F####in broadband.

[Biff]

Last Dec I signed up with Xtra for broadband tinternet connection. They sent me the modem and told me my line had been activated, yet I couldn't get online. I like to think that I know my way around a PC, and I knew this wasn't my fault. So I attempted to phone Xtra's helpdesk - everyday, for four days without getting through. So I cancelled my direct debit and sent them an e-mail (from work!) telling them I'd terminated my contract with them as they'd breached their end of the deal. They sent me a letter saying sorry - and they'll miss me. So I switch over the Slingshot. $49.99 per month, unlimited access at 256K downlink - not a bad deal.

All was well until I checked my telephone bill (Telecom) a month or so ago and noticed that there was a charge on there for broadband access. Huh? Not Xtra now - because I'd cancelled that, but a charge from Telecom? Yet I have broadband with Slingshot, so this stumped me. So I dug out all of my phone bills since Dec (I don't check them as you may have guessed), and surprise, surprise I've been charged for broadband by Telecom since December.

To avoid boring you any further with the arguments, phone calls, letters to both Telecom & Slingshot, suffice to say that Telecom blame Slingshot because apparently Telecom alleges that Slingshot filled in the wrong forms when I joined up with them, Slingshot blames Telecom yadda, yadda, yadda. The bottom line is I've told Telecom I'm no longer paying them as I have no contract with them and have never directly used their service (although I appreciate that all ISPs use Telecoms’ backhaul networks). Telecom claims it’s now my fault (although they can’t tell me whey this is so) and Slingshot have cut off my broadband connection in an attempt to "resolve" the issue.

So in short - what a bunch of incompetent fuckwits Telecom are, Slingshots are only marginally better IMO, and what an idiot I am for failing to notice that Telecom have been charging me for the last 6 months for a service I don't have.

My lawyer will begin legal action against Telecom in 28 days should I fail to refund my money and pay my legal fees and a letter has been sent to them telling them so, I’m on here besmirching Telecom’s character (when all they had to do was stop charging me and agree to pay me back my money), Slingshot have apologised, blamed Telecom again and hopefully I should have tinternet connection at home again this evening.

Oh what fun.

[placidfemme]

Damn that sucks. I've always hated Telecom... now I have another reason to add to the list. Surely they can see on thier records that you havn't used thier service... even if Slingshot fulled in the wrong forms... thats just rediculous...

Good luck with getting it sorted out and I hope you kick Telecom's ass!!!

[bugjuice]

heaps of other ISPs, it's just that Telecom own most of the phone lines that the ISPs use.. Move to another service and sod the lot.. TelstraClear can do the lot on one bill now..

I've got Clear.net broadband at home. easy as. Home phone line too

[Hitcher]

Good luck with getting it sorted out and I hope you kick Telecom's ass!!!

The BDOTGNZA shall kick yours... (Arse, that is)

[Coyote]

Telecom is pathetic. I went online to top-up my mobile. Gave them my details and recieved the email with the '12 digit number'. Only problem was that the number I got expired 30/6/05, despite doing all this on the 1/7/05. They still took the money out of my account

Fortunatly, after hounding them about it and getting confusing calls, I managed to get my 20 bucks in credit, only to get about 5 bucks taken away with all the phone calls I recieved

[Blackbird]

Sorry to hear your grief and thanks for the warning as I was about to go down that Route with Telecom. Why is it that telco's round the world have such crap customer service.

Forgive me if this attachment has been posted before, but the timing is too good to miss!

Geoff

[crashe]

So are we all going to see Biff and Mrs Biff on "Fair Go" real soon....

Cos "Fair GO' love to deal with Telecom.

Please warn us before hand thou...
we will need to set the video....

[GROOMER]

Quite a few ISP's state their prices for the monthly service, but in teeny weeny print also mention that you have to pay the telecom monthly fee as well.
Not sure about slingshot though?

