Telstra CEO and leadership team take customer calls
Filed under: corporate, customer service, customers, Telstra CEO
Customers calling Telstra recently might have been surprised to be greeted by David Thodey and members of his leadership team.
Following their regular meeting at our new state of the art call centre at 717 Bourke Street in Melbourne, the executives quickly realised they were in for a surprise.
They were told they would spend the next few hours taking customer calls.
We captured the moment on video.
It’s encouraging to see the ‘BigWigs’ getting exposure to the everyday working of the call centre. Now how about getting these bosses to phone the call centres using the general enquiry number so they can experience the, at times very frustrating wait times & ‘ping ponging’ from one consultant to another.
Note: You are, in my view taking greats leaps forward. Keep it up.
Yes, I fully agree with Adam – NOW its time for the ‘big 10′ of you to flip the customer service coin and personally call in on 132200 with a bigpond or mobile service or billing customer complaint, and see how you/we get pushed from one Telstra silo to the next and back and back again and then get put on hold then get cut off or left on hold when you complain that this shouldn’t take 2-3hrs to sort out and you have other things to do in your life. finally, you have to email David via his Executive bio Telstra page Complaints box to get it resolved the next day – but that should not be necessary, should it David, Gordon, Kate and Peter?
David and Gordon, if you really want to put customer service no.1 then you’d be better to start ringing up 132200 on a weekly basis to see what we have to put up with often for no or little result every day in Telstra land – that’s where the real change is needed but you’ve got to personally suffer like us to know what the problems are and how the present customer service complaints system must change!!
A good start and quite encouraging but you now need to get on the other end now and call in as a frustarted customer with a simple problem to see how complicated your silo structure can make it quickly and often insolubly.
Well at least they get to find out , that there are a lot of unhappy customers out there.
I bet they just pick on selected calls.
It is almost like getting the hands dirty, isn’t it.
Do you mean that the CEO is IN INDIA???
OR Pakistan? or some other call centre of Telstra!!!
Most of the time I have to ask for someone that speaks English or at least Australian.
I have yet to be so lucky and get one of the big wigs on the phone and I have to ring all the time to fix problems.
There are no quick fixes until they get the basics right!!!
Get the system working , then you do not have the large number of people trying to get service!!!
Start at the bottom, build it up and don’t tell us how good you are, we already know how bad it is!
“Most of the time I have to ask for someone that speaks English or at least Australian”
Um English is the Australian Language Jack! Cheers
It was encouraging to see the executive staff taking calls from customers, and actually revising their core status of taking care of the paying customers, should become an essential exercise from time to time, whilst product has significantly improved since David having taken over as CEO, when it comes down to the coal fire, communication has been for the most appalling to mediocre, in my case whilst I have written with time consuming impassioned pleas within this web site, the lack of real response and any real level of empathy has not been a feature from Australia’s largest Telco
at infrequent times I have received responses from Brendan Okeefe, and I thank him, my quickest and most satisfactory response came from Gerd Schenkel (Executive Director, Telstra Digital) and I personally thank him for this.
Q: Why is it so hard for David to give a more detailed response to wireless broadband users who have taken a great deal of time and effort to receive any answer that informs us as to any future direction towards providing your long suffering wireless broadband users with some fair level of communication, just speak to us! and not fob us off with a cut and paste response as your chosen level of customer care.
As a shareholder I continue to have complete confidence in our company to override the current disarray in the industry and reign supreme as usual.
Time permitting, please continue this unique customer contact. Albeit, I never experienced any service difficulties over 40 years plus.
Good luck, the Telstra Team.
Hi everyone
I hear you about the team taking calls into service numbers. I’ve made sure that feedback has registered.
Kristen
Thank you Kristen for your expeditious reply, in this area of communication with valued customers that are the sole contributing viability growth of any business.
It is timely that the executive decision makers take stock of the their market and customer voices, and whilst short term profit within an easy and established product, is building on its value, future directions within market needs must not take second place, I especially point out a more empathetic customer communication on the part of an executive, that seems for the most part, to be entrenched in an (ivory tower) mindset in the perception of many customers that receive cut and paste responses from the decision makers, I would love to see more accountability in their customer communication on a customers feedback.
Kirsten,
You didn’t hear Jack, Adam, Mark and I correctly:
“I hear you about the team taking calls into service numbers. I’ve made sure that feedback has registered.”
We said NOW they need to MAKE customer service and complaints calls into their CS centres using 132200 like we have to and see how they are handled by their own CSC consultants.
Vasso – it is absolutely inconceivable in reality that you would “never experienced any service difficulties over 40 years plus” with Telstra or any other telco/isp. Next you’ll be claiming that you have never had a problem with your Bank and the ATO always gives you a bigger refund thatn you expected!!
Step back into the real world please, clearly your Comments do NOT reflect the reality that required Telstra’s CEO David and his 9 direct reports (that’s our company’s top 10 executives @$60-80m pa) to need to go to the new Melbourne Customer Call Centre the other day, to personally ‘suck the lemon’ that is current inefficient and ineffective Telstra Customer Service system.
Kate might have sold one plan (btw. who sold the other?) but the real problem she and Telstra has is the 1m uber-pissed off customers ‘churning’ each year to other telcos after repeated maulings and failure to resolve by CSCCs in India and even in Australia.
As David recently noted it takes 3-4 times the $$ to win back a churned customer than it does to retain an existing albeit dissatisfied one: – which result he can achieve simply by pouring the 2-3 times $$ saved retaining them, into much better CSCC service and training. Then the savings that will accrue from that productivity and customer retention gain can be directed into expanding David’s new company-wide employee bonus scheme pool for prompt CS Complaints resolution – which coincidentally is also about $60-80m pa, the same amount that we pay these top 10 executives to run our company.
Suggested Lesson 1 for David and his ‘top 10′: (unless you are uniquely ‘blessed’ like Vasso with 4 decades of perfect service), next time you have a personal or home phone/Inet/Billing problem, dont get Simone or Peter to fix it
for you, instead like us take a few hours and a dozen transfers around the various Telstra CS silos, both here and overseas, and see if you can solve it simply and in the first call with your own CSC consultant staff. I’m sorry to be neagtive but I would bet that 9 out of 10 of you will fail to achieve this desired result on the first call. That is you will fail to achieve the new CSC standards that David set out last June when he announced the new CSCR standards and employee bonus scheme. That, Vasso, is the reality for most of us Telstra customers. You are truly blessed, go out and buy a big jackpot Lotto ticket asap!
