Telstra Clear Reviews

6 months of pure hell.No promise left unbroken. Nothing,I MEAN NOTHING!!!! was right. This company takes greedy, useless, ignorant corporate, assholes, to dizzying new heights. I just left I don't give a shit what they try say or do I'm not paying them a thing I'd go to jail before paying these pricks a cent.

December 2010 I signed with telstra Nov. 30 2010. The 2 main reasons for switching isp. first, 5 or 10 more gigs per month for $30 more than I was paying at the time.was a year ago don't remember exact numbers but recall clearly would cost $10 more per month with free 400 txt pm negating my $20 pm prepay cell phone costs. second, was told by door to door salesperson that free dynalink modem / router would work much better than old D-Link that was connected via usb cable not eathernet. I know nothing about these things. early to mid Dec. Internet disconnected, telstra had taken over the line ,finally get through to Customer Service. was told I would need telstra modem to connect,which would arrive next day or two. It didn't arrive. A friend told me Internet should still work, called tech,/support, they couldn't get it working' tech./support called back next day. (I was impressed). He tried to help, and was very good and, very nice. But, my keyboard froze up, so he had me write down steps to ping something or other when my keyboard was sorted out was. I fixed the problem and tried to follow notes from tech, but couldn't get it working,left number with tech./support CALL BACK FACILITY never heard back,called back several times, and was unable to get through. I finally got through a day or two later' tech told me his notes said the problem had been fixed. I informed him I had been left notes on what to do, but had been unsuccessful, he tried to help me and again, we were unsuccessful .I kept fooling with it myself and finally got it going a few days later with the old modem and usb connection. I was offline I think about a week or ten days. As a result of this display of incompetence, (little did I know this was just the beginning) Three major (and costly) consequences resulted. The first,and worst was, being unable to purchase the piano keyboard my daughter had her heart set on for X-Mass. This was a Casio selling for $420 online.This model was not available in Nelson, so I ended up paying $670 for a Yamaha That didn't have the features my daughter wanted, (and was not nearly as good a deal), but it was her big present and I didn't want X-mass to be more of a disaster than it already had become thanks to TelstraClear. Secondly, we had organized a friend to come to our house and set up a Trade me account and photograph and list a large collection of toys that are very difficult to get in NZ. and very expensive. The proceeds of which were to go toward Christmas gifts for both of my daughters (age 10 & 13), and myself. We later auctioned off these toys for around $500, though we certainly would have gotten a better price right before X-Mass Thirdly I was unable to purchase X-mass gifts online within the USA. and have them sent directly to my family there, The rest of my family got their presents mid to late January. Being recently laid off, and a solo dad, this was a huge deal as it reduced our Christmas funds by at least $750 I received the modem sometime during this mess and received notice that my cell number would be ported to telstra on Dec 20 or 22, can't remember which, was advised to carry both cell phones. January 2011 . I called C/S (customer service), and after several attempts got through. I complained about my X-Mass, loss of Internet,cell phone still not working not being able to get through to T/S (tech support)and call back facility being unreliable,no one ever called back, could not get new modem to work with eathernet cable and it had no usb port which worked with my old modem,and having to spend $20 again to top up pre-pay again. I was told the mobile had not been made operational due to the holidays. I was told a supervisor would contact me,re compensation for our Christmas nightmare. Mr. Andrews seems to think that I requested compensation for having to use my router for 6 months, and TelstraClear taking 3 months to connect my mobile. An understandable oversight on his part. given his Comprehensive, and profound ignorance of the events, due to his compassionless indifference toward your customers. I tried numerous times to get through to C/S when I wasn't contacted got through a few times, no one knew anything about compensation or cell or anything was told again , that the cell phone problem would looked into and fixed.Got first bill from telstra, saw mobile charges on bill called C/S asking how I could have mobile charges when my mobile still didn't work? Got no answer to my question,and I think this may have been one of the several times an under trained person cut me off because they didn't know what to do. called again finally got someone who informed me that mobile charges means LANDLINE TO MOBILE. (Silly me, I thought Mobile charges meant Mobile charges).I didn't recognize some mobile numbers but let it go, also didn't know 2 calls from land line to Wellington I don't know anyone in Wellington, let it go just not worth the hassle I told C/S I wouldn't pay the bill till previous issues were dealt with.Left for holiday apx. 2nd week in Jan. February 2011 While on holiday around the south island, I was forced to carry both cell phones around with me in case my children needed to be picked up,or met or if there was some kind of emergency or whatever, and if my number got ported to the new phone I would not be able to contact them with the old phone. I tried several times to call C/S from friends homes and hotels but got sick and tired of the wait times.