$62k claim for loss of Telstra internet service


A NORTHERN beaches tourism operator says he lost $62,000 worth of potential business because his Telstra internet service dropped out for almost three days. Michael Heaver, of Kewarra Beach Resort, said internet access dropped out on Monday and was not fixed until Thursday.

During that time he was unable to meet deadlines and tenders for accommodation quotes, missing out on more than $60,000 of business. "And that is a conservative quote," he said. "We had three serious quotes awaiting confirmation, from the US, UK and Germany and the clients have actually gone elsewhere simply because we did not have that information for them."

Mr Heaver, who is on a Telstra business plan, said times were already tough for tourism operators without having to worry about losing internet access. "We have also had people inquiring whether we are still open," he said. "Obviously, with the current climate there is a lot of nerves and the damage to our reputation has been significant."

Mr Heaver is now talking to Telstra about compensation after making several calls to the telco during the three-day blackout. "This is an essential service but it is not given the priority it deserves," he said. "Livelihoods are being lost simply because the priority given to these issues is pathetic. "It is heartbreaking to see the loss of potential business we have suffered."

A Telstra spokeswoman said she was unable to comment on Mr Heaver’s case, but said Telstra had compensation avenues available. She said any claim would depend on the internet plan Mr Heaver was on and said the specifics of his compensation claim would be worked through over time.

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Telstra complaints are up by 240 per cent under CEO Sol Trujillo

Why am I not surprised? Trujillo fired a lot of Telstra staff and helpline staff seem to have been among them. And that would explain the comment highlighted below -- a complaint that coincides with my experience

CUSTOMER complaints about Telstra's phone service rocketed by a massive 52 per cent in just 90 days, company statistics have revealed. And over the three-year reign of Telstra boss Sol Trujillo, complaint levels have risen by 241 per cent, figures from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman show.

Mr Trujillo has been paid about $30 million over the same period, and is to receive a $3 million golden handshake when he steps down in June. "It's frustrating because you can't get through and when you do no one can tell you anything," Telstra Bigpond customer Michael Murray told The Courier-Mail.

Between October last year and the end of 2008 Telstra received about 236 complaints a day, or nearly 10 an hour, about landline and mobile phone services over the three months, for a total of 21,283. In the previous three months the phone giant received 14,014 complaints.

Over the same period, complaints about Telstra's Bigpond internet service climbed 65 per cent, from 3382 to 5607. Mr Murray complained after his internet connection was down for four days last week, calling Telstra "10 to 12 times" asking when the problem would be fixed.

Telstra executive director of corporate complaints Chloe Monroe said the company "acknowledged these are not good results". She said the company had put more resources into taking customer calls. Ms Munroe said it would be "drawing a long bow" to see a connection between Mr Trujillo's time at the top and the number of complaints. [What or who else, then??]

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Telstra negligence again

Only the few people there with personal integrity care about doing a good job. Why should the rest bother? They get paid the same regardless and are effectively unaccountable

TELSTRA has been forced to apologise after full-frontal photographs of scandal-prone league player Todd Carney ended up on a rental phone in Canberra.

Louise Hallam, 23, was stunned to find the photos left on a second-hand Samsung handset lent to her by a Telstra shop while her own handset was being repaired.

After picking up the handset on Saturday, Ms Hallam said she looked through the phone's memory and was stunned to find the clearly recognisable photos of Carney, posing in lewd photographs.

"I was shocked at the fact that Telstra gave me a phone that had, well, basically pornography on it," Ms Hallam said yesterday.

"I thought they would have at least filtered the phone or cleared the memory. I was upset when I saw it, and then I realised who it was."

Carney confirmed he had used a Nokia handset to take the explicit images of himself in front of the bathroom mirror while home alone late one night at his Goulburn home "about six months ago".

The beleaguered player - sacked from the Canberra Raiders after a string of high-profile drunken misdemeanours said he had forwarded the photos to a girl he met on social network site Facebook some months later after she exchanged a lewd photograph of herself.

"She'd asked me to take them before ... I don't want to go back to that night though," he said.

Carney said he was at a loss as to how the photos ended up on the handset, but speculated they may have been forwarded by an unknown person who picked up the Nokia handset he lost in January.

"They're the only ones like that that I ever took, so it must be them," he said yesterday.

He said he succumbed to the girl's multiple requests for a photo, eventually sending those he had stored on his phone.

"She sent me a photo then I sent her some back. Obviously it's the photos in the wrong hands now."

Carney's manager David Riolo yesterday claimed an anonymous woman had attempted to blackmail him over the pictures yesterday.

Ms Hallam said she never contacted Mr Riolo asking for money and has never met Carney.

A Telstra spokesman yesterday confirmed a handset had been lent to Ms Hallam and said the telco would investigate why personal data was not deleted.

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