Lesson 2 for the ‘top 10′: now ring up again on same complaint and tell them who you are in the Telstra ‘top 10′ and then see if it makes any difference…it certainly worked for me last month when I told them I was David and that “No, this wasn’t a training exercise” – my ADSL2+ Service was restored same day!! The question is why did I have to appear to be David to get my simple customer service issue resolved the previous time I’d called and be siloed around for 4 hours!!??
At least David has rung in on 132200 before as a customer and walked into a sydney Telstra store – both less then satisfactory experiences he notes elsewhere on this blog – problems resolved only when he then rang back and actually told them who he was in Telstra. Hey presto, problem solved pronto, bellisimo, bueno…just as it should be for the other 4m of us with Telstra – but when will it happen for us David, Gordon, Robert and Kate – when?
Hi Alex
You’re right. I apologise. I know senior members of the team did ring into various lines as customers a while ago and I’m pretty sure they still do this on a regular basis. The suggestion that the senior team now sit on calls to service lines came in via Twitter so I got my feedback confused. I’ll take this on and I do know David reads these blogs regularly so your feedback is heard.
Thanks
Kristen not Kirsten
What a good idea. At least some lucky customers would have been able to speak to someone who can speak English clearly. Let the bosses ring up the normal number, get ping-pong and also have to deal with people who can hardly understand or speak the English language.
Alex,
Believe what you will but the 40 years plus sterling service by Telstra to our same phone number is fair dinkum and not a figment of your imagination. In fact, amongst the huge silent majority of Telstra’s clients/shareholders you will many very satisfied customers.
Have a good day.
Vasso,
I too have had excellent service from Telstra for over thirty years.
Then I moved to another residence and its been a pain in the butt almost everytime you deal with the Call Centre / Telstra.
I could tell you all the problems, waiting on the phone, talking to people that cannot understand you, not fixing the problem. I could go on and on on, but I will spare you the pain before you nood off in boredom …..
Hello David. Sorry you’ve has such a crappy Telstra experience lately. I’d like to change that and offer you some assistance dealing with your issues. If you could send a brief note with the issue(s) a contact number and account number, I’ll get someone to call you. Cheers, Brendan
As Jane says – Let the Telstra ‘top 10′ ring 132200 to then get ping-ponged all around the many separate silos and and customer service black holes of Telstra by someone overseas who can barely speak textbook english let alone comprehend australian english idiom and increasingly strained patience and humour.
So try this – David and our ‘top 10′: Next time your own (assuming you do have Telstra) phone, mobile or Inet has a problem, rather than get Simone or the 2 Peters to fix it for you, instead you personally call 132200 yourself – and please don’t tell them who you are (like David did the 1st time). But do make sure you have 2-4hrs set aside, and hope you’re lucky and get the classical musak, as you go from one silo to the next then back and across ten back again while spending at least half the time on hold between silos or lost in T-space. After 3 hours of this, still no resolution but a promise that a consultant will call you back tomorrow!!
As our top $1000/hr executives doubtless you will each find this a very informative, salutory and sobering experience – which you can then discuss when you 10 meet each week with David. Boldly, I predict that after each of you has actually personally experienced the Tesltra customer service 132200 system, even just once, you will immediately change your ‘lemon’ CSC system completely within a week – and, best of all, you will understand searingly if not blindingly precisely why you still have 15 complaints an hour going to the TIO, after 12 months and $500m of Gordon and Robert’s ‘Project New’.
Trust me the answer is simply that you need more australian- based australian-speaking CS consultants, and not less: we need more like the new Melbourne CSC you ‘worked’ in, rather than closing them down as you are now. While you might halve your costs in Goa or Manila, you quintuple your unresolved dissatisfied customers and resolution costs – a truer false economy would be harder to design, even if Kate, Robert and Gordon had perversely set out to do!! You save nothing if these cheaper overseas consultants can’t or don’t resolve the CS issue at first call, while, the moment it gets to the TIO your savings evaporate in their case fee: so where’s the “Project New’ gain then – and the resolution of the actual CS issue?
So ‘top 10′ team.telstra, next time you have a phone or Inet problem, leave Somine and Peter alone, instead call your own CS system 132200 yourself to ‘suck the bitter lemon’ that is your current CS reporting, management and resolution process. Only then will you hear, see and feel (like the 3 wise monkeys) the need for immediate and wholesale change, starting with bringing it all home to Australia. Trust me, as a user, the cost increases to Telstra are trivial compared to the costs saved in prolonged and repeated access to the CS complaints and TIO processes – its got to be a ‘no-brainer’, to prove it, simply get ‘John to do the math’ for you on it.
David, its time to ‘get in touch with your inner antrhoplogist’, and deconstruct your current CS lemon, in a way that makes Derrida look like a fiddler around the edges!! We all need it and Telstra needs it yesterday. Cmon Kate, Gordon and Robert, seize the Customer Service and Complaints ‘lemon’ and squeeze the bitterness that we customers experience every day right out of it…anyway, we all prefer oranges and mandarins!!
Hi Alex, Thanks for the feedback. David does periodically read this blog but I’ve also sent this to the Office of the CEO. Brendan.
Vasso, sorry I meant no personal disrespect ther – its true statistically, that one any given day, that the majority of Telstra customers and shareholders do not that day have a service or billing issue.
The critical issue is that over a year 1m in 4m do have such a problem with Telstra, and worse still, over 20% of those problems will fail to be resolved in the first call to a CSC 132200 and over the course over a year 30% of those at up at the TIO.
I wonder of our ‘top 10′ Telstra executives have your prolonged good luck with their/our Telco? Statistically at least 4 won’t?? So lets see what they say in reply.
May your good luck and good fortune with telstra continue…the shares were up again today too. cheers!!
Alex,
Thanks for your commentary, I exhausted my luck when I moved out of Kenya some Forty-plus years ago and have been using Australian services and living opportunities in comparison with the people experiencing difficult conditions in the whole of Africa through no fault of their own.
Telstra’s communications and other living conditions such as Banking, medical, employment and so on did not depend on luck but drawing from our African experience that is to be thankful for what we have. A classic example, is the comparison between the Government’s costly FTTH NBN and Telstra services pertaining to what we have now and what we could have had if some sanity had prevailed.
