Are Telstra liable to reimburse us? Anyone else been ripped off?

Telstra will probably refuse to cover the costs of the alternative mobile service since it was her choice to use it, as Telstra might see it, although surprises happen. So consider your backup request might be equivalent credit toward her future Telstra bills. Because of corporate policies and worries about precedence and so on it is more likely to be something they might do for her.

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On the contrary I would think the reimbursement for the mobile service would be easier to get. They were losses she directly incurred because of Telstra cutting her service without warning.

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The direct reimbursement requires them to write a cheque, and that is not easy in most companies. Putting an equivalent credit on an account is usually easier. Regardless, keep the idea if they balk at direct reimbursement, and good luck with them.

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Well we went to the Telstra shop today and here is the order of events:

  • The staff attempt to access my grandmotherā€™s account, but cannot because she doesnā€™t have a drivers license as ID (my late grandfather always drove). Fair enough and easily fixed, I could just call up the call centre and get them to authorise me
  • The call centre inform me that they are not authorised to add me as a manager as the change of ownership process has already begun
  • The store gives us some confusing paperwork to submit to the bereavement team, which it turns out we canā€™t fill out due to lack of ID again
  • I call the complaints team after the store advise me that a case manager is the only upper management they have access to for help
  • The complaints team tells me they are not authorised to assign a case manager in issues of bereavement
  • We leave after wasting 90 minutes. Still no idea how long she will have no phone. We are going to do an online application to the bereavement team

To clarify the store were very helpful and equally frustrated as us at the lack of support and terrible call centre.

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Amazing Telstra have mastered catch-22 techniques so well.

In your next encounter accept ā€˜the horse has bolted and is running.ā€™ You have to give it rein. There are two issues, one being their corporate incompetence (specifically the staff who caused the problem), and the second getting recompense, although the first begets the reason for the second.

Suggestion: wait for them to do what they are doing and hope they have not assigned a new number. While it is in progress Telstra should (what are the chances) be able to advise if they are porting the number to the new account or issuing a new number. Keep that as ā€˜potential problem 1ā€™. Donā€™t intermingle it with any other problem; for this potential problem even Telstra might get it right by just transferring the number to the new account. That will as a minimum provide you with reassurance it is at least going in the right direction, or a heads up it might be off the rails.

Only after she has phone service/account again, go to complaints over the failed process and resultant out of pocket costs. It is not a bereavement process since Telstra did the wrong thing and processed it like a routine commercial transactional reassignment of an account. Unfortunately my best guess is since the account change is in process, bereavement is effectively bypassed and bringing them into your claims now becomes a furphy, and they are bystanders in the process as much as yourself.

How does this fit? The first Telstra staffer should have advised you to fill out a bereavement form, maybe offered condolences, and wished you well; they should not have done what they did that has caused inconvenience and out of pocket costs. That is your complaint.

Considering your recent experience and where Telstra is in process, if you have not sent the bereavement form yet, consider whether it might further complicate the matter as compared to waiting and complaining.

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This article offers some light on the joys of dealing with Telstra.

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Yeah thatā€™s exactly my plan. If thereā€™s one thing Telstra generally are good at itā€™s throwing you credit if they screw up, so hopefully we wont have too much of a hard time thereā€™s itā€™s just a nightmare their call centre created this mess in the first place.

tbh I almost feel sorry for the in store staff. They new exactly what all the issues were but simply had no one they could access to authorise it. Telstra (and I presume other big telcos) make their savings by cutting any middle management they can it seems

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Get your grandmother an 18+ card, some States and Territories call it Proof of Age or something similar, it is photo id then also get some other id that has her address on it eg pension card. Both these combined are sufficient as proof of address and photo id for almost every business unless 100 points are needed then including a birth certificate, citizenship certificate, passport or similar plus perhaps a medicare card would achieve that level. To only accept a Driverā€™s Licence is discriminatory and would probably subject a business to anti-discrimination legislation.

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Going a bit OT but I have found some companies now verify identity from either a driverā€™s license number or medicare card number and position. Seems our privacy has hooks for that ā€˜exposureā€™.

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Yeah they will accept those cards, but itā€™s an extra expense and effort for us just to fix their screw up.

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Useful in other circumstances as well so maybe an expense that can be justified in that manner as not a one off expense in future usage.

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Does she have a passportā€¦as this may be another option if she has one.

I am also astounded that Telstra make it hard to remove a name from a (joint account). For other busineses, the purpose of a joint account is to allow such to occur to minimise disruption to either or both account holder should an individusls circumstances change (such as through death or separation). Removing one name should be very straightforward, especially where one can prove that one of the joint account holders is not longer with us (by death certificate) or has a direct relationship with the remaining account holder (e.g. evidence of divorce).

Telstraā€™s processes as you have outlined are totally unacceptable and highly inflexible/bureaucratic, and donā€™t serve the interests of their customers.

After it is resolved, I would also be making a complaint to the TIO and also to your local Federal MP. Hopefully both your local MP and the TIO push for changes to ensure that the processes used by Telstra change and make it easier, especially when the customer making the request is likely to be in bereavement, so other customers in the same position donā€™t find them in a similar situation.

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ID Options per Telstra!
The horses head or some other portion?

Primary form of ID options include
Photo ID (eg State issued prof of ID card) plus your Medicare card!
Although if you have a passport or driverā€™s license you do not need a Medicare card!

You might still need the Medicare card for your secondary form of ID. Telstra say that is their first preference.

Amazingly a Medicare card and Passport neither of which will have your address make 100 points!

Iā€™m with @PhilT in wondering?

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Yeah if she had a passport that would have helped. Iā€™m not disputing the requirement for ID, more of the situation that led us to be there in the first place!

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My NBN goes down constantly whenever maintenance or new connections are put in nearby. I always demand and receive compensation for this. I have to admit I have had to use the Ombudsmen a few times.

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