🚀 go-pugleaf

> I am now aware of the discounts available from Telstra, (thanks to the
> "Choice" article of September 1996).
> 
> The point is I don't seem to remember anything being provided to me
> with my bills, like "You spend between $10 and $15 per month on Local
> Calls, Hey! - You should use our Local Call Saver Plan ....."
> 
> Any company with a decent attitude to their customers would IMHO:
> 
> 1:      Inform them of these things.
> 

It is obvious you have never heard of a Solution plus dealr.  These
dealers
include TFM Australia.  These people are hired by Tesltra to sell
Telstra's products.


What happens is that custmers billing patterns are looked at by a
computer
and then based upon the information these dealers get a list of
telephone numbers
to call to suggest to the customers that they would save x amount of
dollars if they
were put on this flexi plan.

> 2:      Apply them automatically.

If Telstra were to do that then they would have the ACCC and Austel
jumping up and down
so fast they would not know what hit them.  If Telstra were to just
automatically apply these solutions to the customers then they would be
in breach of many regualations and
laws.


I am now on this plan, (after dialling the number on my bill, and
> waiting 2-3 minutes while the phone answerer typed away on his
> keyboard to make it happen, over 2 minutes just waiting for an "ok, it
> done now"!)
> 
> I used to work for Telecom and I would like to support Australian
> companies where possible, but the difference in attitiude and
> performance between Telstra and Optus is, IMHO, still enormous.
> 
Yeh, you save more through Telstra than you do through Optus!!!!!!


> I have pre-selected Optus for my long distance calls, (as the Telstra
> rep. pointed out to me, I stopped him before he tried to sell me any
> of his other plans), and I will seriously look at any future options
> that would enable me to not have to deal with Telstra at all.
> 
> It looks like we may be heading down the same track as the USA w.r.t.
> telephone services, from what I have picked up from the relevant
> newsgroups the main problems are as follows:
> 
> 1:      The old, established carrier, (who once had the monopoly),
> sometimes treats it's customers like they still had no choice.
> 
> 2:      All sorts of alternative offers and plans are being marketed,
> with some containing "fine print" that turns out to reduce the benefit
> of these things in varying degrees, (like what's happening now in our
> mobile phone market).
> 
That is not Telstra's fault many things that they want to do are stopped
by
Austel.  

> 3:      Customers are being "slammed" on a regular basis, ("slamming"
> is the practice of changing the long distance provider that you use
> without your consent).

That is BULSHIT!!!! It is obvious you have no idea what happens when a
customer
requests a carrier.  Occuasionly you may have a computer error and
occuasion you may have a staff member who does not give the customer a
choice.  however when a customer is not with the carrier that they have
chosen then they have a legitmate complaint.

> 
> 4:      Customers that subscribe to some of the newer service
> providers find that their customer service can be worse than what they
> had before, (even though the rates are better).

You can't blame Telstra for that they HAVE to deal with SP's.  When the
goverment
decided that they would deregulate the Telecoms market these fly by
night operators 
were bound to pop up.

> 
> 5:      There is a myriad of choices available for all sorts of
> services, almost so many that no one can keep up with, and make any
> sense of, them.
> 
> 6:      A lot of companies, (but not all), with a regional monopoly
> seem to perform very poorly w.r.t. charges and customer service.
> 
> Items 1 & 2 should be familiar to Australians, items 3 - 5 may become
> familiar after full deregulation occurs next year.
> 
> Anyway, I'll get off the soapbox now.
> 
> I have cross posted this thread to aus.consumers and aus.comms as I
> believe that it is relevant to these newsgroups, if anyone thinks
> otherwise, please edit your follow ups and I will respond in the
> relevant place.
> 
> Regards, David.
> -------------------------------------------------
> David Clayton, e-mail: dcstar@acslink.aone.net.au
> Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
> 
> "Virtual Reality - Give it a rest, Actual Reality has me stressed enough as it is."

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