I have been trying to get mobile broadband setup with Telstra for 2 weeks now.
And I have come to realise that Telstra is the worst telco i have ever had to deal with. From purchasing and customer support, to the service provided. The last time i dealt with them was maybe 15 years ago.
I find it hard to believe that I can be the only one experiencing this, or am I?
Are they really this bad? And what happened to them?
the thing i am dont understand is, if any other "smaller" telco had this kind of service and support, they would go out of business fairly quick.
It would be great if telstra collapsed and was replaced by a proper business that valued its customers and service.
I have lived in Australia just under 10 years, and have had to deal with Telstra a couple of times. They have been awful for at least that period, shocking call centres, clearly a back office mess. If you don't need them for their superior mobile network then avoid at all costs is my recommendation.
I had to sign up to them to get Cable internet in recent history, the experience was so bad I cancelled before they set it up, and moved the small business contract of 25 mobile plans I had with them to another provider, I'd love to see them sink.
That's before 2006, now only about 10% share owned by government.
It's the government contracts that keeps Telstra alive.
In my area they're superior to Optus / Voda in terms of reception, so I have 0 choice but to be with them or an MVNO who uses their network.
By far the worst telco I have dealt with.
1978
They were telecom then and didn't have share holders.
No private shareholders, but still big, bureaucratic, inefficient and no need to worry about competition. Unfortunately, this is a legacy that still affects them today.
What affects them today is they are outsourcing more and more of their services to overseas mobs who offer the world and are, actually, clueless. It is not only the call centres but the technical areas as well. This has now crept up into middle management, as well, so don’t expect improvements in service anytime soon. Management that doesn’t want the hassle of managing following a failed ideology.
Aussie Broadband. Always had good service with them since joining.
I never thought I'd be happy with a telco, but Aussie are actually amazing.
I was having issues with a 3rd party router, and the time and effort they put in to help was amazing. Prompt, efficient and friendly service with an Australian call centre. Brilliant
I'd like to think AussieBB was started by someone that experienced Telstra's 'support' and decided to do it better.
It's fine, but still butthurt were paying full price
Perception of “value” is personal. Cheapest they don’t claim.
Think of Telstra and Microsoft as the same, both so big they crdoht care how bad their products and service are, and will be around like cockroaches forever
Telstra and Microsoft Business support on the other hand are top notch.
My experience Telstra is a rip off and everyone in oz knows that, ringing their call center is a cluster …., and the Microsoft support call I made three weeks ago (for a partnered business account) started with an English speaker from Des Moines, transferred over to hybradbad to a bloke who could barely speak English and I may as well converse with a Labrador dog,
I use visual studio and ssis a lot and haven’t used such shit half finished products in my life, they are embarrassing, yet companies use them as they are cheap shit.
Oh I may also chuck IBM in this list too.ie Cognos and datastage the shittest of products ever ever made.funn hw pen spire products end up better
Sounds like they're the standard consumer lines of support. Telstra Business will get you Australian support and Microsoft Business gets Americans who know what's going on.
@Clear: purely depends on what product group you are dealing with. With Telstra, some support are in AU, some in India. (I am referring to enterprise systems with both vendors). With MS, they operate from all over the world, I have dealt with India, China, US, Canada etc. If you get a contractor with v- on their email address (which is the first point of contact even with pro direct support), they are not so great to deal with for complex situations. Once escalated to real Microsoft people, they are 99% great to deal with.
Agreed. The tech support for both companies are actually useful, understandable and secure, unlike Optus. Optus has longer wait times and most of the time I can't understand a thing and just end up fixing the problem myself.
Oh don't get me started on Optus. Raised critical issues with their Enterprise team with a week turn around. Telstra can have someone available within half an hour.
Telstra Internet Direct Business support used to be great. But my more recent experience with them is that they’re going the same way as consumer. Had a faulty ADSL port on my business service and they didn’t deal with it at all. Overseas support and usual checklists. Operators that couldn’t fix things or think outside the usual. I ported the service out to iiNet business and everything came good. Was very disappointed. Telstra Business used to be a recommendable service.
