For two months, Telstra have failed to help me. What should I do?

Question

Hello everyone. I feel as though I need to inform people about this and get some advice on what to do. I've been trying to resolve it with Telstra for months but they really aren't interested. Here's what's happened: Our household wants to upgrade from our ADSL2+ to Cable internet. The NBN is not yet available in our area, so Cable was the next step. Currently, Telstra is the only ISP that is able to service my address with Cable internet (Optus, for example, cannot). So, I called Telstra at the beginning of May, and we set to order the 500GB cable internet month to month plan with the Super speed boost. And, after preparing it, they said the next Monday (it was Saturday) they would send someone out to connect it. So, the serviceman arrives at my household, and there is a problem: The Cable is on the other side of the street, and as a result, he would need 14 days to work out what needs to be done. Of course, I would assume my household is not the only house in Australia where the cable is on the other side of the street (not a main road, no road markings), so after 14 days had past and there was no contact with us, we wondered what the problem was. We called Telstra, and after waiting 20 minutes to be connected to their technical team, we were finally informed that the process had started that would require a team to come to our street and install the Cable correctly so that it could connect to our house. At this point, we were happy, as at least we felt there was progress. I mean, they could have called us to let us know, but it didn't matter at this stage. Anyway, they couldn't give a date, so they said to wait another 14 days, and 'within' that 14 days, the order should have completed. Well, 3 weeks passed, and nothing, once again, had happened. No contact, no calls, nothing. And, to top it off, none of the Telstra inquiry links that were sent to me, where I could "Call back" the person I had spoken to, ever worked. It would always say "this feature is unavailable". We called back again, and this time, they extended the waiting time that we had been told from 14 days to 25 days. That way, of course, they were still within the time frame. Ok, whatever, that was fine.... So, we called again when that time had finished. It had been, like, a month since we placed out order by this time. This time, the person I spoke to was like "Oh, yeah, it is outside the time now, taking into account the weekends and public holidays, your order should have finished 2 days ago at the max". So, they did something which was meant to alert their team that nothing had happened. Of course, I politely explained to them that this was disappointing, but there was nothing they could offer me. The lady simply informed me, after speaking with their team, that they had to wait for the 3rd party workmen to complete their service and connect the Cable to the household, and that the order would not complete until then. Of course I asked if they could give a date, but they could not. So I waited a couple of weeks once again, in fact, I actually travelled overseas for a week in that time... I had been waiting each day, hoping that I would see a Telstra Van or something start some work in our Street. But nothing... nothing as always.... At this stage, we were very annoyed. I called Telstra once again, and had to wait for 45 minutes just to connect to someone. Now, the person I spoke to this time was as helpful as he was doing what he could and asking the questions I wanted to ask. For 30 mins, he was trying to connect to another Telstra team, but he kept coming back to me saying "I'm so sorry, I'm still on hold, really really sorry" but that was fine. At least he was going to the effort to keep me informed. Anyway, I was so upset. I told him my story, how we had never gotten an answer, the only answer we got was "We're not sure when" and that we never got called back. According to him, he pushed for a better answer from the other Telstra team, butt hey wouldn't give him one. They kept telling him "It will be done once the 3rd party do their bit". Now, if Telstra are getting 3rd parties to do work for them, and those 3rd parties are not doing the work, I would have expected at the VERY LEAST, that Telstra would contact that third party and ask when it would be done, but they keep refusing to do it. In this same call, the helpful man told me he did anything and everything he could, and so, thanking him, I asked if I could speak to a manager. He escallated the problem, which apparrently placed a specific manager in charge of the problem, and I then spoke to that Manager. She gave me the same info, they could not give me an answer. However, he forwarded the problem to the complaints area, and told me I would be contacted within 24-48 hours... AND AFTER 2 WEEKS OF NO CONTACT FROM TELSTRA....... two weeks, AGAIN, they failed to call me back, and each time I double checked to make sure they had the right number, which they did - I rang again, and asked immediately to speak to a manager. Sigh... so, we waited in total for another 40 mins while this different manager called and talked, and... for nothing. She told me the same thing everyone else did: "We have no idea when it will be done. sorry." - she then, once again, 'forwarded' my complaint, and told me I would be contacted again within 24-48 hours. So, here I am. 2 months after placing an order, COMPLETELY in the dark. I have no idea if they will call me back, no idea what the hell is going to happen. How can Telstra think that this is an acceptable answer? "We cannot service till the 3rd party completes the work, sorry" And the sad thing is, no one else offers Cable at our address, The first thing I would have done is obviously go with someone else, but we cannot. To think, that Telstra cannot even contact the people that they, themselves, are contracting to do work for them, to get a lousy time frame. Do they care so little about us that they literally do not care to do anything? I cannot believe that over the past two months, the way we have been treated is not a 'one off', but a pattern of pathetic and disgusting care for existing consimers by Telstra (Yes, we already have multiple services with them). I am so worn out... I don't know what to do...

Answer 1

It seems they actually called me back today, and this time when a complaint was lodged, they actually got back to me!. The complaint reference was: SR 1-513261789108 (Should that not work, my last INT reference emailed to me is as follows: INT 1-502560651827 [25 June] ) The issue is this, according to them: The 3rd party claims to have started work. There is 'no way' they can ascertain when the work will be finished. So in essence, no answer. No idea. No way of knowing. If I were to obtain the number or contact of the 3rd party, it would be great, as I would be able to contact them myself, and forward a complain to the ombudsman for their failure to communicate. Let's not forget here that a date was set, in which the order should have been completed, and according to the lady I spoke with today in the complaints section, it should have been finished in May... There's literally nothing else, according to them, they can do. Seems Telstra cannot control the 3rd parties that they, themselves contract, to do their work. I see how it is, Telstra itself is technically not to blame, as it is the 3rd party that must finish the work, however, Telstra needs to accept:1. The work not being finished remotely on time is NOT acceptable2. That the 3rd party refuse to give a date, which is NOT acceptable; and3. That Telstra's failure to get information from people they contact is NOT acceptable. I said to the lady today: "It could take months, couldn't it?" And she said "Well sir, I cannot give you a date". How sad... How very Sad. I am grateful to the moderator who answered this thread, and I really do hope you take a look at the complaint reference. The lady explained to me they cannot be kept open, so she said she was going to mark it as resolved. I mean, it isn't of course, but whatever. At least if you get access to the reference, you will see the pain, and absolute waste of time I have gone through over the past few months with Telstra. You won't be able to help, as even managers and escallations have lead to nothing, which is really sad; it is upsetting that the higher ups cannot provide you with the necessary tools you need to help the community effectively in situations like this. So, thank you for your genuine help and concern, even if, unfortunately, it won't be able to help me