(Originally posted 19th February 2010)

Dear Telstra Complaints Manager


I am writing to you concerning the difficulties I have had since deciding to move to cable from ADSL. On Friday, 22 January 2010 I was rung by Telstra to ask if I wanted to change my Internet package. The young man, pleasant as he was, enquired as to whether I had Foxtel and what phone lines I had. I described the situation and he then indicated that I could get the "entertainment package" from Telstra. It took TWO hours for this Telstra representative to put together the bundle while I waited on the phone. It was obvious that he did not know what to do and told me that this was the first time that he had ever done it and on a number of occasions he had to refer to supervisor. Eventually 29 January was set for Telstra to come and do the necessary work. On Friday, 29 January Telstra did not turn up. At 6 PM I rang an enquired as to why this happened. I was on the phone to 2 hours because the very first consultant had designated me the wrong e-mail address and a new time had to be booked. Total hours spent up to this time: 4 hours.

On Wednesday, 3 February the Telstra representative arrived. He did not know what he had to do. After being told by my wife he informed her that he was not capable of doing the work and went away. To my surprise, an hour and a half later I received a call that the Telstra representatives were waiting outside my home to do the work.

No one had informed me of this. I had to leave work and come home to let them in. It was a good thing I was not conducting a funeral! Upon entry the Telstra representative indicated that they will put the modem in the lounge room. I told him that that was not satisfactory. He then wanted to put it in the dining room. I told him that it had to go in my study. He refused saying it was "too hard" I indicated that there were two telephone lines in my study already so it could not be too hard. He gave me all kinds of excuses. He was most uncooperative -- eventually to get the work done and get rid of him and his two assistants I very reluctantly agreed to have it put in my wife's study. On entering the roof they damaged the manhole cover and when trying to place it back did more damage. To protect my home from further damage I told them, to leave it and I would fix it.

The modem is in a very inappropriate position and I decided that it should be moved. When I rang to get the modem moved I was told by Ben in the Sydney office that the system did not allow for me to get cables moved at no charge and I would have to dispute the bill. MORE of my time will now be spent in dispute with Telstra... More of my time! The three men were here for THREE hours. It took them about ONE hour to do the job and then they stood around outside. Eventually the Internet access was established and I was told that the Foxtel aspect would happen automatically. This was not the case. I had to ring Foxtel. You might like to try and imagine the difficulties that caused as I had no paper work or account number. Not long after the three representatives left the Internet connection disengaged. I spent two hours on the phone getting it reconnected. It worked that night, and then it failed again. I rang again and it took another two hours to get my computer working. But then my wife’s connection failed. Total hours of my time to this juncture = eight hours.

The consultant then decides to send a technician. The technician came and connected the computers on Monday 8th. However an hour after he left the connection failed again. I then spend another hour trying to get someone to come back. Total hours now nine hours.

The next technician has replaced the modem. I arranged for the technician to come on Monday 15 to move the wall socket. He did not come. Another appointment was made for 17th February. This time the technician came, but he said that he could not find anyone at home. He said that he knocked on the door. My wife said that she heard no knock on the door and she spent the morning in the room next to the door. This technician rang me but I was conducting a church service and so could not answer my mobile. I rang him 10 minutes after he called and he said that he was now in Homebush and could not come back. I used to work at Homebush. From my home to Homebush takes 25 minutes. I leave you to draw your own conclusions. I rang Telstra to send someone back. They made an appointment for that afternoon. I stayed home and waited. No-one came!!

I then rang Telstra again: hours spent on the phone up to now: 13 hours. Days spent at home waiting for this matter to be fixed: four days. Would Telstra like to reimburse me for time lost?

It is now Friday 19th February, the technician has come, but according to his work order all he had to do was to put in a new wall socket. He tried to get the connection but after one hour he left without success.

So I rang Telstra again , spent another 93 minutes on the phone . We are now up to 14.5 hours on the phone. I was informed that the matter would be dealt with within three working days. That is Wednesday the 24th February. I complained that this was not good enough and having been moved to a supervisor was informed that the problem would be addressed within the next 24 hours.

I am writing because I have had no response to the emails that I sent to the complaints department, although twice I have been promised a reply with fours day.

As you might expect I am not happy with Telstra service or some of their staff. I keep getting apologies, but no solutions and this has cost me a great deal of time and nervous energy. My wife is a doctor and need to connect to her remote server at the surgery and my son also needs access to the internet. We have all been greatly inconvenienced. I await a prompt reply and it would be good if someone actually took responsibility for this problem.

Reverend David. , Sydney, NSW, Australia

I wonder if Optus could offer you a comparable service? I'll send your details there too.