I've found that a lot of the Aussies in the Business support have shifted to the Enterprise support team. The only real issue I've had with their overseas support is getting to those obscure departments like DNS. There is no option in voice recognition and the support team don't manage it.
@Clear: Because they are working from a prepared statement, and don't have a clue how anything works…
And brainwashed morons still believe the theory that the private sector provides better customer service than the Government.
As well as dealing with atrocious customer service you're getting ripped off for it. Check out Telstra's profits to see why.
The high prices have severely damaged the overall economy as well so there's another great benefit to privatisation: you have less chance of finding a job.
And this will continue while brainwashed idiots put the ALP and the Liberal Party back into power. The Green's have pledged to nationalise the electricity sector because of the severe damage that electricity privatisation has caused.
Give your horse a sugar cube from me.
WA's state owned electricity grid Synergy lost 600 million dollars last financial year.
Our power prices are worse than over east and we can't change providers.
State owned assets suck arse
That’s the thing, it doesn’t matter who provides the retail side re prices, the power mostly comes from the state grid and generators, obviously the reseller has to make a profit from somewhere, your prices may be high already but if retail was privatised prices would no doubt increase for you. Electricity companies are just leeches and scoundrels. When you have a serious outage in NSW it’s never your electricity company who you call, it’s AusGrid or Endeavour. The secondary handling with a overseas call centre through say AGL is just bullshit.
This just shows you can have bad management by government as well. Just need better management practices and accountability.
Just need better management practices and accountability.
sounds like “red tape”, can’t have that.
Change providers to someone who has to add their profit margin on top of the wholesale rate.
Just look at WA Gas and all the misleading advertising
I just want better solar feed in tariff than 7c and a government that gives a shit about battery storage.
It's not in their interest here to subsidise batteries as they will lose even more money.
@giftcardinspector: Solar is a saturated market and it's causing equipment issues with back feed.
Batteries don't back feed.
Both are good in the sense the home owner purchases the equipment and takes the associated risk
@Davo1111: So rather than improve the grid to handle more solar, we discourage the uptake of solar?
You should be in government.
@giftcardinspector: Where do you think the money should come from?
Why shouldn't you be charged more as you're the reason it's an issue?
Can I remind you that the ALP had a plan which included FTTP… The idiots at the L/NP were the cheapskates that said they could do it cheaper… And we know how that turned out and (is still being worked on) also what sort of service "we" are going to get in the future, once NBN evaporates and does not service… And believe me there is going to be sooo many problem with a "spliced" system.
dazza610 is correct
ALP put 46 billion dollars in the bank to give us FTTP.
They started the work with FTTP.
before the september 2013 election the LNP said 'we will give you fast internet for 26 billion [i think it was 26… maybe 29?]
In sept 2013 the majority on australian voters actually voted so i would miss out on FTTP and i got 3rd world country fttn.
About 1 year ago? NBN co said in a financial review they were trying to keep the total cost to around 51 billion dollars
SO:
ALP 46 billion for FTTP
LNP 51 billion for shit…
dont blame me i voted labor
Just a small issue ‘grog’ they never put the money in the bank, the NBN is built on borrowed money.
The $46/29/26/51 Billion has always been a partial down payment.
The rest of the undisclosed total cost is to come from future revenue, if they are lucky.
If it was fully funded, Australia’s credit rating would have dropped from AAA big time.
Also you forget that the initial plan was for it to be completed a lot earlier. Kevin007 guaranteed that.
@AlexF: And @RockyRaccoon, you forgot to mention, while Labour was still in power the work done was preparing the infrastructure ready for FTTP, there was a lot of work to remove asbestos and make it safe for work to be carried out.It wasn't a debacle, it was something that was used when the copper was first laid, houses had it, buildings had it, Telstra didn't put it in as a short cut, it was the material most commonly used at the time. If the Liberals hadn't stepped in and made a complete mess of things we would of not only had multi GB/s download speeds, it would of been finished earlier, without node cabinets in the street and much cheaper.
Who voted for 3rd world speeds and old tech, NOT ME.
It wasn't a debacle
my recollection is that remediation of the pits was Telstra’s responsibility which they refused without additional compensation and delay. Hence, debacle.