Regards
You have got to be kidding ! – As soon as the government allowed competition into Australia, I jumped ship. Primarily because Telecom (as they were then) was the worst company I had ever had the misfortune of dealing with (line faults, incorrect billing, hours of waiting to get through to a consultant on the phone, buffeting from one consultant to another because it wasn’t their department, lies about when a service technician would turn up, lies about who was responsible for the wiring and everyday general incompetence). Recently I returned to Telstra after the sales department promised cheaper, faster and better service (because they owned the network) – BIG MISTAKE – 3 months on, the services are still not up and running, they sent me a credit note for 1c with the wrong account details and I have spent on average 2 hours per week talking to various people in wrong departments at Telstra and reached level 3 with complaints to the TIO ombudsman. With fierce competition in the market place now, I really feel that Telstra has changed it’s ways – It’s got worse, The only efficient thing that Telstra can do, is guarantee that my bill arrives 1 week before the end of each month.
Gary – as you say you’ve got to be kidding, life’s too short!!
After ringing 132200 and not getting your problem solved, why bother to escalate your complaint one level at a time through Telstra, only then take it outside Telstra to the TIO, when you have a Telstra CEO in David Thodey that goes on the publiic record stating that he “gets up early every day just to solve customer problems”…and he expects all his staff to do the same, if not better, top to bottom!!
To prove that he means it, he even has a direct contact box on his own Executive bio webpage:
“You can contact the Office of our CEO by using the email form below.”
http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/contact-us/contact-office-ceo/index.htm
From personal experience if you use it tonight, he or his office will contact you before morning coffee tomorrow and assign a senior CS case officer to solve it with you within the next week, if not that same day!! Try it, it worked for me, and many others, and it will work for you…and you quite likely will then get a personal letter of apology too from David as many customers have done since he became CEO 2 years ago.
He really does mean what he says about “putting customer service no.1″, as he does it himself, so don’t bother with 9 layers of Telstra complaints escalation for months, years then months more at the TIO, just go to the top now tonight and become his no.1 problem to solve when he gets up tomorrow.
Life’s too short for that slow meander nowhere in T-silo space. No, instead I’d just go straight to the top to the no.1 executive in Telstra for your direct solution….and he’ll fix your bill problem too as he’s a ‘Big Blue’ IT man before he came to Telstra. He’s not called Chief Executive for nothing – he’s a go to, can do, fix it today man (except for NBN and the share price!).
Telstra CS systems are still largely inefficient and mostly ineffective at resolving customer issues, fortunately for you (and us) the new CEO, David Thodey, is not. Try him, I bet he’ll win you over with his solution result and smooth cool manner. It worked with me.
Alex,
Thank you for your posts regarding customer service at Telstra.
Please be assured that improving customer service is our goal, and while we acknowledge we have a way to go, I know our front of house staff, regardless of location, are striving to improve the experience.
I am always open to ideas on how to improve customer service, as are the leaders in our Consumer team, Gordon Ballantyne and Peter Jamieson. I would therefore like to offer you the opportunity of speaking directly to Peter Jamieson, our Executive Director for Customer Service & Sales, to discuss your ideas and the ways our company can improve the customer experience.
Alex, I do not have your contact details, so if you could provide them, I will ask Peter to call you. I have asked our site moderator to contact you separately to make this arrangement.
Thanks again for your feedback
David Thodey
Don’t believe a word of it.Telstra is still attempting to rip off their customers.I’ve had dealing with “consultants” who are at best incompetent.I’ve just made 2 calls to Telstra about billing problems.One “consultant” attempted to convince me I was not overcharged.The second “consultant” agreed I was overcharged.Don’t bother contacting Telstra,just contact the media and the TIO.Hopefully,eventually Thodey and his incompetent excuse for management will wake up to their greedy,lazy,second rate selves.Yes,I will complain to the TIO.Stick Telstra.
Hi John, Is there anything I can do to help now? If so please send me your account and contact number.
You need a DEDICTATED phone Tech Support for Smartphones. Your support staff no LESS than nothing re: Software Updates. How hard is it to train a couple of moderately tech-aware staff in some call centre somewhere on the Telstra process for testing software updates, Windows Phone 7 etc etc.
Most frustrating 1/2 hour of my recent life – thinking for a moment someone there would know what I was talking about.
Heck – you haven’t even accurately implemented the online smartphone software update information page correctly.
A great concept which should be replicated in other industries. As a Social Services Executive, I think involving a corporations ELT to hit the front line is a very practical need for us to understand the core business. I will research this more and get some help from my colleagues such as Mike Pratt, Executive Director and Gerard Vamadevan, head of the Social Services sector and put this concept to some good use.
article whirlpool site.
so when the talk fest is finished will we see any change? I don’t think so.
7Prince writes…
Not related to OP’s question but when do we get to combine our home broadband data with our mobile data and pay one rate and use it across each services.
Could not agree more, I have a 7GB wireless broadband plan with Telstra, which I use at home because they could not give me a port for the much cheaper ADSL fixed line, the point is they now call it mobile wireless broadband, so I am wondering also why canot use it also on my 3G mobile phone if it is supposed to be (mobile).
When I say Mobile wireless broadband for home usage, and mobile phone usage for same, please do not reply that you can buy purchasing another commitment( paying twice) and for each purpose home computer plus mobile phone, if its truly mobile why can we not use the one plan shared on both, home and mobile
Mark,
Perhaps your solution is what Vodafone have been offering home customers for 2 years across the ditch in NZ and, what this week Optus released here in Australia – a Femotcell router/hub.
First, you get rid of the landline/monthy rental (presumably why Telstra DON’T offer it already?) and second, it allows you to combine your mobile telephony with your mobile Inet simeltaneously through the same book-sized unit – all it needs is a 240V socket and a mobile signal. It allows multiple mobile phones (w. diff no.s) + your wireless Inet service to operate (even 2 laptops concurrently) – over a range of 50-80m, depending on your house wall construction and section terrain.
And when you travel away from home to work each day, you just take your mobiles with you and they work as ‘pure’ 3G mobiles. But when you go away from your home/office, for a few days or on holiday, you simply take the Femtocell unit with you (just like you take your mobile charger now), then just plug it in at the restaurant, motel, friend/relative’s house , if you want to access BBd Inet and away you go again, mobile in one hand (talking to your broker about buying Femtocell shares), laptop in the other (buying more Femtocell shares), just as if you sitting at home in the office/study/kitchen table.
