to someone with no real need for the information.
Simply put Telstra, you suck – it is such a great pity I need your service for the rural coverage.
The MyTelstraExperience site is on break ??
Looks like it started with a bang and has now fizzled out and has been forgotten.
My Daughter, a BP WBB customer for 3 years, (no adsl) (old Blue Modem) Upgraded her 1gig plan to 3gig plan, but because she was out of contract, she couldnt do that without recontracting. She didnt mind that, she thought was going to get a new Usb Modem with recontracting. Sorry they said, but she will need to open new account in order to get new free modem. Which means now she will have to terminate her old Contract and start a new one.. She only just recontracted, so whether they will allow that without ETS, is not known. BP Gave me a number to ring. Why didnt they tell her that in the first place? Seems only New customers can get a free modem, existing customers are shafted.. So much for loyalty.
So an existing customer has to terminate their contract and sign as a new customer to get the Modem. How stupid is that?
She doesnt know what to do now, because she upgraded her computer to new laptop, and wanted a USB for it. I guess she has no Option but to buy a new USB Modem outright.But i am guessing she is not going to be able to transfer her account over to the new Modem.. Am i right?
Any wonder why half my services are with Optus?
Other than That, she can buy one outright and use that?
Blue Modems dont have a sim , do they?, so she will have to tarnsfer the account somehow.?
Why isnt anything simple with Tel/Bp?
Dear Rocco,
Rest assured, “My Telstra Experience” has not been forgotten! After the November launch, a number of surveys, including the Profiling questionnaire, the Welcome questionnaire, and the Christmas questionnaire, in addition to a Christmas message from Kate McKenzie, the Group Managing Director of Strategic Marketing, have been launched. We did take a break over the holidays.
Members have been receiving new surveys starting this week, so you should expect to be invited to participate in a survey soon. We will also be rolling out a range of interactive discussions on a wide variety of customer experience topics in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.
We really appreciate your opinions and feedback.
Gloria A. Farler
Executive Director, Market Based Management, Telstra Strategic Marketing
Update on my daughters experience.
Recontracted 24 mths and upgraded to 3gig plan. $20 discount, but NO modem..
We tried online customer service to get one , but to no avail..
Guy gave us BP number to appeal.. Rang today, and there was no way they would provide her with a new modem, Gateway or USB. Reserved for New customers only they kept saying.
So what a waste that was. If it was me i would have shafted them, but my daughter has BP email address and didnt want to lose it.
So.. now i am hunting Ebay for a new modem for her. Hopefully we can pull the Sim Card out of the old Blue Maxon and place it in new Modem.
I hnow the USB devices will take a sim, but i dont know what the setup is for the New Gateways.
All in all , i am appalled at BP shafting existing customers. Hardly any advantage recontracting..
Whats That Gloria.?
“by Gloria Farler
“Mum was right! If she raised you with basic good manners and somewhere in your childhood you joined the scouts or lifesavers, then you’ve got the groundwork for providing great customer service: courtesy, caring, willingness to serve, and an attitude that lets customers know that they matter and that you care.”
No disrespect to you Gloria, but I havent seen much of that here, on this site. Maybe i missed some?
Even the Famous “Sydney” seems to think this Site has missed opprtunities to show that, ie by addressing some of the Posters Concerns.
Maybe you can help me with Mine then ?. No-one else will..
See my above posts.
Perhaps you could tell me how to remove the Sim from the Maxon BP3-EXT and into the 7.2 Wireless Broadband Home Network Gateway? (Bought New Outright on Ebay – BP wouldnt supply) that would be Great Customer Service..
Thanks in advance..
I can’t stop laughing!!!
Your blog is titled “Great customer service begins at home”.
Why then, when I try to contact Telstra regarding a fault I’ve had for almost a week I can only talk to someone from a call centre in the Phillipines, who can’t do anything about my fault?
I’ve asked them to call the “level 3″ support directly and get them to call me. Guess what? The help desk doesn’t have a number to contact them on!!!!
It seems it is impossible to talk to someone in Australia who has the ability to look at my fault and resolve it.
What a joke. I’m going to lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman and I think I might write a few letters to the press as well, to let everybody know that the Telstra “spin” of providing a reasonable broadband service to regional Australia is a lie.
Surely it must be obvious to all who read the expressions of Telstra customers on this Site that systems within Telstra are not working as intended or desired.
Perhaps those in high authority in Telstra feel beyond advice or are content to remain in a cocoon of disbelief, denial and dangerous self congratulatory fantasy.
Having taken the time to speak to Telstra employees on the shop floor, those who know all aspects of the poor service problem, I have a better understanding of the problem.
If those in ivory towers would be condescending and seek advice from the rank and file employee, and act upon it, service may improve and happy customers result.
