My phone bill is MIA!

[Tinks]

I haven't received a phone bill this month!!!! I've rung twice this week asking why I hadn't received it and both times the people on the phone said it wasn't due. Today I rang again and finally got through to the AUssie call centre. The guy told me that they are having issues and bills weren't being printed! So my bill was one of them! He couldn't tell me when I'd be getting my next bill due to the printing issues! I am so annoyed, when I finally do get my bill it's going to be huge! At least I pay it fortnightly and was in credit so it can't be disconnected thankfully.

Has anyone else with the phone company beginning with T not received a bill this month? Or is it just me?

[briggsy's girl]

they can't disconnect your phone over a known billing issue - when your bill DOES arrive they have to give you sufficient time to pay it. i have been advised by a friend who used to work for the ombudsman!

anyway - you're lucky to only have one bill MIA - i haven't had a mobile bill since January - and our average bill is $200 per month. i'm refusing (on principle) to pay in advance - if they're having such huge billing dramas (they transferred from one billing system to another a couple of months ago) i don't trust them to credit my account properly! when i finally get a bill, i'll contact them for a payment arrangement - if it's not suitable for me (i'm about to pop out a baby and our income will drop for a while) i will then go to the telecommunications ombudsman - whilst you have an active complaint or issue, they apparentlybcannot legally disconnect your service - if they do, they have to reconnect it on contact, with no charge to you.

my folks mobiles were also caught up in this, and when dad's phone died, even though their online bill showed them in credit, the billing system had generated a bill internally and they were refused a new phone - mum ended up getting in contact with a team leader (after at least half a dozen calls and half a dozen arrogant prats who wouldn't escalate the call) and having it noted they could upgrade as it is not their fault the bill is not paid.

i have checked my own online bill and it's going to be rather large - and they WILL work something out that works for me or i'll go to TIO - i used to work for T and have been there through some issues - the customer shouldn't be disadvantaged due to a billing system issue. given they KNOW there is an issue that has been going on for months, they should be contacting customers and letting them know...


ETA - our last mobile bill was generated on January 27 - so we will, at this rate, have feb, march, april and may MINIMUM to pay together - and if it's issued on the normal bill cycle day it will be right when i'm due - GREAT!

[Tinks]

given they KNOW there is an issue that has been going on for months, they should be contacting customers and letting them know...

You'd think so wouldn't you?

I hope your bills show up soon! That's disgraceful!

[briggsy's girl]

i've decided after looking at online bill and seeing over 400 sitting there in unbilled calls, to ring them. i get one girl - no mention of billing issues - apparently it's cos i'm in a fire impacted area - they just stopped sending my bill (far out morons - send the bill and then make arrangements!!) - so i get transferred elsewhere - to "sort it out" and the woman says she can reissue bills immediately - but then puts me on hold to see if there is a technical reason why i'm not receiving bills...

how the hell can a big company like this NOT be able to get their damn story straight. they can send me a bill and then make a payment arrangement


ahhh, now she's back - apparently my account is still in "migration" and it's the OLD system that is the problem not the new one (like hell, i worked in the old one and have friends that still do!) - idiots

i've made her make notes that there will be no penalty and sufficient time to apy off the bill (and given you get 17 days or whatever each bill, there will be an equivalent amount of time for each month of the bill that needs to be paid or this little BG will have a hissy!)

if you are in contact with them and they say about the billing issue impacting you, please get their id number for future reference! if they haven't noted your record, the supervisors can trace calls via their log in (it's hard, but it can be done and willbe if you make enough noise!)

[Jellyfish]

Yep. We haven't had a phone or internet bill for months. Emailed and called them almost every week since November and everytime been told "it is a known issue and we are working on it". We have just been putting away an estimate of our costs each month so that it isn't a huge drain when it finally does arrive... bit frustrating, though.

[Tinks]

I originally thought my bills weren't coming because of the fires as well. I will remember to get a reference number, thanks for the tip!

New system my bum! The old system always got my bills out on time!!! Far out!!

The guy did tell me I"d have extra time to pay off the bills when they finally arrive. I am dreading it.

So are your bills now being sent out or are there still printing issues for you?

[briggsy's girl]

nope, not being sent - nothing hasbeen generated since Jan 27!

would be great if people could get their damn story straight!

[wysiwyg]

I hadn't been receiving bills for my internet from T since January - I emailed them and eventually got a response, and now the bills have just started arriving but they all come with a letter stating that you have additional time to pay and there will be no late payment charges due to the fault being at their end.

[tattoo_mama]

I have been getting my bills but about 3 months ago i didnt get my mobile bill, went round to my folks and there was my bill and an overdue notice...even though i have never lived at my parents address?

my initials are EJ and mums are JE and we both have same surname and both live at #30 on our streets (and both with T) so i thought ah theyve stuffed up...some sort of automatic letter sending system that pre fills details or something??

and i rung and the lady was so rude and was like you must have changed ur address to your parents address,....i was like noooo why the heck would i do that?? no sorry or anything she made it out like i was trying to get out of paying my bill and told me i wouldnt get an extension on paying it so i hung up and rung back and got someone alot more understanding, but still no explanation HOW my bills got sent to the wrong address??

so wierd its not like it was my previous address or anything!!

[Kazbah]

Go to telstra.com and register for online billing ...

that way, not only will your bill never get lost, but you'll be saving paper / going green at the same time.

(i haven't heard anything about billing issues, but can check up on Monday for you ... )

[briggsy's girl]

Kaz - i'm registered for online billing - and still not getting bills cos the bills just aren't generating at all. i checked my online bill today to make sure - no bill generated since Jan 27

[Hosanna]

Briggsy's girl- Aha, I know EXACTLY who you used to work for, because so did I! Migration was seriously the bane of my life, and I have no idea how on earth this particular company has ANY customers left at all because of all the system issues etc, and now they are off shoring! I took the brunt of many a customers frustration, and the worst thing was that often I couldn't really help them, because no one in the company could tell me what was happening either, and often I had to tell customers that "yes there is a billing issue, no i can't fix it, no I don't know when it will be fixed, no i cannot call you back each month you will have to call us etc etc, and yes you have recieved two different bills this month, yes they have two different account numbers and they are both valid and payable. None of that ever went down very well at all!! Also it seems, the company neglected to mention that their bpay details had changed, so many customers who had automtic online payments set up in their own internet banking, suddendly had their services disconnected, because all the payments they had made were sitting in the old system. I used to get customers in tears on the phone.

Okay, I obviously still have issues from when I worked there, but i feel better now I have vented!