See the Optus media announcement this week here:
http://mobile.engadget.com/2011/04/14/optus-intros-3g-home-zone-australias-first-consumer-femtocell/
Femtocell technology is much more common and residential use tested in Nth America as you can see here:
http://mobile.engadget.com/search/?q=femtocell&invocationType=wl-gadget
I guess the question now is, given that Telstra’s PSTN line rentals are steadily and inevitably declining (8% last yr.), why don’t Telstra offer a Femotel product or superior equivalent here in Australia, as Optus is from this week?
chrissie, many thanks for your response, the concept sounds like an improvement over existing technical offerings in mobility, but I am still wondering though whether or not sitting in a train, my mobile phone internet connection will still be the one purchased so called (mobile) wireless broadband plan, same as the one I currently use at home? at the moment I am using a separate 1 GB plan for my Mobile phone, this whilst I have a home 7GB plan I pay for , and it states that is (Mobile Wireless) Q, why cant Telstra allow the usage of my so called Mobile wireless that I use at home and incorperate on my mobile phone sim card? what do you say Brendan?
When will Telstra bring out a Femtocell solution? I live in metro Sydney, 800 meters from a suburban train station and cant use my mobile inside my house due to local topography. If they included a Femtocell capacity in a T-Hub that was plugged into my Telstra modem/router I wouldnt have to switch my telephony business to Optus. Next G may be better than the competitors but only when you can get a clear signal, sadly I can not so I must look at switching to another carrier. Once the 3 x moible accounts in my house go I expect the two landlines and internet account will go as well.
Peter
Now if only we can transfer the smiles of the Telstra executives onto the faces of Telsra customers all will be good.
While not wishing to criticize the exercise, I am sure that in reality, customers would rather speak to an experienced Operator than the CEO.
Brendan O’Keefe,
Happy Easter – keep up the great work, helping consumers.
I just received and E-mail (see below) supposedly from the Bigpond Team, no it’s not an Easter card but what appears to be fishing merchants trying to extract my personal details at Easter, of all days.
Kindly pass the details to Telstra security for action.
Regards
Telstra BigPond Billing and Account Management
BigPond Credit Card Authorization Failure
Message Id: 112080788a5ba9f5448db153729b7105fcb25ad612e7426a54b4720a0e5f707894c98713909bea5287317596d7ca6b5dbc2c233554f932da1e58bd44483ca2bc
Dear BigPond valued member,
We regretfully inform you that during our recurring billing procedures ( April, 2011 ) we were unable to authorize your current payment method information.
Please use the following link and update your payment method information:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX URL Removed for your protection.
NOTE! If your account information is not updated within the next 48 hours then your ability to use any services provided by BigPond such as broadband, wireless, adsl, cable, dialup and email might become restricted.
Thank you for using BigPond !
Failure to process your registered payment method information can often be due to one or more of the following reason:
1. Submitting inaccurate information during the initial signup or upgrade process.
2. A recent change in your personal registered user information ( i.e. change of cardholder address, telephone number )
3. An inability to accurately verify your BigPond billing information due to an internal error within our billing processors.
Please do not reply to this e-mail, as this is an unmonitored alias.
BigPond is a Registered trade mark of Telstra Corporation Limited. ABN 33 051 775 556.
Electronic Signature:
112080788a5ba9f5448db153729b7105fcb25ad612e7426a54b4720a0e5f707894c98713909bea5287317596d7ca6b5dbc2c233554f932da1e58bd44483ca2bc
Thanks Vasso. I’ve had this brought to my attention by another customer. Thanks for sharing. I’ve passed this on for investigation. P.S. I’ve removed the link to protect others. Happy Easter. Brendan.
I would be interested in the type/types of calls that these Telstra representatives took.
I further note that they were at a recently opened call centre. Why not one of the older centres?
How long did these Telstra representatives spend taking calls on the abovementioned date?
Hi disgruntled. I will ask for you and send you an email as well as a post here. Brendan
Hi disgruntled. The leadership team spent several hours training before taking calls for several hours. They took inbound calls. Email me if you need help with anything.
So Brendon,
They spent several hours training – ? before the video rolled in the meeting room before going to the new CSCC – so was it faux supris on Deena and John’s faces then or was that first video taken pre-training, so genuine ‘shcok and awe’?
Frankly, I would have hoped with several hours training x 10 ‘new executive consultants’ that they would have scored more than Kate’s and one other sale in a several hours work online
…but maybe the training didn’t include pushing as many Telstra products and enhancements to your existing bundle as so often happens when you call in on 132200 just to get a problem sorted.
So, Peter, having now had our long talk, as David promised would happen, when are we poor suffering Telstra customers going to see the next ‘team 10′ video of them actually calling in to 132200 making complaints, and particularly, the facila torture at the many and varied frustrations they will then get over the next few hours trying to resolve simple SC/faults/billing things?
They shouldn’t need any hours of training to make those calls!! Roll the video again very soon, please. We’re waiting…some no doubt ‘on hold’ on 132200 while we sort your problem out or transfer you or put you on hold if we just don’t know – as I said Peter and Brendan – thanks for the followup contact/calls – now lets flip the CSCC coin to inward calling.
I have read about enough of these comments, I’m sorry but I’m a very loyal customer with Telstra and have been for the past 5 or so years but I do have to STRONGLY AGREE with what most if not all of the posts are saying, I’ve had my ADSL1 (before I upgraded – HAD NO ISSUES AT ALL!!), ADSL2+ (have had issues since day four), I had been in contact with the call centres and have had enough of the BS that they say, I have been told that it was my modem, it was one or more of my filters, or other “so called issues” not once did they suggest that it could be an issue with my LINE. I was originally using my parents line, then I queried about if I had a second line installed would that decrease the issues, the so called “techie” assured me that it would so presto I ordered a phone line connection and still having issues, I now have someone continue to contact me to ask how the service is, I have advised them that the service STILL drops and I am STILL NOT HAPPY, so they organised for a contractor to come and dig up and REPLACE the line, but this seems to in vain as well! Perhaps I should do as Alex had put as Lesson 2 (act as if we were the CEO), but could this be concieved as fraud? I wonder, I would like to get my issue and I’m also going to speak for ALL Consumers that have issues, Have ALL OF OUR issues resolved SOONER rather then LATER. I’ve got at least four services with Telstra and they claim I’m a valued customer so why is that they continue to push most of their customers ‘away’? I have to admit SLIGHT defeat where my current complaint manager is concerned, she is trying unlike the rest of the CS staff. as before mentioned I think I have had a connection issue for at least 5 YEARS and quite frankly I’m almost ready to jump the bandwagon to another Inet provider but where would that leave me? I say at the same place I am currently! Due to Telstra OWNING all the telephone lines etc. no telco would be safe to choose, due to the lines being screwed up or what have you, I think the best thing that Telstra could possibly do is SCRAP all the existing lines and start from scratch! I.E. remove all lines and then lay down BRAND NEW line from this century not 2 centuries old!