Sydney,
Some \movement at the Station\, so they say. Telstra have been reading my posts and have contacted me.. I am pleased that someone has taken the time to look at my concerns. This is a good move.
I hope that this personal approach will be continued? As we both agree, this Blog is an excellent opportunity for Telstra to address issues directly, for those who have recieved no satisfaction through the Normal Channels. Perhaps a ‘unresolved Issues.’ hotline could be Wikied on the Home page? Or something along those lines. Issues and Solutions could also be posted on this site, for the benefit of others.
The \News\ articles are interesting but they are not really addressing anything much, if anything at all.. I dont much like the idea of Journos replacing CSO’s.
Anyway, Cheers and thanks Telstra for responding. Even if nothing can be done, at least i feel better..
Paul
Hi Paul
I’m glad you have been contacted. I would like to thank you for taking the time to report back on your experience.
I also wanted to reassure everyone that I action every complaint and comment about customer service on this site. I make sure the right area sees the comment or complaint and try to track where each one is at in the process.
I know that nothing is more important than fixing an issue if you’re having one – I really do appreciate this point. I think your idea of the “unresolved issues” site is interesting and thanks again for your suggestions.
Cheers
Kristen
“Great customer service begins at home”
In my home, we enjoyed sterling service from Telstra over a 41 year period. So I cannot be of much use to anyone with feed back but wholeheartedly support a move to achieve minimal serious complaints.
Is it possible for Telstra to provide some statistics on the level of retail customer numbers and registered complaints?
Paul, excellent to read your advice that The Exchange was instrumental in expediting procedure that granted you some relief from your situation. I also have good news concerning Telstra service which should be publicised.
Several weeks ago a friend had her mother settled into an aged care home in Brisbane. A request was made to Telstra to install a phone in the unit as the mother was extremely elderly and being partially blind needed her personal phone in case it was needed at night. While there was problems with the instillation Mr John Parkin from Telstra Brisbane made a super effort and had the phone running that very night. Not only that he personally phoned to make sure that the service was provided. He made one old lady very happy.
Paul your reference to the words of Australia’s greatest poet did not go unnoticed. Let me quote from another Banjo verse with perhaps the two greatest and inspiring lines ever written by an Australian.
From Clancy of the Overflow.
“And he saw the vision splendid
of the sunlit plains, extended”.
Hi
I wanted to provide some feedback and gain a measure of what you think needs to change within Telstra to deliver David Thodey’s vision of having a “renewed focus on customer service and satisfaction” as stated in May 2009.
I have recently moved to Australia and joined Landline and Prepaid Mobile services.
I am realistic about what is achievable within such a large organisation the size of Telstra, but I am constantly disappointed to find that the basic’s of customer service (or just simple service delivery) seem to be letting David’s vision down.
The major issue that I keep on coming up against, is a systemic failure in training and systems to help support your staff and ultimately your customers.
Failure of the IVR to integrate into the CRM/Contact Management tool means that every time I call, I have to repeat the number. When I am being handed from CSR to CSR, the system is not transferring my details and therefore I have to repeat Name,Phone Number, DOB and state what the issue is. CSR’s are not performing soft hand overs and the back end systems do not seem to be able to capturing either manually or automatically the nature of the problem. After escalating the problem through to a Supervisor and then following up three times on my case, I was told that the Sebel system that had been introduced was still not working properly. I was told that in the future, I had to ask for a One to One live handover – so that I did not need to repeat myself. This is not only impacting on the service I am receiving – but also the costs to your business for extra call handling time.
It is also apparent that the training/ process’s are not clear to your staff. When I ask the paths of escalation of issues and expected response time, nobody seems to know. When I ask to speak to a Supervisor or above, they are busy or in a meeting. When I ask for a live transfer to gain assistance – I am put on hold and then cut off. This has occurred three times today – with the longest wait time of 50 minutes before they terminated the call.
I don’t have a problem with outsourcing of Call Centre operations. I can understand the economics of doing this and what the particular challenges are associated with this are. What I do have an issue with is the fact that it has been done so badly that the CSR’s don’t seem to know what the correct procedure is or how to follow the right process. They also seem to have an automatic ability to put you on hold for long periods of time while they work out what to do or say. At times their ability to comprehend what you are saying, results in repeating yourself and extended call times. This could be a combination of language, but also the quality of the connection you are providing overseas seems to be of inferior Voice Over IP quality. I don’t have a problem with the off-shore CSR’s, but I do have a problem when they can’t or don’t understand my issue, transfer me to multiple departments to solve an issue and put me on hold to try to get rid of my call.
