This is a follow up from my earlier post about my Optus nightmare. In Summary, Optus never transferred me from a pre-paid to post-paid mobile service. In fact, had I not written my letter – they would not have done it ever! So I received a call from someone at Optus on March 18th (which was good because I told them to contact me after March 15th as I would be overseas), but I was driving so told him to call me 10-15 minutes later. A few hours later, I got another call. Surprise, surprise!
This is what has happened. I wrote an “frustrated” letter to Optus customer relation team (March 3rd) -> they have told one of their members to call me back. Basically, the guy had minimal idea of my problem, so I had to explain it to him all over again. Did I also mention that Optus sent me a bill for my wireless broadband? Yep, they did. The bill was for $75.13.
Anyhow after 52 minutes on the phone, my pre-paid service was transferred to post-paid service. He told me it will happen in the next 4 days, but luckily for Optus it occurred within 30 minutes. Now the process will be:
* The guy sends an email stating the transfer has been completed
* In that email he mentions”my problem”, and asking them bundle the service
* In that email he mentions I have been overcharged for my broadband, therefore a credit is due
He told me to pay this bill, and a credit will be issued for the next bill. Hmmm, I do not like this idea but it’s their policy it seems. Anyway, I am happy that someone called me to sort his out rather than me waiting on the phone for ages.
The interesting thing was, the guy who called me was an Indian living in Melbourne. Even he agreed that telecommunications services in Australia was pretty bad. In contrast, during my Indian stay recently – I was connected to Airtel within minutes, and pre-paid recharges were done within seconds. That’s right, within seconds!!! This is despite me being a foreigner. No fuss, no calling anyone! Furthermore, Airtel has a system where an sms is sent after each phone call/sms highlighting exactly how much money is left, and when the expiry is. Compare this to my experience, and you see my point!
So for now, my pre-paid transfer story has ended, but my bundle story is still ongoing. I will keep you all updated about this, so stay tuned!
I can share your frustration with Optus, i have to say i have been with most of the major telco’s in Australia and Optus is by far the WORST!!! Customer Service is non existant, more of a palm you off to the next department who then tell you lies and palm you off again, i have just cancelled my mobile contract with them as i had been with them for 7 years and they still could not help me when i went to make an insurance claim when my mobile went through the washing machine, instead telling me to take it into an optus store to get a damage claim done, i get to the optus store (thursday night as i work full time) only to be told no i need to call the call centre back and get a claim number!!! enough was enough so i have cancelled my contract and sold my prepaid wireless broadband and will tell anyone that will listen and write on any public forum how bad Optus’s customer service is, if enough people boycott optus (virgin & primus) we might make them stand up and provide better customer service…..aaagghhh optus suck!!! If anyone is planning to sign up with them i would say dont, it will be the worst most time consuming mistake you will ever make…
The optus store customer service is pretty useless. They always refer to their 1300 number, which not to mention takes ages to get answered.
I totally agree. Optus is ridiculous. I have received a sms from optus stating my phone bill was not paid which I did pay a week ago. The operator “Davie’ would not speak to me as the account is in my husband’s name. I informed her that I was put down as an authorised person as I am the one using the phone. I was told they did not have my name on their records and need to speak to my husband. I said fine and she asked for my husband’s number.I said it was a joke they do not have a number for him – she said they did, but cannot tell me the number (not that I was asking for it!) for privacy reasons. I said fine ring him on the number you have and I want a call back on this mobile number. Low and behold not surprising, neither my husband or I have received a call. How does optus expect to keep their customers. Twice I have been to the Belconnen Mall optus shop to pay my bill and both times I got a nasty remark that I do not need to go the the shop to pay, I should pay it over the phone or at the post office. I told them I am helping you keep your job. It seems customer service and satisfaction has gone out the window with Optus. I think we all need to each time send a complaint to the telecommuncation ombudsman to get them to investigate Optus’ practices. I am going to if I receive another sms or my phone gets disconnected (which I have warned Davie about). I have another mobile phone with Telstra and they have been great. Another phone company that need to be demolished is 3. I cancelled my service with them and will never consider them even if they want to give me free phones or free calls. I am reaching that point with Optus.
naazi, looks like u have been dealt with badly by optus. my parents recently had a similar problem during an enquiry. they lost it, when the lady told them my mom did not have “authorisation” to deal with the enquiry. then immediately when she was questioned, she changed her story to: “yes yes yes, we have it on record”. apparently it was a system error.
in regards to businesses generally, ever since i started mr feedback i make sure i leave my feedback with them each time, especially if its something which is letting them down. often, they appreciate it, particularly small businesses. not so much the big corporations though.
incompetent half-wits. that all they are. the worst if you require any assistance. they incorrectly advised that i have a credit problem and to contact ‘VEDA’. when i did that and paid them a fee thay told me my credit was fine, i ring useless optus back to make a purchase and then they tell me i don’t meet their criteria…..w#$nkers!
i agree, optus suck! their staff are rude and completely unhelpful. i rang up customer service and had to be transferred about four times before i could speak to someone who knew what they were doing and then i got cut off and had to got through he whole process again. when i finally talked to someone they were very rude and arrogant and told me there was nothing they could do about it! when i lose my temper with them i get told to calm down and not be rude! i am at the end of my rope with them but do not know who else to use as they all seem to be the same.
someone needs to train the staff better customer service. i work in customer service myself and if i treated customers like that i would be fired! optus need to improve their game if they want to keep customers
I have had the worst experience with Optus, refusing my business because i was intestate and missed a bill. They are now asking for next months payement, even though I am no longer a customer…
WHAT A F#$KING JOKE… you can wait for the $3.70 because your not getting from me. So much for a tough times in a global economic crisis. You guys should be begging for our business.. I SAY BOYCOTT OPTUS, THERE NOT AUSTRALIAN
“I SAY BOYCOTT OPTUS, THERE NOT AUSTRALIAN” lol! I’m ok with the first part but, not the second.
