Telstra Contract fault cancellation Help/Advice ??

anthonyaaa on 19/12/2015 - 14:51
Last edited 19/12/2015 - 14:52

Hey fellow ozbargainers…

Long story short

$130 phone contract. 13 months in lost sim card so I went and got a new sim card and from there wouldnt work ever again
spoke to 7 differnet mobile technicians… seen 2 different stores, did 7 sim swaps, other sims work fine in my phone, sim wont work in any other phone etc etc

21 days on now I ring up… I said "this is it… normally after 2 days people are really upset.." after 10 days people are going crazy that their phone service is still down, Its been 21 days I need to change providers"

I told telstra and the guy said he will talk to manager as he can see 20 different reference numbers on my file and fully agreed…

End result they said I can change providers and cancel my contract but had to pay the $680 for the handset fees.

What do I do?? I dont believe i should as they didn't fulfill their contract terms…
Do i give the phone back? But ive paid for more than half of the phone is that fair?
I dont believe they will give me a $680 cheque if i gave them 2nd hand old iphone….
I run a business and my phone is my life… being without for 21 days is it fair they damaged my business as clients could'nt contact me…

any advice? What would you guys do?

Much appreciated guys~ little hot headed today

Mobile

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Comments

  • 2pro4sho on 19/12/2015 - 14:57
    +5

    Telecommunications ombudsman

    • Scorpiogirl on 19/12/2015 - 21:03
      +3

      Oh Telstra..i agree with this advice or you will just go round in circles. Been there, done that. This approach got action. Don't waste your time hoping…

  • ozhunter on 19/12/2015 - 15:17

    Did anyone ever try to move the number to another sim?

    • anthonyaaa on 19/12/2015 - 15:22

      did 7 sim swaps… from 2 different stores…
      some special glitch or ex gf hacked me who knows lol
      Telstra guy at Nth Sydney said his worked at Telstra for 5 years and never seen this problem before…

      • ozhunter on 19/12/2015 - 15:34

        Oh just read it properly and they are allowing you to cancel the contract.

        How much were the handset fees/month? Unfortunate situation but just because their system screwed up doesn't mean you get off the hook for the remaining handset payments. 21 days is a long time, but I think you should have pushed to cancel the contract within the 1st week it wasn't working.

        Were you given the option for returning the phone?

        I dont believe they will give me a $680 cheque if i gave them 2nd hand old iphone….

        Well they shouldn't as you haven't fully paid off the phone.

        • anthonyaaa on 19/12/2015 - 15:59
          +1

          understandable… but i have paid for more than half.
          So neither are they entitled to take all my money for more than a year, breach their contract duties and take my phone back scott free or instead $680 in fees.

          my understanding is they had a contract in place which they didnt fulfill. I can promise you if any of us didnt fulfill our contracts and some glitch happend to our credit card payments or loss of job they wont hesitate sending our bills off to debt collectors and tarnishing our credit history.

          So back to where they breached their contract, charging for a service that didnt work… what is a fair outcome… ?

          I understand they are still owed their $680…
          but they breached our contract and stuffed me around… am I not entitled to remedies?

        • grimace3 on 19/12/2015 - 16:38
          +1

          @anthonyaaa:

          Not a free phone, no.

          To be let out of the contract without fees; yes.

          It's so simple..

        • ozhunter on 19/12/2015 - 16:55

          @anthonyaaa:

          They should let you cancel the contract and waive that month's handset and service fee.

          Whatever the phone's value, they should give you an option to let you pay for the rest of it, or you return it and they refund the handset fees.

          You never specified what phone or how much are the handset repayments, but it's probably an iphone if it still worth that much.

        • anthonyaaa on 19/12/2015 - 16:56

          @grimace3: So if i stuff up and loose my job cant pay and dont fulfill contact I get debt collectors screaming for 130 x 11 months $1430… + late fees and bs… ok say sometimes ppl hand the phone back so lets halve those numbers…

          But if Telstra stuffs up and cant fulfil contract I still have to pay $680 for a phone without service… and forced to sign contract with optus now

          I fail see why Telstra is allowed to reneg on contracts and leave scot free without any compensation to the damaged individual?

          Canceling my contract is not compensation considering the phone which was meant to be free Im inadvertently forced to pay outright, how does telstra loose in any scenario?

        • anthonyaaa on 19/12/2015 - 17:05

          @ozhunter: but my point is why hand back a phone which i already paid more than half for when telstra breaches their contract and stuffs me around…

          Telstra is owed $680 I am owed $750 because ive paid 13 months for that phone

          Why Should i give the phone back to pay a $680 bill and I can walk away free??

