Telstra Is Removing Unlimited International Calls to Nepal and Philippines on Existing Pre-Paid Max Plan. Is That Legal?

LLuka Doncheap on 10/12/2019 - 13:43
Last edited 10/12/2019 - 13:55

Telstra is removing unlimited international calls to Nepal and Philippines on existing Pre-paid Max plan. Is that legal? I know it is (assumption) legal for them to come up with inclusions/exclusions but I chose their 300 aud for 365 days pre-paid max plan mainly because of this and now they're taking it away. I still have more than 300 days on my plan. They are taking away the said inclusion on 13/12/2019.

link to "new" offers: https://www.telstra.com.au/help/critical-information-summari…

comparison of "old" and "new": https://ibb.co/vPpgtDJ

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Comments

  • ozhunter on 10/12/2019 - 13:46

    Can you provide the link?

    Edit: It does say in their Critical Information Summary that Destinations included may change.

    https://www.telstra.com.au/help/critical-information-summari…

    At least contact them first and see what they say.

    • Luka Doncheap on 10/12/2019 - 13:58

      Yeah good point. But the "old" personal-critical-information-summary-pre-paid-mobile-offers did not include that phrase "Destinations included may change".

  • No on 10/12/2019 - 14:03

    Are you sure they are taking it away for existing users?

    • Luka Doncheap on 10/12/2019 - 14:06

      Well they sent me this message via sms so I assume I'm affected:

      Hi {Firstname}, from 13/12/19 Telstra Pre-Paid Max will no longer offer unlimited international calls to Nepal and Philippines. Visit https://tel.st/maxIDD for details on call rates and inclusions with your recharge.

      • No on 10/12/2019 - 14:10
        +3

        That may only change next time you recharge, otherwise I'd be asking for a full refund.

        • Luka Doncheap on 10/12/2019 - 14:11

          hope you're right. I'm waiting for support's response.

        • Luka Doncheap on 10/12/2019 - 14:36

          Chat support said my current recharge is affected.

  • tsunamisurfer on 10/12/2019 - 14:18

    It is not illegal.

    Illegal is against the law.

    • Luka Doncheap on 10/12/2019 - 14:30
      +1

      well it's like selling something with inclusions then taking them away after it's been sold

  • WoodYouLikeSomeCash on 10/12/2019 - 14:30
    +8

    your entitled to a refund if it wasn't in the "old" critical-information-summary

    Under the ACL:

    Products must:
    match descriptions made by the salesperson, on packaging and labels, and in promotions or advertising
    - Consumer Guarantees - ACCC

    and (You can ask for a replacement or refund if the problem with the product is major.):

    A product or good has a major problem when:
    - it has a problem that would have stopped someone from buying it if they’d known about it
    - it is significantly different from the sample or description
    - Repair, replace, refund - ACCC

  • wuds on 10/12/2019 - 14:56
    +8

    Happened to me with a different country. They didn't even let me know before they were changing it and i was billed for the international calls. Had to call a few times, the international calls were not free when I joined.

    After a few arguments and talking to several agents, one agreed to waive the money for the international calls and terminate my plan without any fee. Then I cancelled the plan.

    Later I got a bill for a termination fee. I had to call again a few times to get it waived.

    Telstra is terrible.

  • thebadmachine on 10/12/2019 - 16:20

    I thought with pre-paid the T&C’s of your Pre-paid plan applied until you change your plan type (Pre-paid Plus, Long life etc).
    At least this was the case recently for my mother.
    I had kept her on an old plan for many years until just recently, due to it having international credit included & the trade-off of less data was worth it until recently.

    So to my understanding when selecting the new Pre-paid Plus plan with unlimited international calls (to certain countries) then the T&C in the “Critical Information Summary” will be frozen again until we decide to move on to a new offer / plan when we are ready in the future.
    (e.g. if a new / different plan becomes available, we will continue to be on the current (old) plan until we ourselves change over to the new plan.)

    • jimbobaus on 10/12/2019 - 23:37

      Terms and Conditions of prepaid only apply while you have active credit or access

      so when you access expires (28 days etc) they can remove any conditions and your recharging is accepting any said changes.

      Postpaid the terms have to remain while you are under contract (24 m etc) their new Month to Month system does allow them to change on a whim now as you are not technically contracted

      • RockyRaccoon on 11/12/2019 - 06:12
        +2

        But op says they have a prepayment for a year, so the 28 days argument doesn’t apply.