@AlexF: Asbestos or not, it was a stuff up on the original planning by the originators. They didnt do the homework and it added to the cost.
Hence my point is that it could never have been implemented for the price quoted by Kevin007
Thats not saying Labor or Liberal did or didnt do a good job. I dont have the details to tell.
It was doomed to go over budget because of delays and poor planning. Thats all.
Taking 12 years cmpared to the original 7 year plan, in itself added cost regardless of the technology used.
My place received FTTP. It took 1 team of 4 to install over 5 days. Sometime later another team of 4 had to rip it all up and reinstall.
Now that cost and I bet it was never budgeted for
Asbestos or not, it was a stuff up on the original planning by the originators
again, (as I recall) pit maintenance and remediation was Telstra's responsibility.
My place received FTTP. It took 1 team of 4 to install over 5 days. Sometime later another team of 4 had to rip it all up and reinstall.
I don't know your details. In my own experience, NBN's contractor's sub-contractors did all they could to act incompetently so as to get paid more. Given propensity for sub-contracting, private enterprise couldn't have done better, but would definitely be dearer.
Reader's memory might be a little foggy, but should be aware that Rudd didn't want NBN - he wanted national broadband access be built by private enterprise (ie. Telstra) subject to fair access by RSPs. It was Sol's determination to sabotage that led to Telstra's irreverent submission that lead to NBN.
With so many billions wasted, Australians deserve a Royal Commission into this. We should all know who played what role in the final outcome and be punished for it.
If the greens ever have power you won't be able to afford to buy electricity at any price, you will be taxed to oblivion as the country crumbles beneath us. Private run power and telco's has been a disaster, the only thing worse is government run!
All the telcos are the same. No customer service, call centers overseas where they all read from scripts and can't use or have any common sense. I have a business account with Telstra and one with Optus and l dread if l have to call them for anything.
I don't agree I have found Telstra over many years First class when I have had issues
At times they have bent over back wards to assist me.
i simply cant believe you
Me neither. Have had absolutely shocking times dealing with them. Including taking multiple days off so they could connect a phone line (they insisted i needed to be there), each time with no show and no explanation.. they then wanted to charge me for turning up again, awful awful customer service in the Meantime trying to figure out what was going on.. eventually I googled the CEO and faxed him directly. Next day I got a call from a secretary of his or something, they were absolutely brilliant and said they'd connect me free of charge the next day and i didn't even need to be home. Turned out they'd been going to the wrong address.
i simply upvote you just for this comment! I had to deal with Telstra twice in the past 10 years and never again, first was a landline rental only just for ADSL connection and i had direct debit setup on the account for convenience, when I cancelled the service they kept withdrawing the money from my account, called them every month for 6 months afterwards with each time they promised they fixed it all up for me blah blah blah, each time they transferred my call through 2 to 4 different departments and each time i had to explain everything from the beginning again, it's like they dont have a record of what happens or any note whatsoever on my account… the second time was for an ADSL 2 year contract that i simply could not get out of. Every time i moved house or changed from ADSL to NBN, they said i had to renew my contract so a 2 year contract lasted for nearly 4 years, lesson learnt. Oh yes since i'm complaining, may as well throw Foxtel into the mix too :). I signed up for Foxtel and Telstra as a bundle and had to pay for the iQ 2 box and installation (silly me). The Telstra rep at that time did not ever tell me it was for renting the device, i thought $179 fee we paid was for the purchase of the box, but no I was wrong, at the end of the contract, they demanded i had to return the box which i saved hours of records on or have to pay $350 fee. I would love to see these two companies go broke 1 day ;)
I agree, personally my experience with Telstra has always been pretty good whether that is on the phone or live chat, usually I just stick with live chat where possible.
That's not to say others don't have bad experiences but all companies have the same problem, people only ever go online to complain about the bad times and rarely sing their praises when they do well.
I got my internet cable disconnected by some cowboys replacing the node outside my place last Monday who did a runner after telling me to restart my modem.
Rang telstra and explained it all to some helpful guy who unfortunately was in sales, got disconnected when he went to check with faults.