Well here’s my story…
I called to have my wireless modem unlocked as I saw on their website they unlock the phone or modem if you meet certain criteria.
So I first spoke to a hard to understand Indian representative who transferred me to another hard to understand Indian representative… I spoke with this one for a while and he told me he couldn’t find out if I met one of the two criteria (having recharged with $100 or more or be with them for a year) since he said he couldn’t see my account details and that I would have to go in person to an Optus shop.
So I did… The lady at the shop used the same system the customer service reps use (ICON) and found my top-up history, rang the customer service back and told them I wanted to have my modem unlocked. They replied they didn’t have access to my top-up history, so she told them where to look, and surprisingly the found it. So far so good, I should have had my unlock code at that point but, the customer service guy told us that I couldn’t get the code because I hadn’t reached $100 worth of recharge and that I had recharged 5 times with only $10 (200 Mb data) using my credit card. I was completely sure I had recharged 5 times with $30 (1 GB data)!? So The lady at the shop told me I could have that disputed. She advised me to get a hold on the credit card bills showing the recharges and to come back to the shop in order for them to sort this out.
I got a hold on my credit card bills. They were showing $30 recharges so I went to the shop and then was told to call the customer service department in order for them to deal with it… But before I left I was wise enough to ask them to show me how they found my details just in case the rep tells me he doesn’t have access to them (I have been working as a sales rep in the cell phone industry for years so I’m pretty much used to these systems).
I then went back home (frustrated of having wasted time and petrol for nothing) and called back the customer service department. I spoke to a hard to understand Indian guy who seemed to be new but willing more than the others to help me. I was put on hold a couple of times after he verified a couple of things and then told me he had to talk to the credit department. Well instead of calling them himself, he transferred me… I then was told by the lady at the credit dept. that clients weren’t supposed to be transferred to the credit dept. and that only customer service reps. could in order to have notes taken to my file… so she told me to ask for a supervisor and transferred me. I finally got to speak to a supervisor after answering questions from a hard to understand Indian rep that I had to spell everything to. … only to be told by the supervisor that I hadn’t been transferred to the right department! I then asked him to make sure he transfers me directly to the supervisor of the right department… which he did after putting me on hold for some time.
I finally got to speak to the right person. I told him all that happened and he told me he would check my file so he put me on hold… Minutes later he told me he had found out who was the representative who had transferred me to the credit department and that he did check for my account and that the credit dept. had proof that I effectively recharged with $30 each time proving wrong the information the costumer service’s system had. He then told me I would be able to finally get the unlock code sent to me in ten business days. Then he asked me if there was anything else and I asked him if they had access to my internet usage so we could check if I was getting for $10 or $30 worth of data each time (200 Mb vs. 1 GB). He then told me that strangely these data weren’t available and that my account had no history. Which I could also notice when consulting my account online… He then told me “If you’ve been paying $30 you had 1 GB each time even though the system says you only paid $10”. I then told him that I would like to believe him even though there was nothing to prove what he said. So I asked for some kind of compensation for the waste of time and the inconvenient it had caused. At first he told me he couldn’t do anything but in the end he said he would be able to grant me with 1 GB of free data for this month and that I could use it in 24 to 48 hours.
In the end it took me over 3 hours on the phone with hard to understand Indian reps who couldn’t understand English, 2 round trips to the other side of town, telling my story over again to 8 different persons to have what I wanted in the first place and being left in doubt according to weather or not I had the data I have paid for.
THE END! (I hope)
Hi everyone, I think Optus has the lowest service you can ever think about. Recently I got the optus fusion bill that gave me shock. They doubled the amount of money for the same month in such a way that it took me 30 mins to find out. When i rang them it took me nearly one hour to solve the problem. You know what the good thing is whenever you show them their mistake, they offer you some credits. do not forget to take it.One of my two hand sets (after 6 month the contract started for 24 months)was broken. The simcard was not working on the same hand set. After I rang the optus and even took back to the store, I was told I need to fix myself. Guess what, I was given a cheque to buy another handset only after i gone through telecommunication complaints centre. For same mobile sets i have got another problem at the moment. Its been nearly 2 weeks iam trying to transfer it to prepaiid but everytimes I call them they say it will be ok after this much hours……….. lies…..Has not been fixed yet. I rekon everyone should think before they join optus. do not jump just because they are cheaper……….
As a fun exercise, try to search for a “Contact Us” link on Optus’ site. To date, I’ve not found an email address I can use to contact them – sure I can phone the number and get a pre-programmed half-wit, but just try it as an exercise. Worst ISP I’ve ever been with.
Actually, the irony of it at the moment is, I can Google “Optus feedback” to try and get a link. I see a “Yes, we want your feedback” link… that times out. I guess their feedback server is offline. Must be hard maintaining one of those :/ Seeing competitive ads on TV now thank god, hope the churn isn’t too painful. But whatever it takes, steer well clear of Optus and their non-functional functions.