Chirp!:

    Friday, May 18, 2007

    After 14yrs or so..

    Of easy money from us, tonight Tel$tra got the flick.

    And it's not even really their fault. Probably.
    But then, they've never really done anything for us either.

    Consider - 14yrs of us not considering any other phone plan, of automatically locking mobiles and broadband ( mine ) and cable TV ( the boys: sport and Nick Jr), business and everything in with them. Loyally.

    I must admit, when I moved here, we switched to VoIP for our phoneline ( sick of our line rental being higher than the actual bill/usage ), but then something happened, and something else, and then we switched computers, and it was a bit of a PITA, and we didn't bother connecting it up again ( although I was going to this weekend ! )

    So essentially, we haven't had any sort of a home phone for months now.

    We decided to wing it for a while and see how 'just mobiles' stacked up financially, and it was ok, and we don't use/like phones much anyway, but it's a bit rough to get your friends to call you on the mobile, and even crappier if you need to call customer service for something and get placed on hold or whatnot.

    Which brings me to the phone bill today.
    In particular, one call, which cost: $329.00.

    It was a local call.

    To Ikea.

    We called to see what we could do about the new TV unit we'd just purchased ( which cost about $329.00, by the way .. ), which had some extra drill holes, on the FRONT of it where they shouldn't be, and apparently we didn't hang up properly, or something, so were essentially ON HOLD for 10 hours.

    Oh yes.

    Tel$tra says 'too bad, so sad', but still - where's my Loyalty Rewards Programme .. and how much would it REALLY cost them to nix that bill.

    Nothing, i'm sure.

    So when the lovely gentleman from OPTUS came knocking this afternoon, I was all like "Hel-lo, come on in ".

    As a rule, we don't get many doorknockers, but talk about timing.
    The good lad bundled in our broadband, the cable TV, the mobiles, and we get a brand new home phone, no line rental ( ever again, the whole reason I changed to VoIP in the first place ), 2 months free calls and something or other, and a whole lot of other free goodies.

    I'm sure he was as stoked as I was.

    Anyway, talk to me again on the 1st of June, when everything is operational... and hopefully i'm not cursing this day I changed to Optus.

    But it's done.

    Screw you, Tel$tra.

    24 comments:

    Jade said...

    Good for you! They really are the scum of the earth...and that's from someone who used to work for Tel$tra (and have been a telco tramp since). Btw I found your blog via "tsktsk"...hello!

    Melody said...

    Urgh. You know how I feel about Optus (& Telstra & AAPT etc.) We have broadband, home phone, my mobile with Optus but they still want to lug us with a $55 Home phone plan which does not work for us. We make next to zero local calls and interstate calls are not included in the package. Urgh. We're still in Limbo. Good on you for changing though - yep, screw 'em!

    Joke said...

    This is all like mediaeval Mandarin Chinese to a clueless Yank such as I, but I like the general vibe of the thing.

    That said, have you called someone ovah at Tel$tra to explain, amid a luxury of details, exactly why you bid them farewell with an unidigital salute?

    Just a thought.

    -J.

    Anonymous said...

    Blood sucking scumbags I say!! Ive been with optus for 11 years - not sure if they are any better..... hope you make a point of telling telstra to shove it up their jacksie!

    sara said...

    GO YOU.

    They sucked our money like green vampires for the 2 years we lived in lovely Port Melbourne and good riddance to bad rubbish, I say.

    Muzbot said...

    I gave Telstra the flick mid last year. The poor service and support from this organisation really annoyed me. So I said 'Hello' to Optus too... and ditched the home phone and went digital and mobile.

    muser said...

    lol. Yes congratulations! We're yet to make such a leap but out here in the bush we don't actually have any competition available to us. When the phone line goes dead it's all "when we can" not "ASAP" like in the city.
    Though VOIP would work a treat, it still depends on our Tel$tra line for the DSl component anyway.

    nutmeg said...