Rang again and got what sounded like an Indian call centre, where everything took 3 times as long repeating words and discerning his weird grammar.
Got promised it would be fixed by 7pm Tuesday (xmas eve). Checked outages during the day and it did state that time on the outage (mine alone, I checked neighbouring houses also.)
Came 7pm and nobody had came to fix it or contacted me…checked outages and now it said it would be fixed by MON 30 Dec! So without cable internet the whole xmas period, wonder if my promised fix date will be further revised today?
Curious what company people here recommend for cable internet support?
The whole 7pm by X date is from a script, usually 2 days in advance right? They probably have some internal SLA of 48hrs to fix most issues and I guess the script is based off that.
I say this as our internet dropped out for the first time in nearly 5 years at this house, there was an outage listed but each time I contact them for an update they would always say by 7pm on X date… Like that is very specific despite the fact they couldn't actually tell me what the problem was.
it was the day before about 4 or 5pm… probably an automated fault estimator. The Indian support guy did sound like he was reading from a script half the time.
Well I just checked my outage and it has been updated again today.
Services should be restored
Within 2 days
Last updated 11:25am"
Cause:
Under Investigation
I told them what the cause was but I don't think they do any actual listening, thinking or investigating.
Hopefully I'll get a rebate for the cable time lost. Probably have to waste a lot more time communicating with some script-reading grunt, ffs.
@bevo: Try writing your problem up on their Facebook page. We had a week's outage, no service calls back, etc., but they contacted me immediately when they saw the FB post. As I do some work from home, I also insisted they compensate me for that. I ended up getting two months' reduction on my bill.
@Lastchancetosee: Thanks for that advice, I did make a post on their FB page, and got a prompt response. Looks like it might be escalated now. I'll post the result when I get one.
Who said they were good in the first place
They were good before privatisation. Now cost cutting means you get what you pay for.
The government owns 51% and they sold the rest, and the rest resold on and on…
So does that answer your question..?
Nobody can co-operate with the others… The main "bug-bear" is the "share holders", they always want MORE, (the greedy bastards) without any input of funds… Then they want tax breaks (the greedy bastards)…
I think I got a special deal available at the time and is a no frills ISP (Harbour ISP) with unlimited data, unlimited VOIP, to any Local and any Mobiles, and restricted amount (can't remember) Overseas calls… They supplied the Router/modem + a Cisco connector so I didn't have to buy other VOIP possible phones (there is 3 in the house at the moment). The toughest part was getting my Old ISP releasing my home phone number so it could be ported over…
Twice I did have to have a bitch, I called them on my mobile and they took over, by calling me back on my mobile. A Tech stepped me through the settings, that should have been calibrated before sending.. All OK
the second time wasn't their fault… Someone with a post hole digger ripped up the cable. I bet that cost 'em…
I believe Telstra went to the pack when it was sold off by the libs, so it wasn't a gov owned business. So many government assets were sold by the liberals and most have gone downhill or have failed. Who voted liberal anyway?
simply they have sent all support off shore to 3rd world countries and this is the pile of poo we are left with.
and the sale pitch is, we are doing it for the share holders.
can anyone recommend a mobile broadband with wifi usb dongle that is on the telstra network but not through telstra. i have had it with them and am no willing to pay double to not use their support/service. i just want their coverage.
Why don’t you send a complaint to telstra instead of creating an ozbargain topic?
When ever I have had an issue that can’t be resolved I just file a complaint and it gets escalated.
Any issue I have had always gets fixed through this method.
i have and they still wont resolve anything. they are uselessssssssSSSSssssss
Let me know if you want me to escalate for you, you'd have to PM your details and not on the forum for security purposes.
How do you know telstra is the problem?
Could be a common denominator, the problem may persist regardless of which telco…
I guess everyone will have their own experience.
I have been calling Telstra and Optus quiet a few times over the last 2 years and found Telstra to be much better in terms of service and support.
This is for both a prepaid service and post-paid business plan.
