Missing $200

Now, this one was sort of my fault.

Also, OMG I love the live chat option on the Telstra website. For one, I know I'm dealing with people in Adelaide. Locals! Not someone in Manilla who's just going to read a script and not deviate from it. Although, lately it's usually been the Aussies in the complaint section I've been talking to.

Although with tech support it is the Phillipines you have to deal with. Some of them are great. Some aren't. But, I think when it comes down to it we'd all rather deal with locals.

Anyway, I paid $200 back in Jan to what I thought was this account. The live chat guy I spoke to a few weeks ago never got back to me. The woman I chatted with told me to come back in a week if I'd heard nothing. She actually did the bpay trace unlike the first guy.

I accidently paid the $200 to an account that I had back when I was living with Kitty. Keep in mind this is oh 4 or 5 years ago. They took the $6.50 or something that was owing - and then mailed me a cheque for the refund. To the old address.

They sent a cheque for almost $200 to a place I haven't lived in years. An account that was closed year ago. I rang them to change the account into my housemates name because I WAS MOVING OUT. It would have been in the notes. So, he told me he would get that one cancelled and then mailed out to my new address.

It only took me 5 weeks and 3 live chats to figure this out. His customer service was amazing though. I whinged to him about what had been happening too and told him I had NO faith left in the company at all. How could I? After all the crap they have pulled.

The shit with Kev is more than enough but having to call tech support over 19 times is ridiculous. It looks like it was the modem. Still a little too soon to tell - but so far no drop outs.

This T-Hub is as bad as the last. We'll just send it back and say thanks but no thanks. Just can't deal with them anymore. Lee's in therapy and I'm going to have to get some for myself as well.

Imagine you lost your loved one and 18 months later despite numerous complaints via email and phone the corportation KEEPS sending packages to him. Which require answering the door to "package for 'insert name of loved on here'." And, it's constant. It's not like it's every 12 months or so.

Imagine you're the best friend who's got to deal with the corp who do not ever freaking LISTEN to what you are saying. If you can imagine that you'll have some idea of how bloody frustrating the whole thing is.

I hate Telstra. I never did until last year. Lee loved them - not anymore.

More Thub issues

This thing - pardon my French is an absolute piece of crap.

The guy I spoke to said he'll send out a replacement but because we have had so many issues if we like we can send it back and just be done with it. It was tempting - but we're only paying $1 a month for it because of one of Telstra's other stuff ups. I swear it's like they are going out of their way to torment us.

They're sending out a new one. I didn't beg them to send it in Lee's name. I want to see if what Minesh has promised me is true. Nothing will ever come out in Kev's name again.

Honestly, if it wasn't so horrific for Lee and my pysche's I would think this was a game. It's so tempting to wrap up some of Kev's ashes and send them down in there in a nice box. Pity we'd get fined when they had to check it wasn't anthrax or anything like that though.

We all miss Kev. Every day she wakes up and he's not here. She was just starting to live again and this has set her back almost to the same level of grief when he first passed.

Telstra? I hate you. This is starting to feel malicious. It really is.

Customer Resolution my arse

Spoke to the customer resolutions guy.

He told me how it had happened. (Exactly what I already knew as I've already been told this a few times. *sigh*) Acting like it was new news. Promised me it would never happen again.

So, in reply I said 'Okay, if you are promising me this will never happen again I want your agreement that if it DOES happen again you will let us out of the contract no fee." Fair enough right?

He was promising it would NEVER happen again (if only I had $1 for every time they'd said that to me.) so it shouldnt be a problem to agree to my conditions right? HA!

"Well, you still have 18 months on your contract so I can't do that."

My blood started to boil. But, I worked as a CSR I know there's no point in screaming at the person on the other side of the phone - ever. Doesn't matter how incompentent you think they are they're a human being too. I just took a deep breath.

I'd asked about a good will gesture on a previous call. So, I asked about that.

"We're willing to offer you one month of services free."

You can just imagine my face. I'm angry (at Telstra. Not this guy.) and my reaction was like *Blink* *Blink* *Blink*

"Hang on, so you're telling me setting someone's grieving process back 18 months is worth ONE month free? She has to go to therapy because of YOU guys."

"I apologise. We are willing to offer you one month."

*blink blink*

And the apology letter? "Yes, I can certainly send you a customer resolutions letter."

I was thinking 'that's not what I asked for. I asked for an apology letter.' It was funny every time he said apology letter he had to correct himself and say customer resolutions letter. Obviously something that says we have agreed to give you 1 month free to resolve the dispute.

Not "We are so sorry that you have had to call us so many bloody times to get this issue fixed. We are incompent arseholes with no soul." or something along those lines.

One month. I accepted it because I was just jack of them. Just up to here. I probably should have refused but where would that get us?

What's the bet we never get the apolo... sorry I mean customer resolutions letter anyway?

Check up

Terri rang today to make sure the modem was working correctly.

She's the first person since I spoke to Sarah and the original girl who was horrified by what's been going on. She apologised but not in that robot I really don't care what's going on get off my phone sort of way.

