unusual circumstances - moving house

[victormuscles]

Hi Telstra,

I have an unusual circumstance that i need to try and find the best solution for - (avoiding contract cancellation charges)

Story is.

1) Brother lives 500 metres away.  He is on a $88 200GB home bundle - signed Nov 2011.  He is selling up his house to build in a town 45 mins away.

2) As an interim, he is moving into my house which has also has a $88 200GB home bundle - signed October 2011.

3) Once the new house is completed he will be re-signing with Telstra.

Now.

• If he cancels his current contract, he is up for ($15 x nn Months termination charge) He cannot divert his number to my house.
• If I cancel my current contract, I am up for the same, but at least my brother can move his service to my place and keep his existing number until he leaves the town entirely.
• I would then start another service with Telstra to regain my bigpond access.

So i am basically trying to discover the best way around this.  I even asked live chat, and this is the 1st time that she had come across this.  The computerised accounting system doesnt allow for situations such as this.

Telstra is a winner in all cases, coz they will receive the termination fee from either my brother or myself, and once he moves - a new 2 year contract starts and one of us is still paying the termination fee.

The Ideal scenario.

Brother transfers his service to my property.

I suspend my Telstra Contract for the period until he moves out

Brother transfers service to the other town.

I recommence my existing contract - extending the completion date by the number of days it was suspended.

This way neither of us pay termination fees and Telstra still keeps two account holders "within the fold"

So can someone from Telstra, please give me the best and cheapest cost solution to my dilemma.

Kind Regards

Phill..

[jokiin]

45 mins away I'm not sure there's any benefit to keeping his number for the interim and end up losing it after anyway (am I missing something here?) all the while you losing your number

I know we all do what we can to save a buck when possible but in the scheme of things when selling houses and paying thousands of dollars on things like stamp duty is the several hundred you need to pay because you want to break a contract really that big a deal, it's just something that needs to be factored into the costs involved in a major move I feel

[victormuscles]

keeping the number - vs losing mine - as the house is not my primary residence - so losing my number is not an issue.  but whilst my brother is in the same town for those 3 months or so - it would be better for him to keep the number.

I understand it is all about the small dollars in the scheme of things - but all i am trying to work out that telstra gets a benefit for contract termination and then 3 months later gets a new contract - i see that as double dipping.  If my brother knew back in november last year he was moving, then he would not be in this situation.

if he cancels his service with telstra - there is going to be a charge for it to be started again in his new town.

when it comes to it - these small charges - do add up - coz moving is full of these small charges (by various companies).

[lcurtin79]

Not sure if Telstra does this but I have had a similiar situation previously and the provider simply suspended my service where I had 14 months left on a contracted period for 2 months once I had moved into my new place they re-instated the service.

[victormuscles]

thanx for that - reply - this is exactly what we are after and the live chat person didnt seem to think this was possible - having your experience noted could be used as the precedent i am after

[Ben_F · Accepted solution]

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victormuscles wrote:
thanx for that - reply - this is exactly what we are after and the live chat person didnt seem to think this was possible - having your experience noted could be used as the precedent i am after

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The contract was entered into for a specific product at a specific address for a specific amount of time.

I have heard of instances where Telstra has made a decision to Reimburse the cost of the old contract if you take up a new 24 month contract. I moved from Perth to Darwin, and needed to get my net hooked up, so I paid the $300 and they gave it back to me when I reconnected the new service.

Technically, if you disconnect the service, you have broken the terms of that contract and your obliged to pay the charges. That being said, sometimes the Telstra "Saves" teams are willing to re-credit the $300 contract break fee if you agree to a new 24 month contract.

You won't be able to get the $88 bundle however as it doesn't exist anymore

B.

[victormuscles]

Thanx Ben, I was hoping you would contribute. yes - the $88 plan is gone - now its $90.00. I will see what happens as we move closer to the time and discover from the "Saves" team to see what can be done - all else fails i can always cancel my service and not sign up at all. and then move my melbourne service when it ends contract in 6 months to country vic. i can use my mobile for my melbourne data reqmts. I dont have to have the luxury of phone/ foxtel/cable down here .. (and telstra is gonna lose money when that occurs )

[Ben_F]

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victormuscles wrote:
Thanx Ben, I was hoping you would contribute. yes - the $88 plan is gone - now its $90.00. I will see what happens as we move closer to the time and discover from the "Saves" team to see what can be done - all else fails i can always cancel my service and not sign up at all. and then move my melbourne service when it ends contract in 6 months to country vic. i can use my mobile for my melbourne data reqmts. I dont have to have the luxury of phone/ foxtel/cable down here .. (and telstra is gonna lose money when that occurs )

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I'm sure you know this, but if your nice, polite, and don't demand it, sometimes they do wonders for you

B.

[victormuscles]

telstra have been most helptul with my sister- she got flooded out and we diverted the home phone to one of my mobiles - a couple of hassles - but the issues are in hand and everything is good . also my brother also got a mobile upgrade he should not have - so there is being some counselling done to the front line consultant - all i am ever after is trying to be economical but fair - it an offer is available - i use it.