Have you considered optus wireless broadband with roof mounted mimo antennas? I get great telstra speeds here, but they simply don't offer enough data for wireless broadband. With optus mobile best i could get was about 6mbps.. then with good antennas on the roof I now get up to 70mbps.. usually closer to 30 or 40.. still smashes my 8mbit on ADSL2
Their customer service went downhill after they moved their call centres to the Phillipines. All they can do is read from a script and its almost impossible to explain a problem as they don't seem to comprehend anything that is not super basic.
When I upgraded 3 years ago I anticipated that I will have problems so I got everything in writing. Sure enough after everything was processed it didn't go through correctly. Despite of having it in writing it was a monumental fight to get them to honour their word. Just unbelievable.
If it's in the Philippines now, why does it sound like an Indian call centre? You would think they would employ locals.
I used to call eBay in Manila for my job frequently, and they were a pleasure to talk to. Pretty much an American accent. No idea what it's like now though.
There are actually quality workers in the Philippines. In the end it just comes down to pay peanuts get monkeys.
Don't get me wrong the workers are great especially when they relax a bit on the phone, but they dont appear to have much authority to really do anything.
Took me 33 days and about 20 phone calls to get my cable connected. The worst. But it's really fast, so…
There is no money in telco. So they can't afford to pay good customer service reps.
You can thank Optus and Vodafone. They are not interested in lifting their game. Everyone is just trying to stay one step ahead of lazy.
I just spent 90 minutes on hold and never got answered so used online chat. This is because I wrote a letter of complaint and my case manager in the Phillipines stuffed up everything and now he can't roll it back. Just waiting until I've had my overseas holiday and then I'm going to investigate and change
Wow, a case manager stuffed up. Telstra is really getting worse. I guess getting TIO involved is the next step.
if you involve the TIO the customer service does a 180
Yep, instant phone call from someone in aus generally. TIO is literally the telco boogeyman
One big issue with Telstra is their departments are like silos. When you have an issue and you don't talk to the right department, no only you don't get your problem resolved, it can add to frustration.
To make the matter worse, despite talking to Telstra staff which are clearly based in Australia, a lot of them still behave like robots. This is even more frustrating because they know there is an issue so they end up wasting time explaining how his/her particular department works (despite there is clearly a problem needs solving). They are often powerless (especially if you don't reach the correct department) and they always have excuses or some "rules" which they insist so that they cannot help you fix the issue - even if Telstra staff made a mistake and caused the issue in the first place. For example, if a Telstra staff entered the wrong address or customer details in an order that belongs to someone else, you ended up getting calls from Telstra, most of the departments will refuse to fix it (because you are not the owner of the order) and due to them stuffing up the contact details, they would struggle to contact the actual person who placed the order. Some would offered a band-aid solution - leaving a note somewhere in the order, but you will still end up getting calls about the order you didn't place.
When you feel that the Telstra staff you've been dealing with are making the matter worse, the best way is to contact the complaints department. People there behave more like proper support staff and they do have the power to fix things and get things resolved quicker. Raising a TIO complaint is also an option.
The saddest part with Telstra is that customers get the burden to figure out the right department to contact to resolve each issue and if the problem happened to not belong to any particular department's responsibility, the customer ending up talking to a bunch of departments which cannot do much. To make the matter worse, a lot of Telstra department staff do very limited things and always follow the book (even if there is clearly an issue / mistake). If you run into that situation, the only way is to go to the complaints department.
My business overhead NBN coaxial cable was hit by a truck, cable was lying on the road.
Called Telstra and told them, on hold for an hour only to be told to reboot my modem 3 times.
Will never support any business with overseas "Tech" support.
Cancelled them the next week and moved to Aussie Broadband, couldn't be happier.
We are at about $700 in extra charges. After complaining several times, our account information became "unavailable". The case manager ordered a new product after we complained about excess charges.
Best approach is to ask for a timeframe on when the issue will get resolved and when they miss the deadline escalate with TIO. It might be a coincidence, but in my personal experience lingering issues have been resolved rather quickly (days instead of months) as soon as TIO has gotten involved.
only been a telstra mobile phone customer, and dont have anything bad to say about them. all issues have been resolved via online chat quickly. my internet is with tpg who are also excellent.
