Another case of someone from Spark pushing unnecessary phone changes:

 

Oliver said she nearly signed up to the phone system upgrade because she felt pressured by the sales pitch.

 

"[The manager] told me I had better act fast, as the longer I waited the more it would cost and it would be more difficult because everyone else would be wanting new lines, so I could be without lines for a long time."

 

But she had doubts and contacted Chorus which told her it had no current plans to stop operating and maintaining its copper network, and that Chorus had been made aware "some providers" were sending out information that was "not correct".

 

Oliver said the Spark manager visited the school together with a representative from a business partner. They recommended the centre switch to a fibre-optic connection, but the centre was advised that would require a new phone system for which Oliver was quoted about $2700 plus gst.

 

The switch to fibre would have cut the childcare centre's monthly phone and broadband bill by about $73 a month, but as well as investing in a new phone system, would also have required it spend at least hundreds of dollars upgrading its alarm system.

 

Spark's proposed upgrade was a "must" to keep the childcare centre future-proof, Oliver was told by the Spark manager, who also told her by email: "If we don't do anything about it as soon as now, you will end up having no broadband and landline coming by next year".

 

Disgusting. The article also says "the company had spoken to the Spark manager who was dealing with the childcare centre and understood he was "confused about the issue". The manager had provided information to Toddlers Turf that he "genuinely thought was correct when giving the customer context around the move to a new fibre plan", she said.

In my opinion this is not confusion. The manager was there with a "business partner".

We have seen other cases here where Spark is sending people their wireless replacements for phone lines. In any case, there's no immediate need for anyone to switch if you do not want to.