    Reading your post was like revisiting a phone bill we received from Telstra about 8 years ago now. We were charged for 800 odd local calls we never made. Never mind looking at our call history and seeing we generally only made a couple of calls a day or checking what numbers were rung and seeing that we had never called these people before. Nooooooo! Just slug us a $400 bill and tell us that if we don't pay we will be taken to court and our names will entered on some data base as poor creditors that can ruin your credit history. ABSOLUTE BASTARDS!

    I feel the pain H&B!

    We paid the f#@king bill (as we were young and didn't know better - I don't know how we would handle it if it were happen now?) and then told them to.... you know what!

    Most of our stuff is now with Optus and have yet to have a problem.

    Hope all will be better and cheaper now :-)

    Stomper Girl said...

    Holy moley that's an expensive phone call. We're still with telstra but only because my brain explodes when door to door people come and explain how I'll be better off with the brand new phone plan/electricity...

    Gina said...

    Ten flipping hours!!??

    meggie said...

    I dont see how the sods can get away with that. We started out with Tel$tra, but gave them the flick, when they denied it was their problem with our email. Never had a prob since, been with Optus, now aapt, & they give great POLITE customer help service.

    Anonymous said...

    Straight to the phone ombudsman!
    That's ridiculous. Of course its not in their interest to have technology to disconnect automatically if there is nothing going down the line or anything is there?

    The only thing with VOIP I've found is that the reception on my answering machine is crapola... :(

    Lynne@Oberon said...

    Oh, I don't think I could ever drop Telstra ... it's my politics. I believe in State owned utilities and I try to be supportive even in the face of higher prices and bad servide. American born Hubby is not so supportive and I'm sure I'll lose the battle eventually, but I still believe that Telstra is a assest the Australian's should support.

    Ms Brown Mouse said...

    ohh ouch - and still I can't tear myself away from telstra - not until someone offers me cheaper line rental.

    tommie said...

    I can't imagine that kind of a phone bill! I have often wondered if we should give up our landlines. I have so many rollover minutes each month, I almost bet I could give it up and not miss it at all.

    Fairlie - www.feetonforeignlands.com said...

    I'm with Stomper Girl on this one...it does my head in trying to compare plans for phones/internet/electricity/gas etc. So I usually stay with however I'm with until they annoy me so much (like your 10hr call to IKEA experience) that I find the motivation to swap.

    Tracey Petersen said...

    You know, once we sacked telstra they rang us once a week to ask "What could they offer us to come back? / How could they help us?" etc, etc. Not once while we were with them did they care.

    They owe us $29.00 which they can't give us, but can only use as credit on our next bill. Bugger that!

    See if you suddenly find yourselves as important customers now that you have left!

    Holly Muppet said...

    We're with Stomper Girl too. Still with Telstra but only 'cause of the hassles with trying to figure out what else might be better and the thought of changing email addresses after sooooo long ... well, your optus story may well just have motivated us to finally change!

    My float said...

    Oh yes, baby!! Telstra sucks the old zucchini (if I may be so crass on your blog!)

    All comms companies suck, actually. My phone bills are between $450-600 a month.

    Email me! I have some house questions for you.

    Damselfly said...

    I love it! I don't know those companies, but something similar happened to a business line I used to have. Then my old company kept calling and asking me to come back. And I kept telling them to buzz off and stop calling me. But they called anyway.

    Em said...

    I gave Telstra the flick (went to optus) and I'm about to give Origin the flick... (we had a huge fight on our hands with them which only ended when we threatened them in writing with legal action....)

    Em xx

    Anonymous said...

    What you didn't need to go to the phone and make another call for 10 hours!!! WOW that would never happen here, I always discover the phone off the hook etc within about half an hour I reckon.
    BUT we did once have a slow water leak out in the middle of a paddock which we didn't discover untill the bill came in at $2000 dollars. Yes $2000 and we all know that water is pretty cheap in the sceme of things. But SA water actually agreed to go halves with us, so that was nice of them.

    My float said...

    How come you had to pay that much for a local call? Wouldn't it cost the same (30 cents or whatever it is these days) no matter how long you were on the line?

    phoeberae said...

    might just hope a nice fella from optus pops in to see us today. was comiserating about line rental yadayadayada myself today... cool mcgool

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