Telstra Broadband
Submitted: Saturday, Apr 05, 2008 at 09:55
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8
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Member - Reiner G (QLD) 4124
Just thought I share a little Telstra Story. About two weeks ago our e-mail and explorer didn't work which does happen from time to time but when it was still dead the next morning we rang Telstra to find that we got disconnected. After asking why we found out it happen by accident. They tried to fix somebody else's problem and opened the wrong account. Found the details are wrong ( doooh wrong account) and closed it. That doesn't sound to bad but it is.......our log-in or e-mail address gets locked up for 7 years and they can't get it back. We run a small business and my e-mail address is like my ph number. We never know how many mails we lost. To make matters worse Telstra didn't apologise or try to help and might as
well have said sh#$ happens get over it. Customer service a big zero
Been with them for 25 years........but not much longer. I do know the others aren't any better but I don't want to give them more of my hard earned dollars.
Lesson learned......if your mail is important have a
plan B in place.
Cheers
Reiner
Reply By: Member - Footloose - Saturday, Apr 05, 2008 at 10:17
Saturday, Apr 05, 2008 at 10:17
It seems that lots of companies don't give a rats you know what about their customers these days. I've had similar hassles with Telstra, Ebay etc the list goes on. Perhaps we rely on technology too much. Perhaps a sorry means that they leave themselves open to litigation?
What a sad and sorry old world it's in danger of becoming.
No care, no responsibility, no sorry and no worries.
I am starting to believe that old fashoned business ethics are a thing of the past.
My word is my bond, and I go the extra mile for my customers. But finding businesses who would do the same can be a long and sometimes painful process.
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Follow Up By: Member - Shane L - QLD - Saturday, Apr 05, 2008 at 10:43
Saturday, Apr 05, 2008 at 10:43
Hi Reiner, I know what you are talking about (been there)......but now that it has happened maybe you should do what I did to minimise the risk of ISP change/problems, I went to an "off shore" web provider for my email addy. have a look at
Fastmail at least now I can change ISP whenever I want and not worry about my email address going west when I do so. I think from memory I paid US$16 for "lifetime"
membership (as long as the account is not inactive for certain period of time) so far no problems at all and has been able to be checked/integrated with Outlook, Windows Mail (vista) & Outlook express.
regards
Shane
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Follow Up By: Member - Shane L - QLD - Saturday, Apr 05, 2008 at 10:45
Saturday, Apr 05, 2008 at 10:45
Bugg..r should have hit reply not follow-up
Shane
FollowupID:
562843
Reply By: John S (NSW) - Saturday, Apr 05, 2008 at 10:51
Saturday, Apr 05, 2008 at 10:51
Over the past few months, Telstra has dropped the ball on customer service, even with its big customers. We had them in at work the other day to discuss issues and lack of fast resolution. They left saying 'we will look into it', and work spends over $10m per year with them.
Reiner, if your email is so important, then register a domain - they can not take that away from you, any ISP can host it or you can host it yourself - its not that hard these days.
Click N Go is good for regeristing Domains, companies like WebCity are good hosters and Exetel is a cheap reliable ISP. There are many more hosting/ISP companies - do your research to find one your happy with. but I use these three companies and have no issues.
If you do end up hosting your own emails, then make sure your ISP will allow you to do this, Telstra & Optus block email servers by default on some plans, and Telstra have expensive plans compared to other ISP's.
MM me and I can give you some help getting started.
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Follow Up By: Member - Reiner G (QLD) 4124 - Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 14:36
Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 14:36
Thanks
John. we do own two domain names and will go the way you suggested. Plus we will have the broadband cable plus a wireless connection with a different company so we never get stuck again. We found West Net sounds pretty good and will go with them on wireless. I have a mobile on contract with Telstra but I rather pay the penalty and get away from Telstra.
Thanks for your thoughts
Reiner
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Reply By: Steve from Top End Explorer Tours - Saturday, Apr 05, 2008 at 11:03
Saturday, Apr 05, 2008 at 11:03
If you can prove you lost business you can be compensated.
years ago a company I worked for had a problem with their phone line, they found out it was Telstra's fault, a complaint to the right person, and he was compensated.
He proved that he missed x amount of calls, based on an average amount for the business and that time of year, then he proved that from those call he could have received, he would have made x amount of bookings, and then x amount of $$$.
Telstra paid the average amount that was considered lost.
Cheers Steve.