          Why Doesnt Telstra pay me $750 for the phone i paid more than half of and they walk away free, same logic?…..

        • ozhunter on 19/12/2015 - 17:10

          @anthonyaaa:

          You've used the phone for 13 months, it's not worth what you paid?

          They haven directly caused you any damages, you're not meant to get compensated; just to be made whole.

          They should give you and option for them to take back the phone and offer some refund on the handset repayments.

          You have not paid for the phone. If you want to keep the phone, pay them the amount that they value it out.

          No one is forcing you to sign with Optus.

        • anthonyaaa on 19/12/2015 - 17:21

          @ozhunter: Its a very funny situation… Ive paid for halfish of the phone and they own the other half…

          Yes I have paid for 13/24 of that phone… thats why they want $680 for the other 11/24 of that phone…

          I am forced to leave telstra as Service is not working… irrelevant if its optus or vodafone. I am forced to leave this service

          But still dont see how compensation is involved…

          They are not gona charge me fees for a contract? Its common sense they have to let me out of a contract that doesnt provide a service…

          I just dont see the compensation in 'your allowed to get out of a contract and stop paying a service that provides you nothing cause we stuffed up.' Be happy cause this is your compensation… oh and pay us $680 so we can add it to the 13months of profit we've made off you…

          does anyone see Telstra not loosing anything and giving 0 compensation or am I going crazy because im in the middle of this

        • ozhunter on 19/12/2015 - 17:47

          @anthonyaaa:

          The only issue is the handset repayments. If they were able to provide you the service, you would still be making the handset repayments.

          The can't provide the service, so you obviously shouldn't have to pay for it, but the handset is still available and working so you can either keep it and pay the difference or return it and get a refund.

        • anthonyaaa on 19/12/2015 - 18:51

          @ozhunter:

          I just cant wrap my brain around the concept that telstra can breach a contract and not compensate anything…
          And i wont take "cancelling your contract and they paid all the fees" or " u just got to pay for the phone" as compensation…

          Its like a Cleaner is charging you $130 a week to clean your property and u have a 2 year contract… half way through his like
          stuff our contract 'F off' I cant clean your house anymore get a new cleaning company… but dont worry your being credited for the cleaning im meant to do…. thats your compensation… I wont charge you the future bills… By the way pay the broom and mop costs I left at your house that i was charging you $30 a week for… theres about $680 left…. pay me off now and were even…

          My logic no we are not even… u decide to not provide me that service thus breaching our contract… and those mops are technically half mine… ill keep the half of the mops and not get upset and sue you for standing me up like this and leaving me cleaner-less… I even gave you the benefit of the doubt waited 21 days for you to come show up but you still just stood me up… this was a 130x24=
          $3120 contract agreement…. Ive been fulfilling my obligations, ive been continuously paying and done nothing wrong..

          So why am I happy his not coming to clean my house and charge me for not cleaning my house? Oh I should hand all my half paid mops and brooms back to this rude person..

        • ozhunter on 19/12/2015 - 18:57

          @anthonyaaa:

          Telstra tried to fix your situation but they couldn't. You've made approx half the repayments of the phone. Obviously you can't just split the phone in half. It should be your choice, if you keep the phone, you pay for the rest of it. If they keep it, they should refund you.

          If you really want compensation, take them to court; don't just think you can decide that the phone should be the compensation.

        • anthonyaaa on 19/12/2015 - 18:59

          @ozhunter: refund as in the $750~ remainder in funds paid to me?

        • ozhunter on 19/12/2015 - 19:03

          @anthonyaaa:

          That would be good if they did as it was them that couldn't fulfill the contract.

          They must have offered you the option to give back the phone and receive some sort of refund.

  • kipps on 19/12/2015 - 16:29
    +2

    Hi OP,

    Back when I worked for Telstra they used to allow people experiencing extreme problems (like yours) to return the handset in like-new condition and terminate the contract, and waive all handset fees. Lodge a formal complaint and request this as the resolution. Given you're 13 months in, perhaps they can give you a credit as well.

    Hope this helps.

  • PVA on 19/12/2015 - 17:49
    +1

    is it the Sim or the phone then, they should replace the phone as it's faulty.

  • Randxyz123 on 19/12/2015 - 18:12

    I don't get it.

    Firstly

    13 months in lost sim card

    How does one loose their sim card?

    From what I understand you lost the sim so they have tried to reactivate a sim for you 7 times? Someone is doing something wrong somewhere.

    End result they said I can change providers and cancel my contract but had to pay the $680 for the handset fees.

    I don't see how that would help however I do see it as fair enough that you still have to pay out your phone. It still works.

