OK so my mum and sister live down in Sydney, and they're not the most technologically literate people around. A couple of months ago, my mum got a call from some Indian (i.e. Telstra Employee) saying how she could get a cheap broadband net deal with free ADSL modem etc bundled in with her phone bill. Mum's not really into teh interwebs, but my little sis is. Mum went to ask my sister about it, but it she was busy so mum said something along the lines of "She's busy at the moment, can you call back later?" and the guy agreed. A few days later, a big brown box shows up containing said internet gear and teh setup software. They didn't know how to set it up, but they hadn't agreed to anything or signed up for anything, so they figured it would be safe to wait till I came down to set it up. Anyway, it turns out Telstra HAVE been billing for the internet since they sent out the package, but they didn't give out the important details like username, password etc so I can't set it up till Tuesday (WTMF Telstra tech support closed for Easter, Indians don't celebrate Easter).

so, is what Tel$stra did illegal? Sounds pretty dodgy to me. I plan on tearing into the smacktard on the other end of the line when I call up on Tuesday. The language barrier is going to add much more to the fun.

See advice re:telstra in the other thread.

These dodgy cold calling companies do stuff like that all the time apparently, and telstra just go "oh theyre an outside contractor, we'll have a chat to them"

Yeah it kinda f***s me off how things like the Privacy Act can just be circumvented by including the right to shell your details off in the ToS/EULA companies make you agree to.

They probably just got the number from the phone book?

Telstra tech support has been open all easter. Even activations is open. Also the call centres are located in Australia. Being nice to them is usually better, stuff like this the tech support can usually put some notes in saying credit these guys until the connection is set up.

Also if you didn't really want the interwebs, just tell sales that you never agreed on the purchase. Just chuck the adsl in the cupboard and after a certain period of time if they dont organise to pick it back up, its yours legally.

Firstly, this Indian caller WAS NOT Telstra. All Telstra call centres are in Australia, and at no time do they cold canvas their products over the telephone. These Indian call centres are on contract selling packages, and if you even say anything that remotely sounds like an agreement, then you could find yourself having purchased anything.

My advice is to Contact the Telecommunications Ombudsman, and lodge a formal complaint. Also, from the sounds of your post your mother was signed up for a package deal, so you need to contact Telstra Accounts on 13 2200 to find out whether any company has request her phone details be changed. DO NOT Delay on this, you need to address this as quickly as possible, otherwise your mother could find herself locked into some plan with some different telephone company.

I hope this helps.

FB

Thanks heaps for teh info FB. Will look into it first thing tomorrow morning.

Are you sure about the call centres being open, Shad? The number I tried didn't work, I'll try others.

Phone BigPond Technical Support
-------------------------------
Phone number 133 933
Opening hours 24 hours, 7 days


Bigpond Accounts and Enquiries
-------------------------------
Phone number 13 7663
Opening hours are office hours

Firstly, this Indian caller WAS NOT Telstra.

Tomato/tomato, telstra pay these people to do this, they know what they do, but don't care because it's cheaper to get them to do it and sort out any crap they cause than to use their own employees to do it.

Also you have to ring telstra before calling the ombudsman afaik, because the first thing they ask is "Have you tried dealing with telstra yet"

And 131 282 opt 2 if you need to go through to activations. Some people today didn't know that activations was open over the holidays between 8am and 7pm

Tomato/tomato

That particular cliche doesn't work on the internet.

I wouldn't go to the TIO at this point, they are only really if you've had no luck complaining to the company...

I think you'll find that Telstra will be understanding, because they will know if they tell you to piss off, you'll go to the TIO.

That particular cliche doesn't work on the internet.

Lets call the whole thing off.

there is no way she has been paying for it, unless she has had the box sitting around for more then 21 days after it being sent out. (in which it would start billing on the 21st day), untill the account physicaly logs onto the auth servers or 21days pass, the account is in updated_ldap and pending activiation hence not being charged.

agree cold callers are anoying, if its still an order or if they look in activation support they should be able to see the person/company that sent the device, and someone for you to get narky about.

That particular cliche doesn't work on the internet.

You know what, i think it works even better in this case because in practical terms there is so little distinction between these Indian sellers who are "NOT telstra" and telstra itself.

suck s***, youre a f***wit, haha

haha

there is no way she has been paying for it, unless she has had the box sitting around for more then 21 days after it being sent out.

Learn to read:

A couple of months ago, my mum got a call...

A few days later, a big brown box shows up containing said internet gear and teh setup software.

Don't you have to sign the contract and send it back before you can be charged for the service?

Usually a recorded conversation can be used as evidence.
It wouldn't suprise me though as these people would be on a commission based package and they will do just about anything to get a sale.

As for contactiong the TIO they will tell you to try an resolve it first. The TIO is only there if all other attempts have failed.

Heh, reminds me of the ACA story where they played back the conversation where the guy "accepted" the sale, and it was two indians speaking, one marketing and one accepting.

Yeah it kinda f***s me off how things like the Privacy Act can just be circumvented by including the right to shell your details off in the ToS/EULA companies make you agree to.

From one telemarketer to another...

I have a "friend" who recently purchased a Unit in the CBD which had no phone line connected.

