«

I have recently changed from Telecom's jetstream plus to Orcon's UBS
system. I then received my most recent bill from telecom, and on it was a
charge for jetstream plus for a month I did not have it as i was on UBS. So
I rang them up about this over charge. Here are some notes for others to
remember if they wish to change as I did:

1. You will be charged for the whole month by telecom ($60 or more) even if
you went into that billing period by only one day and it wasn't your fault.
They refuse to give a 'pro-rata' refund.

2. Make sure you are switched over before the start of the billing period.
Contact Telecom to inform them as much, do not rely on your ISP to do that.

3. There is no official explanation for this stupid policy; obviously it is
a punishment for changing. A lucrative one.

4. They claim this is part of the contract you signed. I doubt a Disputes
Tribunal would be so understanding.

5. If you were not informed of the contract, they might offer you a partial
refund after you inform them of options surrounding Disputes Tribunal and
the CGA act.

I wonder if any of the news agencies would be interested in this scam.
Should we email a few reporters ? Fair Go ?

"Customers outraged as Telecom charges for cancelled services" ...

--

.... Brendan

"Golf may be played on Sunday, not being a game within the view of the law, but being a form of moral effort." -- Stephen Leacock

Note: All my comments are copyright 22/11/2004 12:31:38 p.m. and are opinion only where not otherwise stated and always "to the best of my recollection". www.computerman.orcon.net.nz.

Brendan wrote:
> I have recently changed from Telecom's jetstream plus to Orcon's UBS
> system. I then received my most recent bill from telecom, and on it
> was a charge for jetstream plus for a month I did not have it as i
> was on UBS. So I rang them up about this over charge. Here are some
> notes for others to remember if they wish to change as I did:
>
> 1. You will be charged for the whole month by telecom ($60 or more)
> even if you went into that billing period by only one day and it
> wasn't your fault. They refuse to give a 'pro-rata' refund.
>
> 2. Make sure you are switched over before the start of the billing
> period. Contact Telecom to inform them as much, do not rely on your
> ISP to do that.
>
> 3. There is no official explanation for this stupid policy; obviously
> it is a punishment for changing. A lucrative one.
>
> 4. They claim this is part of the contract you signed. I doubt a
> Disputes Tribunal would be so understanding.
>
> 5. If you were not informed of the contract, they might offer you a
> partial refund after you inform them of options surrounding Disputes
> Tribunal and the CGA act.
>
> I wonder if any of the news agencies would be interested in this scam.
> Should we email a few reporters ? Fair Go ?
>
> "Customers outraged as Telecom charges for cancelled services" ...

I personally think that the public should be made aware of the underhanded
dirty tactics that Telecom have been doing ever since UBS was introduced.
Might be a good thing to let the general public know about these things.

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 17:19:12 +1300, Dorado wrote:

>> I wonder if any of the news agencies would be interested in this scam.
>> Should we email a few reporters ? Fair Go ?
>>
>> "Customers outraged as Telecom charges for cancelled services" ...
>
> I personally think that the public should be made aware of the underhanded
> dirty tactics that Telecom have been doing ever since UBS was introduced.
> Might be a good thing to let the general public know about these things.

Well, that's two of us. Any others want to put their name on the bottom of
a email to a few of the news outfits ?

--

.... Brendan

"Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps." -- Emo Philips

Note: All my comments are copyright 22/11/2004 9:40:48 p.m. and are opinion only where not otherwise stated and always "to the best of my recollection". www.computerman.orcon.net.nz.

> I wonder if any of the news agencies would be interested in this scam.
> Should we email a few reporters ? Fair Go ?
>
> "Customers outraged as Telecom charges for cancelled services" ...
>


just send an email to

fairgo at tvnz.co.nz

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 17:09:23 +1300, Brendan <>
wrote:

>
>I have recently changed from Telecom's jetstream plus to Orcon's UBS
>system. I then received my most recent bill from telecom, and on it was a
>charge for jetstream plus for a month I did not have it as i was on UBS. So
>I rang them up about this over charge. Here are some notes for others to
>remember if they wish to change as I did:
>
<snip>

Yep, same here.

--
BOINC SETI
http://boinc.mundayweb.com/seti2/sta...1469&trans=off

Brendan wrote:
> On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 17:19:12 +1300, Dorado wrote:
>
>>> I wonder if any of the news agencies would be interested in this
>>> scam. Should we email a few reporters ? Fair Go ?
>>>
>>> "Customers outraged as Telecom charges for cancelled services" ...
>>
>> I personally think that the public should be made aware of the
>> underhanded dirty tactics that Telecom have been doing ever since
>> UBS was introduced. Might be a good thing to let the general public
>> know about these things.
>
> Well, that's two of us. Any others want to put their name on the
> bottom of a email to a few of the news outfits ?

