Help, TPG Holding Me to Ransom with My Mobile Number

geek001 on 22/04/2015 - 10:25

Hi all,

TPG sent me a notice to increase my "prepayment" to $150 and by prepayment I mean ransom, because the $20 "prepayment" that I paid apparently wasn't enough to cover the $16 excess that I generated last month.

So I sent an email to their mobile customer service to see if I can get it waived since my $16 is under the $20 prepayment. They never answered my question. Now they have barred my number and the only way to get it unbarred is to pay the $150.

What can I do?

Also, how is it even legal to call it prepayment because there is no way you can get your money back? They don't refund prepayment. It's not even like prepaid where you have till your expiry to spend your credit. Once you cancel your service with TPG, you forfeit your "prepayment" and once you drop below your prepayment amount, they top it up by charging your credit card.

Help!

Mobile

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Comments

  • polol on 22/04/2015 - 10:38
    +1

    standard route is call them up and threaten to call the TIO (telecom industry ombudsman). This seems bizarre, i thought the "Deposit" recharges you until it hits $20 again.

    • geek001 on 22/04/2015 - 10:58

      First, I asked to speak to someone else, and she said that they are going to tell me the same thing. I tried to threaten to go to the TIO, but I don't think the customer rep at the end cares or have any bargaining power. I think she is limited by what she can do in their system.

  • c64 on 22/04/2015 - 10:54

    $150 upfront seems like a massive amount for a $16 overspend, especially since it is not refundable. i think prepayment is the correct term (you are paying in advance) as opposed to applying for credit (paying in arrears). prepayments need not be refundable.

    you can always port away (which costs you a few $)

    • geek001 on 22/04/2015 - 10:56

      I don't think it should be called prepayment if there is no way for you to ever use it or get it back. This is in reality a fee isn't it?

      • c64 on 22/04/2015 - 10:57

        i suggest you ring them or contact a rep on wp and politely query why the prepayment needs to be so big. if you are normall spending less than $20 then it is effectively prepayment for several months in advance

        • geek001 on 22/04/2015 - 11:02

          I tried ringing them this morning. The rep said that mine was not as big as some of their other customers which needed to pay $500, contrary to what she believe, that did not make me feel better.

          I even asked for an extension and for my service to be unbarred for the time being. The rep said she can't do anything. So basically, they are holding my number to ransom. Pay the fee or have no service till you manage port the number out to someone else.

  • t_c on 22/04/2015 - 10:56

    move over to aldi mobile

    • geek001 on 22/04/2015 - 11:06

      With all due respect, I don't see Aldi Mobile as good value unless you needed to keep a number dormant with their long expiry.

      So far, I am thinking of porting to Spintel, their flexible plans sounds good. Is that a bad idea?

      • cloudy on 22/04/2015 - 11:45

        Do anything but stay with tpg, I'm convinced they are crooks when they tried to keep all the refundable deposits with a wave of a pen on existing contracts.

        I moved my parents to yatango coz those rates suited them more. But I'm a happy spintel customer with their adsl, though I never tried their mobile.

      • triplenet on 22/04/2015 - 18:44

        go TC ? i m moving from TPG to TC this month before the 28$ plan promotion finish this month

  • Banana on 22/04/2015 - 15:17

    OP! Try making a formal complain to TIO and let TPG know that you have made that moved. I wanted to port my number out because there was a change in their policy. They wanted to charge me for the port out fee and I threatened to call TIO. They acted pretty quickly after that!

    • geek001 on 22/04/2015 - 15:32

      Yes, I am going to make a complaint to TIO. Maybe 3 complaints, because I still have an outstanding dispute with them regarding the refundable deposit for 2 other services, which was called refundable deposit when I signed up, but it has been changed to "prepayment".

      Well, Luckily, I managed to get $5 Vodafone sim in the weekend. I was going to use it in a pocket wifi for their unlimited data in the weekends.

      I used the sim and managed to port over my phone number since I already have it handy. Took 3 hours. At least I am up and running now without needing to pay $150 ransom.

    • geek001 on 22/04/2015 - 15:34

      I think maybe this is their strategy of getting rid of people on their $16.99 mobile plans. Pretty good value for how much I pay, but I am not going to pay $150 "fee" to continue using it.

  • shadowarrior on 22/04/2015 - 15:31

    Damn TPG at it again. Went to cancel my ADSL2 connection because I moved house…after being with them for 5 years in this current service and 3 years previously in Melbourne. I am not even in a contract with them. Was told I had to give 30 days notice, or pay a full month's charge. :|

    • purplelady on 22/04/2015 - 16:11

      Yeah they do have that 30 days notice thing. My friends were hit with that before too. It's funny how they need 10 working days to connect, but need 30 days just to cut us off. But so minimal time to barr geek001's numbers.

    • c64 on 22/04/2015 - 17:04

      that is really your fault for not reading the cancellation terms …

  • geek001 on 22/04/2015 - 15:36

    Where else can I complain about them? I want to shout this skulduggery from the roof tops! They don't seem to have any linked Facebook or Twitter pages.

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