Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 22 July 2008 00:29
Your IT -
Mobility
Page 3 of 5
Well, as I was saying, it was with some surprise that I received, in the comments section, a post from “mac user”
claiming “VICTORY! Over Telstra's unfair $150.00 Network Unlocking charge”.
Once again, it’s just going to be easier to quote “mac user” directly, as it is his story. He explains: “Some very good news out there to anyone who has felt ripped-off by Telstra's unethical 'network unlocking' charge.
“After extensive research over the weekend and reading pages of The Fair Trading Act 1999, the Australian Communications Industry's Explanatory Statement for the ACIF C521:2004 Customer Information on Prices, Terms and Conditions Industry Code, the Trade Practices Act 1974 (and its many revisions) including plenty of helpful information from the various websites including the ACCC, the Office of Fair Trading (VIC), the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, Comlaw, and the ACMA (which proved to be the most helpful) I found more than a few Breaches to help my case against Telstra and their unfair Unlocking Charge. Here’s how it transpired...
“I decided to go straight to Telstra before contacting the Ombudsman, Fair Trading or the ACCC, as I know they would first expect myself to make all efforts to resolve my complaint directly with the provider.
“My first call was to the 'Pre-paid' unlocking team as these guys are the only ones able to unlock and reprogram handsets locked to the network. Without disclosing what type of phone I had, asked a few questions regarding 'unlocking' non-prepaid handsets, and was given the story that only Prepaid phones should be locked, and if there was a contracted phone 'locked' to the network, "unlocking it shouldn't be more than $50 bucks".
“So I then requested an IMEI unlock, and then as expected, was then told that there was a Department dealing with the iPhone unlocking, and was unable to provide any further information regarding the costs or details of the 'unlocking' fee.
“After a short wait, I was then transferred to the 'iPhone Unlocking Team' who have all obviously all been trained with the same slapped-together Training manual, as they all spat out the same monotonousresponse "the only way to unlock the iPhone is to pay the $150 iPhone unlocking fee by credit card", and when asked what the charge was for resulted in the same initial response with an occasional uninformed addition of either "that’s what Apple charges to unlock the phone" or 'that’s the standard charge for network unlocking".
“On this occasion After refusing to Pay the charge I copped all of the above, and then at least 2 more "the only way to unlock the iPhone is to pay the $150 iPhone unlocking fee by credit card" responses, I asked to speak to the team leader, to which I was refused the opportunity, so I then asked to speak to the complaints Department - to which I was then told, there is No Complaints Department!
“It was at this point that I introduced a part of the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code that states that the customer must have reliable, accessible processes through which they can make a complaint. I was then placed on-hold.
“After about 5 minutes I was told that an email had been sent to the team leader, who would review it, and then pass it onto the Complaints Department! I could not help but to throw in the comment "So there is a complaints Department?" to which I received, yes but I cannot transfer you because they are in the "email world".”
“mac user’s” amazing story continues on page 4 – please read on!
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