Cheers.
About 6 months ago I was getting a lot of internet connection dropouts. After a number of to calls to get this rectified, it transpired that there was some problem with wiring external to our house, but there had also been some chage to the exchange. Following these changes, I was told that there should have been some settings changed, and that apparently was duly done. The problem then was that during evenings in particular, my internet speed slowed dramatically – down to 5Kb/sec. Not exactly what the ADSL was supposed to deliver. After further calls, someone eventually left a message on the phone to say that our local exchange was overloaded and Telstra had no plan for any upgrading of the equipment. More complaints followed, and I have been given some special deal, but the long and short of it is that I am not getting the service that has been advertised and it would seem Telstra has no intention of doing anything about it.
Along with all of this, I am fed up with calling the complaints line and getting a foreign accent that is often hard to understand tell me “Don’t worry, I can fix this problem for you”!
After months of complaints, I feel that I have eventually spoken to a couple of people who were sympathetic to my plight, but my basic problem has not been solved.
I get the impression that there is a high degree of arrogance in the upper echelons of this company.
Hi John. I’ve askd a local rep to call you. This may take a day or two. Brendan
It is if I wrote this comment, as I am finding the same themes as you have wrote about. Telstra is changing, but I have yet to see any real positive improvement, only more lip service …
Taking note of the fact that 364,000 new customers chose Telstra as their new provider in the first quarter of this period the continual disparagement of Telstra by some does seem strange indeed.
Dear Sydney, I wouldn’t call it strange, I would call it a Monopoly, anyone in a Rural/Rural Residentail or Rural Remote area has little option mate1
David was certainly not working tonight while I spent 2+hours on the phone to the Phillipines trying to find out why one of my mobiles was disconnected. Oh that was after I had already spent over an hour this morning talking to Telstra about, you guessed, it the same problem. Was guaranteed it would be on within the hour, now 13 hours later I find that it’s a one in 10,000 fault, lucky me, now I get to wait till Monday to have it rectified. Guess David doesn’t work weekends! Some of us have to.
Hi Grayleen. I’ve asked someone here in a local support centre to look into this and ensure it’s all taken care of. Brendan
Dear Grayleen, hear what you say and am in total agreement. It is sad that no company, other than Telstra, is willing to invest money in the bush to supply competition.
I have been a telstra customer for 30 years and if I have had a problem telstra has fixed it, by experience it is the way you interact with them, such as respect to the operator to help you solve the problem. Over the the past 3 months I have seen an even higher level of interaction with helpfulness from the operators and I just want to say keep up the good work. This is one happy customer. Just recently I lost my mother and Telstra recognised my loss looked at mums account and through the kindness of there heart because mum had been a customer of more than 50 years wiped the remaining bill. Thankyou Telstra I was more than happy to see your bill paid for her usage, but you showed your compassion.
Telstra certainly have the phone support side of things sorted out, but tend to fall down when their customer service personnel have to deal with the real world personnel. This shows up especially when the infrastructure is poorly or incorrectly documented. Everyone checks their drawings and databases, but nobody wants to look at the wires, and certainly correct the documentation. For example our street has above ground functioning telstra cable network, with one resident connected to it. Everyone denies it exists, so we cant connect to it. If an installer did agree it exists I suppose he would have to do all the paperwork. (too hard) I think the cause of this is that our house numbers run backwards, and the database says it is terminated at number 4. Probably the wrong forum for this, but there seems to be no right forum, so I have found.
“To outsource or not to outsource?” is a key question for Telstra and us, its long suffering customers.
Management consultant Bob Seldon writes:
“But in the headlong rush to outsource everything and reduce overheads (both financial and non-financial), many firms have lost the plot. Now they are outsourcing the sharp end of their business – their customer interface.
Many people reading this (blog) have stories to tell about their experience with an off-shore call centre. Mine came recently.
After more than twenty years with my phone provider, I was threatened with disconnection because I was “approaching my credit limit”. The reason? I’d been travelling overseas and global roaming can be expensive. My bills are always paid on time. My current bill was not yet due (in fact I’d not received it). However, if I did not make a payment immediately, my connection would be cut. I made a payment.
I also called the service hot line. Where was this located? Yes, you guessed it, offshore! To cut a long story short, I became angrier and angrier as the call progressed. The operator had no idea about my long term relationship with the company. Her “canned” responses to my questions did not satisfy my requests nor appease me.
I immediately looked for another provider. The first question I asked was “Where is your call centre located?” With “offshore” responses at the first two, I moved on and hit pay-dirt at the third. Not only were they local, but the service I received was far superior to the first two.
As a keen student of management, I decided to find out a little more about the management of this provider. Is there perhaps something driving this emphasis on service?”
To my surprise and delight, I found that David Thodey, CEO of Telstra (my new provider) and his entire senior team had recently spent a day on the phones themselves answering customer service enquiries. The old leadership adage of “Do as I do” was obviously in play here.
Yes, these senior managers needed some training, education and coaching (each had a buddy sitting with him/her whilst on the phone). And yes, as you might expect, they were quite nervous. However, the benefits far outweighed their slight discomfort.
As David Thodey, the CEO said after his experience on the phones “My respect for the consultants and the way they interact with customers, has always been high. Now it’s even higher. . . listening to customers, really understanding what they need, confirming what they say, finding all the information. . . it was great.”
David Thodey became Telstra’s Chief Executive Officer on 19 May 2009, announcing a strategy of market differentiation and a renewed focus on customer service and satisfaction. He’s obviously been true to his word.