(Other companies at least have the common courtesy to let customers know if call traffic is heavy and how long one might have to wait, TelstraClear offers no such consideration to their customers. How very thoughtful of you. At one point I considered purchasing a new cell phone with a new number just to avoid the problem of carrying both phones.Do you get it?????? If I carry only my old phone with me and you were to transfer my number to the new phone I might miss an important message so I had to carry both phones with me any , and every time I thought I might miss an important message.What a pain in the ass,perhaps I should have bought a MAN PURSE to carry around so as to avoid the discomfort of stuffing two phones in my pocket??? Arrived back home about mid Feb. Mobile still not working, and Internet worse than ever. Spent 45 minutes once trying to get through to C/S only to get connected and cut off after 2 minutes. (This happened 3 times over the course of my 6 month nightmare with telstra) toward the end of FEb I finally got through to a girl who listened to my tales of frustration, and I think gave me $80 compensation for the $20 per month I had spent topping up my pre-pay,(at this point I had already purchased a $20 top up for March as I clearly had no faith in your company's promises) she promised to have a supervisor call me, re the compensation ,and the issues with the modem, The old modem needed rebooting constantly, not being able to get tech assistance to get the new modem working, not to mention the cell phone that still didn't work, I didn't, even know where it was at this stage, my kids used it to play games on, and that is all it was good for. Surprise, surprise ....No one contacted me !!! GO FIGURE ?? called C/S several times again, finally got a supervisor worth talking to, around the end of February. This was Ian Maduro (don't know how his name is spelled, close enough) He was embarrassed and appalled that no one on his team had taken ownership of my problems and promised to resolve all, he gave me his extension number, told me to call and ask only for him, If he was in a meeting leave a message for him and he would get straight back to me.In about a week later my cell phone was hooked up. Ian called me we talked , he told me they had my Mobile number wrong. I checked my contract, the number was written down correctly. THREE MONTHS !! NOT ONE OF YOUR BRAIN DEAD CUSTOMER SERVICE PERSONELL HAD THE SENSE TO CHECK IF THEY HAD PORTED THE RIGHT NUMBER!!! IAN PROMISED THAT HE , OR SOMEONE WOULD GET BACK TO ME RE Compensation AND MODEM . we spent a long time on the phone talking about everything from how to motivate useless staff to the global economy, I spent a lot of Time in KL Malaysia, and we really hit it off,he is a good man, conscientious and epithetic, I'd be amazed if he has not quit by now. I told him my Internet was worse than ever, slow, freezing up, old modem constantly having to be rebooted, tech support useless etc.etc. We both thought that the old modem could be the problem. Ian told me he would present my story to his superiors and get one of his techs in the Philippines to help me sort out the modem issues,and - or, get a wireless modem for me for all the troubles I had endured............ Didn't, hear back. tried a couple more times to get through to T/S. Got the usual run around, and finally just gave up. March 2011 Given up trying. Sent nasty e mail to telstra, something like F U you useless pricks I'm not paying you a F'N cent, thinking I might get someone to call and ask why I was so dissatisfied, no luck. tried a few more times to get tec support. I tried calling C/S about bill don't recall if I got through or not. April 2011 same bullshit refuse to pay bill figure someone will call when they want $$$$ May 2011 toward end of may Got through to Ian, told him still had no word on compensation promised to me almost 6 months ago in January for screwing up my X-Mass Ian asked me to hold came back gave me $400 and something off the bill, said if it were up to him he would wipe the entire bill, but his boss wouldn't let him. said he had tried to call me that day (I had left him a message) and couldn't get through on my mobile and that he was concerned that mobile service had been suspended. I told him I didn't, think it was but, hadn't needed it that day or the day before.Ian said he would be sure a wireless modem was sent to me