Through this entire process, probably the most frustrating part is that nobody really seems to want to listen to what the underlying problem is. Nobody wants to take ownership and its so hard to find somebody onshore within Telstra who I can actually talk to get a degree of competent customer service and satisfaction.
I would be keen to hear your thoughts on the steps that are being taken to address some of the issues I have outlined above and ways in which you think the “voice of the customer” can actually drive David’s vision of delivering the focus on customers and satisfaction.
Kind regards
Trehan
I find it truly amazing that customer complaints are being dealt with on this Forum. I am amazed this “Forum” indeed exists and have been a keen reader since I was emailed “Now we are talking” would be superseded by Telstra Exchange.
This is a surely mystical . What of the other customers who don’t know this Forum “service” exists and find themselves shelved in the customer support banality ? I suppose I should keep the existence of Telstra Exchange a secret, funnily enough I have spread the word about this wonderful “Blog”, come Forum and nobody has bothered looking. Their loss, let’s keep this hush, hush.
I’m looking for a new plan, Telstra/Bigpond of course.
Just Internet and home phone.
Please feel free to contact me with wonderful offers I’ve been waiting for a reply from Telstra sales department almost a week; I feel things may drag on due to me being just a customer.
As a Telstra Exchanger I feel more and more hope each day with all this good will and sharing of ideas, that satisfaction may be achieved, great work Kristen Boschma !
Hi Anthony
You’re right. This isn’t supposed to be a dedicated customer service platform. It’s a blogging site and I’m a communications person. However, I simply can’t ignore someone in need – I am compelled to help them.
FYI there is an online customer service platform http://www.telstra.com.au/help/ It’s all outlined in the “Contact Us” section of this site.
Thanks for your input Anthony and please keep telling people about the site. We don’t really want it to be secret do we? Life is so much better when we share the good things around!
Cheers
Kristen
Trehan Stenton, how superbly and with such defining clarity, you describe the problems a small percentage of Telstra customers encounter.
Your identifications are accurate and are the targets that, I would think, Mr Thodey will direct his attentions as he formulates his plan to program improvements that will make Telstra even better than it is today. I would suggest that good, enthusiastic and positive people within Telstra should be identified, and promoted, to form the nucleus team that will make the necessary changes at Telstra.
Making changes is never easy. Many employees resist change and may be frightened by it, but with change comes opportunity for those, who in their hearts, wish to contribute to the company who employs them. I agree that training is the basis for excellent service provision but as important is the fact that those being trained have ownership to proudly receive appreciation for their good work from their employers.
Kristen your enthusiasm and dedication would, I am sure, be noted by those in high authority at Telstra and you are correct to identify the fact that The Exchange should not become the Complaints Department for Telstra. But the spark is there for a new facility to be available for that small number of customers who can find no satisfaction through normal communication procedure.
Unfortunately, if this wasn’t a complaints department, there would only be a handful of people who would comment…
Those same few who, becuase of their own financial interests, perpetually and sycophantically praise everything Telstra does.
Making Telstra Exchange, NWAT all over again.
Telstra Exchange is ok the way it is (although real time comments/with an editorial proof reader, is a must).
Don’t now stifle people’s views (even those who don’t say God Bless Telstra) under the guise of this not being a complaints department. That is sleight of hand censorship!
Unless Telstra aren’t really listening and would prefer to sweep the not so glowing comments under the carpet (as the NWAT hard-heads would prefer) making it unanimously, NWAT all over again!
Kristen:
“Thanks for your input Anthony and please keep telling people about the site. We don’t really want it to be secret do we? Life is so much better when we share the good things around!”
Your right of course Kristen, as you’ve probably seen and experienced yourself, tall tales of fantastic Internet sites seem to make people leave the room, well in my case at least, but I will “endeavor” to share info of this “Blog” to others.
Kristen:
” …It’s a blogging site and I’m a communications person. However, I simply can’t ignore someone in need – I am compelled to help them.”
Have to say I’m happy to read this, and understand that you couldn’t handle large numbers of service problems, however if this culture can be spread throught customer support services of Telstra what a tremendous step forward,
Regards,
Anthony.
p.s. Thanks for the link, I did make an enquiry through “Contact Us” concerning a change of plan for my Phone and Internet . I’ve recieved two emails explaining they are very busy at the moment, and haven’t forgotten me, which is all one can expect as it is not an emergency but an enquiry.
Keep up the positivity, it can only spread !
Thanks for the commentary above.
However, I think the point I was trying to make has been missed.
My question actually sought an answer about what Telstra is doing or has to do to acheive it’s goal of “renewed focus on customer service and satisfaction”.
My commentary relating to service performance was to provide context to why I think this goal needs to be achieved, or in fact help or provide suggestions on how this can be realised.
Kristen – are you able to perhaps provide light on what steps are being taken to acheive this goal.
