...The problem with service inefficiencies of Privatised ex Public Enterprises, is the “Institute of Public Affairs”. A “Stink-Tank” of pigs with snouts glued to a trough with absolutely no regard for the social well-being of Australians!

That's what happen when public utilities are sold (or partly sold). They have the infrasturcture but they don't answer to a minister anymore. It all becomes about money - not service.

You were fortunate in finding someone who actually spoke English.
Although, as a Telstra shop employee once told me, "all our call centre people speak English"
To which I replied "Yes, and sometimes you understand what they say"
Telstra is a pain in the b-m to try and do anything other than actually buy from.
All care but certainly no responsibility.
When they have your money and/or credit card number they are no longer interested.
Then again, perhaps all telecommunication companies are this way.

One of the few things the physically disabled, single mums and mentally alert oldies can do, is answer the phone.
And indeed, in so doing, supplement often meagre incomes!
And those supplemental incomes, simply don't have to be more expensive in total, than offshore outsourcing!
And think, this not inconsiderable combined outlay, of many multiple millions, currently heading offshore, if rerouted back to poverty post codes in Oz, would dramatically improve the discretionary spending power of serially disadvantaged Australians, who currently have little or none!
But particularly in generational poverty traps, [rural villages etc.], where even quite modest increases in discretionary spending, say just 25% of single aged pensions, would have snowballing commercial opportunity outcomes, for the local business district and all who supply them!
Which in turn, would eventually produce significant pay back improved business opportunities, for those currently doing, all the call centre outsourcing.
Ever hear of a thing called the NBN, and the new, think outside the square possibilities, or endless new small business opportunities it offers?
Moreover, it ought to be eminently possible to trace and prosecute those few, who simply ring up to abuse service providers; if call centres, even highly fragmented ones, were once again located in OZ!
Rhrosty.

I laughed out loud when I read your article. I too have been a victim of the "vortex" and not just with Telstra.

But you make a major mistake in this article. Telstra is not our "National" anything. It is just one of the Telcos out there. Yes, by far the biggest but not "ours". It got privatized. Your expectations of a commitment to provide service to the nation went out the window with that privatization.

They are providing a commercial service in a typical commercial fashion. Live with it or start a campaign to "nationalize" Telstra.

Alternately support the National Broadband Network and campaign to have a commitment to provide a defined level of service to all Australians.

Oh and BTW, QANTAS is not our "National Airline" it too got sold off to the commercial market.

After 30 years my account is no longer with Telstra, after a similar bit of rubbish with so called "English" speakers in the Philippines, who had no idea what I was talking about.

I rang a number of oil companies call centers, asking for technical information. I now use only the one oil company who's answer was in "real" English.

The moment I get one of "those" accents when I call a company, they are off my supplier list.

Do pay attention companies. It is going to cost you progressively more business if you have foreign call centers. All so be aware, foreign accents in an Oz call centre are likely to be misinterpreted.

I have tinnitus. Using a phone is not all that easy. If you want my business you had best make it as easy as possible for me.

I am a little more remote than you... well, 40km as the crow flies from the coast and 25km from a large regional town here in Northern NSW but apparently that's remote for Aus. We don't get mobile telephony or mains power either. Anyhoo..

This is the advantage with privatisation, I am all for it..You have choices... Give the big T the flick. If it was Government owned, you would have unions bans on call centres operating at non family friendly hours or some other nonsense, I am old enough to remember how useless PMG and Telecom after them were... shudder. Useless as they are, Telstra is comparatively streets ahead

So I thought, why in hell aren't you on the interim NBN Satellite ? Skymesh (ISP) has their call centre in Brisbane, so you xenophobia can rest easy. I suggest you use them as your NBN Sat ISP, ring, tell them you can't get a signal with a mobile so (don't mention the Yaggi) and you should be good to go, it's what you will end up with as your NBN solution anyway, might as well get in now !

It doesn't matter if Cell towers go down, the new Gilat dishes and modems are MUCH better then last generation, I have been through several storms and not had it go down at all (as opposed to the IPSTAR hardware before it), as long as you have power (we don't have mains anywhere near us so we're self sufficient for power)

The NBN Sat is fairly fast, latency is a bitch but other than that...

More here
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/67?g=173

The author must live in a truly isolated location. I have travelled to many isolated places in Australia, and found quite a few with no mobile coverage, but they all have television. To have 4g mobile coverage in an area with no television is quite a compliment to Telstra.

