Phone Connection

[Sue881]

Can anyone help me.  It has been 2 months now and I am unable to get my mother's phone connected.  My mother moved from her home to an Assisted Living place on the Gold Coast and either her or I have spent 1.5hrs plus on the phone every single day over the last 2 months and we are getting nowhere.  Telstra are now billing us for a phone and internet connection plus IT support and nothing has happened, we still have a dead phone and whilst we had the internet for a week, it is not working anymore.  I am so over getting transferred from one department to the next and speaking to people who don't speak English except to tell you to have a nice day and my mother is at high risk of heart attack and stroke and her emergency button runs on the phone line and she can't use that either.  I refuse to pay any bill for no services and find it absolutely disgusting that it is now 2 months and I am still none the wiser.  I run a business and spend hours on the phone to Telstra whilst losing business myself as my phone is constantly engaged - currently on hold now for 58 minutes.  Any ideas because nothing is working and my mother being old refuses to change providers as she has always been with Telstra - what a load of rubbish this company is. 

[Jupiter]

What type of connection does she have (ADSL/phone, NBN -FTTN/FTTP/HFC/FTTC)?

If it is an NBN connection, what colours are the lights on the modem?

Typically, the emergency pendants do not work on an NBN connection and need to be changed over to one that work on the mobile phone network.

If it is an emergency button that is hard wired into her room, then it may be worthwhile talking to the complex's manager to find out how the telecommunications infrastructure is wired up. Some places have all the comms go through a PABX or MDF, and if something has happened there then it could be causing the issue.

[Sue881]

NBN. I have no idea as I live in Sydney and she lives in the Gold Coast. We have tried and tried to get someone to go and help but this isn't working either. Will have to talk to the village about the emergency button but she has absolutely no phone or internet service so want to get that up and running but 2hrs by me on the phone today and I ended up screaming at the poor person on the end and leaving my number and telling them to ring me back which of course, nobody ever rings you back. They just send you huge bills for things you haven't got and I have just noticed they have changed the plan to be dearer than it was. Currently looking into a different provider so Telstra can stick its lousy service.

[Jupiter]

Unfortunately there isn't much that we can do here to assist as without you being able to physically being able to access the modem, we could only guess as to what the problem actually is. It would also require someone to be able to perform the checks on the modem directly.

If I was trying to get it up and running myself, it would be to unplug everything and plug it back in.
Then I would factory reset the modem, as sometimes the operating system gets a bit confused and needs to start from scratch.

You could lodge a formal complaint via https://telstra.com/complaints but that can take 5 business days to get the initial response.

You should also look at signing her up to the Priority Assistance Program, which gives better response times. See https://www.telstra.com.au/consumer-advice/customer-service/priority-assist

[Sue881]

Given we live in different states, I can't help which is why I had organised to get a Telstra technician go in and do this for her as she is now too old to deal with technology apart from general phone and email usage. Will try the priority program. Already waiting on complaints.

[RyanH]

Hey Sue881, thank you for your post.

I am so sorry to hear of her experience and that this has not been resolved, that is disappointing. 

You mentioned you are waiting from complaints, what was your complaint reference number? If you could please provide we will use this to contact the case manager and request they follow up with you guys as soon as possible to assist.

Thank you.
- Ryan

[Sue881]

Hi Ryan, We have given up and I have cancelled her service (not her mobile as this actually works) and we are going elsewhere. I am currently fighting to get rid of the massive charges she has received for Telstra doing nothing. But naturally each charge comes from a different department so after 1.5hrs yesterday to get rid of one charge I told the lady that they could ring me to discuss the other charge. I am sure they ring when they find out I am only paying the Mobile component of her bill. Absolutely disgusted at how you get sent around in circles but get nowhere.

[Jupiter]

They won't ring, but whoever's name the account is in may have their credit rating damaged if you don't deal with it promptly.

Lodge a formal complaint via http://telstra.com/complaints

[Sue881]

Have lodged complaints but no reply to that either!

[Jupiter]

It takes up to 5 business days to get an initial response for a formal complaint.

[DavoCB]

Hi Sue881,

How long ago did you submit the complaint? As Jupiter mentioned it can take up to 5 business days to be contacted by our case manager. If it has been longer than 5 business days, please let us know the complaints reference number  (SR 1-) and we can chase this up for you. 

[Sue881]

8th Jan was my complaint and I am sure my mother placed one before that so still have a day! SR 1-1865549269329. This complaint was to try and get the phone working. Since then home phone bundle has been cancelled, just need to sort out the bill as $405 for nothing (except the Mobile proportion which I will be paying) is very steep and whatever the Platinum IT charge of $240, who would know.

[DavoCB]

Hi Sue881,

Thanks for confirming that. If the issue is with the billing rather than the subject of the complaint I would suggest chatting with our billing team here https://tel.st/zgf75 and they will be able to sort this out for you.

Let me know how you get on.

[Sue881]

I actually got through to someone that way and it looks like the extra charges will be removed so thank you. And it only took 15 mins!

[DavoCB]

That's good to hear. If you have any more issues don't hesitate to reach out.

[Sue881]

Will do, thanks for your help.

[Sue881]

Unbelievable. After being told on Monday the amount has been credited, Telstra have now rung Mum and insisted she pay the amount over the phone which she did as she is old and has mild dementia so she got worried. I am now on the phone yet again to Telstra to try and get the money back. Seriously, one would have thought that if on Monday (and I have a copy of the transcript) I got told the amount would be credited, it would mean that nobody would contact her.

[thedylan]

Hi @Sue881,

I'm sorry to hear that, if you'd like I can follow up with your case manager about this?

 

[Sue881]

Thank for that. I did get told that it would be credited back to her credit card but would take a couple of days so will leave it for another couple of days and if nothing, will get back in touch. I just wish Telstra would stop contacting her as she is getting confused as to what she is supposed to be doing.

[thedylan]

Please let me know if you have any further trouble with this.