I have taken the opportunity to register on “My Telstra Experience” – but there does not seem to activity in play. Perhaps there are plans to drive this engagement exchange – but currently it looks sadly void of any content or exchange.
I look forward to getting a better understanding of what’s in play to drive change and where we as customers can help drive the change.
Regards
Trehan
Hi Trehan
I have sent a note to those more in the know than I – I’d like to be able to provide you with that information.
From a personal perspective I can say that it’s clear to me that I have a responsibility to focus on customer service and look for opportunities to help. This is a clear instruction that I think everyone in Telstra has received.
Cheers
Kristen
Re: A new view on communications (KMM77446850V73241L0KM)
Enquiry Number 45557283, 2/2/10, “respond to you within two business days with an answer to your enquiry”.
8 days and no response.. Forget about it.. I will endeavour to figure it out somehow else.
Thanks Kirsten for your follow up. Look forward to hearing from you.
Cheers
Trehan
For a few years now I shudder whenever I have to contact Telstra to get some sort of service. I settle in to a comfy chair, surround myself with other stuff to do as I hunker down for the fight. I would like to think things are improving but, after numerous successful and unsuccessful encounters with the telecommunications ombudsman, billing errors, mis-communication, poor line quality I am left feeling that I should get so much more from a Telecommunications giant. From the scratchy background audio when on hold, through the ridiculous robotic line of questioning from someone apparently in the Philippines, to the multiple line drop out disconnections (and always while I was nearly getting to crux of the issue !!) and the ever predictable failure of supervisors to address complaints … I am left wondering about what might have been. I take the attitude now that when I have to endure an unreasonable period of time attempting to resolve a problem (not caused by myself) I want financial compensation for my time, and work toward this end. On average this seems to have worked, but is unpredictable – I haven’t got exact figures, but since 1997 (when I was left waiting 2 months for a phone to be installed in a business) through many disheartening episodes through to the present where I have experienced multiple line drop outs while on hold for complaints and then never received a complaint response, I estimate I have received about $3000 + in credits (bill credits, free handset, etc) but it will never make up for the time I have lost. If I ran my business this way, I would be out on the street in a month – the sheer lack of accountability, and the worrying predictability of problems is dumbfounding. Although some of my experiences are quite shocking, the general experience of Telstra is one of dull disappointment – it doesn’t have to be like this. I work in risk management … which is why I shudder so much at the goings on with our Telstra accounts over the years. Such problems reflect very poorly on management and the ethics of the corporation. Even if I get some compensation for the last debacle(s), which I probably will, I am still left with the lingering expectation that it will all fall in a heap very soon. Is this the general experience with most Telcos or is there something extraordinarily wrong with Telstra? I talk to colleagues and friends, and my experience does seem to be familiar to many – what a shame, and what a wasted opportunity for a communications company.
Hi Trehan,
I’ve received some input from across Telstra and it is true that improving customer service is one of our top priorities so that means we have many initiatives underway across the company.
Last week, a new Group Managing Director started whose focus is to deliver significant customer service & satisfaction, productivity and simplification improvements across our company.
We also have:
- put millions of dollars more for training customer-facing staff
- set new standards for customer complaints: they must be acknowledged within a day and addressed within five working days – much faster timeframes than the industry code
- introduced a Customer Satisfaction Bonus for all Telstra employees, including call centre workers and field technicians. It will only be paid if we meet new customer satisfaction targets making our customers the judges our success.
These are some of the steps but it is a long-term program.
Cheers
Kristen
Loyal Customer Screwed by Telstra!
I have been a customer of Telstra and its Bigpond ever since I arrived in Australia (1996)
Today I received my bigpond bill telling me that my ADSL 20000/512kbps Liberty 12GB is now $99.95 per month. They also offered me a $10 discount so I will only be paying $89.95 per month.
Why should I stay with Telstra and bigpond when new plans offered by Telstra on ADSL 20000/1000kbps Liberty 12GB is $69.95 per month?
Even the ADSL 20000/1000kbps Liberty 25GB is only $89.95 per month, so tell why should n’t I move to iinet?
I also terminated my mobile phone about a year ago and has some credit on the account. I called Telstra and was told that credit refund will take about 5 to 7 weeks, but its been more than 5 months and I still have not received my refund. Every month I receive a statement showing I have credit with Telstra.
In addition I have a land line and foxtel which are on one bill and has requested that my bigpond bill be combined into one. Again after almost 6 months, nothing has been done.
THIS IS CUSTOMER SERVICE AT ITS WORST!
I recently changed to wireless internet and was having technical difficulties which began with intermittent drop out
of internet connection and eventually no internet at all.
I contacted Telstra on the weekend and was advised they
would check things out for me and also that my phone line
had a noise in it so they would test that as well.