    What you need to do is talk to someone high up at telstra.

    Maybe you can ask to completely recontract with telstra with a new phone and ask for the fees to be waived if you do that. That's what I did when something similar happened to me except the issue was the phone not the sim…

  • anthonyaaa on 19/12/2015 - 18:28

    I lost the sim card cause I took it out to put another sim card in for a few days overseas…

    So all fees got waived regarding ur problem? what about your phone? did they ask u to pay the phone fees off?

    They got 7 blank sims and tried to put my number on 7 times through a 2 week duration… never worked

    • Randxyz123 on 19/12/2015 - 19:02

      I lost the sim card cause I took it out to put another sim card in for a few days overseas…

      Fair enough. Very easy to do because I did basically the same thing. Turned out the sim was in my suitcase in a zipped pocket I just forgot I stuck it there. It was a extremely frustrating time however not being able to contact anyone when I got to the airport and the wifi at Melbourne Airport is stupidly expensive.

      Anyway…

      what about your phone? did they ask u to pay the phone fees off?

      The Phone WAS the problem in my case. It was repaired twice and both times I had 2 weeks with a crappy replacement. I was able to re-contract with no fees due to my phone being a lemon. (I kept the phone)

      They got 7 blank sims and tried to put my number on 7 times through a 2 week duration… never worked

      It just doesn't make sense. I'm not saying you are lying but I've helped family members who have changed phones (especially iPhone 4S to a 6) get a new sim. They were in and out in about 5 minutes.

      Sounds like to me they haven't cancelled your original sim.

      Just keep escalating it. That is what I did it took a while but eventually it was sorted.

      • anthonyaaa on 19/12/2015 - 21:00

        I swear the guy working at nth sydney telstra said his worked there for 5 years and never experienced anything like this before…

        Literally had 7 technicians ring me up from telstra over a 3 week duration…

        It got escalated to an escalation team who escalated it to another team … I and they gave up I think….

        very bizzare.. no matter how hard they tried cant get the number onto a sim card (many theories of bad sim batches etc, went to 2 different stores on different days and everyone else they gave them out to all worked)

        But anyways I ported the number to optus and it works perfectly now…

        Like i mentioned before a major glitch or some ex gf hacked me :s lol

        unheard of … There are about 10 email reference numbers i have in my Inbox if u work at telstra and wana verify them urself lol

  • [Deactivated] on 19/12/2015 - 19:36

    Don't you normally have a phone component of you bill, and a connection component? If you connect with another provider, and continue paying off the phone wouldn't total cost for you end up about the same?

  • coin saver on 19/12/2015 - 21:04

    Are you using the phone now and if so with which provider? Also what was the other sim card you used for overseas?

  • Olokun on 20/12/2015 - 10:34

    So couldn't you just have ported onto a prepaid SIM and back to Telstra be just be were you started? Probably be on a better plan too.

    • anthonyaaa on 20/12/2015 - 11:53
      +1

      Ye they not smart like that

      Plus I rather prefer a fresh start anyways…. heard optus has $40 for 10GB, unlimited calls, unlimited text to standard and intenational + 300 min internatinoal calls

  • resisting the urge on 20/12/2015 - 15:45

    You have only tried 1st level support (shop + phone)

    1. Write an email and state they have proven incapable of servicing the agreement, that you will not pay from next month until they resolve the issue and compensate you for the time without the service and the cost of replacing the handset/sim so that you can have a mobile service that at present they are unable to provide. Explain that you have exhausted all reasonable means to resolve the issue and that the only resolution left should include cancelling the contract and giving you a credit for your last few payments, or to pay for your existing service whilst they work out how to provide you a phone service that works as it should.

    2. Lodge a complaint and cc the Helstra email along with a chronology of the issues to the TIO (a.k.a. Second level support service funded by the taxpayer)

    3. Get a new phone with the same level of service from a telco that does not abuse customers in these ways, and wait for a response.

    FYI: In my experience resolutions are only found for customers who raise their matters with the TIO, all the others are left to stress out and dry-up in the hope that they will die, give up or become less able to prosecute their case in line with Telstra's special needs.

    • ozhunter on 20/12/2015 - 15:56

      They said he can already leave and go to another provider. He wants to keep the phone too.

      • resisting the urge on 06/01/2016 - 08:49

        Helstra won't want the phone back and won't insist on it (unless it doesn't want to resolve the issue/ keep the customer paying)

        The point being, one needs to get them to change to that position.

  • 87percent on 21/12/2015 - 10:19

    op.. if you want me to raise an internal complaint and get someone to further investigate it for you, send me a pm with your contact details and i'll get someone to call you back

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