Things that piss you off.

[jimandr]

Warning to all potential readers of this post. It will be one of my trademark very long rants. If Goughy reads it in the evening it will put him to sleep. But it is about one of his favourite subjects, so it may actually keep him awake. I haven't posted for over two weeks, but I've got a story to tell, and I'm telling it here.

I am pissed off at Telstra, and their customer service.

I have no choice but to be with Telstra for my fixed line internet. Optus don't operate in my area.

The red light appears on my modem and my internet disappears quite often in the late afternoons, but usually comes back on in a minute or so, and then the dance continues until about 7.00pm. Two Wednesdays ago, the net disappeared and didn't come back again. Knowing how painful it is to actually contact Telstra, I patiently and optimistically did nothing until the next day, hoping it would resolve itself. The phone was working, so I knew it probably wasn't an exchange problem. On the Thursday, I went through the process of checking all the connections, turning said modem on and off and all the usual things. Nothing worked, so about lunchtime I bit the bullet and called the helpline.

The call was relatively painless. I got lucky and chose the right option from the menu, and got answered in a minute or so. The guy on the phone had good english and was understandable, so that was OK. He even asked the right questions and I gave the right answers, but the conclusion was that there was genuinely something wrong, so the job would allocated and they would be sending me a message.

I got that message, which said they were testing the line, and they hoped for a resolution by end of Friday, which was the 19th. I thought that wasn't too bad, and I wasn't pissed off at that stage.

The next text message was received on Friday afternoon, saying nothing except that the expected resolution was now Tuesday 23rd. No indication of the problem or why it couldn't be resolved.

Tuesday 23rd came and went, so did Wednesday 24th, with no contact, and no update to the expected resolution date. Knowing no work would happen on Australia Day or the weekend, I had little choice but to call the helpdesk again. This time the operator couldn't help, and had to escalate the call to another team. That team couldn't help either, and while apologetic, all they could say was that the job would be investigated further.

The next text message was on Sunday night, advising that the new expected resolution date was Tuesday 30th.

Oh well, life goes on. I was at home having my lunch on Monday 29th when a guy turns up to my door, announcing he was here to check out my internet problems. No contact in advance, so I'm not sure when my job would have been done if I had not been at home. He checked a few things out, went outside into the street for about 10 minutes, came back and told be it should be Ok now. And it was. But no indication of what was wrong and what was done to fix it.

The bottom line was 11 days of no internet, with no communication except by short text message from a communication company.

My contract runs out in July, so I'll be asking around to see if people in my area are using the mobile internet option from Optus (or from Telstra). I am looking forward to asking people if they have a dongle. The guy did tell me that the Telstra infrustructure was old and they were patching it up all the time while waiting for the NBN (which isn't scheduled for Ballina until 2019).

I learned from this experience that I cannot run my internet life from my phone. My mobile reception (though Optus) is poor at home, so I had a routine of either visiting the local Library or the RSL Club to take advantage of their wi-fi. I had to do my car rego and car insurance during this time, and I found it very difficult to do it on the phone screen, with many instances of pressing the wrong button or wrong key on the keypad, or having it all disappear off the screen at bad times. I don't know how you guys who do work off your phones do it.

The one other thing I learned is that when you are researching Telstra complaints, the Telstra forum is the most depressing place on Earth, chock full of complaints about how appalling Telstra is. The last thing I wanted to read at that time.

If anyone made it this far, thanks for reading. I feel better now.

[Johnny Canuck]

#bringbackgoughyandhatch

[3oneday]

Don't go to Optus then, it's probably the same call centre.

[Dotty]

Write to your federal and state MPs.

And to the local paper.

[WBennett]

Write to the Telecommunications ombudsman.

Customer service barely exists in Australia. The race to the bottom is almost complete.

[goughy]

****in' Telstra!!!! I hate Telstra. I hate that we have our mobiles with them but I get crap Optus reception in my workshed...... I got all the way to the end Jim. It was too significant a thread to ignore!