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Reply By: Steve Sub - Saturday, Apr 05, 2008 at 11:41
Saturday, Apr 05, 2008 at 11:41
Your own domain name is the go and best 1st choice.
Otherwise my second choice is Gmail. I use Gmail with IMAP and it is great - works
well with Thunderbird, not so good on Outlook Express
POP from Gmail is fine using Thunderbird, Outlook and Outlook Express
Gmail is free and has over 6GB of storage.
Stevesub
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Reply By: Holden4th - Saturday, Apr 05, 2008 at 18:26
Saturday, Apr 05, 2008 at 18:26
Write to Telstra (and e-mail them a copy) asking for clarification and also compensation. Your e-mail must also be sent to the TIO and to your legal representative. If you wish you could also CC to the e-mail addresses of Today Tonight, The 7:30 report, 60 Minutes, etc etc - I think you get my drift. Your local MP should also be involved.
The main question you should ask is "What if this happened to BHP Billiton, the local secondary school?) (I'm sure you can come up with numerous answers. They will tel you that it couldn't so why did it happen to you? The simple fact is that Telstra can very easily restore all your access.
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Reply By: Brian Purdue - Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 04:44
Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 04:44
I use "hotmail.com" almost exclusively. I can access it anywhere anytime.
I was with Telstra and, after getting hacked several times, told them that was not happy with their
services.
When I left them I had a credit of $33.22. For the last 17 YES SEVENTEEN months they have been sending me a credit note for that amount.
Phoning them and waiting for goodness knows how long they say, "We will be sending you a cheque."
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Follow Up By: Member - John (Vic) - Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 14:33
Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 14:33
How were you "hacked" and why was it the fault of Telstra?
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Follow Up By: Shaker - Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 15:21
Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 15:21
hotmail.com is not always accepted, for internet trading etc.
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Follow Up By: Brian Purdue - Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 15:51
Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 15:51
If I had known how I was "hacked" I could have done something about it. I am not a IT nerd I was paying for a service which I was not getting. Telstra would do nothing about it. Why did I think I was hacked? My usage did not agree with the time I was on the internet nor was the useage compatable with the downloads. 20 mb to read the SMH? There is not 20 mg in the news section of the paper and I am not interested in the ads. I used a friends pc and found that the download registered as 4 mg. THAT is why I felt I was hacked.
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Follow Up By: John S (NSW) - Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 19:23
Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 19:23
Brian,
If someone was hacking your account, then there would be more discrepancy in the usage than a few Mb. It could have just been your computer getting software updates, or your Anti-Virus program updating itself.
I'm not saying that you didn't get hacked, just that it is rare that a hacker would nibble at your usage - they tend to hit you hard and fast. I would be looking at your usage when your not on the net to see if your getting hacked.
Shaker is right about hotmail not being accepted. Most free email providers are blocked throughout the business community due to the high levels of abuse from these providers. Besides that fact that 'company_xyz@hotmail.com' is a pretty pathetic way to advertise your business - kinda screams 'backyardie'
company_xyz.com.au domains cost $60 every 2 years, and company_xyz.com domains cost $20 per year. WebCity can host your domain for $5/mth (this gives you 5 email addresses or $7/mth for 100 email addresses) giving you a pop3 email server & web server, which includes spam and virus protection & webmail as
well.
So it costs $90/yr to have an Australian domain & have it hosted for you that is completely separate from your ISP. And its all a tax write off.
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Follow Up By: Brian Purdue - Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 19:52
Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 19:52
Maybe you are right. Still it seems odd that since I have been with another organisation I have had no trouble over 15 - 17 months.
I am too old to pay tax so I take what I can get for free. I have never had any problem purchasing goods using my Historiwa@hotmail address. Maybe my credit card is sufficient.
I mainly buy cds from the U.S.
Just the same, thanks for your help and advice.
It may help other users in the
forum, and that is what it is all about I think.
Kind regards
Brian
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Reply By: Andrew from Vivid Adventures - Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 18:22
Sunday, Apr 06, 2008 at 18:22
It it not too late for them to sort it out.
Get on the phone to them and do not let them off the phone.
"I need to speak to your supervisor"
Bleed on them.
There must be a way.
Force them to think about the real cause.
Apparently nothing to do with you yet you are being messed around.
I can't for a moment believe they are not able to reinstate the account.
Now for the future, the idea of your own domain name is the only way to go and gives you almsot total control - you can move companies with impunity when you need to with very minor disruption.
AnswerID:
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