Being a new high rise building, Telstra informed this new user that the installation will cost $299 since no line existed. However he was talking to the Telstra representative on the phone from his Unit, already connected and working well.

He was informed that the unit was in a new 60+ story building, prewired by Telstra to facilitate "Jitnep - Just In Time NEtwork Provisioning" so the line was there, bulk installed to 470 units, so one wouold think the price would have been cheaper then the "Maximum $299" allowed by regulation law because of the inherent "Economy of Scale" saving of a bulk roll out like that, but alas they would not budge and charged him the full $299 :(

So Telstra is going into a new building, rolling out a phone line and then sending a demand for $299 if you wish to have a phone or ADSL line... and you have no recourse but to pay it. (He tried Optus, AAPT, Primus and was informed that since Telstra has a line in they need to pay Telstra $299 for there work)

I want to go into Telstra HQ and change the lock to their front door. Then tell em the key will cost $299 if they wish to enter or leave.

Being a new high rise building, Telstra informed this new user that the installation will cost $299 since no line existed

haha what a crock

they don't build buildings without telstra and every other service that we use in this day and age

gay c***s

Just because they are installing 470 lines at the same time doesn't mean they don't have to pull the cable all the way from the exchange to the premesis.

They did it in advance so your mate, and everyone else in there, won't have to wait for a tech to come out to provision each line individually. You should be thanking them. Im sure optus, AAPT and the like aren't about to run a line out from their gear in Telstra's exchange to the unit for your buddy, yet it is a given that Telstra will no matter where the house/unit/apartment is located in Australia.

last edited by ara at 12:02:11 10/Apr/07

So Telstra is going into a new building, rolling out a phone line and then sending a demand for $299 if you wish to have a phone or ADSL line... and you have no recourse but to pay it. (He tried Optus, AAPT, Primus and was informed that since Telstra has a line in they need to pay Telstra $299 for there work)

yea they should do the hard work at cost price then let their competitors reap the benefits by undercutting them!

$299 =/= cost price

$299 =/= cost price

yeah, it probally costs a lot more but im only guessing.

you know, if you don't want to pay it you could always try to get some quotes for laying your own cable down the street, including digging the required trenches and see how much it costs.

I feel really bad for Telstra employees though. From my experience the call centre staff etc are very friendly and helpfull, it's just the higher ups who make d*******ed decisions like outsourcing product sales to India. The lower level staff at Telstra must cop a lot of s*** they don't deserve.

Anyway, called up on Monday. The girl on the phone was VERY helpful. She said that we could either send all the s*** back and get the 2 billing cycles refunded, or activate it and get credited the amount we'd payed so far, then patiently explained it to mamma bear.

I guess since Telstra was so eager to mend the problem there's no need to persue it any further, but all that crap the third parties are doing must be costing Telstra.

Warning: Rant Ahead! feel free to ignor this post

The cbd has well established undergroud line routes built a long time ago, most probably when Telstra was Telecom and our taxes paid for the work load. I am <600 meters from the exchange, so thats about 470 650m bundle of cheap copper wire. to pull along the established tunnels... and up an inner conduit of the building...

I give em there is real work involved, i also accept the real cost of hardware (not just the wire) but the cost of this hardware is recouped over time with the "Line rental" that must be paid... so it is right that we don't have to pay up front for the full cost of the wire and hardware, otherwise i would expect to take the wire and all hardware with me when I leave, since it would be mine...

This of course leads me to the whole selling of Telstra in the first place... I beleive that the phone line infrastructure is as fundamental a requirement as sewer pipes and water pipes and should be maintained by the government at non profit for all citizens... it should never have been privatised...

Telecom Australia should have been split into a non profit Government own infrastructure provider, wholesaling the copper wire to the privatised "Telstra Retail" arm at the same price as Optus etc...

This would have provided 100% transparency and a open competitive market from the start...

I said this way back when they first floated the idea of selling Telstra and I stick by it today

of course if they didn't split up Telstra, the Liberal Party never would have got the share price they needed to repay the debt built up by the Labour party and we would all still be paying 17% on our home loans :) and making < 30K a year on average...


last edited by Metrix at 08:53:22 11/Apr/07

I agree, I would have prefered the company was split into infrastructure and services, but here we are. Telstra is a fully privatised company yet people still expect them to behave like a government owned entity or a not-for-profit, unfortunately for them, this isn't the case.

This is true.. Since it has already been done, there is no need to cry over spilt milk I guess... it just pains me so :(

I can remember a 2 page Tuesday Australian article way back when the government was arguing the original sale of Telstra that mirrored my belief in the splitting into Retail and Infrastructure before the sale and hoping maybe just 1 politician would read it and come to there senses... It didn't happen :(

I think the new Fibre to the Node network should be government owned and run "not for profit", make it a "Just for upgrades" network...

With the line rentals and connection fees being charged at a single wholesale price to all the Telecom Retailers (Promoting fair and transparent competition).

That money should then be returned into the network to provide funds to upgrade the network for ever increasing capacity and quality assurance levels. ( after paying back the Future Fund of course for the initial funding )

This could be the major reason I will vote for Labour for the first time in 12 years, but I will have to keep a close eye on the finer details of their proposal looking for those nasty loop holes :)