Over the years I have had major problems with Telstra Bigpond and have had needed to ask for a refund after being overcharged on my bill. But getting a refund from Telstra can be a stressful process that can push any normal person over the edge.
Some operators simply can’t or won’t solve your problems and as I said, I have had my fair share.
Please note: If I could switch phone and internet providers I would but I live in a remote area where providers are limited.
Getting A Refund From Telstra Examples
Let me tell you. If I use something I do not have a problem paying for that service at all. I would not complain if someone I knew used my phone and ran up the bill because it would be my fault for not keeping an eye on who is using the phone.. But these charges or problems I have had were unreasonable charges.
Some examples include:
- I got a $2,500 phone bill which I didn’t create. After many phone calls they discovered that someone hacked my phone line and made international calls in the middle of the night. They could have saved me a lot of stress by checking this earlier though. Both the internet connection and the phone were through Telstra so they could clearly see all transactions and connections. It probably took me 3 months to finally get someone to believe that these charges were not mine.
- My husband left data on his phone that was connected to a radio station. Back then we had no idea there was data downloading on a phone. It was a Telstra phone as usual and without warning the bill came in at $2,700. Both my husband and I rang them continually. One operator gave us a $500 credit but we kept ringing up until someone looked at how the charge was accumulated and thought it was ridiculous to charge us those fees. The charges were gathered within a few days and there were no warnings given that we had exceeded any limits. We should be suing them for the stress it caused.
- One time I overpaid an account by $195 I was closing so I wanted to get that money credited to my new account. Holy hell what a disaster! I have kept the paperwork for this one as it was just mind boggling. I got the money credited to my other account but then they started sending me overdue notices and bills for the closed account. I simply overpaid the account and withdrew the money so I owed nothing. But good old Telstra thought I then owed them $195 and sent me bill after bill, and an overdue fee that was building up. Every time I rang Telstra I spoke to someone and they assured me that it was fixed but it NEVER was. Telstra made out that I owed them money and phoned me continually looking for payment. Finally after about 8 months this problem was resolved.
The latest one was when I gave $30 Telstra credit to my daughters friend who was home alone and wanted to talk to someone over the phone. When the friend added the new credit in the plan was automatically changed on the phone. The $30 which would usually last a month was gone in one hour! I don’t know what phone plan they call that but the friend got confused about how fast the credit was going down and tried ringing us.
I told my daughter to give them a call (Telstra) to refund Telstra credit so she did. The first guy was in India and straight out said he couldn’t help. I got on the phone and asked him how Telstra could justify taking a kids $30 credit in one hour and he flatly said it was just bad luck. I was absolutely disgusted as the friend was stranded and alone with no Telstra phone credit now. That is why we were calling Telstra for them.
Check out the charges below. The mobile phone plan was changed when putting in new credit and the charges were simply out of this world.
See the three charges at 7.09pm all being 1 minute duration and costing $1.28. Well I asked the guy on the phone how Telstra could charge one minute duration three times in the one minute? He did explain this but all it came down to was an absolute rip off.
My daughter, who is only 14 was disappointed after the first phone call to Telstra and simply gave up. I told her to ring up again. The second time she got someone else that said they couldn’t help. I was disgusted once again and told my daughter to hang up on that Telstra worker. She did. Why bother arguing.
Refund Telstra Credit – Finally
5 minutes later my daughter thought she would try again. Another Telstra worker gave her a phone number to call for mobile recharge so she called that. Bang, the credit was restored within minutes. Not only that, the lady apologised to us as the plan had suddenly dropped out. she also restored the correct plan from her end.
It is really sad that my daughters first experience with getting a refund from Telstra was the same old struggle I have had so many times before.
The only advice I could give her is not to give up and that getting a refund from Telstra is always going to be a struggle that you can win, eventually.