Also, the technician said that it could take up to two business
days for the problem to be resolved. I was pleasantly surprised, when on Monday a technician called me and promptly fixed the internet problem from his end and also advised me that my telephone line was now working properly and I should have a good strong internet signal. I was very happy with the service and also wanted to make mention that the people I spoke to were polite and helpful.
In the last few years I had been working for an agency doing personal and aged care work, which required the use of a mobile telephone, which was a quite large out of pocket expense for someone such as myself’; single mother strugglin g to survive on part time wages. I had entered into a “Bundle” phone package deal with Telstra for my home phone, internet and mobile phone. Unfortunately, try as I might to get a lower priced deal, each time I changed the plan I was also charged twenty dollars for changing the plan, which I have found quite frightening. What I wanted to say now is that I have unfortunately lost my job and the most recent phone conversation about my mobile phone with Telstra I was advised that the plan finishes in July of this year and then I would be allowed to make a change. I am now wondering, having last week paid the overdue part of my telephone account if I am allowed to have some sort of payment plan or leniency as to payment of my account for the present time until things improve financially.
I was directed here by a friend who follows and recommends this site, any advice from Kristen Boschma would be greatly valued
as the complexity of having a “Bundled” plan and losing my job have caused a great deal of stress.
Well I thought I’d put a jinx on myself.
I’ve been telling “everyone” how great Telstra’s service is these days, which can be dangerous actually, just make sure you know the person isn’t likely to hit you before opening your mouth.
KaBunga, dead Internet on my new plan 1500/256kbps $55.95, which was what I was paying already for 256/64 kbps, so worth looking around people.
Anyhow back to the grief, about 2PM I noticed my connection died. I did all the sensible things (Reboot) etc. , rang India and they ran a few tests and said it wasn’t me, ie. My System, but a Telstra System Exchange problem, which may take two days to fix as an elevated problem .
Heck, I’m back online at 7 PM so no real pain, I feel quite confident lately about Telstra, nice !
Hi LP
I heard from the Customer Service team that your complaint has been resolved and that you’re satisfied with the outcome. Thanks for being a loyal customer and for taking the time to comment here.
Cheers
Kristen
For three years I have been trying to get Telstra to replace the RIM networks on the island where I live, they have totally filled the surounding area and now even the RIM networks are full and have been for 8 months. The thing is we use the mainland exchange that is less than 2 kms and is ADSL2 enabled so why they do this is beyond me, unless they are too lazy to get on the 6 minute barge ride over the 50 metres of water.
Every time I send a nice letter I dont even get a reply, I include photos and screenshots which clearly demostrate the fact that people cannot get phone lines let alone contemporary internet speeds.
Its really sad that the whole world is moving forward with technology that is network aware but once again we are all held back by this utterly hopeless behemoth of an organisation, Over the three years I have been on the phone to every available department who tell me “sorry there is no way for us to contact anyone in Infrastructure, Telsta is just too big”
What a secret society this infrastructure team must be. Even the company that encompasses it have no idea who they are! All that can be derived from ths lack of action is that they are well aware of all this, they are simply killing time while they renegotiate their infrastructure responsibilities with the Federal Goverment.
If any response can be come from this post, I will be truly amazed.
Baz
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away:-
Well, in January of this year to be precise, a very enthusiastic Telstra sales assistant called my wife and talked about all the great benefits of switching our home phone and broadband to Telstra from our existing provider as part of a bundled package. Not wishing to make the commitment without a chat over a coffee with yours truely she indicated she wanted to talked to me first.
Like a dedicated blood hound the sales guy called back at the due time later that evening and so, post coffee, I received the same Utopian picture. Yes the phone line could be moved where it joined the house and so too could the internal (currently inactive) socket as this was the only true incentive to switch providers. All at no cost (NOTE: we were both told this independently).
So just speak at the prompt to record your agreement that you know what you are committing too. So with spindoctoring duly completed I replied “Yes” to the prompts. Had I just switched to the Dark Side?
Thereafter the murkiness of a multiple CSRs descended. Phone messages, barely decipherable, saying that the work was delayed. Letters (2 to be precise) saying “We have not been able to contact you by telephone to discuss your application to return to TELSTRA, therefore the technician appointment scheduled on TBA at TBA is unable to take place”.
Hang on, you called me and indicated that you’d contact our current provider and that we had to do nothing. I’m loosing sight of the seemless (no pun intended).
Hardly what I call compelling. 4 calls later and after another garbled voicemail I ringing to say forget it and that I’m referring to the cooling off period cancel the agreement. Intriguingly, on this latest call I’m then told all is scheduled to happen on 2nd March. Oh, I didn’t get that letter. I deflect my lack of faith and put my trust in “the force”.
