Just wanted to recount my recent experience trying to buy a couple of prepaid Telstra Essential Tablets.
My wife has decided she wants to switch from paper books to eBooks so I took a bit of a look around for basic tablets. I noticed the Telstra Essential Tablet which has adequate specs for this purpose and good battery life so I decided at $129 I might as well give it a look. For us the prepaid SIM was a bonus as the tablet will be used mostly with WiFi but the price/performance ideally suited the task.
The tablet arrived very quickly and worked very well - I set it up for my own use initially intending to wipe it and rebuild it for my wife once I'd convinced myself it was going to meet her needs. In fact, after a day of using it I thought it was so good for this particular requirement that I decided I'd retire my existing eBook tablet and keep this one and buy an additional one for my wife.
This is where my troubles started.
The web site appears to have broken for this item shortly after I purchased the first tablet - it enters some sort of redirect loop and never displays a purchase page.
At this point I'm feeling pretty well disposed towards Telstra and after more than 30 years in IT I figure I owe it to them to do the right thing and report the web site problem so they can fix it and I can complete the purchase of a second tablet. So I sit in the chat queue for quite some time. After some initial faffing about (to be expected) I convince the agent that I've done the appropriate tests (different browsers, different IPs, different connections) and that there really is a problem and that they should escalate it - they go off and report the problem to the web site group who I am told will sort it out in between 4 - 24 hours.
OK, done my civic duty by calling it in, will wait a couple of days and place the order - will still be well before Christmas so that's kinda nice.
Days pass - the site does not get fixed.
OK, I pass by a Telstra Store in suburban Adelaide on my way somewhere - maybe I can drop in and pick one up quickly in person. Three agents, three customers at the counter, 8 people in the queue and noone showing any sign of being in a hurry. Fair enough - just be patient. After 25 minutes NOT ONE customer had been served so I needed to move on to my destination.
A day or two later the web site is still not working so I try the chat again. This time the agent takes a lot of convincing that there is a problem - apparently this sort of thing never happens. After quite a while I am instructed to try to buy a different prepaid device at the URL he provides (same as the one I've been using) - that item goes through fine. I check again with the Telsra Essential Tablet but it still fails. I get the usual story about the possibility of a load related problem but I explain I have tried multiple times over multiple days including at 4:00 am on one occasion. OK, the agent concedes that something might be wrong - why don't I just call direct to place my order. I'm provided with a 1800 number and think I'm near the end of my quest but I call and the number is not answered. I look up the number online and it doesn't appear to be a Telstra number. Maybe I made a transcription error. Doesn't happen often but anyone can make an error.
Sigh...
Its getting close to Christmas so maybe I should give the Telstra Store option another try. I go to a nearby major shopping centre early in the morning leaving myself plenty of time to complete the task - by this time I have spent about six hours and 15 km of driving trying to get this $129 device that I previously got online without the slightest hitch. The shop is one of the new look places with a swarm of a dozen people buzzing around the small number of customers in the shop at that time.
I get someone to talk to (and a trainee to sit in on the sale) in a few moments. Great! This is really going to happen! I explain what I want. The agent wants to discuss all the other wonderful Telstra offerings I may not be aware of. At this point I'm still calm and explain that I'm aware of their offerings, that this tablet really IS exactly what I want and can we please proceed with the sale. After a further desultory attempt to upsell/crosssell me the agent agrees to see if they have any in stock.
Wonderful - they have one! Same box as the one I already have. I TOUCH the box briefly. The agent then grabs his notebook and tells me it will only take a moment to activate the tablet and I can be on my way. Say what now? Why do I have to activate the tablet before leaving? I have no immediate use for the 4G data and am happy to use the tablet on WiFi for the next month or two. I can activate the one I bought online any time up to 25 Feb and it will be good for 60 days and as we plan to be travelling in March this seems like something I'd want to delay until then.
The agent will have none of it - its a legal requirement that the tablet be activated before I leave the store! Really? How come I can buy it online then? It must be activated because the agent or store (I didn't ask for clarification) only get revenue recognition on activation. I should care about this why? It must be activated before leaving the store because the Manager of the store insists all devices be activated before leaving the store. Having received three dubious explanations at this point I make it clear that immediate activation will not suit my needs.
The agent once again insists that there is no room for negotiation on this so I thank him and the trainee for their time and leave the store.
Has a company ever worked harder not to make a sale?
I go back to checking the site every day - still broken. Obviously Telstra don't monitor their web site logs very closely and don't notice when an item starts throwing errors or unexpectedly stops registering sales.
Now I know this is a community forum and I know you can't fix the web site for me but as I have twice reported the problem via chat with no outcome I'm left with this as the only way to provide feedback to Telstra.
Fix your stuff Telstra!
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