O/T How do you lot put up with it

[Reads90]

Ok rant mode on:mad: and pomie winge coming up

Is it just me or are Optus and telstra a bunch of *******.
Is there a sercet to dealing with these Pr**ks. They seam to leave me on hold for hours and the expect you to be all nice about the fact they can't orgainse a **** up in a brewery. Lucky ythey are not in front of me i would ram their phones up their back side sidewards. All i am trying to do is give them some business. Feel already like i don't want to deal with either of these F**kwits
Is it me some kind of anti pom thing, or does everyone that wants to give them money have to go though this crap

Ok rant off
Phew that feels better

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I dont anymore,, I went somewhere else,,:D


though now i get funny speaking telstra people trying to buy my business back,,

I like trying my Sean Connery accent on 'em,,

:D:D:D:D

[rangieman]

i think they have a whinging pommy detector on their systerm :p

and going by your post i think it works well:D

[Reads90]

i think they have a whinging pommy detector on their systerm :p

and going by your post i think it works well:D

:D :D :D :D but should give us some lea way we were nice and just gave the ashes back to you

[Grizzly_Adams]

Yup, that's pretty much the Australian telephone business summed up :(

[incisor]

yep.... nearly all the players suck at looking after their userbase.

oddly enough the ones that look after their userbase usually treat their resellers like crap..

go figure.....

[Reads90]

Yup, that's pretty much the Australian telephone business summed up :(

really surprises me i have been on hold this afternoon for 1.5 hours so far. Why when i phone up does it seem like all 19 million Aussie are phoning at the same time:D
Not meaning to blet on but in the uk we have 62 million of us and we don't get this crap with BT.

[Slunnie]

Telstra have always been excellent with me in all respects. Not had to wait on the phone for long periods, the Telstra shops have been very helpful and swapped broken phone bits on the spot rather than stuffing around. When the lines have gone down they've also been prompt in sorting them out. My only complaint is that they know how to charge, but thats about it.

[Reads90]

My only complaint is that they know how to charge, but thats about it.

Yeah like a wounded Bull
Boy they can do that really well.

[George130]

Always had hassles with them. Amazing what they think they can put on the bill without you noticing. I us a W.A. mob (Westnet) and can't beleive how good they are. If you wait 20 mins they even record your details and call you back. Only had to wait that long once and they were very appologetic about it. They are even cheaper!

[Quiggers]

I talk to telstra often and don't have any probs...they're suprisingly good...

GQ

(and no, I don't work for them)

[JDNSW]

I don't think it is restricted to Telstra (or Optus). Mind you, Telstra is pretty bad - they expect me to pay their bills within a fortnight but they can't get them to me within that time and they also take nine months to reply to a letter despite numerous phone calls and assurances that they will reply soon - and then deny that they ever received the original letter despite the fact that they acknowledged the receipt of it. Also they screw up the billing and deny anything they want to that they have said over the phone.

However! My experience is that this is not unique to Telstra, nor to the telecommunications industry. The concept of customer service seems to have become so rare that we are pleasantly surprised when we really get some! The reason for this is probably a result of the customer in general putting price above everything , so that cost cutting becomes an easier way to keep business than to improve service.

Oh! The whingeing pom bit - I note from any UK publication or forum that BT gets a very similar reputation!

John

[Captain_Rightfoot]

Well if you thought things are bad now.. give it a couple of years until the privatised Telstra is off the leash. :O

[waynep]

Telstra's entire website is down this mornning - or is for me.

[DiscoDave]

I used to have a lot of time for Telstra when they just provided a phone line but recent experiences with "broadband" has used up all the goodwill they ever had and then some.
I raised some fairly major issues with Telstra regarding safety and risk to life after a power surge took out my ISDN box and it took 15 days (and about three visits) to replace it. The problem was not the loss of the internet connection but that we could not use the phone in that period since the phone line had been converted to digital for the ISDN to work. My main concern was the inability to phone emergency services in the event of bushfire, or other emergency, if the power was off or if the ISDN box had blown due to a surge - as they are very prone to do. Before you ask, my mobile service (Telstra) is totally unreliable where I live.

