Telstra's outrageous new charge
Just when you thought telcos couldn’t slug you with any more seemingly unnecessary charges, Telstra has upped the ante by charging you to fix its own problems.
Sydney personal fitness trainer Kym Low was having issues with her Telstra Bigpond account and asked her regular “IT guy” to help her.
As a small business owner, she needs the internet to send and receive emails.
“The problem was that no email software would work, including Outlook and Thunderbird on Windows, and email apps on iPhone and Android, when connected to the internet via the cable connection,” Ms Low told news.com.au.
“My IT guy spent a long time troubleshooting but had no luck. So he called Telstra on my behalf. He was doing more than just basic troubleshooting and whenever the Telstra tech suggested things he needed to do, my IT guy said, ‘I’ve already done that.’ And it got to the point where Telstra couldn’t help and my IT guy said, ‘Why aren’t you escalating this to the right places?’
“That’s when he was told we needed to be put through to their new Platinum team. But, right away my IT guy smelt a rat.”
The only issue? It costs you extra money to access the Platinum team.
“I wasn’t happy about that,” Ms Low said, adding, “It was clearly a Telstra problem so I was being asked to pay Telstra to fix what was essentially a Telstra problem because when my IT guy tried to connect his own devices, it still didn’t work. I just thought, ‘Great, more money for Telstra!’ Why push me to pay for Platinum tech help when I’m already paying an IT guy to help me?”
Ms Low’s IT guy instead asked if they could speak to another Telstra tech.
“The second Telstra tech was much more thorough, but he also couldn’t assist any further and, just like the first Telstra tech, he fobbed us off to the Platinum team,” Ms Low said.
Telstra launched its Telstra Platinum in 2014, with the promise to provide people with “premium technical advice and support for your gadgets, computers and home entertainment” whether or not they are Telstra products.
Telstra spokesman Steve Carey told the publication the Platinum service offers a wide range of technology services and help.
“It is very popular and we have developed a range of options to best suit a customer’s needs. If a customer is experiencing a fault with their service, then reporting a fault means a tech support agent would be made available to resolve the issue,” Mr Carey said.
“It’s possible that this issue may have been directed to the Platinum team incorrectly and we’d be happy to look into this further with the customer.”
But Ms Low is not convinced.
“I don’t think we were incorrectly sent to Platinum service as not one, but two Telstra techs tried to send us there as soon as they could,” Ms Low said.
“I think Telstra needs reminding that we are real people at the other end of the phone when we are asking for help. I didn’t think the Telstra techs were very helpful, and at no stage did they offer to send a Telstra tech to my home. They just wanted to get me to go to the Platinum team and spend more of my money.”
Telstra has offered to send a tech to Ms Low to help with her tech issues.