Post another coffee one evening last week I call back to check that everything will switch at once – otherwise we’ll be left in an internet blackhole – the same o/s team tell me the switch to broadband would be up to 2 weeks after getting the phone line. No, hang on, that’s what the first person told me and then gave me a 1800 number so that I could have the pleasure of repeating the whole story to Cynthia, Cheryl or Claire down the phone. Person 2, or was it 3, said that was not the case and updated my pending customer record and was kind enough to include our existing Foxtel account onto the bundled package at the same time so that we only got one bill.
At the point of now being cautiously optimistic (rather like Luke S flying at a Death Star, but without being fired upon) I took opportunity to check that the move of line was clearly documented and Yes its all there. No worries then – I’ll look out for the T van at the scheduled time on 2nd.
Today, the 2nd, a nice guy rolls up and being the Telstra face to the customer, put on a brave one when I enquired about the move of the line. Looking perplexed he said its not in the job sheet, nor was the relocation of the outlet inside the house. But if we want it, we have to pay. So 2 more calls to TELSTRA on my part and I’m left writing down the number of a subcontracting company who handle this for Telstra. Obviously the hands on folks (rather like my IT department) hate days like this. Needless to say the whole thing will now not progress – but tomorrow could be a different day.
This whole thing does sound like a saga just like Star Wars. But Telstra needs to improve its handover between services and departments. It shouldn’t be left to potential customers, namely me, to decipher why I’ve a “TBA letter” and then make frantic calls to the same 1800 number to get clarity on exactly what I’m expecting. The communication chain is too convoluted, populated from extremes of people either not knowing the products to those who will paint a convincing picture of the benefit of the switch and that its seemless.
Hi Darren
That sounds draining and confusing – sort of like the Star Wars prequel trilogy second instalment that was Episode III – Attack of The Clones.
Seriously though, I’m sorry this was such a bad experience. I’m going to make sure the right people here at Telstra see your comment so we can do some analysis to improve the situation for all customers. You can’t be Hans Solo on this one.
Thanks for taking the time to tell us what happened.
Kristen
Hi Baz
I’ve just sent you an email but wanted you to know that I have taken it on myself to make sure you get to talk to the right people. I promise we’re listening.
Cheers
Kristen
Upon moving to Australia in January of this year, I started service with Telstra (reluctantly because I had heard horror stories about customer service). Well, you’ll be happy to know that those horror stories have now been personally confirmed.
My bills have never once been correct–hideous overcharges, incorrect services being billed, duplicate services billed.
The information about what products are available is confusing at best and every time I call to correct my billing problems I am told about different packages/services that are better for me. Then I get charged fees for adding those services or get billed again for multiple services of the same sort.
I am told I will get a credit of a certain amount then get overdue billing statements saying my service will get cutoff if I don’t pay the outstanding amount–which is the amount of the credit I was supposed to get.
I get passed from representative to representative, spend inordinate amounts of time on the phone and, best yet, since my phone plan doesn’t include calls to 13 numbers I get charged for just trying to get Telstra to correct their mistakes. I guess Telstra can make a lot of money like that.
This assumes that I can even get ahold of Telstra. Today was the second time that, after spending a ton of time on the phone already, I’ve been told that the computers are down and they can’t do anything so someone will call me back. When, \within the week.\ A week? That is not customer service.
If representatives are to be believed, Telstra also has a huge problem in being able to provide customers with what they need because \the computer won’t let them do\ certain things. When technology prevents you from giving customers services they seek, how does that equate with good business?
Now, having paid huge set up fees for everything, I am essentially a Telstra hostage because I don’t want to go pay a bunch of new fees somewhere else to start service again. Not the way you want a customer to feel. Also, you can be sure that as soon as I am offered services from another vendor with little or no set up fees, I will be taking it.
Unbelievable that after three months of service, hundreds of dollars already paid out of my pocket and countless hours on the phone, I still don’t have a bill that correctly states what I owe.
Hi Michele
I hear from our online help team that your problem has been resolved. I’m sorry it got to this point and I would like to thank you for sharing your experiences here on Telstra Exchange.
Dorian,You are a gem!
I hope that Telstra appreciates your true worth.I am a pensioner and Dorian was able to help sort out a few things for me but it’s how he did it that makes dealing with Telsta worthwhile!
He was happy,polite and couteous,very efficient and he gave me the impression that he really cared.He actually gave me 5 star service.Well Done Dorian and Thank You Telstra
Hi Pauline. Thanks for posting some positive feedback. Dorian sounds like he’s helped you out with great consideration for your needs. I’m going to make sure he gets credit for his good service and pass on your lovely comment.