I (eventually) got a call from the Telstra Regional Manager who essentially tried to belittle my concerns or denied that they existed. "A spin doctor weaseling their way out of everything" is probably the best description I can give of his response.
Eventually they grudgingly installed a surge protector so the damn thing didn't blow up every time there was a thunderstorm.

I also enjoy their appointment system where they make you swear you will be available all morning or all afternoon to allow access for their technician and then no-one turns up. :mad::mad::mad: (Happened more than once.)

Sorry for hijacking your thread Reeds - I think I needed to vent too.;)

[Reads90]

Sorry for hijacking your thread Reeds - I think I needed to vent too.;)

Hey no worries nice to know i am not the only one

[Disco300Tdi]

Ali, wait till you ever need to ring the ATO.....hehehe:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

[ladas]

really surprises me i have been on hold this afternoon for 1.5 hours so far. Why when i phone up does it seem like all 19 million Aussie are phoning at the same time:D
Not meaning to blet on but in the uk we have 62 million of us and we don't get this crap with BT.

Sorry "don't get this crap with BT" - boy them must have completely metamorphed since I left the uk.

............but then again that was about the same time as the cable boys started running cable to 98% of the population, so maybe they got their act together after finding that they had competition.

Prior to that though they were absolute stinkers to deal with.

[Reads90]

Sorry "don't get this crap with BT" - boy them must have completely metamorphed since I left the uk.

............but then again that was about the same time as the cable boys started running cable to 98% of the population, so maybe they got their act together after finding that they had competition.

Prior to that though they were absolute stinkers to deal with.

Nah when i left BT we good and had got their act together
But you are right they used to be crap. But still not as bad as Optus have been. BTW Still not go my home phone working yet

[adm333]

This email was sent to me years ago and I have kept it for obvious reasons.

Take your time to read it ..... its well worth it

Could have even been written by Reads

*******

1) Americans and Canadians are not the only ones who get poor service from their ISP, cable and/or alarm companies. (NTL is a cable operator in Britain).
2) The Brits probably write the world's best letters of complaint.
WARNING: some adult content
Dear Cretins:
I have been an NTL customer since 9th July 2001, when I signed up for your four-in-one deal for cable TV, cable modem, telephone, and alarm monitoring. During this three-month period I have encountered inadequacy of service which I had not previously considered possible, as well as ignorance and stupidity of monolithic proportions. Please allow me to provide specific details, so that you can either pursue your professional prerogative and seek to rectify these difficulties -- or more likely (I suspect) so that you can have some entertaining reading material as you while away the working day smoking B&H and drinking vendor-coffee on the bog in your office.
My initial installation was cancelled without warning, resulting in my spending an entire Saturday sitting on my fat **** waiting for your technician to arrive. When he did not arrive, I spent a further 57 minutes listening to your infuriating hold music, and the even more annoying Scottish robot woman telling me to look at your helpful website. HOW? I alleviated the boredom by playing with my testicles for a few minutes -- an activity at which you are no doubt both familiar and highly adept. The rescheduled installation then took place some two weeks later, although the technician did forget to bring a number of vital tools -- such as a drill-bit, and his cerebrum.
Two weeks later, my cable modem had still not arrived. After 15 telephone calls over four weeks my modem arrived, six weeks after I had requested it -- and begun to pay for it. I estimate your internet server's downtime is roughly 35% -- the hours between about 6 pm and midnight, Monday through Friday, and most of the weekend. I am still waiting for my telephone connection.
I have made nine calls on my mobile to your no-help line, and have been unhelpfully transferred to a variety of disinterested individuals who are, it seems, also highly skilled bollock jugglers. I have been informed that a telephone line is available (and someone will call me back); that I will be transferred to someone who knows whether or not a telephone line is available (and then been cut off); that I will be transferred to someone (and then been redirected to an answering machine informing me that your office is closed); that I will be transferred to someone and then been redirected to the irritating Scottish robot woman. And several other variations on this theme.
Doubtless you are no longer reading this letter, as you have at least a thousand other dissatisfied customers to ignore, and also another one of those crucially important testicle moments to attend to. Frankly I don't care. It's far more satisfying as a customer to voice my frustrations in print than to shout them at your unending hold music.
Forgive me, therefore, if I continue.
I thought British Telecom was ****; that they had attained the holy ****-pot of god-awful customer relations; and that no one, anywhere, ever, could be more disinterested, less helpful or more obstructive to delivering service to their customers. That's why I chose NTL, and because, well, there isn't anyone else, is there?
How surprised I therefore was, when I discovered to my considerable dissatisfaction and disappointment what a useless shower of bastards you truly are. You are sputum-filled pieces of distended rectum incompetents of the highest order. BT -- ******* though they are -- shine like brilliant beacons of success in the filthy mire of your seemingly limitless inadequacy.
Suffice to say that I have now given up on my futile and foolhardy quest to receive any kind of service from you. I suggest that you cease any potential future attempts to extort payment from me for the services which you have so pointedly and catastrophically failed to deliver. Any such activity will be greeted initially with hilarity and disbelief and will quickly be replaced by derision, and even perhaps bemused rage.
I enclose two small deposits, selected with great care from my cat's litter tray, as an expression of my utter and complete contempt for both you and your pointless company. I sincerely hope that they have not become desiccated during transit -- they were satisfyingly moist at the time of posting, and I would feel considerable disappointment if you did not experience both their rich aroma and delicate texture. Consider them the very embodiment of my feelings towards NTL, and its worthless employees.
Have a nice day. May it be the last in your miserable short lives, you irritatingly incompetent and infuriatingly unhelpful bunch of twits.

