Mobile Plan Upgrade Madness

[Chris7000]

A simple request gone wrong....(or a mans journey into the depths of madness)

Dear reader,

I had a mobile plan that was about $60/month.  I was using said mobile quite a bit and therefore incurring a large bill, but user pays so no problem there.  I rang telstra and enquired about another plan where I might save some money on my usage.   We had a grand old chat and in the end I agreed to go up to another plan that would cost about $90/month and should save me some money.  All good, feeling great....watches cricket.

But....

Upon receiving my next bill it was for the huge amount of $350.

A mistake surely I said to myself.

No the kind Telstra staff said, from a far away land,  its not a mistake and by the way we cant tell you exactly what the amount is for.  Some is a mobile bill but in excess of $250 is in the twilight zone.  So i refused to pay on the grounds that I would never, ever have agreed to upgrade from a $60 plan to a $90 plan and then happily pay an extra $250 for the privilege.  Who would.

After a few online chats and a couple of phone calls, ( thats ironic), I finally, reluctantly, put in a complaint.    Not after freebies just answers, but it certainly doesn't help that some of the staff I chat to are more interested in the survey at the end than doing much about my numerous questions.

So the response from my complaint was that everything was above board and I have to pay.  Nope, not an option mate, try again with some different words, or send me back to the $60/month plan if thats the case.  No can do they said.

Then I get this email that they will waive $650 worth of "fees" and put me on a $50 BYO Plan...

Quote:

With regards to your mobile number ending in 0xxxx xxxxx5, that is currently in Accelerate Plan $95 - Data Share. It has $950 Talk and MMS; Unlimited SMS for Australian numbers and 2.5GB of data.

What we can offer is change your plan to Go Mobile BYO plan for $50.00 per month. Below is your monthly allowance:

Voice: $1,000

MMS: Unlimited

Call rate: $1 per 60 seconds (2 minute standard call is $2)

MessageBank: Unlimited

Text: Unlimited

Data: 2.5GB

Data Share SIM Plans: Eligible

Extra data: $10 per GB

By doing so, Early Termination charges will incur, Device Payment for your HTC One (M8) is $325.57 and Service Termination of $356.10, total of $681.67.

What we can offer is we are going to waive the following:

Service Termination                           $356.10

Mobile Accelerate Plan $95              $88.667

01 Dec.to.28 Dec (Pro-rated)

Mobile Accelerate Plan $95              $95.00

01 Dec.to.28 Dec (Advance Pay)

Mobile Accelerate Plan $95              $95.00

03 January 2016

                                                                -----------

                                Total credit            $634.767

Please be advised that we are unable to waive the Device Payment as this is the fee for your HTC One (M8) handset.

If you accept our offer, we will give you a call back on your mobile ending in 0 xxxxxxxxx5 and connect you to our Mobile Sales and Billing Team to change your plan.

Fin

So I ring the team to seek clarification and I get put on hold for 18 minutes and then get told I have to speak to the complaints dept., and they are closed right now, and even though the email tells me to talk to the Mobile Sales and Billing Team.

((

In my mind this is what I thought would have happened:

ME: G'day mate I am using the phone a bit and want to save some coin.

Helpful Telstra Staff:  Yeah no worries Chris ....(few minutes on hold)....Ok mate we are gonna put you into a $90/month plan and it should all be sweet.  Just pay the existing bill as it is and then the new one will take over.

ME:  Too easy.  Bloody oath that was both quick and simple!   Thanks heaps Helpful Telstra Staff member!

Helpful Telstra Staff: No worries Chris you legend...and don't forget to rate me in the survey!

ME:  A big fat 10/10 from me mate...have a good one

Helpful Telstra Staff:  (positively beaming)  Thanks mate you too.

I end the call and tell all my mates how good Telstra are.

))

So, after nearly 4 weeks I am no further along, completely frustrated and spending Too. Much. Time. trying to get some kind of answer, and writing this.     My phone is still active but god knows what I owe or have to do now.

All this from wanting to go from $60/month to $90/month to save some coin.

This is my story and I reserve the right to make a min-series out of it.

[Gamgees]

Hey @Chris7000

It sounds like this should have been rectified fairly early on - I know that you posted this a week ago, but have you had any update from your complainants manager yet? I think that this one will be easy enough to sort out, happy to follow up if you haven't got any updates yet.