As an electrical engineer I would say that the author should have obtained better advice. 4G is great, but satellite and/or dialup as backup would be well advised in such an isolated location. If that had been done the author could have contacted Telstra on an internet chat line, rather than rely on voice contact. The speed of dialup (around 33Kb/sec) is quite adequate for a chat line, and you have the great advantage of a written record, which could be quoted later. Satellite would be even better, as it would work even if the phone line went out, and if you have an emergency generator, even if you lost power. If people choose to live in these isolated locations they know they will be particularly liable to natural events such as storms and should take appropriate precautions. Cost should not be a major problem, as satellite is subsidised, and dialup is usually a free add-on if you have another service.

The NBN is not an answer, as provision to such an isolated site would be unacceptably expensive.

The provision of call centres in Australia is extremely expensive, and relocation to countries with lower wage levels is a very attractive alternative. Advocates for their retention in Australia are really advocating higher telecom bills for everyone, for it has to be paid for somehow. I never use them myself, as chat lines provide a written record.

Plerdsus I have never bitched about paying for what I get. I will happily pay a little extras for something that is good.

I do expect competent service from any provider, of any service, & that sure ain't available from offshore call centers. If it is xenophobic to expect English I can understand, them I am a proud xenophobic

I had a prepaid mobile with large mobile phone company, who had better be nameless, but who's name starts with V. I used their standard procedure to put $30 credit on my phone, only to find that the credit had not been applied.

A phone call to my bank confirmed the $30 had been transferred to their account in North Sydney. However trying to talk to some lady in Thailand, followed by her supervisor did not bring any help. I ended up being told to email them, in Thailand, a copy of my bank statement. You have to be kidding. Nothing I tried brought any help at all.

A complaint to the ombudsman brought a response from a lady in Tasmania, who could still not access their bank details to confirm my payment. After inferring I was less than truthful, she decided reluctantly to install the credit.

Cancelling the account brought a flood of promotional material, & a further bout with the ombudsman, when they demanded I pay for them to unlock my phone from their network.

A competent call centre service, in Oz could have saved them much hassle, & a customer, who now loves telling everyone what a bunch of idiots they are.

Hasbeen, you have only confirmed what I said previously.

If, instead of attempting to engage with a company representative on a VOICE circuit, you had contacted them via a chatline, you would have found that you would have had much easier and quicker access, but much more importantly, you would have had a full record of what was said, which could be copied to the ombudsman later if required. Why normal, intelligent people insist on having a VOICE conversation, which they are unable to retain a record of what was promised, continues to elude me. Owing to the number of technological troglodites in the community, the VOICE conversation will be much more congested, misunderstood, and confused than a chat line. Of course it could be that after 25 years of not teaching grammar, when almost half of university undergraduates are incapable of composing a lucid english sentence, the overwhelming majority of customers are only capable of communicating orally.

Perhaps the best solution would be for service providers to provide two plans, one using internet chat and the other using a full service Australian call centre, with the tariff of the latter being double the former.

plerdsus you might like mucking around with keyboards, great. As a one finger typist, it is not a medium I chose for my communication with service providers. If they wish to provide their service to me, they will meet my requirements. If they don't, someone else will.

Now with Westnet, I not only pay less for all my requirements, but also have people who speak English I can understand on the end of a call, & even in Oz. If one can do it, why not others?

I will continue my one man assault on any company who chooses to subject me to overseas call centers. I believe it will become a necessity for these companies to return to common sense in their business models if enough of us push them.

Reporting a fault even when connected directly to Telstra's Bigpond cable can be frustrating.

Firstly, after ringing Telstra's contact number ( as shown on monthly telephone account), you are confronted by a dumb computerised 'female operator' asking you to explain the problem in one word. But it usually will take more than one attempt to satisfy the computerised 'female operator' sufficiently to switch you through to a human operator probably based in the Philippines.

Then, after you have submitted all the necessary account ID information etc, you can say what the problem appears to be. In a recent case, the human operator was told that connection could not be made to the internet. The operator checked with the Telstra Bigpond cable network people, who advised that as no network fault had been reported in the subscriber's area, the problem must be on the subscriber's cable connection, and that a Bigpond technician would need to be sent out to repair the fault, but that could not be done until 10 days later. The unconvinced subscriber accepted the booking, but next day checked that the overhead cable connecting to the Bigpond cable on the other side of the street was intact -- it had been severed on two previous occasions by a passing truck. As there was no apparent damage, the subscriber again reported the fault. This time he was told that the Telstra network was in fact down in the area, that restoration would take 36 hours, and that Telstra would ring the subscriber once restoration was done. Although the restoration (indicated by 4 pilot lights being activated on the modem front panel) then was completed within the 36 hours, Telstra took another 48 hours before ringing to advise that the network had been restored.

Any ethical business would make an account adjustment automatically for the network downtime, but not Telstra. Telstra has to be asked for the adjustment, the adjustment has to be confirmed on the following account, and then later accounts have to be checked to ensure that Telstra does not reverse the adjustment.