Warning, this thread may contain coarse language (L)

So my mum bless her heart wanted a newer mobile phone as she wasn't happy with the one I bought off Ebay, don't blame her, it was a POS and I never realised pre-pay phones were so damned cheap new So we go to the OPtus store, not much ther ein phones she likes, go to the Telstra store, pick out a nice Samsung phone, too easy.

Queue for a bit, pay for it, ask for the old "Optus" number to be ported over, no drama, chicky babe does her shit, takes our money, phone will be active in 24 hours, too easy!!!!

So 24 hours later, the phone when trying to use it still gives this message, you can't use this service, activate online at or call 1258888. Dial number, sorry you can't use this service, activate online at or call 1258888.

Ok fine, want to play that game we'll activate online, probably easier anyways. Head to URL fill in all the bullshit details, type in phone number to activate (old OPtus number) and the message comes up, sorry we can't activate that number online, please call 1258887.

Ok here we go, computer chicky babe answers, to activate your mobile phone press 1, press 1, to select service etc etc press 2, so I did, service she wants is 4, press 4.

Thanks for your selection we will now put you through to a consultant who will activate your service.. (didn't I just do that)?

Talk to consultant, give all the gory details, mums name, address, pension, dob, medicare number, her preferred brand of sanitary pad and think that's about it, so then I get, what is the number you are trying to activate, 04011 77467, it's an old OPtus number, pre-paid, was with OPtus, we want to port the number over, go thorugh the saga of 24 hours ago on the phone.

SO is this OPtus number active? No, it was yesterday but we are porting the number over, so to CONNECT with Telstra it needs to be DISCONNECTED from Optus... sir, did you say this number was no longer active, yes, we are trying to CONNECT with Telstra so it needs to be DISCONNECTED from Optus, sor we can't port the number if it's no longer active... go through saga of 24 hours ago and what we did in store "again".

Ok, what is the serial of the phone you just bought for your mum? I can't tell you that! Why not? Because i'm using this fucking phone to try get the fucking thing activated so I can use it and the serial is under the battery which would require me to hang up etc etc...

Well what is the mobile number of the phone you wish to connect, 04011 etc. We have no record of that number! It's an OPtus number, yesterday the number was a pre paid optius number, we are trying to port this number over to Telstra.

Hang on sir i'll have to transfer you to another department, is that ok? I JUST WANT TO GET THIS PHONE FUCKING ACTIVATED, IF THAT'S WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE THEN TRANSFER ME ALREADY!

Transfers me and the message is, "I'm sorry sir, the number you are trying to call is disconnected!!!

So I hang up, call back, computer chicky babe does her stuff, see paragraph 2!

So after a bit of a dig in the bin to find some shit my mum threw out from Telstra, I find the Telstra number assigned to this phone, consultant says ok, we will activate your Telstra number now, and we will carry on trying to port your old Optus number to Telstra.

Me, no, don't worry about it!

T: It's no trouble sir!!

Me: FFS I just wnat an active working telephone, how fucking hard can it be??? DON'T port the old nuk ber just activate this one!!1

So after talking to 85 consultants for around 90 minutes, thank you sir, your number is now activated. Me, really, you serious with genuine incredulity. Yes sir, you will just need to turn the phone off, and start it up again and it will be active.

Turn phone off, restart phone, try make a phone call and you can't use this service, activate online at or call 1258888. Dial number, sorry you can't use this service, activate online at or call 1258888.

So after 90 minutes of my life wasted on the fucking phone with fucking Telstra, I don't blame Kevin Bloody Wilson one iota for his song, and if you hear of a bomb blast in a Telstra exchange sometime soon, it might well be me taking responsibility for it..

End result, I went online, entered all the gory details yet again, phone is now active, or it was when I left Geelong, probably disconnected again now.

I FUCKING HATE TELSTRA!!!!!!

You are one of MILLIONS Mate

Me too Mick, me too. The assholes turned off power to half of my data centre yesterday and forgot to tell me

I've had nothing to do with the pricks for years now. They fucked me around enough for me to refuse to ever use them again. AAPT and ANZ are two other companies I won't deal with due to their incompetence but it doesn't seem to stop them calling up out of the blue trying to sign me up again. The stupid thing is if companies spent more time looking after the customers they have they wouldn't need to spend so much on aggressive advertising campaigns to attract more.

Due to a personal employment gripe i feel a similar way towards 3, and now their bedbuddy vodaphone by sheer association.

Good luck with that, my porting was a marshmallow covered dream compared to your arseache.

Never had any issues with Virgin

Never had any issues with Virgin

Losing it or being one

And you guys still wonder why....I have never bothered getting a mobile penis extension.....

And you guys still wonder why....I have never bothered getting a mobile penis extension.....

You prefer your penis extension tethered?

I FUCKING HATE TELSTRA!!!!!!

me too

unfortunatelly where we are we haven't got a choice, plus the choices we would have we wouldn't trust either (VOIP etc), so until something better comes along we're stuffed with them

OIH!!!!!!!............some of us on this forum actually work for these c#@ts.
I won't mention which one I work for (because apparently I need to use a disclaimer),but most of us are good blokes/blokettes who do a fuckin' top job but our hands are tied by corporate/government red tape bullshit.

Oh i understand that andrew.k, i deal with telco's for our customer wan/data links, so i unfortunately deal with more carriers than i care for. Half the arseache of it is interdepartmental crap holding you back. The other part is getting stuck dealing with the useless percentage of the employee's (ever notice that sometimes(not ALL the time) stuff just doesn't work, even though everyone seems to have done the right thing?)

I Black Banned Telstra in 1999 And have been with optus since then,home phone ,fax & mobile and never really had a problem. I also Black banned Target involving a product Price marked wrongly and they wouldnt accept the lower price marked.So I informed them contrary to the advertising I Was NOT Happy.That was over 10 years ago and i have still not spent a cent there.There are a number of other buisnesses that i have Black Banned over the years and i suggest after your first phone bill or maybe second that telstra should be on your black ban list,as they will screw you eventually

Mal, personally I can't remember when I black banned Telstra but rest assured I don't personally support them directly and haven't for ages, my mother, unfortunately won't change, so now she has been charged $9 for what was supposed to be a "free" phone call evidently so the battle is not yet over!

I normally don't hate anyone, but Telstra truly is a different league. here's my rant: A year ago Telstra salesman came quite late at night, looked at my mobile, phone, internet bills, yep.. they could do it cheaper if everything was bundled, so I signed up. Long story short, 3 months later, and *numerous* and I mean *numerous* calls they are still not bundled and I pay more. I finally gave up and will just cop it the next 2 years. On top of it, Telstra's ADSL is CRAP because they count the uploads anyway life goes on.

Then last week I got a call from them offering ........ to bundle the service and I can get lower cost! Boy did I give that caller a verbal assault and anyone would know me a quiet and peaceful person

In summary I hate Telstra and I only have 8 more months to endure