Telstra finally waives dead man’s phone cancellation fee

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 12 November 2008 15:42

IT Industry - Strategy

We spoke to Paul Snedden earlier today to get his side of the story, and here’s what he told iTWire:

”The ‘problem’ has been resolved, in that the fee has been wiped, but I feel that the matter has not been resolved.  

“It really feels like Telstra have no consideration for their customers, like each and every one of them is nothing more than a number.  All it would have taken was for someone to use a bit of common-sense and to close the matter back in 2006. 

“It got to the point, however, that I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.  The whole thing become more than the debt, as I would have paid it on my mum’s behalf if I believed we were in the wrong. 

“But for Telstra (and then Dun & Bradstreet) to continue to attempt to contact my deceased father is beyond belief.  Naturally, it wasn’t until I contacted the media that the matter was resolved, and quickly. 

“I was on [Sydney Radio] 2GB last Thursday, and within 20 minutes of being on-air I received a voicemail from a Martin Barr (Telstra’s Media Manager) asking me to call him. 

“I had previously arranged an appointment with the Telegraph for Friday morning, so I didn’t call Martin until after that appointment. 

“Basically, all he wanted was an account number so he could do something about it. 

”A couple of hours later, I received a call from someone in Telstra’s “Public Relations Department” saying that the debt had been wiped and the account had been taken to ‘zero’. 

Paul’s story continues on page 3, followed by a Telstra spokesperson’s comments.