iTWire - Telstra sidesteps Sidekick sidewinder

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Telstra sidesteps Sidekick sidewinder

by David M Williams
Sunday, 06 January 2008
Page 3 of 3 Personally, I went into the Charlestown Square, Newcastle, Telstra store yesterday and staff there had no knowledge of a known Hiptop Slide fault. The two Telstra store staff I spoke to were not willing to replace a new, but faulty, Hiptop Slide under the ELF conditions but instead alleged a new Telstra policy as of January 1st dictates that all mobile phone faults are to be sent away for a two to three week “assessment.” They offered a loaner phone handset – an iMate JasJam – but only on a phone plan which charged for SMS messages and web traffic. Related stories 5 reasons to upgrade from Windows Vista to Linux A Linux users' guide to Google Chrome It's a joke: In a Linux world without walls who needs Windows? How Windows Vista is turning people to Linux Who writes Linux? (And how you can too!) Clearly this was unsatisfactory, and I said so. They advised I call Telstra’s customer service line, 125 111, if I wished to confirm the policy. My call was picked up by “Beth from Melbourne” who told me the store is indeed meant to swap the unit over for a new one. I asked her to repeat this to my blonde sales lady who proceed to speak to her for a moment, before then telling me Beth had just re-iterated what she had already told me. Unfortunately – and exasperatingly – the sales girl hung up the call so I had no opportunity to ask Beth the truth of the matter. I called again and got “Raj from Melbourne”; when I told him I had a Hiptop Slide fault his first question was if that was a mobile service. However, other customers report different experiences; another Whirlpool forum poster reports the Pitt St, Sydney, Telstra shop staff knew of the problem and offered a replacement handset immediately upon hearing the magic word “restart.” Telstra have much to explain. Indeed, this article might well have been titled “A tale of two telcos” given the stark contrast between the experiences of T-Mobile Sidekick Slide users in the U.S. and Telstra Hiptop Slide users in Australia. T-Mobile suspended sales when a wide-scale fault was uncovered. They recommenced selling when the product was fixed. Telstra, instead, have continued to sell the faulty model. The internal Telstra e-mail quoted above shows that Telstra are aware of the issue and have communicated it to store managers. Yet, finding store staff who are actually cognoscente of this is the exception not the rule. There are many questions to ask: why are Telstra still selling the faulty model? Why didn’t Telstra suspend sales? Why are Telstra staff refusing to ELF faulty models and instead trying to inconvenience their customers by insisting they surrender the device for several weeks? Indeed, what is so wrong with Telstra’s communication processes that sales staff just do not know a product they sell has a known fault and has been recalled overseas? Why should customers have such wildly varying hit-and-miss answers to their enquiries? I will be doing what I can to elicit a response out of Telstra on this issue, including a definitive response as to what affected users can do. Stay tuned. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to post your comment! Tags See All Tags Blog Blogging David M Williams Email Gadgets Messaging Mobility Telecommunications Telstra Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now << First page < 1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>