Is there a message here for managers and their organisations?
Organisations cannot successfully outsource the sharp-end of their business, whatever that sharp-end may be. It has to be done in-house. How else do you know what your customers want and need? And it’s only when managers experience the sharp-end interface that they understand the challenges facing their people.
There may well be a place for outsourcing certain aspects of the business. However, making that decision requires considerable thought. Will it help achieve the long term goals of the business? Will it support and enhance the corporate culture? How will all the stakeholders (including the society) view the decision? ”
http://www.management-issues.com/2011/5/26/opinion/to-outsource-or-not-to-outsource.asp
As many service-provider companies have discovered, a decision to outsource based purely on short term cost/benefit on further analysis in the longer term is sure to prove far more costly in many ways, most particularly for the long suffering loyalty-tested customer/client. Thodey is on the rigt track bringing customer service back home to Australia from overseas Call Centres.
I am a Telstra business customer who has been messed around and over-sharged for almost 4 years. When I raised the issue of being over-charged and being on a contract other than the one i was “sold”, shortly after receiving the first few bills, I spent almost 2.5 years in the “complaints area” of Telstra, some of that time in “complex complaints” and eventually, after three different case file assignees failed to fix it due to moving jobs, leaving the copany etc, after 2.5 years I was given a large compensation payment, though less than I believed it should be.
That was last year around April / May. However, the contract wasn’t fixed and they continued to over-charge me! Now more than a year later, having been in their “complaints area” for several months, I’m now waiting for them to work out if they owe me anything!
Over the four years I have had services disconencted at least 6-10 times per year. To fix it I’ve had to have on average a 3-4 hour “phone call” to Telstra, being passed between departments and placed on hold for 20-30 minutes a couple of time sper session. The best one is when you’ve held for 30 minutes, do you keep waiting or start the process again. Telstra employees have told me it’s common practice to place people on the “Telstra Merry-Go-Round”.
I started to take their employee numbers to try an avoid being placed on permanent hold.
There is no apology for this four year mess, no accountability for the problems caused and certainly no real interest in making me a happy customer. Right now, even though they’ve already paid out a compensation payment a year ago and not actually fixed the billing problem, they are more interested in not losing any revenue than apologising for the mess and fixing it, to my satisfaction.
Just over a week ago they disconnected my services again on a Friday. My busines sis restaurants and bars. I left a course I had been waiting to attend for over a year, to spend 3 hours emailing Telstra staff who said they would not turn on the services. At 4pm on Friday afternoon, pulling my hair out with their 4 year appalling situation, I went to head office in melbourne and demanded to see a senior manager. “Nobody was available”. “Senior executives don’t see customers”.
I am taking this in a different direction now. The power of Telstra, the big corporation is in the fact it’s customers are small and there are many of them. We are all basicly “bullied” by them.
The time is right for the bully in ths choolyard to be shown up for what he is.
I will be making a viral video advertisement next week if my problems aren’t solved. I intend to use the power of the media / social networks and the fact that there are thousands and thousands of Telstra customers who are being given dreadful service.
I also intent to organise weekly “protests” and I hope to build the number of people attending Telstra HQ and “blocking” the reception area. Telstra business would be disrupted a bit, but probably not as much as Telstra disrupts our lives and businesses without a care in the world.
I’m interested in what you think. I assume somebody monitors this blog and I hope David Thodey sees or hears about what I intend to do.
My 4 years of problems are due to a Telstra “dealer” doing the wrong thing and the problems not being fixed early on.
No doubt when I eventually leave Telstra, I will receive a call telling me Telstra would like my business back and are prepared to pay for it!! Why don’t they fix my problems and make me happy?
Hi David, I believe every customer should experience great service when they contact Telstra, and it is disappointing that you have experienced issues with your Telstra services and accounts.
We’re all are committed to resolve all matters directly with our customers, regardless of their size and I have heard back that a senior case manager from Telstra Business is currently assisting with the issues you have raised.
We do take these issues seriously and I hope we can work to resolve the issues together and restore your faith in us.
I am a Telstra business customer with a complaint now at level three with the TIO ombudsman which has been an ongoing saga for over six months now. A local independant telco first set up all of our business communications ( phones, faxes, mobile, diverts, toll free number, website and internet) within 2 business days and it worked perfectly. In late December 2010 I was targeted by the Telstra sales team and promised cheaper and better services because as the salesman put it “we own the network”. After two weeks of negotiations we finally agreed on a deal which would see all of our services transferred to Telstra’s control and I would receive one capped bill per month. Rather than putting anything in writing, I did an over the phone voice recording which I was told was as good as a contract. Six months later on and many, many hours of talking to incompetent customer service people and hours of TIO ombudsman communication, the saga continues. I had not heard from a Telstra TIO liason officer for three weeks, because I can not bring myself to ring them any more and suffer the frustration they put you through, when yesterday I received a call from a person I hadn’t dealt with before. His name is Shaun and he told me that the previous liason officer called Nik, was no longer working there and he was to take over my case. He gave me a 1800 number to ring so I did. I waited for a while to speak to someone and was given another 1800 number to ring by Rahoul because I was given the wrong number in the first place. After ringing this number I spoke to a woman who was very nice and admitted she didn’t know what she was doing but would find out and left me hanging on the phone until my beard grew and finally said someone else would ring me. I could not beleive it, again I’d been stuffed around. Approx 1 hour later I received an email about a job in “mission control” requiring an urgent upgrade. In the email was another phone number given to me by Gary, so I rang it. Again after waiting I was told I had been given the wrong number and I should ring another number, I refused to do this and asked the person to put me through to someone in the “Telstra Business Broadband” team which is where the original phone number should have been connected. After speaking to three other people, and being told nothing but lies, one operater admitted to me he knew he was telling me rubbish but that is what he was told to say in his training. Thank you Telstra, another 2 hours of time wasted for no reward, a copy of this letter is going to the TIO ombudsman and I still can’t work out if Telstra are taking the mickey out of me or they realy are totaly inept and incompetent of delivering services they sell.
Gary, I’ve organised for someone form Telstra Business to call you.
Brendan you are to be commended for your effort to satisfy customers but hopefully the guy from England will kick in soon to deliver better customer service.
Thank you Syd. I sat and talked with Gordon Ballantyne at an event recently and I must say he’s very down to earth and I’m confident he’s doing a great job.