[justinc]

Ali, wait till you ever need to ring the ATO.....hehehe:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

I had an amazing call from THEM the other day, a nice lady rang to REMIND me that 1 of my BAS statement payments was due and would I like to clear it up in , oh, the next week or so??

I couldn't believe it!! Of course I paid it straight away on Bpay while I was speaking to her, THAT was serious browny points...

JC

[DiscoDave]

Excellent adm333! If only I had a cat... :twisted:

[ozboz]

Got to disagree with you there !! I have been with BT Broadband for about 5 months, been on hold for totally elongated periods more than once trying to sort out problems , and to add to the frustration anguish:( call it what you will , you are directed to a call center that is off shore in some Asian Land and the operators do not readily understand what you are trying to say,:mad: and vice versa. Have been with Optus and Telstra, most of the problems I had were caused by the Mobile Phones themselves.Broadband and Dialup never gave me a prob.But I suppose there is always time !!!;) anyway whatever your prob was or is I hope you get it sorted .:) Steve

[p38arover]

I also enjoy their appointment system where they make you swear you will be available all morning or all afternoon to allow access for their technician and then no-one turns up. :mad::mad::mad: (Happened more than once.)

Back in 1993 after returning to Oz from Norfolk Island, I was suckered into being seconded (with some others) from OTC (Overseas telecommunications Corporation) to Telecom Australia [this was just before the name Telstra was dumped on the world] to join a group called Breakthrough for Customers. Our job was to seek ways to get significant improvements in quality for Telecom and its customers.

I remember a meeting with some techs who thought that if a customer arranged for an installation to be done on a particular day and the tech arrived the day before, then they were exceeding a customer's expectations.

They couldn't see that arriving early was just as bad as arriving late. The customer may have made special arrangements to be home, etc, and arriving the day early might just have screwed the customer.

After 3 months, all the OTC people had dropped out of the team. We could see that it was a waste of time and would get nowhere. The Telecom staff were totally unresponsive to improving their way of working. Several millions of dollars and 2 years later Telstra dropped Breakthrough for Customers - it was an abject failure.

Ron