New $85 plan - no 2 mths free & charges for tolls.

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › New $85 plan - no 2 mths free & charges for tolls.

Raine

78 posts

Master Geek

#112035 23-Nov-2012 22:26

my daughter (new telecom customer) signed up for the $85 ($95 in her area) plan. included in package, free weekend tolls up to two hours each call, free modem and 2 mths free off base package, 1 year contract.

her first bill was $26 - part charges of the $95 base plan from when she signed up. she missed that bill completely, just found it under a pile of junk mail today.

second bill arrived today and it's $170

$26 overdue
$14 late fees
$95 base plan
$30 something in landline tolls
x amount wiring etc

i went online to check out her bill and all tolls are to landlines, no mobile calls at all and all times are in the allotted weekend free calling times. no calls have gone over the 2 hour cap.

no credit at all for the 2 months free.

i will call them of course at a more reasonable hour (she doesn't want to) but just checking to see if i've missed anything? by my estimation she should still be in credit $69.

edited to add - 50 gigs also which she doesn't come close to using.

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#722086 23-Nov-2012 23:21

rainelogan21: my daughter (new telecom customer) signed up for the $85 ($95 in her area) plan. included in package, free weekend tolls up to two hours each call, free modem and 2 mths free off base package, 1 year contract.

her first bill was $26 - part charges of the $95 base plan from when she signed up. she missed that bill completely, just found it under a pile of junk mail today.

second bill arrived today and it's $170

$26 overdue
$14 late fees
$95 base plan
$30 something in landline tolls
x amount wiring etc

i went online to check out her bill and all tolls are to landlines, no mobile calls at all and all times are in the allotted weekend free calling times. no calls have gone over the 2 hour cap.

no credit at all for the 2 months free.

i will call them of course at a more reasonable hour (she doesn't want to) but just checking to see if i've missed anything? by my estimation she should still be in credit $69.

edited to add - 50 gigs also which she doesn't come close to using.

They stuffed up my first bill too. Annoying that they don't check it properly as it results in wasted time for us. But once they have got it sorted it should be fine in the future.

plambrechtsen

1948 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#722144 24-Nov-2012 07:34

If your problem doesn't get sorted feel free to email me pl at telecom dot co dot nz and I can look into it.

But I would expect 123 to sort out the issue.

Raine

78 posts

Master Geek

#722155 24-Nov-2012 08:41

thank you very much. good to know it's just a glitch so i can put her mind at ease.

enjoy your weekend!

vexxxboy

4243 posts

Uber Geek

#722160 24-Nov-2012 09:03

i remember a promotion like this when they said 2 months free and the free months were the first and the 6th month, not the first 2 as most people assumed.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

plambrechtsen

1948 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#722162 24-Nov-2012 09:06

The weekend national & mobile calling is a 12 month offering I can refer you to if you wanted as it's available for employees to offer anyone. That's over and above the regular 2 months free broadband offer you get when you sign up.

If you were interested in that you can email me on the above email and I can put your name into the referral system.

Raine

78 posts

Master Geek

#723004 26-Nov-2012 12:59

ok it seems my first message is inaccurate as i didn't read the first bill she got online. in that her first two months and some is all eaten up in advance charges and connection fees. she says she didn't know about the $63 connection fee but i'm sure once she gets home and reads the flyer she signed up from it'll be there in the small print somewhere. telecom say she's not on the free weekend calling plan but we know she definitely did sign up for that and that is on the flyer she got in her letterbox. they're crediting back the toll calls minus some $4 charge, not sure what that's about.

so all in all - pretty disappointed. you think you're getting a good deal but pays to read the fine print. she's now got a few days to rake together next months bill before she's hit with more late fees. so what's the lesson here? next time let mummy find yr telco, lol!

Raine

78 posts

Master Geek

#726200 3-Dec-2012 14:46

just going to update this with the final installment of this tiny saga for the benefit of those like me who actually read these threads and get peeved off with no definitive conclusion.

daughter finally got home and read out all the large and small print off the flyer she signed up from to me. not only was there no mention of a connection fee in the small print, but there were two mentions of 'free bb connection fees and access in small and large print'. there was also no mention of any $4 charge for the free weekend calling.

so we did all the math again and concluded her first bill should have still left her in credit. her second bill shouldn't have included any toll calls or late fees from the first bill and that she actually owed around $62 and not $170 or $130.

having already been added as a 'person of interest' or whatever you call it to her account, i rang the help desk today armed with all my facts and figures and talked to a lady there. she pretty much agreed with all my findings after i read out the flyer to her (i'd typed it all out when my daughter read it to me over the phone) but wanted to apply that $4 charge for the free national calls. i said nope, (free is free after all, not $4, lol). she was ok with that too. she went to run it past her supervisor and came back with supervisors verdict. apparently the connection fee isn't for broadband but for connecting the phone.

i said, basically, that wasn't acceptable to me, there was no mention at any time of this other connection fee, that i felt it was reasonable to expect 'all' charges should be stipulated at time of sign up and that the flyer was confusing saying no connection fee for bb but making no mention of other connection fees that might apply. us laymen don't know about the various connection fees they have and imo it's their responsibility to make the distinctions clear to us.

she said she would go ahead and apply the credits for toll calls my daughter was still being charged for and then put me onto someone else who would 'explain' the connection fee. ('bring it on', i thought). it was actually a perfectly fine and polite conversation, she did what she said she would and then put me through to the next department. :)

some guy with a hell sexy voice took the next call. man ... i'm still swooning. prince charming had me read the flyer to him too and didn't think the connection fee should apply. good - i probably wouldn't have been able to argue with him through all the drool so glad i didn't have to. he applied credits for the connection fee and late fee and i lived happily ever after.

thanks telecom. ;)