Brendan
Has anyone had this problem, or is my brain fading. I signed up for a Telstra bundle in Jan 2010 when they promised a $20 per month discount on my pre-exisitng $60/month moblie plan. I am now getting bills that dont have any discount. On ringing them they say they can offer $10/month discount but not the promised $20. Why did they not discount it from day 1, and now go back on their promise. My guess is that they had the $20 discount offer when I applied, but they forgot to put it on, and now it is not available. Has anyone had similar experience?
Hi Roger, Sorry to hear you have been short changed and had a frustrating experience regarding your bundle offer. I’ve passed on your issue to the appropriate team and you should be contacted via email in a short while.
Have a fun weekend,
Brendan
Hi,
I’m not sure if I’m in the right place i was asked to post my experience at customer.experince@telstra.com
Where to start i was a customer a few years ago but had quite a few problems that wasn’t resolved in a reasonable manner so i went to a competitor. I decided to give it another go, and i have now been a customer for almost 3 years.
The customer service i have received is very poor communication with the customer. It’s very frustrating when a big organization chooses so many untrained staff or people that are inexperienced to deal with the public for inquires with problems/complaints.
When i resigned it took so long to get connected it was about 11 weeks which is very unacceptable. Since resigning i have consistently contacted customer service time after time with complaints of overcharges on monthly statements. I have been hang up on several times which makes me very disappointed also very angry, I have been transfer backwards and forwards between departments as no one knows how to deal with a simple problem. And I have been put on hold so many times even when I pacifically ask not to be, I have even been put on hold for over an hour.
Who runs a business/organization like this?
I also contacted technical support about my modem as it always drops out. I was given no help or no solution to this problem other than to pay a few hundred dollars for a new modem.
I recently reported my downloads were ridiculous (22GB in the first day) no-one was home.
1. First i was told that someone hacked my network.
2. Second i had the blame put back on me i was informed that it was my fault for leaving a torrent client open funny thing is that all download/upload is recorded.
3. Third i was told that the service that monitors all downloads is very accurate and is not wrong. I was credited a small portion back after several phone calls an hours on the phone. (I now record all my download and upload)
I had enough I rang up to cancel all my services, and for the first time I finally got to speak with a lovely lady which works in Resident Billing Sales I was shocked I got someone with great skills in customer service and good communication skills that knows how to deal with problems/complaints promptly an effectively.
This has been my experience; I would personally like to congratulate Candice for all her help I hope this feedback helps.
Thank You
Dave
roger your not alone i have a similar problem and each month have to ring up and get someone to correct this each time i get told the agent should not have told me this when i renewed over the phone for net home phone and mobile and my constant reply is thats not my fault the agent was a telstra employee and i waited 5 minutes while the agent went and checked and came back and confirmed what she had quoted me but having being caught on this twice before i had someone from telstra look into and confirm by email what i was promised and each time i ring i quote back the email word for word. On my last bill they even started taking my pension discount of me when i rang and said this is what” yous (implying telstra) quoted me and confirmed by email” .the telstra employee threatend to hang up if i said yous once more and didn’t address him as you he also said he didn’t care what the email said as it meant nothing and wasn’t signed even though it was sent from their complaints dept and when i said i would go to the ombudsman he told me go for it he will only send me back to him but on contacting the ombudsmans office and being given a reference number and a number at telstra to ring it was fixed up again but i bet this month i will again have to ring up as my bill will still be wrong 4 months in a row and i finish by saying who and how can you trust telstra staff if what you are told verbally or in writing( ie email)means nothing to another telstra employee also it is suprising how many telstra staff are not aware of their bundles or conditions in telstras defence all bar 2 of their employees have been polite and understanding even though they still throw the old line “the agent (telstra employee) shouldn’t have told you that”
Really underwhelmed so far. Was after a cable internet connection to work from home and rang the local Telstra shop. This seemd the only option for cable in my area. Was advised of a plan, went in the next day to the SAME shop and found out cable is not available in this area after all.
Apparently the plan I was quoted didn’t exist either.
Was in hurry to get connected and earn my keep, so went ahead with an ASDL plan that was more expensive and less Gig.
Spelt the password out to the guy in the shop twice and it didn’t work when the WiFi modem arrived about a week later, so got my first taste of the customer service line. Don’t enjoy chatting with Dalek’s, find them a bit difficult to understand. This one seemed surly and disinterested too. But got my password reset and finally got on the internet. For about twenty minutes before my new modem decided to continously reboot.
I reconnected it, turned off every appliance in the household, rechecked splitters, swapped cables, tried wireless and ethernet ports etc etc before giving up and ringing for help again. Gave all my details to a automated voicemail thing and then had to repeat it all fifteen minutes later to another Dalek who wasn’t much help and said I have another 3-5 day wait for a replacement modem. I stressed I needed it ASAP to earn income and got nowhere beyond the scripted response.