Been with them for 7 years for adsl through to NBN. Never had an issue and they've always price matched competitors to keep my business.
1 July 1975, when PMG was split into Aust Post & Telecom.
I thought it was in April but I agree here.
Recently moved away from Telstra as I'd had issues with streaming quality going all over the shop, even outside of peak hours. Noticed an immediate difference after I was connected with the new ISP. Can now stream 4K reliably at any time of the day and also my internet speed increased a bit as a bonus. Not sure if Telstra CVC here is overloaded or they shape certain traffic but won't be going back to them anytime soon.
I raise you our Optus cable > NBN experience.
Organized to be moved as cable service was ending. Select time and date, no tech shows up for first appointment (NBN). I ask what happened and get told it was done 'remotely'. I know for a fact this cannot be done but the support person assures me. Nobody turns up for the second appointment (Optus), I ask again and get told I cancelled the first one (which I did not) as such both needed rescheduling. I mention what the other person said and thankfully have the chat log to prove it. Get told I need to reschedule and next one is month away. I rage as hard as I can and instantly get a phone call after threatening TIO. They rush through an appointment all of a sudden within a week and I negotiate a $250 credit for the waste of 2 full days.
The bloke who rocks up is genuinely clueless and tries to tell me he can't do his job as there is no port. I explain everything that has happened and he reluctantly goes to install a new one. In his quest to find an existing port he found my housemates snake, which is fully enclosed in a proper enclosure and begins to refuse to get under the house because there could be more snakes. I had to call Optus while he was here and explain that it is a fully enclosed snakes etc etc.
After ALL this the NBN doesn't work and I get told that it could take 24 hours to activate. Fast forward 24 hours later and it is still not working. Optus advise I need a new modem as my cable one is incompatible and it takes a week to send out. At this point I have given up, why was this never mentioned and why wasn't one just sent before the appointment. I got another apology over the phone from someone locally after I mention TIO again but didn't get any further concession.
I used to work for a small ISP and this whole thing has honestly blown me away. If I was an older person or someone know as internet savvy I would have received nothing and been fkd around for over 2 months.
used to have their cable broadband… took me over 3h on the webchat and had to sign for 3 years to get an “ok” deal
three years later they told me my contract ended and they offered me a plan with slower speeds and less data - for more money (?!?)
luckily the NBN came to my ‘hood a month later so I moved to a competitor, I’ve since been paying $20 per month less for a bigger and faster plan
they live in this fantasy world where people either don’t have access to information or they do but they’re happy to pay a massive premium for a marginally better service
p.s. my 80 year old neighbour told me the other day they tricked her into signing up for an internet plan (“you know you can’t have a home phone without the internet nowadays”) and a mobile plan (“you know the internet is not 100% reliable, there are outages so you need a back up”), and she went from paying $40 to $100+ per month
filthy scumbags they are! even her old $40 home phone plan was twice as much as she should be paying with one of the cheaper telcos…
Please post which cheaper telco you are using that provides home phone for $20 a month. My MIL needs a plan like this
Don't have home phone, but e.g. Optus has a $22 home phone plan.
Surely other telcos have even cheaper plans.
Telstra in my area (Sydney) is pretty bad. I cant get more than 2 bars. They have now offered to me to leave the contract without any penalty as they just cant do anything about it. It is very disappointing and the Off-shore help center is good for nothing.
I've had good and bad experiences with Telstra, Optus and Vodafone. Optus has made me want to tear my hair out as has Telstra.
Once you get Telstra up and running it's usually reasonably good. But as soon as you have a problem, or need to vary the service, you know it's going to be a headache to resolve.
Good advice to go to TIO. I have had issues resolved quickly, often just by letting them know that will be my next step. A couple of times I've had to follow through. I think it's getting less effective though, unfortunately, as time goes by.
I think we are expecting too much from the call centre staff who are doing a boring job on a low salary . Better IT systems, automation, efficiency and better paid limited staff may be the way to go. BTW, Telstra is okay in my experience(I don't have internet with them)
They were not fined more than 23 million dollars in total maybe 5 years ago? in 2? fines for anti competitive behaviour for nothing …
bad bad bad