FREE of charge and would call back personally to make sure it arrived and get one of his techs to help me get it running. and he would stop any suspensions on service.We talked for a long time, and I just remembered he asked me if he could record our conversation so he could use it for staff training. I told him I was happy for him to do so. Now I think I understand,he recorded our conversation, and I'll bet one of his superiors caught the part where he said he thought the entire bill should be wiped, and fired him. That would explain why he didn't call back. Is that the case Mr. Andrew?? I've worked in the Corporate world. They usually treat their own staff even worse than their customers.And in TelstraClear's case that must be horrible !!! This left a balance of about $160, (from memory) to pay.was going to pay ,was happy to pay till I found my mobile was not working, Called C/S told them about conversation THAT DAY with Ian, they wouldn't reverse it, said Ian had left for the day would leave a message for him to call me back in the morning. he didn't return my call. Called again that afternoon, or the next day, Ian was in a meeting they said they would have him call after meeting. he never called, I'm sure he never got the message. It wasn't the first time my messages did not get to him, we discussed it before. Got a top up for my old cell phone. Decided to wait and see if modem arrived before paying balance on my bill. Modem never came as promised Ian never called back as promised. I guess I was wrong about the one man I thought spoke the truth? Or he got fired for trying to do the right thing Enough is fucking enough, called another isp and signed up I entertained the idea of trying to negotiate a compromised settlement with someone at telstra for about two minutes, but realized the idea was insane. Three months to find someone intelligent enough to check if they had my mobile number right, how could I find anyone with an IQ high enough to sort out cancellation of a contract?? November 2011 I get a call from a collection agency re telstra, I said flatly "I'm not paying them". She said, and, I quote "That's what we like to hear". When asked what the problem had been, I asked how much time she had' and she laughed and said something along the line of you never got what you were told so It's a breech of contract? I told her that was a gross under statement.She laughed again and we said good night.She was very nice. December 1, 2011 I get a call from Hamish Andrew, from TelstraClear Customer Services, .....Customer Services, ??? Now these are two words That Telstra should never use in the same sentence,kind of like "Military Intelligence", contradictory don't you think?? This idiot never listened to a word I said. I never got to string more than two sentences together without him interrupting me. He basically accused me of being a liar and a thief. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. he was obviously calling from Telstra and his own call got dropped, which I found historically ironic. He called back to not listen some more. I don't know if he hung up, or his call got dropped again, by this time I was swearing like a sailor. But I do want to thank him. I must say, I did feel a bit better. A few days later I received a letter from your intellectually impotent customer service man Hamish Andrew, Fasten your seatbelts and put away your tray table, and make sure your seat is in the upright position, It gets even funnier. The letter begins, As per OUR DISCUSSION 1 December bla bla bla. Firstly may I suggest that someone enlighten Mr Andrew on the definition of discussion. This is an exchange of ideas, and or points of view, where the parties involved listen to each other. He states quote "You requested compensation for these two issues", referring to the, delay in reassignment of mobile service, and having to use my own router This is incorrect. I was offered compensation No mention of f..cking up my X-mass, which was by far the most important and expensive issue. First, the only thing I "requested" was for my mobile to be switched on, Which took only three months from the time I was promised. No wait,almost Four months! My Mobil didn't get activated till late March about three months after the Dec. 22 date scheduled (I signed with Telstra Nov 30) I was offered monetary compensation in January for X-Mass Internet not working and it F..cking me, and my family's X-Mass up, That took six months to get. And I requested help with getting my new router working. After TelstraClear taking only four months, to get my mobile going, I was offered, a new wireless router. which took only another three months to not receive. But wait, there's more!!! Paragraph two of your letter reads, "You you have advised that the second router worth $150 was not received so I have reduced the amount owing by $150 as a result as I am unable to confirm this was sent or not due to the date being to far in the past" Well, Mr. Andrews let me get this strait. You will take $150 off my bill for the FREE router it took me 6 months to not get, and