Even got told to leave the thing on and connected so it could be tested by the company that replaces it, great advice. Clicks and reboots every few minutes and apart from the annoying sound, for all I know it’s dodgy and could burst into flames at any second. Pretty sure that classifies as extremely dumb advice for an electrical device that could have something wrong with it. Politely declined to burn my house down and passed on my phone number so they can ring me when they want to do their test.
Longest I’ve managed to get any chance to use my 100G plan is about a twenty minute stretch. My brand new Telstra modem keeps continously rebooting after that, and has done so about fifteen times since I’ve been reading this page, now coming at you from another ISP wireless dongle that’s been in service two years without problems. It’s a lot cheaper plan and arrived the day after I ordered it by courier. Getting the picture?
It’s now been over two weeks since I made the initial call to connect to the internet. Without keeping my other plan with the other ISP I’d have lost my job by now, not to mention the income I need to pay the bills.
No prizes for guessing if I want to stay with Telstra when it’s been a botch up from word go? Be even funnier if I decide to return all equipment to local shop and face some sort of disconnection fee for something I don’t have. The phone line is very very secondary as I’ve got a mobile which everyone knows and uses.
I was very wary sign up with you guys to start with, aside from a poor reputation out here in the real world I’ve had previous dealings with a Telstra service centre with some HTC phones and fixed 8 of the 15 units that were supposedly unrepairable. No, I’m not a tech either, just have a basic electronics background and a bit of common sense.
Found this website googling for problems with Telstra modems and doesn’t appear I’m alone. The more I read the more I think “Oh God, what have I done”.
Would really appreciate something happening a lot lot faster than it has so far. A turtle with a brick strapped to it would be a more effective way for me to communicate to my works server than I’ve so far experienced in two weeks on a $99 a month plan. Err, that’s $50 down the drain already + what I pay to stay connected with another ISP providor, and lost income stuffing around waiting for line connection and a modem before I gave up and decided to revert back to wireless.
So, some sort of feedback taht something is happening would be great. More to the point … Why on earth earth aren’t the modems available from the shop when you get given a T-hub you don’t really want and a cheap wireless phone with dodgy buttons?
Seems pretty third-world you can’t get up and running the same day given your position in the industry.
Cheers
Hi Alistair, I sent you an email earlier today. Please get back me when you can so I can do what I can to help. Cheers, Brendan.
Thanks Brendan, per email back yesterday much appreciate someone helping me. Have passed along my account details. I will be going out for a couple of hours, if someone can call me after 12pm I will be home for the rest of the day.
Regards
Helo again, I’m back.
Still haven’t heard from anyone on your thread Brendan. However I did contact customer service via a seperate email as well and got reply below to another similar email I posted here.
“Dear Alistair, Thanks for taking the time to speak with me today. I hope we were able to resolve your enquiry for you regarding your warranty replacement of your modem. Just to recap what we discussed, I have looked into the times that it takes to have the warranty replacement modem sent out to you, and the modem that the technician ordered should be out within the next few days. Just to be safe however I have re submitted the modem replacement webform that the original technician sent out and that will be out within the next 5 to 10 business days. If you happen to receive two new modems that come through, please give us a call on 13 22 00 between 8 am and 8 pm Monday to Saturday and we will send out a modem recovery bag to you to collect it. I trust this information has been of assistance, and further information is readily available via our online Help: http://www.bigpond.com/help/default.asp, otherwise I am happy to provide further clarification. Thank you for contacting BigPond. Kind Regards,
Tim Lorimar
The BigPond Team http://www.bigpond.com”
So … I’m still waiting on the modem from the call centre which was supposed to have been sent a week ago, with a second modem on the way.
I am most glad to note that your billing department works though. Got my first bill, and contrary to confirmation I received in the shop that I’d get an itemised bill to keep buisness and personal expenses seperate I’ve got some mysterious apparently random charge that covers the billing period from start of this month to end of month, and includes a calculation for next month??? Seems very ambitious to be forecasting things when it’s nearly 3 weeks into a $99 plan and I haven’t got the one basic thing I needed.
Anyway I can’t afford to waste another week. If that first warranty replacement modem is not here by close of business tomorrow (and working) I will be signing up with another ISP this weekend when I have some free time. I’m not prepared to wait another week, think 3 is ample time to sort out a problem.
Sure the phone works, but I am really not interested in that side of your bundle. It’s more expensive than my current mobile phone plan with another providor, which is another nail in your coffin.
So… failing action over promises can you please let me know process for disconnection and returning equipment so I can get the ball rolling if I haven’t had a positive result by tomoorow afternoon.
Regards