How can a telco with so much technology at their disposal find it so difficult to activate an account? How can 2 departments not be able to communicate with each other to solve problems? How can a multinational company structure its support service so nobody is responsible or accountable for solving a problem! I am telling everybody I know that not under any circumstances should you select Telstra for NBN and even more so for businesses and that Telstra should win the award for the most appalling customer service! If you are now comparing providers for your NBN service DO NOT choose Telstra.
Todays date is 08/03/2016
Here are the facts
- 23/02/2016 I signed up to a NBN plan (Data & Voice) and received the email confirming the day of NBN installation, my address, the delivery address for the Telstra gateway and my assigned NBN case Manger with reference number and ID PIN for my assigned case manager.
- 25/02/2016 I received an email that my hardware had shipped
- 29/02/2016 I received a reminder email about the appointment
- 02/03/2016 was my day for installation, the installer did not arrive, I rang the case management number and they told me that it is common for the installers to work late. However nobody turned up. I did not receive any contact from Telstra explaining why nobody turned up or even to reschedule.
- The next morning 03/03/2016 I had to call Telstra (as the case management neglected my case) to try organise the connection. After some resistance I was able to have them call NBN who called the contractor and organised it for later that day. The technician was adamant that he did not receive the job. As it was a new house in a new area he needed to connect the fibre to the premises. All went well, green lights on all the equipment and he left. for about 2 mins after he departed we had an internet connection. Then we were unable to access the internet despite the having green lights on the gateway indication that there was an internet connection.
- Still on the 03/03/2016 I received an email saying ‘We’re pleased to let you know your NBN Connection Box has been activated and your Broadband service is ready for you to connect via your Self Installation Kit’ and ‘You should do this as soon as convenient, since billing for your new service commences the day your Self Install Kit is delivered” So I am paying for a service that is not even activated!
- I rang Telstra and they told me to reboot the equipment, no surprises that did not achieve anything. Then they were not sure if there was a fault or that my services were not activated yet but in anycase I should wait 24hrs
- I phoned on the next day 04/03/2016 and was told they need to check with the activations team and that I need to wait a further 24hrs and call back then and they have escalated the issue.
- I phoned again on the Saturday 05/03/2016 after being on hold for 1 hour and 20 mins for them to advise that the that actually the activations team does not know what the problem is and they do not work on Saturdays (so why tell me to call back) and had raised a ticket with the “IT Department” which appears to be the secret service of Telstra that neither the activations team or the case management team able to communicate with them except by raising a ticket but he did say a ‘manual activation’ was required. The man from the case management said to call back Monday morning.
- Monday 07/03/2016 13 days since I had booked in with Telstra as instructed I called back the case management team and they said they had not heard from the activations team. I then ask them to call the activations team, they of course said they had not heard from the “IT department” And I just need to wait, I asked to speak to their manager who said that he or any of his managers have no way to communicate with the IT department. I also said that almost every time I spoke with somebody they told me they would phone me back which they never did. The manager said give him to 2pm and he would make sure somebody would call. Again no surprise nobody phoned back. I then rang yet again and was again told there is no way for them to contact the “IT department” and it takes 48 business hours (no longer 48 hours)to receive a response from the IT department and I just need to wait.
- Tuesday the 08/03/2016 I reboot the equipment hoping that I would be able to connect to the internet and again no access! I then called my case manager who was ‘unavailable’ as usual and I left a message to please phone me back, she left a voicemail saying that I need to cooperate with them(unbelievable) to fix the problem and I may need to wait another 48hours
So basically Telstra is saying too bad we didn’t connect your service, but you are already paying for it and you just need to wait and we might get around to trying to help you or maybe you will just have wait for another 480 hours !
If the problem is as told, that a manual activation is required why can’t somebody be assigned to perform this task and just do it!