that, in your own words you don't have any record of ever sending????? I'm sure the courier used around these here backwoods parts keep better records than that. why don't we check with them????? Paragraph three states,"You also claim that although the broadband service was working correctly" Stop here, I wouldn't state that if someone put a gun to my head." you had "slow speed" and left messages for our Customer Help department to ring you back regarding this. firstly the Customer Help department has never had the facility to call you back and Secondly there is no record of you ever contacting us regarding this issue (which you also confirm)so we cannot fix an issue which we have no knowledge of." which I also confirm ???? are you on acid???? Were you at Woodstock? Didn't you hear the announcement about the brown acid being poison?? I did confirm that I tried to contact tech support re this,and couldn't get through but I was told by your sales person, and others that my old router was probably on the blink and that a new router would help the problem,which it did. You want to know how long it took me to get a new router going with another ISP?? I'll tell you anyway. About 30 minutes, including time on hold to get to talk with someone. It was a simple problem Correct Mr Andrew, your Customer Help department dose not have any call back facility, (IT NEEDS ONE), But, your tech support department Has, (go to NZ consumer .co to see all the other reports about you're useless customer service and people who never got a call back from you're tech support team.) and if you had the communication skills of a first grader you would have heard me say that to you on the phone several times, you greed driven corporate blood sucker. You didn't know there was an issue??? I let you know there was an issue the day I received your router a week late. Why do you think I kept going on about not being able to hook up the new router you sent me?? Did you think I didn't like the color of the old one?? It didn't go with my decor??? Did not the Email I sent you saying f.ck you a..holes I'm not paying you a cent. give your "highly skilled"staff a clue?? I'm asurprised they didn't get straight back to me, after all it only took them three months to even check if they had ported the correct mobile number! I am sick of you pigs wasting My time. There is so much more I could write about.Alow me one more feeble attempt to educate you. If I bought a car. And I was promised upon purchasing it,I would get new tires, a rebate, and a new CD player. And, three months later I get the cd player, and six months later I finally get the rebate but still no new tires ??? I would call that a clear breech of contract. But why am I trying to teach you reason??? As a brilliant Nebraskan pig farmer once said, "Never try to teach a pig to sing, it wastes your time, and it annoys the pig Happy wallowing, Mr Andrews sincerely Kevin Atkinson. PS.re your letter, Mr. Andrew stating from TelstraClear, "consider this account no longer in dispute". You can consider whatever the hell you wish. But, this account is still very much in dispute this letter is going out to tens of thousands via Internet And to Fair Go. And to the Telecommunications Dispute Resolution services. And to every newspaper in NZ Via E -mail. (so many of these small town newspapers are just dying for anything to print And to every consumer rights organization. And more, And I am sick of talking to you. I will accept only written correspondence from now on. AND MERRY CHRISTMAS

After months of contemplating switching to telstra because our connection to telecom broadband kept dropping out after the Feb earthquakes in Chch, we switched after someone came to our door offering a well priced package. Took a while to get switched over but understandable as they were doing it as a group area connection and had some dodgy power poles etc to contemplate. So far so good. The company they contracted to implement the lines were excellent. The man could not complete the job as he was up the ladder during our Dec 23 quake and the power went out.. so he came back on Sat morn, the day before Christmas to make sure we had internet! Great service. Had no issues so far ... the speed is great and so is reliability.

I joined TelstraClear (well, I haven't really joined them yet, you will find out why) for a good promotion deal. I'm in the process of porting lines over from my previous ISP to TelstraClearThe porting hasn't been done because there has been a problem at TelstraClear's end. And my service with my previous ISP is being cancelled tonight (they can't undo it). The result? I'm probably left without any broadband connection for a week. Called TelstraClear for some compensation for the inconvenience. Their answer? "We will be nice enough not to charge you for the days you can't use the Internet. We are not charging you for the whole month." Really? How thoughtful of them. After talking to their customer care department for an hour, their bottom line was, take it or leave it. Fabulous.

Nothing but great speeds , Pay what for you get!