Frustrated with Telecom XT Billing, and their tech support

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Frustrated with Telecom XT Billing, and their tech support

openmedia

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#92772 5-Nov-2011 11:20

Ok so I moved to Telecom XT a week ago as I finally had to give up on my poor 2degrees reception. When setting up the account in their Westgate store I made sure I understood when my billing month would be. This had hit me with 2degrees as I'd had a partial month of about 10 days and then my account reset with a new billing period.

I had 2 staff members in the store assure me that my billing month would commence when the account opened, and as such it would be just over a month before I got my first bill.

Well surprise surprise my account reset after a week and I've just got my first bill. Just to compound matters I've now discovered I need to pay in advance for the monthly charge which I also wasn't informed about when I opened the account. So much for the account being postpay.

I've now spent over a day trying to convince someone at Telecom the fully nature of my issues and allow me to commence a proper complaints process against the store in question. I do miss the customer support team at 2degrees, plus the fact that they don't charge in advance for postpay.

sbiddle

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#541431 5-Nov-2011 12:03

Billing in advance is the norm for virtually every telco/ISP, I'm not aware of anybody who doesn't do this.

On your current bill for example you pay for your plan in advance, and additional usage costs, calls etc from the last billing cycle.

kingjj

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#541493 5-Nov-2011 18:04

Did you read the Terms and Conditions when you signed your life away for 12-24 months? Payment terms would have been included and would have stated plan costs 1 month in advance.

openmedia

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#541520 5-Nov-2011 20:16

This gets better. I spoke with the support team yesterday and they informed me I needed to use the online system to make a complaint.

I did this and requested a phone based follow up. Now after about 12 emails I'm informed that they don't do phone based follow-ups to complaints and I need to call their support number again if I actually want to speak to a real person.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

mattwnz

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#541534 5-Nov-2011 22:03

I am struggling to understand what you problem is. I think you need to provide a lot more details. As per other comments, it will be pay in advance which is standard for virtually all providers. Also I don't know why it matters if you were billed now, or in a months time, you are using the service now, so why shouldn't you pay now for it? I presume the new billing cycle began on the 1 November, which would make perfect sense too.

Behodar

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#541656 6-Nov-2011 11:50

mattwnz: As per other comments, it will be pay in advance which is standard for virtually all providers.

But Telecom advertises it as "postpaid". I made the same complaint a couple of years ago when I first signed up on a Telecom plan, but Telecom is continuing to call it "postpaid" even though it's "pay in advance".

NonprayingMantis

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#541657 6-Nov-2011 12:01

Behodar:
mattwnz: As per other comments, it will be pay in advance which is standard for virtually all providers.

But Telecom advertises it as "postpaid". I made the same complaint a couple of years ago when I first signed up on a Telecom plan, but Telecom is continuing to call it "postpaid" even though it's "pay in advance".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpaid

"A model of cellular service whereby the customer is charged for usage in the prior month (hence 'post' usage), and hence does not feature any limitations on volume of service used"

this is how telecom's billing works. i.e. you pay for usage after you have done it. your access is still billed in advance though.

openmedia

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#541676 6-Nov-2011 13:34

mattwnz: I am struggling to understand what you problem is. I think you need to provide a lot more details. As per other comments, it will be pay in advance which is standard for virtually all providers. Also I don't know why it matters if you were billed now, or in a months time, you are using the service now, so why shouldn't you pay now for it? I presume the new billing cycle began on the 1 November, which would make perfect sense too.

The key issue is being charged for a part month with a pro-rate allowance. Their usage tool shows a full months worth of allowance when in fact I only had a fraction of this I could use as my initial bill would only be for 6-7 days. If I'd gone over my usage without realising then I'd have been liable for the extra charges.

I very carefully asked if this would happen when I setup the account and I was informed by 2 staff members that I'd have a full months use based on my start date.

I've now finally had resolution on this with Telecom. The agree that this should have been resolved when I first called customer support and they will make sure that staff and their stores are aware of the short initial billing period. They are also going to look at their online tools as they are currently misleading for that short period. A big thank you to Jonah at Telecom for his help in this matter.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

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nzbnw

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#541677 6-Nov-2011 13:41

openmedia:

The key issue is being charged for a part month with a pro-rate allowance. Their usage tool shows a full months worth of allowance when in fact I only had a fraction of this I could use as my initial bill would only be for 6-7 days. If I'd gone over my usage without realising then I'd have been liable for the extra charges.

You can use the full allocation within the pro-rated period. It's only the monthly rentals that are pro-rated and billed in advance.

I've now finally had resolution on this with Telecom.

Good to hear.

nzbnw

ajw

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#541688 6-Nov-2011 14:33

A friend of mine who does a lot of traveling has recently been given a XT phone to use by his employer. He says the coverage is no wear as good as the current CDMA network.What a pity that Telecom are switching it off next July.

sbiddle

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#541690 6-Nov-2011 14:39

ajw: A friend of mine who does a lot of traveling has recently been given a XT phone to use by his employer. He says the coverage is no wear as good as the current CDMA network.What a pity that Telecom are switching it off next July.

Did he make any mention of all the places that have XT coverage that don't have CDMA coverage?

nzbnw

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#541721 6-Nov-2011 16:45

sbiddle:
ajw: A friend of mine who does a lot of traveling has recently been given a XT phone to use by his employer. He says the coverage is no wear as good as the current CDMA network.What a pity that Telecom are switching it off next July.

Did he make any mention of all the places that have XT coverage that don't have CDMA coverage?

If your friend has coverage on CDMA and not on XT then he/she should log it with 123/6. The network teams may not know it's an issue unless it's logged.

nzbnw

openmedia

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#541766 6-Nov-2011 20:11

nzbnw:
openmedia:

The key issue is being charged for a part month with a pro-rate allowance. Their usage tool shows a full months worth of allowance when in fact I only had a fraction of this I could use as my initial bill would only be for 6-7 days. If I'd gone over my usage without realising then I'd have been liable for the extra charges.

You can use the full allocation within the pro-rated period. It's only the monthly rentals that are pro-rated and billed in advance.

nzbnw

Interestingly I was told on the phone that the usage allowance is also pro-rated as well as the bills.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.