How about:

* A website, collecting people's experiences and summarising the main points
* A few phone calls to radio stations around the country -- talkback and
student stations especially. Maybe email would be better for this.
Summarise the situation and give a pointer to the website and a contact
email address.
* An email/phone call to Fair Go probably couldn't hurt either
* There must be at least another couple of things that I haven't thought of.
Anyone want to add to the list?

Hasn't affected me personally, but I still think it sucks. If anyone is
actually going to do anything about this I'd be more than willing to knock
up a website and host it, provided that someone else collects all the
information.

Cheers.

Brendan wrote:
> I have recently changed from Telecom's jetstream plus to Orcon's UBS
> system. I then received my most recent bill from telecom, and on it was a
> charge for jetstream plus for a month I did not have it as i was on UBS. So
> I rang them up about this over charge. Here are some notes for others to
> remember if they wish to change as I did:
>
> 1. You will be charged for the whole month by telecom ($60 or more) even if
> you went into that billing period by only one day and it wasn't your fault.
> They refuse to give a 'pro-rata' refund.
>
> 2. Make sure you are switched over before the start of the billing period.
> Contact Telecom to inform them as much, do not rely on your ISP to do that.
>
> 3. There is no official explanation for this stupid policy; obviously it is
> a punishment for changing. A lucrative one.
>
> 4. They claim this is part of the contract you signed. I doubt a Disputes
> Tribunal would be so understanding.
>
> 5. If you were not informed of the contract, they might offer you a partial
> refund after you inform them of options surrounding Disputes Tribunal and
> the CGA act.
>
> I wonder if any of the news agencies would be interested in this scam.
> Should we email a few reporters ? Fair Go ?
>
> "Customers outraged as Telecom charges for cancelled services" ...
>

I would be the last to support Telecom, but on my phone bill since Sept
has been the wording about "30 days notice of cancellation" .

The finer points about who cancelled when do become slightly irrelevant
with those key words.

-=[Waylon Smithers]=- wrote:

>
> I would be the last to support Telecom, but on my phone bill since Sept
> has been the wording about "30 days notice of cancellation" .
>
> The finer points about who cancelled when do become slightly irrelevant
> with those key words.
Nothing like that on my Telecom bill


--

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 10:24:27 +1300, -=[Waylon Smithers]=- wrote:

> I would be the last to support Telecom, but on my phone bill since Sept
> has been the wording about "30 days notice of cancellation" .

Mine doesn't.

> The finer points about who cancelled when do become slightly irrelevant
> with those key words.

Not necessarily. It'd still be a scam, and still be worth agitating about.
It's not as if disconnecting you from a Telecom service actually takes that
long - it can be done in minutes.

E.g. it is an unreasonable condition and is only possible given Telecom's
monopoly position. It is therefore a consumer rights issue and possibly
under the purview of the commerce commission.

Certainly, they were not keen to appear in a Disputes Tribunal hearing when
I suggested it.

aside: the girl *I* was talking to was quite sympathetic, but obviously
constrained as to what she could say with a supervisor hovering over her...
So don't nut off at the ones on the phone - it's the pricks in management
we need to bring to heel.

--

.... Brendan

"'He says gods like to see an atheist around. Gives them something to aim at.'" -- Terry Pratchett, _Small Gods_

Note: All my comments are copyright 23/11/2004 1:03:14 p.m. and are opinion only where not otherwise stated and always "to the best of my recollection". www.computerman.orcon.net.nz.

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 09:23:32 +1300, Nik Coughin wrote:

> How about:
>
> * A website, collecting people's experiences and summarising the main points
> * A few phone calls to radio stations around the country -- talkback and
> student stations especially. Maybe email would be better for this.
> Summarise the situation and give a pointer to the website and a contact
> email address.
> * An email/phone call to Fair Go probably couldn't hurt either
> * There must be at least another couple of things that I haven't thought of.
> Anyone want to add to the list?

Sounds like a good idea, although I think that an email to a tech reporter
in nz would be nice too. Nothing like targeting it to the very people
telecom is trying to scam.

> Hasn't affected me personally, but I still think it sucks. If anyone is
> actually going to do anything about this I'd be more than willing to knock
> up a website and host it, provided that someone else collects all the
> information.

That's great. A sort of explanation and testimonials site you think ?

--

.... Brendan

"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making new discoveries." -- A. A. Milne

Note: All my comments are copyright 23/11/2004 12:59:39 p.m. and are opinion only where not otherwise stated and always "to the best of my recollection". www.computerman.orcon.net.nz.