An example of the gross errors in the Telstra Account Management System

Again I have had to spend weeks chasing Telstra to resolve a critical problem with their billing system.

I first became aware of the accounting issue on the 9th of June, and immediately called Telstra. After talking for quite a period of time just trying to explain what was going on, the consultant said it was going to take several days to clear up, and that I would get a call back before the end of the week to let me know everything had been resolved. My first mistake was hanging up the phone and letting the consultant get away.

The key issue was that in April I had the data plan on this SIM changed to a $39 per month for 3GB of data. 3 Gigabytes is 3072 Megabytes – and for those playing at home, this will become a very important number.

Telstra was only crediting me with 307 Megabytes of data each month. No, that’s not a typo – my permitted account usage in the usage manager was 307MB. You will notice that it’s very similar to the 3072 that I was meant to be getting, but just missing that final and exceptionally important “2″.

After several days went by, and I had heard nothing from the consultant who was going to write Telstra’s wrongs and get everything squared away – I called Telstra again. After some initial issues trying to explain that I had already had somebody looking in to the problem, and that I really should talk to them I was told by this new consultant that there were no notes on the account, and that she could assure me – no notes about the issue meant that nobody was going to be doing anything about it.

The new consultant however, was happy to start from scratch again, and try and resolve the issue if I could just explain my problem to her.

I started explaining that our business account manager at Vita Group had applied the change to my account, and that I was meant to get 3072 Megabytes of data per month, but was only being allowed 307. I continued explaining other particulars, and about half way through I was interrupted with her assurance that there is no 3GB account, and that it was I who was confused.

I told her that I had the email confirming the change in front of me, and read her an excerpt from it. Again, she interrupted telling me that there simply was no 3GB account, and there was nothing more she could do. Then, as I got the busy tone – I realised she had felt confident enough that I would just go away that the call had been ended for me.

It was now obvious that Telstra call centre consultants were either simply not equipped to resolve the issue, or that I just could not find one that was prepared to resolve the issue. I had tried contacting our account manager during this whole saga as well, but – there was no response from him (that was no surprise).

On I moved to the TIO. I completed my complaint and sent it off.

I will save you a lot of time but over the course of more then a week, every time I was told my call would be returned by my complaint liaison, it never was. I have had to call him to chase this up regularly.

So now we are nearly at a resolution, there may indeed be light at the end of the tunnel. I have an offer from Telstra to move me to a $49 per month plan, and that they will credit my account with $120.00 to cover the $10 difference per month for a year. This is indeed appreciated. The final sticking point however is the $1560 (at time of writing) that I have been overcharged for data usage, and the seven and a half hours I have spent chasing this issue.

Why should I be out of pocket for my time all because of incompetence at Telstra with systems, processes and staff? If I had contributed to this, it would be a different matter, but – not a single one of my calls has ever been returned when mutually agreed – and I didn’t cause the issue in the first place.

Microsoft, Apple or Sony?

Most people will agree that the top three players currently on the market at the Sony X-Series Walkmen, the Microsoft Zune HD and the range of iPod’s from Apple.

Of the three – my money is generally on the range of players available from Apple. There is generally something there to suit most people, and more often then not most budgets.

While the Zune HD provides a quality audio and video experience, without any real mac support – it can’t even be left in the running. The Apple range of products are also tied to a proprietary library management system as well (iTunes) but – at least it is supported on both Mac and Windows.

This brings the comparison down to Sony versus Apple. The Walkman has great sound quality and a fairly slick user interface. Unlike the Zune it does support both Mac and Windows operating systems. It however appears to get smudged and mark fairly easily, which is an aesthetic thing I know. It has a fantastic feature that the iPod’s don’t offer – noise cancelling.

Ultimately I still come back to the iPod. iTunes is almost entrenched as the music player and library manager of choice for many users both PC and Mac. It’s interface and management of the iPods is fantastic. If you choose the path of an iPod Touch, the ability to purchase, download and simply install applications on to your device is fantastic as well. Although the iPod’s don’t have noise cancelling built in, and I wouldn’t use the earphones that they come with either – I still think for quality and usability – they are still the overall winner.

Nexus One Failed Screen,
originally uploaded by troykelly.

What happens when your Nexus One falls from your pocket and hits the ground… The screen self destructs.
Sadly the second of our Nexus One’s died this afternoon in a spectacular fashion. Impressively the touch screen still works perfectly. But, as you can see the display is somewhat difficult to read.
To say I am disappointed with the build quality of the HTC / Google Nexus One – would be a touch of an understatement.
I have touted the sheer awesomeness of this phone to everybody who will listen, because it really is a fantastic device, unparalleled even by the iPhone.
From my time at Nokia, I know devices approved by the FCC must undergo “drop testing” and they must survive. How the Nexus One navigated it’s way through that testing astounds me.
I can only suggest that in this case, there was a build defect with this particular handset – in which case the phone should get replaced under warranty – which will be our next port of call.
My recommendation however… by a spare Nexus One or for those of us with modest earnings… be very… very careful.

It appears that the cause of this message is that some JavaScript used to render the page and provide functionality either doesn’t load the way IE wants it to, or doesn’t load in time. Instead of presenting an error, and allowing you to continue using the site, IE just refreshes to an error page in turn preventing you from accessing the site.

I spent a few hours messing with the existing template to try and get the script in the right place, so IE would not have an issue – but it all became too much. So now, here we are with a new look and feel. Nice and simple… until I get some more time on my hands.

…welcome back IE users. Can I recommend Firefox next time?

As I see it, given that corporate sponsorships, angel investors, government grants etc are all going to start to dry up, the reliance is increasingly going to fall back on us – the management, technicians, performers and musicians – to come up with financially viable means to keep ourselves busy.

I am of the belief that performance companies / groups that are able to switch to an “open book” style accounting so that all involved know where money is coming and going, and thus can have some sort of positive input in to the operation of the group will have the best chance at long term success.

I don’t believe in taking the ultimate decision making power away from those who need it, or changing the power structure that theater has developed over many hundreds of years. But what I do think needs to happen – especially if you are asking performers to give their time for very little (or no) money – is a sharing of all pertinent information so that everybody involved can feel completely connected.

I can think of many problems that this would pose, but overall – I think it may be one way for a struggling group to move forward. What do you think?

music video for the song.

I don’t think it is an entirely malicious act on the part of those downloading. Many viewers are falling behind because episodes are too slow to air, or stations continually change broadcast times making it hard for people to actually watch the episode when it airs.

Television series are designed to be addictive. If you are “involved” in a series such as ABC’s “Lost”, episodes taking a long time to air could be enough of a reason to go online and download a high quality copy online. Spoilers appear online almost as soon as the episode has aired, and if you follow the series on the web – you are almost bound to hear about the episode unintentionally.

If you use uTorrent, Vuze (formally Azureus), Deluge or Transmission then the services provided by Feed my Torrents make it exceptionally easy for those who want to follow their series uninhibited. Simply add the RSS Feeds provided to your Torrent client, and as soon as a new episode is available the downloading will begin, automatically if you wish.

Use it to provide me feedback about content or articles in the site, to ask for clarification or help on the things that I write about, or to give me ideas on things to rant about.

One thing that should be noted – it is not a forum to contact me personally. If it’s not related to the site – email me directly – troy@purpleoranges.com