        Telstra will decide if it’s cheaper to refund the plan or to grandfather the call costs.

        Nepal probably increased their interconnect costs a lot

        The government run Telco is running at a big loss

        https://kathmandupost.com/money/2019/08/16/nepal-telecom-s-p…

        I doubt if op will get cheap Nepal costs from any provider in future after reading that article.

        Maybe our resident Greens rep, who below advocates reconnecting Telstra to government ownership, might realise it doesn’t always work out better.

      • thebadmachine on 11/12/2019 - 17:36

        Terms and Conditions of prepaid only apply while you have active credit or access.

        So this must mean my mother (definitely pre-paid) has been recharging before her credit expires. But I swear she has told me a few times she has let it expire before recharging, but she was still on the old plan (with identical old conditions) up until recently when I switched her over to the new plan / offer (tapping “change plan / offer type” in the App).

        It is possible your quote is a recent change.
        The plan she was on was many years old, and that may be how she was able to keep it.

  • Diji1 on 10/12/2019 - 16:43
    -2

    The private sector fails again.

    Telstra is the business that lowered it's maximum internet speed from 100 to 50Mbps without lowering prices. It also lied by explaining that the increased upload speed needs to be paid for. Telstra doesn't pay for uploads.

    You only need to look at the billion dollar profits of this business to work out why internet is so expensive in Australia. Brainwashed people who still believe in neoliberal economic theory are still explaining that prices are low because of competition like morons.

  • Meho2026 on 10/12/2019 - 16:58
    +1

    Virgin Mobile did something similar to me once on a long expiry prepaid plan.
    I complained which did nothing so lodged a TIO complaint.
    Then the Australian based rep called me and refunded the entire amount I paid, then applied credit to my account to cover what I estimated I would be charged under the new terms.
    Just argue your point as misleading and deceptive conduct under ACL.

    • Luka Doncheap on 10/12/2019 - 17:37

      when you were working on your complaint, did you move to other provider or stuck with Virgin?

      • Meho2026 on 11/12/2019 - 08:17

        I stuck with them. Every time they did something dodgy, I complained and they would never entertain it so I'd go to TIO. At one point I had so much credit applied to my account, I paid nothing for over a year.

  • foxmulder on 10/12/2019 - 17:51

    Just use WhatsApp?

    • whooah1979 on 10/12/2019 - 19:23
      -2

      Or viber, Facebook, FaceTime, etc.

      • Kandrew on 10/12/2019 - 20:54

        If people won't install these apps on their phones, or if they don't even have mobile phones, you cannot use these services.

        That's what I've been faced with a couple of times when attempting to contact people in Philippines.

  • EightImmortals on 10/12/2019 - 19:23

    Well there goes my weekly chat with the Dalai Lama…

    • whooah1979 on 10/12/2019 - 19:34
      +2

      The Dalai Lama lives in India.

      • EightImmortals on 10/12/2019 - 20:10
        +2

        Shhh, don't tell the Chinese….

        ….and don't ruin my funny…. :)

  • JordanM on 10/12/2019 - 20:38

    So raise a complaint with Telstra via https://telstra.com.au/help/contact/complaints .

    If it is indeed being removed from your current recharge they may be able to offer a satisfactory resolution. If you cant sort it out with the complaints team contact the TIO.

  • OzHunterNSW on 11/12/2019 - 10:10

    The contract is written for them… they can change any aspect they choose… but heaven forbid you do the same.

  • SNK on 11/12/2019 - 13:49

    I am also affected by this. Did you get any resolution?

    • Luka Doncheap on 11/12/2019 - 22:12
      +2

      Nope. Latest update I have is chat support said my current recharge is affected. :(

  • Ultrarunner2020 on 16/01/2020 - 11:15

    I am also affected by this. Bought the 6 month sim 2 weeks before they removed unlimited calls to Nepal, knew just few days ago when they cut my call saying credit is low. I have filed a complaint with Telstra yesterday. Any updates on this issue ?

    • Luka Doncheap on 14/02/2020 - 15:53

      Filed a complaint too. So looks like there's no way they could give the unli international calls (Nepal and Philippines) back. What they did is provided me Telstra credit (that can be used for international calls) to compensate.

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