You know what else I hate! ****in' Lice! My son used to get them in primary a bit. We started to worry it was us, but strangely he never had them over school holidays, just during the term. Well Kyan is in gr8 now and still getting the ****ers! A few days after the last day of gr7 he was itchy and covered in them! So obviously treated him, and no probs all holidays! Last night he was complaining of being itchy and friggin Lice again! We know it has to be one of his mates at school, and we think we know which one cause Kyan has commented that his mate said his mum just ignores them. But it's high school now, isn't this shit 'spose to be over with. The kid is also his inseparable best'est best friend (and Kyan is having plenty of issues atm) so it's not like we can say just keep away from him.

[Grumpy8]

****in' Telstra!!!! I hate Telstra. I hate that we have our mobiles with them but I get crap Optus reception in my workshed...... I got all the way to the end Jim. It was too significant a thread to ignore!You know what else I hate! ****in' Lice! My son used to get them in primary a bit. We started to worry it was us, but strangely he never had them over school holidays, just during the term. Well Kyan is in gr8 now and still getting the ****ers! A few days after the last day of gr7 he was itchy and covered in them! So obviously treated him, and no probs all holidays! Last night he was complaining of being itchy and friggin Lice again! We know it has to be one of his mates at school, and we think we know which one cause Kyan has commented that his mate said his mum just ignores them. But it's high school now, isn't this shit 'spose to be over with. The kid is also his inseparable best'est best friend (and Kyan is having plenty of issues atm) so it's not like we can say just keep away from him.

Set up a cattle dip at the front gate and invite all his mates over and run them all thru it

[Johnny Canuck]

****in' Telstra!!!! I hate Telstra. I hate that we have our mobiles with them but I get crap Optus reception in my workshed...... I got all the way to the end Jim. It was too significant a thread to ignore!

You know what else I hate! ****in' Lice! My son used to get them in primary a bit. We started to worry it was us, but strangely he never had them over school holidays, just during the term. Well Kyan is in gr8 now and still getting the ****ers! A few days after the last day of gr7 he was itchy and covered in them! So obviously treated him, and no probs all holidays! Last night he was complaining of being itchy and friggin Lice again! We know it has to be one of his mates at school, and we think we know which one cause Kyan has commented that his mate said his mum just ignores them. But it's high school now, isn't this shit 'spose to be over with. The kid is also his inseparable best'est best friend (and Kyan is having plenty of issues atm) so it's not like we can say just keep away from him.

Report it to the school. Problem solved.

[goughy]

Report it to the school. Problem solved.

We do every time! But if parents don't check and treat, what can you do.I like the dip idea... Maybe set up an overhead spray at the school entrance!

[Lagerlover]

Just keep him away from him

[goughy]

The person we suspect is his best mate...

[Lagerlover]

Have you seen I,Tonya?

[goughy]

So I smash his mum in the knee?

[Lagerlover]

That, or have you seen The boy in the striped pyjamas?

[Johnny Canuck]

So I smash his mum in the knee?

Exactly

[grandmasterb]

Unemployment, again...

[grandmasterb]

Microsoft and the bullshit long winded ordeal you have to go through to get access to your email again!!!

FFS it really shouldn't be that hard...

[Steve57]

Blackout following a severe thunderstorm! From the Origin energy website it looks like most of Brisbane is out.

[3Puttpete]

Sunnybank went black for 2 minutes

[Steve57]

Sunnybank went black for 2 minutes

The only light here is the flashes of lightning!

[AndyP]

All good in my affluent suburb.

[3Puttpete]

Heading home soon so we'll find out about that

[SundayHack]

Getting a water bill from the council this week for $250 for the quarter. That ain’t the problem but having to pay than bath my kids in this crap.
EC77293B-5341-441D-A0B9-34B12ACE10EC.jpg

[3Puttpete]

The only light here is the flashes of lightning!

Mcgregor's dark in parts. All good here and the CBD

[3Puttpete]

Getting a water bill from the council this week for $250 for the quarter. That ain’t the problem but having to pay than bath my kids in this crap.
Attachment 47448

Looks like a drip tray under the beer taps at the cricket