Open letter to Telstra CEO David Thodey

Brisbane scribe CAROL CAMPBELL thinks this public missive might be the only way to finally conclude a long-running row with Telstra. Her experience is also very illuminating for anyone who has a fight with the Telco. The main things to learn? Record every conversation, every name on the end of the line, every frustrating step of the way ... and most importantly, know your rights. You might just get some compensation for your travails – double in her case whether she wanted it or not.

Dear David

I see by reading today’s paper that Telstra is in some trouble, with your first-half net profit dropping by 3.3 per cent, followed by a whopping 5 per cent plunge in share prices. The blame, apparently, lies largely with the public’s move away from fixed home phone lines, opting instead to use only their mobiles. However, Telstra has some deeper internal problems affecting profit margins that perhaps you and your shareholders should be made aware of.
You see, I have a credit of $4865.81 with Telstra, which has been sitting in my account for the past 12 months. All very well, you might think, but it’s not mine. It belongs to your company, or at least to your shareholders. I was given the cheque in lieu of the credit more than a year ago – and it was well spent on a trip to Vietnam soon after. What to do? It might be best if you become involved and ensure the funds wind up where they rightfully belong.
I know I could have tried asking staff to sort it all out earlier, but I don’t suppose you have ever had to phone Telstra, David? It can be an absolute nightmare. Ask anyone on the street. And if the error wasn’t picked up by your auditors, what’s to stop an unscrupulous staff member from transferring those funds out of the company altogether?

How did all this come about, you might ask. Well, read on to see how our national telco – your company – did its best to lower any profits it might have accrued last financial year. I applied to have the phone connected in October 2007. My property is quite close to the post office in the small seaside village of Brunswick Heads, in northern New South Wales.
The technician arrived a few weeks later to do the necessary wiring but the only pit the cable had to come from was in someone else’s backyard. Now what! Mid-December I received a phone call on my mobile from Telstra to advise that it was no longer company policy to dig in anyone’s backyard. More cabling would have to be laid. It would now be a Telstra project and be delayed by two months.
Fair enough, I thought, but I wrote the date in my diary when I could expect some action. And I also wrote down the dates and the conversations I had had up to that point – just in case things went pear-shaped. Good move in hindsight. I started phoning Telstra at the end of February, David, to find out what was happening to my connection. I hadn’t seen any action – no digging, no trucks, nothing that resembled anything to do with a phone connection. I left messages, I spoke to different people, I was transferred to various departments, I was promised return calls. Nothing. I started to phone daily.
What on earth was the problem? Why wouldn’t anyone talk to me? A workmate heard me complaining and suggested I contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.
First a quick look at the Telstra website to read its customer service guarantee: new connection anywhere in Australia within 20 working days (equivalent to 1 month) after request - (www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/commitments/docs/csg_standard.doc). But what now if they hadn’t complied?
After the initial five working days of delay, you may be entitled to receive a CSG payment of $48.40 per additional working day of delay. I did a quick calculation. I requested the service mid-October. It was now mid-March – well beyond the 20-working-day guarantee and the bastards wouldn’t even talk to me. Time to call in the big guns. I emailed the ombudsman’s office (www.tio.com.au) with a summary of my complaint. They didn’t take long to get back to me and said they would be happy to take up my case. And they were particularly pleased to receive the pages of notes I had made, detailing the results of each phone call with Telstra – who I’d spoken to, what was said etc. (These pages continued to grow in the ensuing months after more calls and promises)
First a phone call from my newly appointed Telstra case manager, trying to smooth the waters; then denial of fault, blaming me for not advising the contractor when I was available; then blaming the contractor, denying Telstra was at fault; then the offer of an unsatisfactory mobile service; then several promises of ever-extending connection dates.
Eventually, the phone was hooked up mid-September 2008. The next week I switched to another provider but the matter didn’t end there. There was still the matter of compensation, and the TIO had fought long and hard to ensure I was paid what was owed to me after nearly a year’s wait for connection. Finally I received a statement saying I was $4865.81 in credit, the amount I was promised in compensation costs.
But I wanted the cash. I wasn’t with Telstra And I’d have to make a hell of a lot of phone calls to spend that sort of money. More calls to the TIO. At last, in mid-January 2009, I received the cheque for the full amount - $4865.81 - and rushed to bank it straight away, and make my booking for Vietnam.
Two weeks later, however, I received another statement saying I was $4865.81 in credit. Three months later, another similar statement. Doesn’t anyone talk to each other in Telstra? Oh well, I thought, the auditors will surely pick up the error at the end of the financial year. I went overseas and could not believe, on my return, that I still had a $4865.81 credit, and I still have as at January 2010.
I am keen to have this matter resolved but you can see my concern, David. Can you guarantee that this credit will be rightfully returned to where it belongs?
By the way, it seems this is not an isolated incident. Someone recently told me they were not billed by Telstra for a more than a year, despite repeated requests. They got sick of asking for a bill, so had a year of free service. Private enterprise would go broke doing business like that.

Carol Campbell, Brunswick Heads