It made me feel a little better. As I pointed out to her though even though we've had no drop outs so far we haven't had everyone online at once here so we couldn't say if the modem is working properly or not.

God, I hate Telstra so much. I can't believe how much my body tenses up when I just think of them.

:O Package for Lee??

I can't believe it.

They actually sent a package to Lee. Mind you, it was done manually after I begged Melissa the other day so I'm not too surprised. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

This whole debacle has just gotten me so angry. I am so sick of not being listened to. I don't want to be placated. You are sending packages to a DEAD GUY! How can you not understand and fix that?

It's not like it's the first, second, third, forth or even FIFTH time I've complained. And all I hear from Telstra is "I apologise. It shouldn't have happened. His name is nowhere on the account. It won't happen again." over and over and over again. And yet - lo and behold. It happens again.

I mean seriously Telstra? I am willing to bet we are not the only people who this is happening to.

Lee calls tech support

Lee hasn't called Telstra since I've moved in. It's just too upsetting dealing with people who seem to go out of their way to be unhelpful.

She called because I was out and the internet had gone out again.

8.13-8.41pm the call took. Apparently all she had to do was remove the email address from the modem page - and add it back in again.

How nice the script seems to have changed.

Tech Support - Win??

Hey you'll never guess what.

Had to call tech support again. SAME issue as before. Exact same issue as the past 12 months - the one I started calling about 6 months ago.

The one that I'm sure is covered by numerous notes on the account. Yeah, that stinking one.

OMG... A CSR who isn't going through the whole script and making us YET AGAIN do the ipconfig thing and reboot the computers 15 times thing? I think I love you.

He put us through to the Townsville call centre where we should have probably been put through to years ago. The only problem was something went wrong with the transfer and the call dropped out. I sat there staring at the phone with my jaw hanging open as Lee started to get ropeable. "They hung up on you?" "Yeah..." I'm still staring at the phone. "Something went wrong. I don't think it was their fault. I know I've had that happen myself."

The phone rang... and yet another angel. They are few and far between at Telstra.

Spoke to Melissa for about 30 mins. For one heart stopping second we thought we were out of contract - then she realised we weren't so that was disappointing. But, she LISTENED. OMG... Someone listening? No script - offering REAL solutions? She told us she could send out a replacement modem and as we were under contract at no cost as it was covered by warranty.

I begged that it not be yet another Thomson Gateway. She said no, they're not sending them out anymore. They send out Thomson Technicolour now. My friend is having the same problems we are with her Gateway. She's with Telstra too - so I know beyond a doubt now it's not us. She only has the one connection too - not numerous like us.

I begged her to make sure it was sent in Lee's name - not Kevins. I'll be holding my breath on that one - she sounded compenent AND she wasn't patronising at all. She said it would all be done manually so there's hope.

She even worked out it didn't seem like a problem with the line after talking to some of her contacts that it probably was the modem. She was explaining to me a way that we could possibly get around the $120. Finally someone who understood we were jack of Telstra and didn't want to give them anymore money.

She also offered to have someone call back to make sure that the modem was running smoothly and we weren't having issues with it.

I can count on one hand so far the people who have actually been helpful to me - and man I wish I had $1 for every person who hadn't.

I shouldn't be on the phone to them every other day. This is painful - I have better things to do with my time. I wish I could charge them $21 an hour for the time I've spent dealing with them.

Ombudsman leads to action and more tech issues

Had a call from the customer resolutions centre today - telling me he was going to be investigating the issue.

Told him I have no faith. I don't care. When he started to tell me it would never happen again I stopped him. "I'm sorry but I've HEARD that before - TOO many times." He stopped and listened for another minute or two as I listed things off.

I only talked about the Kevin stuff - not the other issues. When he said "Well I don't want to tell you it won't happen again as you have heard that far too many times." I felt relieved. I thought to myself finally someone is listening!

Yeah... I must remember Telstra are incompent. Even at higher levels I bet nothing gets fixed.

Had to call Tech support again today (there's a surprise!). First the CSR couldn't see any drop outs - then she could see drop outs and wanted to send someone out to check the line. Which if there were no faults would be $120 fee to us. No thank you. You guys are useless. We are not paying - no matter what. Sorry you've screwed us over for too long now.

She put it through for a call back from the tech guy. He rang me back and told me it would most certainly be $120. I told him never mind. We're not paying that. I'll just call back for the 20th or so time when it happened again. What kind of training are they providing for people? I get if I was a rude and disgruntled customer - but look at our notes! Seriously - I wish there was a way to get a hold of them. I would love to see what they'd written all over them.

So, Minesh is off investigating. Let's see where that leads because seriously...

Ouija Board

I've had enough. I've had more than enough.

I broke down today. Why? I rang tech support AGAIN. I'm on the phone to these guys every 3 days or so lately.