Brendan I casted no aspersions on Mr Ballantyne and in fact have been most impressed with his recent Press appearances. If he can deliver , and I have great confidence that he will, he would expect a bright future at Telstra and would be welcomed by all Australians.
I’ve had enough of telstra. Selling a debt that wasn’t a debt, then giving false information to the debt collector ( affiliated with telstra). No one from telstra ever called or sent me a letter notify me of this payment. They did how ever send me a letter stating my account had been finalised and was paid in full and I confirmed this with a phone call. Now they are not willing to answer any questions, return calls , it’s taken 2 weeks and me calling them everyday for me to be assigned a case manager who can’t call me back. Telstra your flippant attitude and lack of respect for your customers has lead me to seek legal advice and I will now be going to the TIO.
If we all boycott Telstra, their business of ripping people off and selling the odd phone would be over.
Guy, Can I have your case # and a contact number so I can have someone look into this. You can use this online form.
Guy, I read this blog every time a new posting appears in order to see how many others are suffering the same frustrations as I am. You mentioned a few key issues similar to mine which are typical of Telstra’s way of handling things. Firstly, any mistakes are not Telstra’s mistakes, because, as any Telstra customer service consultant will tell you, they can’t fix the problem but if you stay on the line they will put you through to someone in another department who can help you. This is the first step in the merry-go-round which keeps you on the phone for hours. Secondly, you mentioned that they are not willing to answer any questions. This is because you are never talking to the right person and whoever takes your call Can’t answer your questions because they don’t know the answers, but if you stay on the line they will put you through to someone in another department on the merry-go-round. Finally, They will not return your calls because your problem is a much bigger problem to you than it is to them, and let’s face it, if they wait long enough, they know that you will ring them back and go on the merry-go-round again until you go to the TIO or seek legal action which is just as frustrating and time consuming. If you boycott Telstra and go with another provider, chances are you will be serviced by a Telstra wholesaler or on-seller, where Telstra still make money from your phone calls without the hassle of sending you bills or providing any customer service. I don’t know why Telstra has a lack of respect for the people who pay their bills and expect customer support and services for which they are entitled. If they could fix the problems, customers would be flocking to their door and they wouldn’t need to spend millions on advertising and sponsorship, or employ a sales department to call you up and flog their products. Unfortunately, They can’t. That’s my opinion
Brendan, after close and detailed perusal of the Telstra Annual Report serious and profound congratulations are earned by Mr Thodey and the entire Telstra Team. While, as Mr Thodey admitted, the customer service program is still in application, the results mentioned above are excellent and bring bright reflection to all concerned. Congratulations to Mr Stanhope and every best wish for his impending retirement.
I have to agree with the majority of posters on this blog about the frustration of trying to resolve any problem with Telstra. I have been a Telstra customer for more than 40 years, mainly by force of circumstances rather than choice, and I can assure you length of service counts for nothing with Telstra. I dread having a problem and getting onto the treadmill again.
Yesterday I tried to purchase a Prepaid mobile phone online, went through the process of filling out the form, name, address and all that stuff – press the submit button – it bounces with a message that the “address I have given is one of several attributed to that address, please select the correct address from the drop down menu.” The drop down menu contains one address and it is not my address – you know, the one they have been sending bills to for the last 22 years! No other choice available I can proceed no further.
I started from scratch and had another try, same result. I then mistakenly dialled the number provided and was once again conducted on the Asian mystery tour, by a polite gentleman who probably spoke better english than me if I could have understood his accent and the fact that he spoke like he was speed reading, after some time exchanging information that I doubt either of us comprehended he claimed he would update my contact details and I would be able to proceed with the transaction after 1 hour. Why my contact details would need updating I have no idea.
I put the idea on hold until today and then tried again, sadly with the same result! Most of these problems could be fixed in moments if we could speak to a local service representative who would listen to what we were telling them and respond to what our problem is, not what they assume it is. Sadly it seems Telstra/Bigpond can’t even operate a successful online operation. for an organisation who’s business is communication technology they are hopeless at communicating with their customers.
Perhaps I should purchase the phone from Optus, sticking with Telstra is just prolonging the frustration.
Hi Max, I’ve asked a local team to organse a call to you to sort this out for you. Brendan
Thanks Brendan,
This matter has now been successfully resolved due to some great work from Renee, a realy pleasent lady!
Thank You.
Hello Max. Glad to hear back that your matter has been resolved.
Why is Telstra still pretending that they are dealing with customer issues. I have spent the better part of 4 hours on the phone with Telstra only to have them tell me they cannot help me and that the previous advice they had given me was incorrect. (which I tried to tell them). When it all got too much for them they simply cut me off. Convenient for them that my 24 hours that I had to wait was up on a Saturday. No one can help me on the weekend. Look our Monday morning Telstra. Feel free to record the call Telstra!!!
Hi Julie. Can you send me your contact number and a account number so I can have someone local follow this up for you. You can use this form.
I have just checked and found out that a reply paid bag that was going to be sent out in approx Feburary 2011 still has not arrived. I was told at the time not to worry, the bag will come. ( But WHEN!! ) It does not affect me, but it would affect Telstra.
It was for the return of workable equipment.
What is going on with Telstra. How are you going to succeed if you do not do follow up work.
I have shares with Telstra and this type of action is not successful if repeated.
I worked for nearly 39 years for PMG to Telstra and you did not have this happen.
Hi Grahame. You are right, we can do better. I have asked for this to be investigated, explained and a bag sent out to you right a way.
Brendan. This case still has life.
I had a call from Telstra tonight (0294782200 ) which I could not understand. Three times it cut off. They appeared to be confused about the returned product and talking about a charge of $299. In the end I was suspect if it was Telstra calling. This call was to my mobile and I was in Kirrawee in an area where people who live there state they do not have this problem of cutoff’s. The caller was very hard to understand.
I called later approx 9pm by landline and all they could tell me was that the returned THUB arrived back on the 5th November.
What a SLOW PARCEL from MENAI by Australia POST.
The Telstra one could only tell me that it was to say that they had obtained the product.
But this was not the way the earlier caller made out.
Telstra needs staff who you can understand.
Is this a case of PROCESS FAILURE again.
