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Thread: Telecom

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
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    Hastings, Hawkes Bay, NZ
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    1,296

    Default Telecom

    Hi

    Can any one offer advice or have you been in same situation??

    We went into Telecom shop to see what our options were, as we were in a Motel temporarily when we moved here, hence we couldnt get broadband. Hubby explained situation, and that we only wanted it to keep in touch with families to tell them we were here safe and keep in contact to save telephone charges! They said to have a data card, and when we moved we could downgrade to $10 a month from something like $40+

    Vodafone couldnt help us as out laptop had vista on it and was too advanced ??

    We have since moved to a rental for 6mths and have now had broadband and telephone installed - great!!

    Today, we have been hit with a bill for $811 - of which $223 is for this data card, which we thought, ok, now we can downgrade. Hubby rings up - 'Yes Mr Thomas you can cancel, but even though you can pay the $10 a month, there is a cancellation fee of $500!! We were gobsmacked!!

    Personally i have found Telecom a load of rubbish. We were connected on telephone on the sunday, then had to get 2 engineers out to sort problem out, to finally be able to use phone on the thursday, which was frustrating in 2 ways - father in law back in hospital in Uk and the first engineer hadnt connected us properly! They even tried charging us $99 call out fees!
    Also, when we are on bomputer, it disconnects itself. Now we have found out that we have gone over our usage and they have slowed us down.......

    ANyone been in a similar situation ??
    Pulling my hair out ....


    Sharon
    x

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Hawkes Bay, NZ
    Posts
    946

    Default

    Personally i have found Telecom a load of rubbish. We were connected on telephone on the sunday, then had to get 2 engineers out to sort problem out, to finally be able to use phone on the thursday, which was frustrating in 2 ways - father in law back in hospital in Uk and the first engineer hadnt connected us properly! They even tried charging us $99 call out fees!
    Also, when we are on bomputer, it disconnects itself. Now we have found out that we have gone over our usage and they have slowed us down.......

    ANyone been in a similar situation ??
    Pulling my hair out ....
    I feel your pain!

    We're currently having our broadband investigated because it loses the connection so often. I've told them I've no intention of paying a cent unitl it's fixed and even then I want a credit. This week I have done nothing but torrent some music and yet I still have used half my monthly allowance, which is most odd as I upped it to the $59 plan, which loooked as though I could do all but fly online. I smell a rat here and am brewing up to an attack but feel too apathetic today!

    Anyone reading this:
    DON'T GO WITH TELECOM

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    QLD(NZ-Greenhills-E Linc-UK)
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    1,515

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Lupin77 View Post
    I feel your pain!


    Anyone reading this:
    DON'T GO WITH TELECOM
    I feel your pain too, I would ring up - ask to speak to complaints department and don't give up till they quash the fee/get some recompence for their underhanded - lack of full information when the &%^&^ are selling their wares - I changed to the $45 a mth International call plan - only to get charged extra because I need to give 30 days notice for the plan I was on - I was so mad because the girl - automatically changed it over there and then on the phone - DIDNT mention that I had to give 30 days notice!

    I absolutely Hate having to be with Telecom - I think they spend too much on Adverts - WHATS the point Most of NZ is stuck with them anyway! and they could spend that Ad money on UPDATING Their ANCIENT systems

    GOOD LUCK - You'll probably need it - that and vallium after dealing with them!

    Kat

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
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    Hastings, Hawkes Bay, NZ
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    Default

    Thanks Lupin and Kat/Bob for your quick responses!!

    I have now sent Telecom a stinking email, vented my anger and frustration this way!!

    Will let you know how i get on .......


    Sharon
    x

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    UK-NZ-OZ-UK !!
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by katandbob View Post
    I changed to the $45 a mth International call plan - only to get charged extra because I need to give 30 days notice for the plan I was on - I was so mad because the girl - automatically changed it over there and then on the phone - DIDNT mention that I had to give 30 days notice!
    Kat


    Just after I read your post I phoned Telecom because I changed our plan yesterday and no-one said anything to me about a 30 day notice for the old plan either.

    Well, apparently, according to Rupert at Telecom ( sorry, but the pronunciation Wupert comes to mind! Yeah, I'm sad I know...) I don't have to give any notice to change any plan from one to another and there will be no other type of penalties incurred for changing plans at all.

    He did say that they needed 30 days notice to cancel or change their 'Answer Service' plan, whatever that is, so maybe you should take issue with them about your charges.

    We decided to change from our 'Anytime' plan to one that takes a monthly charge of $25 for ALL calls within NZ and Australia (must find someone to ring in Oz !!) capped at 6,000 minutes per month. That equates to about 3 hours of free phone calls a day - must monitor myself....LOL

    Have decided to continue using the 0161 number for UK phone calls 'cos it works out cheaper for us.