[vifferman]

I started off on Xtra, then changed ISPs a few times (5? 6? 8? I dunno), including signing with some that no longer exist. Every single time I changed anything, from dial-up to 'broad'band (huh!), to another ISP, Telecom stuffed it up and ended up billing us incorrectly. They also stuffed up the ADSL installation arrangements, by booking a technician without checking his availability. Of course, somehow it was his fault that the ADSL wasn't installed inside 7 work days, so I didn't get a credit.

So Biff, I think you can be almost certain that the stuff-ups you've mentioned are Telecom's fault, not Slingshot's. Unfortunately, the fine print is all in their favour, and you are liable for all costs, expenses, stuff-ups, etc.

I've now been with iHug for a goodly while, no problems apart from my email accounts having multiple 'trash' folders. Every time I re-index my email folders, something adds another trash folder, with a '_2' appended to the end. I think I'm up to trash_2_2_2_2_2_2_2_2_2_2_2_2_2_2 or summat now...
I've told them about it, several times but the hell desk seems to have given up on it, and put it in the "too hard" basket (aka trash can) ...

[Trakxntrials]

I think what has happened here is another case of "Two many indians and not enough chiefs!" There are so many customer reps out in "Space", that they forget to put in all the details in their computer, with regards to any Customer queries.
I am sorry to hear about your dilemma with Telecom. I had a dilemma of a different sort. My lovely partner gets lots of emails from family & friends overseas ... well one day he opened an attatchment from a "Friend" of his, and hey presto, the next thing I find when I go online is my Browser page was Kidnapped by ??? , sorry I cant remember who it was "something...one"? Anyway, on my next months telephone bill, I had been charged for calls to New Caledonia, Spain, USA and a couple of others. None of these I had made. But the calls total was about $50.00. So I called up Telecom to find out what the storey was ... and was told it was from my Internet connection ??? HuH, any way I called the Helpdesk and a great guy on there explained to me what had happened, and also how to claim back my browser page and keep it free from those "UFO's" and then he put me back to Telecom who gave me a full credit. I had no problems at all and they helped me to solve the problem. He went through the whole process, of how to find out who had kidnapped my browser, where it originated from, and how to remove it as well as how to stop it happening again.
Back to your story ... I think it just depends on who you chat with on the other end of the phone as to how much help you get.
Dont back down - fight them all the way - especially for inconvience to you.

All the best, keep us posted as to what happens.

[vifferman]

Quite a few ISP's state their prices for the monthly service, but in teeny weeny print also mention that you have to pay the telecom monthly fee as well.
Not sure about slingshot though?

Yeah, Ihug were like that, but now it's all done through them, with no telecom bill.

[bugjuice]

I don't get any other bill than TCL too..

No Telecom in my mail box, thank you!!

[Fart]

I use WOOSH.

Awesome service and they dont rely on Telecom's network to work.

When I signed up with woosh, they courier the modem to me on the SAME DAY I signed up. The connection is abit slower then broadband, but i can use the net with my laptop anywhere in the major cities, even on the beach around Mission Bay.

Telecom SUCKS !

[placidfemme]

The BDOTGNZA shall kick yours... (Arse, that is)

BDOTGNZA???

But anyway, Telecom's already tried to kick my ass, and I got $1800 back from them... they truely suck!

[Lou Girardin]

Incomptetence seems to be a telco requirement for employment.
Ihug is no better. I had the standard 10 working day wait for a connection. Then 21 days waiting for a modem, until Ihug admitted they couldn't supply one and they'd reimburse me if I bought my own. So I did. Two days later the Ihug modem arrived.
Then there were interminable waits for the helpdesk over other related problems, no-response to emails, until I sent a letter to Ihugs G.M. via snail mail and pointed out, among other things, that if you constantly experience heavier than normal call volumes for 2 months, they are actually normal call volumes.
So, things have been OK since. But I dread something else going wrong. Life's too short to spend it listening to muzak and irrelevant answer system messages.