CSR: Your number?
Me: 123465
CSR: Name?
Me: My name.
CSR: Hmm, Can I speak to Kevin Dead* please?
Me *breaks down*: No, he's deceased and has been for 18 months and you guys KNOW that. I'll have to call you back. *click*

Poor Lee. She felt awful watching me break down. It was my own stupid fault. I KNEW I should have left the room - or I should have used the handset not the base. Stupid Thubs and their only having speaker phone. I felt terrible knowing that she had to just listen to someone listen to speak to him - AGAIN. This is the 2nd time it's happened to me.

What I should have done is said "Sure, do you have a ouija board or a medium handy? It's the only way you're going to get through to him after all."

Just so much more upsetting because of the CSR on Friday. I KNEW he had no idea what he was talking about. Kevin's not on the system anywhere anymore my arse!

I rang the complaints line when I thought I'd calmed down enough. I hadn't. Burst into tears on her as well. She told me yes we have 3 different systems and Kevin is showing up on the bigpond and shipping one. I will talk to my supervisor and get it fixed. More false apologies.

I won't hold my breath. It's happened before and it will happen again. I know it will happen again. They've promised me so many times now that it won't that... it's going to.

What if Lee didn't have me here? What if this was some little old lady who had lost her husband and was just getting her life together when Telstra did this? What if she's just giving up ... because Telstra don't care. If they did they would overhaul their systems so this didn't happen again.

It will. Faith in Telstra has now gone from 50% to 0%.

Thub #2 Issues

This Thub is starting to do the same as the last one.

Watched Lee hit answer at least 13 times and nothing. Then when she tried to call the person back ended up with some Telstra voice saying "Thank you for calling." Which was just ridiculous when she's trying to call her daughter.

Which reminds me a couple of times they've cut off us being able to call mobile phones. When I've rung they've apologised clicked a couple of things and voila it's okay again. It's an issue when Lee is disabled and may need me at a moment's notice. She needs to be able to get a hold of me. That's happened twice in the 15 months I've been living here now.

What's the go Telstra?

Mail Call for Kevin!

Well, that's a shock. Another package came for Kev today. Replacement Thub.

That poor couriers face when Lee bounded to the door excited thinking it was something she was waiting for in the mail.

C: "Package for Kevin?"
Lee went white, my blood pressure rose.
L: ANNE!!!!
I ran to the door and explained the situation while I signed for the package. I'm at the point where I want proof and the dates on the packaging. Although a huge part of me just wanted to send everything back as deceased until they figure it out.

It's not good enough.

Rang complaints AGAIN. Told him we want out of the contract - talked over me and changed the subject. Told me they only have one system and he's making sure to write notes all over the account to say that nothing is to be sent to Kevin again.

Assures me again that Kevin is NOWHERE on the account. I assure him that if Kev was NOWHERE on the account as he was claiming (as have all the other CSRS since I started handling this. They're either all liars or just incompetent.) then I wouldn't be dealing with one very upset woman with a huge gaping open wound of grief festering even more because of this.

I told him what the other CSR told me and he pretty much brushed me off. Patronising again. I'm writing notes all over the account that it's not to happen again.

Uh huh. So did EVERYONE else!! 

She wants counselling now. I can't say I blame her. This is ongoing and incredibly stressful. Shaking again once I got off the phone with them. It's turning me into someone I don't like being. I worked as a CSR I'm never rude - always patient. But I'm getting terse now - sick of not being listened to.

Although, it is good I've noticed that if you say "Complaints" you get straight to an Australian. So that's a good thing.

But, enough is enough. I've given them far too many chances. I told them in that first email that if they were a cat they'd only have 2 lives left and they gave them up long long ago. Ombudsman time! 

Where for art thou $200?

Noticed the $200 I paid on Jan 2nd never showed up on the bill.

Can't take talking to them anymore. I'm shaking when I get off the phone. I'll try live chat for a change.

Spoke to Tom from 7.30pm to 8.08pm.

He's going to run a bpay trace and give me a call back in a week. Tells me it's an invalid account number - I'm wondering if it's just an old account number. I knew I should have double checked when I paid that through bpay.

Where's my $200??

Drop Outs

Had to ring tech support today. 2:57 to 3:18 pm on the phone AGAIN.

I guess at least it wasn't a marathon 2 hour call again. At least she was helpful. Michelle was a great CSR - unlike the one before her who spent 30 mins helping before she just hung up on us. I get that there were 4 of us here trying to access the system. This Thomson Gateway is meant to handle 5 wireless and 4 ethernet. There weren't 9 devices trying to connect only 3 on wireless and 2 on ethernet.
She agreed to send out a replacement modem.


Guess who's name that came in?  Yeah, that was number 4. That's now 6 or 7 promises it won't happen again.

Had to explain to the CSR AGAIN that it's NOT a wireless issue. It can't be a wireless issue when hopping on wireless causes ethernet connections to drop - AND hopping on ONE ethernet causes EVERYTHING else to drop out. Scripts aren't useful in these situations.

This is about call 19 now since I decided we would no longer grin and bear it. After numerous reboots of the computer and the modem we got things working again. This should have been fixed the FIRST TIME!!

Cmon Telstra. It's impossible for my faith in you to get any lower. I'm coming to expect this inapptitude from you now. It's pathetic.