( A returned thub and process indicating that you need to charge the customer for it. I say this because of the talk about the $299. )
I gave almost 39years service to PMG-Telstra ( Technician to Analysis. ) . The above is far from what I gave to customers. You gave customers the best possible at the best cost and we had success.
Hello Grahame. I’ve asked for someone to let me know what the sistuation is from our perspective and to ensure you are informed clearly as to what can and is being done. Sorry this is still an issue. Brendan
Why, when you report a mobile not working do you get a letter stating that as telstra could not contact you on the mobile that they consider the problem solved. The telstra shop treat you like an idiot and tell you that there is nothing wrong with it, BUT IT STILL DOES NOT WORK. The only help received was from the optus shop next door.
Hi Doug, I can see you’ve had some negative experiences with us lately. I’ve just asked a local team to investigate this for you and give you a call?
I have just gone to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman because the snake oil salesmen at Sensis would not change a small community based listing back to the free listing. The bills keep coming as do the threats to discontinue the service. In spite of several discussions with staff throughout Telstra and with the Snake Oil salesmen at Sensis. All that happens is that I waste my time.
I cancelled a Big Pond service almost two years ago and every months I get a statement advising me that I have a credit of about $1.60.
By the responses to some previous complaints, some assistant to one of the big wigs will post a response saying they will look into it then the people on the fat salaries can sit back and feel pleased with themselves. What a great job. sit back in the comfy leather chair while the staffer outside the office does all of the work. Fortunately I missed out on buying Telstra shares when they were first issued.
I don’t have any rainbow colours to break out. I have been wondering where that sales pitch is directed.
I am assembling all of the email addresses for the so called leaders in Telstra and I will send them everything about this schemozzle when and if it finishes.
Well done Telstra Executives for taking the time to see first hand the customer service side of the business.
Unfortunately it hasn’t stopped them from axing Australian customer service jobs recently which will no doubt end up overseas! Not happy David!!!
Exactly how many calls did the fatcats handle, ie was it five or six, and how many times did they attempt to communicate with the filipino call centre ??
It is not a big deal for senior management to occassionally get their hands dirty where informed management decisions are required, i.e.) in ensuring that Telstra customers are provided with the best possible services that the organisation can provide. In Telstra’s case, they should spend more of their time on the shop floor, rather than cloistered away in their ivory towers hidden away from the people that keep the organisation in business, paying to receive what Telstra call Customer Services. Ha! what a joke. When the bosses arrive on the floor, of course the staff are going to be on their best behaviour trying to impress with their ‘profession level’ of Customer Services. Senior management should pay suprise visits to the floor when the Telstra Customer Service teams least expect it and catch them unawares when the staff are not pretending to be taking customer concerns as seriously as they should be. Have senior management provide their email addresses, as Telstra customers must, so that they can be contacted when Telstra services are not working according to the script. That way they will gain a true picture of what needs to be done for Telstra to provide an acceptable level of Customer Service and understand Telstra customer concerns. The reports Telstra management are provided with from the Customer Services Team Leaders must be very creative in order for them to believe Telstra Customer Services are efficient and treating their customers as a vital investment capable of paying for the organisation to remain competitive.
I have been trying to resolve a problem with Telstras web site developer (case 4066307-02252013) since 25 Feb.When I asked how I could escalate this case I was told to contact complaints. This I did and received a automated response which referred to future contact (case KMM92462718V27636L0KM). This future contact came 5 days later asking me for information I had already provided. I tried your online complaints for about 15 mins until the consultant said they are from accounts and cannot help. The help on the website developer offers 24/7 assistance. However when phoning for help after 7pm EST I am told numerous times there is no qualified person available and please call back tomorrow 7.00-7.00. The last comment from your complaints dept, I quote ” The choice is entirely up to you to proceed with Telstra for your hosting services or not.” You obviously are not concerned about resolving your problems for your customers. It is now 3 weeks from initiation of this case and still no closer to resolution. It would appear easier to send them on their way. As a share holder of Telsta’s I am most disappointed. It is now 3 weeks from initiation of this case and still no closer to resolution.
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for the post, this kind of service is completely unacceptable – my apologies. I’ve forwarded this on to our complaints team.
Would the Telstra CEO and Leadership team like to come over to my house and sit here with me while I wait for a BigPond technician to arrive?
They might be able to help me with my assignments that I need the internet for while they sit with me?
We were supposed to receive BigPond Broadband last week and nobody showed up. Nobody called us to let us know they weren’t showing up either. When we called to follow-up, I spent 1hr,15mins on the phone trying to sort it out.
We were guaranteed somebody would arrive today. I’m still waiting. We were told our request would be put first on the list for the technicians to deal with. It wasn’t, because I am still here waiting and I’ve been just been told, after sitting for almost another hour on the phone that it has to be rescheduled to next week now.
I realise time is a commodity for the CEO of Telstra and the Leadership Team, but it doesn’t seem to be an issue for customers.
I’ve already sent a letter to the CEO and I am looking forward to the response. I would have loved to have spoken on the phone to your CEO, but unfortunately, nobody will give out the phone number.
I’ll be in Melbourne in the next few weeks. Can I please make an appointment with the Telstra CEO so I can let him know exactly what my Husband and I have gone through the last fortnight trying to get this internet connected.
I LOOK FORWARD TO A VERY PROMPT RESPONSE to:
a) getting our bigpond broadband connected; and
b) scheduling a meeting with the Telstra CEO to discuss what it has been like to be a Telstra customer over the last fortnight.
PS. Please don’t bother referring this to the complaints area, because they haven’t been able to resolve the issue for us.
Hi Susan,
It’s a shame that your new connection has caused you so much frustration – it shouldn’t be so hard.
I can’t help you get a meeting with the CEO, but hopefully the technician will sort out your connection issues this week.
If you have any issues after this time, please fill in this form http://www.telstra.com/24x7help and we can get the right customer service team member to contact you directly.
Az
As a shareholder and a person who has taken a serious interest in Telstra over the past ten years, I do find it surprising, and disappointing, that correspondence from Susan and others still report long running and extended problems.
I do know that CEO David Thodey is sincere in his stated intention to improve customer service, but it is obvious from Susan’s letter that he is being let down by those to whom he has entrusted this task of improvement.
I also know that if Susan should be so lucky as to be granted the opportunity to meet with David Thodey, she will be charmed with the honest, frank and exceptional enthusiasm of David to eliminate her complaint with utmost speed.