It's pretty common to read threads on GZ from people complaining about their telco, and in particular the customer service (or lack thereof), so I just wanted to give a shout-out to say I've had great service from Spark over the last two days.

 

 

1. I'm in the process of changing addresses and a difference in settlement dates meant a planned month in a motel between houses.  I advised all my service providers, including Spark for my landline and VDSL, of my last date in the old house and the first date in the new one (26 September).
   
   A couple of weeks later, the real estate agent advised that the vendors had found a place to rent and could move out earlier if I was interested in bringing the settlement date forward.  Hell yes!  So two weeks ago I advised everyone, including Spark, of the new date (17 September).
   
   Yesterday a very helpful lady from Spark called me to say that the vendors, who are also Spark customers, had not advised that they wanted their services disconnected on 16 September, which meant that I wouldn't have phone or internet on the day I move in and, as a new visit would have to be booked with Chorus for the VDSL install, it might be ten days before I had VDSL broadband, although I could have ADSL the day after moving in.  This allowed me to contact the agent last night, who contacted the vendor, who called Spark this morning regarding their disconnection, so I can have everything I need on Day 1.
   
   Spark - thank you very much for your excellent proactive customer service.
   
   
2. The week before moving out of the old house, my wife and I went to Melbourne for a holiday.  Within minutes of arriving and turning flight mode off on my mobile, I received a text from Spark asking if I would like to purchase a data pack for use in Australia to save on roaming charges.  I clicked on a link in the text that eventually took me through to some options and I bought a $19 pack that I thought would be enough.
   
   To my horror, my latest bill had around $90 of charges for data and texts in Australia.  The data pack had been added to my daughter's phone (which is on my account) instead of mine.  She hadn't gone to Australia with us, but every time I had touched the internet that week I was hit with a $10 charge.  I called Spark this morning, they checked a couple of things, said they couldn't understand how it had happened and that it had never happened before, but without any fuss they credited every cent of the charges from Australia back, to come off the next bill.
   
   Spark - thank you very much for your excellent reactive customer service.
   
   

 

I've been a Telecom/Spark customer for a long time now and while things sometimes do go wrong, they have always been quick to put them right.  That's why I'll still be a Spark customer for a long time yet.