    Wupert went through our last 3 months bills, calculated all our options very clearly and precisely and I found him easy to communicate with.

    Having said all that, I aint got my bill yet !!!!

    Julie

    xx

  6. #6
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    Sep 2005
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by zardell View Post
    Just after I read your post I phoned Telecom because I changed our plan yesterday and no-one said anything to me about a 30 day notice for the old plan either.

    Well, apparently, according to Rupert at Telecom ( sorry, but the pronunciation Wupert comes to mind! Yeah, I'm sad I know...) I don't have to give any notice to change any plan from one to another and there will be no other type of penalties incurred for changing plans at all.

    He did say that they needed 30 days notice to cancel or change their 'Answer Service' plan, whatever that is, so maybe you should take issue with them about your charges.


    Wupert went through our last 3 months bills, calculated all our options very clearly and precisely and I found him easy to communicate with.

    Having said all that, I aint got my bill yet !!!!

    Julie

    xx
    maybe I should ring them back and ask for him

    I sure hope I don't get ripped off as that company annoys me enough as it is!

    Kat

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
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    Hastings, Hawkes Bay, NZ
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    Default

    Well, I made my complaint via the Internet to Telecom.

    I had a reply within an hour or so that it was being passed to their Regional Manager. The next day, Friday, indeed we had her on the phone, asking what she could do to help the situation ...

    Luckily hubby was off for day and spoke to her .....

    They are letting us downgrade the datd card to $10 and wavering the fee of $500 for the 'misunderstanding'

    We are still saddled with the huge $811 bill, but i suppose we can at least now pay the $10 rate and not have to fork out the $500

    Still not happy with the huge bill, have heard people have had the data card for free ..... we do have an alternative to pay the bill over a period of time but dont really want to start off like that, just a huge shock having a mega first bill ....


    Sharon

  8. #8
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    Oct 2004
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    Cambridge ex- Liverpool
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    Default

    oops scary that.

  9. #9
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    Aug 2006
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    Chester>Leeds>Scotland>Waikato
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    Default

    The BaldyBeardyBloke & PinkPiggy telecom/broadband experience goes like this:

    Our rental is a brand new house and we are the first ever tennants so there was no existing telephone connection. As a result I didn't expect getting online to be a piece of cake, and I wasn't disapointed !

    Telecom promised connection on the Thursday (having called them at the weekend) but on the day they called (08:00 in the morning - good job we were up anyway for the kids !!!) to say there was a capacity problem on the estate and needed an engineer to attend. This would not happen until the Monday after which time they would make an assessment and set a new date.

    Eventually we got connected up the following Thursday, a week later. Better than I would expect from BT though I suppose

    Anyway, I then looked at their broadband packages and, to be honest, they're rubbish. On top of that when I spoke to people in various electrical shops in passing on this subject many of them had, or were on the process of, moving away from telecom. That says it all.

    We went with Infogen (part of Genesis). If you have your power through Genesis you get $10 a month discount on any of their plans, which made it an easy decision to be honest.

    Called them and discussed on the Thursday and (despite getting the standard 3-5 working days answer) was connected and online on the Friday afternoon - Top quality service.

    Once connected we had some speed/disconenct issues. I called their tech support who were brilliant (I do IT so I know they were good) and they were more than happy to spend as long as I wanted testing the line and any connectivity issues from their end, then went on to suggest and help with various setting for the wireless router and network at my end (I was more than capable of this, but was interested to see how they would tackle it, so played the dumb user). They were brilliant, very patient and very helpful indeed.

    In the end it turned out to be an issue with Vista and I needed to upgrade my network card driver, so not an Infogen problem at all. I am now a happy online connected bloke with a quality broadband solution.

    Vodafone data card - I investigated this option and was told that coverage and speed is only any good if you are in or very close to a major city otherwise you get no better than dial-uo speed. Worth noting for anyone considering this option. Plus you have to sign up for two years (yes two whole years !)

    Also, if you want to avoid telecom altogether there are companies out there offering land line and broadband packages which look OK on the face of it - Slingshot and Whoosh spring to mind.

    In summary:
    Telecom are kak
    Infogen are great (especially if you have Genesis energy)
    Vodafone worth a look at if in a mjor city
    alternatively check out slingshot and whoosh

    Hope that is of assistance.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
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    Chester>Leeds>Scotland>Waikato
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    Default

    Sorry, one other thing I forgot to mention above:

    With Telecom, if you exceed you pre-paid mothly data limit they downgrade you to dial-up speed for the remainder of the month (total pants imho as it makes the internet almost unusable)

    Genesis keep your speed at what you signed up to and charge $4 per extra Gb used in that month. A bargain I reckon, especially if you're not a big downloader, but might have the odd crazy month.

    Just thought that worth pointing out.

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