Is Telstra Bad on Purpose??
Smart people like me, once the phone is paid off, switch to a prepaid plan. Mine is only $30/month and there’s enough data for me. I could go cheaper with a different phone company, but the only reception I get in Creswick is Telstra.
Telstra would clearly make more money from people who just stay on the same plan after 2 years, and I figure prepaid has the lowest profit margin for them. So it is in Telstra’s best interest to make prepaid a bad experience:
- Stupid data alerts – Telstra gives me data and then bonus data. When the bonus data runs out I get a text. I still have heaps of regular data, so I guess they are just trying to scare me into changing my plan.
- Frustrating billing – I’ve set up recurring payments a few times now, and I’m not stupid and certainly not stupid with Internet stuff. Still, I screw it up every time! When you enter your credit card you’d expect a tick box for “please recharge every month”. No, there is an un-obvious box to save details that is off by default. You need to check this box, and then a month later, remember to set up recurring billing. They want you to fail.
- 28 day plans. Yet you can only set up recurring billing on the same day each month. If you spend a hour on their site and give up and then contact their support department, you learn that if you have recurring billing the plan lasts for a whole month, not 28 days. Why on Earth would you say 28 days instead of monthly??
- Double charges. This has happen more than once, and as I have said, I’m not stupid. I pay for a month, and then set up recurring billing for that day each month. Telstra happily takes my $30, and then recharges me the same day. It doesn’t take sophisticated software to determine it should wait until next month. There could be an option that asks when I want the recurring billing to start. Magazine subscriptions have no problem with this. And the ease of getting a refund suggests to me that this is the #1 issue their support staff get.
I think it is impossible for the bosses to not know about these issues. They must be deliberate. I’ll love to see a memo to that effect get published. C’mon whistleblowers!