Wanted to share my experience in cancelling my Optus 4G home internet account.
First of all even logged in to the Optus app there is no direct facility for cancelling. After some futile searching I ended up on online chat with an operator.
I spent about half an hour with a conversation that basically went ME please cancel my contract, THEM we can offer you……
At one stage I was even asked if I knew anyone who would like to take over my contract!
I finally asked them to confirm that my contract was being cancelled which they did.
So when my billing period ended instead of getting notified that my contract was cancelled I received a BILL FOR THE NEXT PERIOD!
I left it few days just in case and then called and spoke to an operator. Fortunately my online chat had been recorded and so he agreed to cancel my last bill and contract. I just had to pay an early cancel for the modem.
I did take some screen grabs of the online chat when it started becoming frustrating.
(I left Optus because they don’t have 5G home internet where I am, otherwise the service was fine)
It sad when businesses put impediments in your way uneccesarily. I have a friend who also had difficulties in cancelling an Optus account. Maybe it’s their modul operandi now?
Is it too soon to say?
How does the speed of the 5G broadband service compare with your new provider.
The speed available through 5G services depends on which frequency bands your local connection uses.
We ported our mobile services from Optus, prior to the data breech. The account with Optus remained open. It was a surprise that we could not close the account in store or on line when logged into our account. Optus has a seperate team of staff, only contactable by phone. It took 2 billing cycles.
A further enquiry might be whether Optus retain your ex customer credentials and your login remains active after the account is closed.
To be fair, this customer was breaking a contract. The company would be within its rights to enforce the terms of the contract, at least to the extent of the terms that specify what happens if the customer seeks to break the contract. (You may have to pay out the contract.)
Because of the government, Optus, like all telecommunications companies, is obliged to retain your details for 2 years after you close the account. This is called Data Retention.
So
Prior to the data breach / after the data breach … makes no difference. Unless you left more than 2 years ago, by law your details were breached.
The only nasty difference is that … if the only email address that Optus had on file for you was an Optus email address relating to the service that you closed … then they can’t notify you by email that your details have been breached.
With many consumers now opting for paperless billing, it’s possible Telcos are not the only ones retaining your user ID and account digital records.
Origin’s App still happily logs me and provides access to all my previous gas and electricity bills. Although I parted ways at the start of this year. I assume any other credentials provided previously are also saved somewhere.
Would that be the same requirement, or is Origin just hopeful I might return? The issue of customer data retention is broader than just the Telcos?
For sure - but this topic is specifically about Optus.
For the record, there is government documentation that specifically notes that telcos are not required to retain “passwords [… and the like] which are used for authentication purposes” but this is not reflected in the actual legislation, and could change without any amendment to the legislation.
However that is quite separate from the idea that the login itself remains active. The Data Retention legislation does not to my knowledge require that.
That sounds like very poor security. Maybe you should complain to them. The only other thing that I can think of is that this is a side-effect of the mandated energy plan comparison functionality.
