Telstra Telemarketing

07.11.07 Posted in Uncategorized by Mathew

I feel the need to have a little rant about a guy who claims to be from Telstra who just keeps calling me; He has called about a half dozen times today, and its now got to the point of harassment. Because not everyone will care, the rant beings over the fold;

I’ve added some further details about this guy and how to stop calls like this to the end of the post.

This guy rang today and was offering deals on fixed lines, and was describing a deal that I might have been interested in. He was extremely pushy, and without me even agreeing to proceed, he wanted to start collecting personal data and transfer me to someone else to close the deal.

At this point I tried to pull him up; He had rung me, and I had no way to know for sure he was who he said he was, so I asked him for a phone number I could call back on to sign up. He spat out the usual Telstra main numbers, and I asked him what I would need to press to get through to him; At this point, I was ready to do him a favour, because I realised that he is working on commission, and I was happy for him to get the credit for signing me up.

To my surprise, he said there was no way to contact him specifically. I asked how it could be that the largest telecoms company in Australia didn’t have a phone system capable of such a thing, and he then decided the reason was he was always on the phone.

At this point, his pushy attitude and inability to do business my way was annoying me, and I said, well, I have the number to call, I’ll ring back when I’m ready, don’t call me, I’ll call you. Those were my exact words, and I figured that was clear enough, but he then quickly said “can you hold on a minute?” Because I am a polite guy, I said yeah, and he put me on hold.

Two minutes later I was nearly ready to hang up myself when the call went dead. He had hung up on me! Oh well, I figured that would be the end of the matter, and I was okay with that.

A couple of hours later, I am at the supermarket picking up a few essentials, and the mobile rings. Its him. I said to him “you hung up on me!” and he replied “No, the call was lost when I was trying to transfer you to the people to take your verbal consent”. Excuse me? I never offered to give my verbal consent. I again said that I would call him, and he now said that he had a number I could call him personally on. Amazing, he’s had a new phone system installed in 2 hours. I only wish Telstra could fix faults that fast.

Anyway, I said to him that I was not in my office, and not in a position to be writing things down, and that I would call the main number when I was ready. I repeated that a couple of times, and then he starts up asking if he should call me back. At this point, I had reached the end of my rope, and I said, I’d rather you wouldn’t, and hung the phone up.

I figured that rude gesture would get the message across that I was over it all and he should move on. But no! Five minutes later he rings me again! Suffice to say I hung up immediately, because I was still at the supermarket and I was now in danger of giving him a verballing, and I don’t like to do that in public

He has since rung my office at least once and my mobile several times, although I am not taking his call. I figure he is now going to harass me for a while. I cannot possibly see how he thinks harassment is a good sales tool. I guess he is too used to railroading people into agreeing to things. I’m on the phone to Telstra now to lodge a formal complaint and get him off my back. Wish me luck!

UPDATE: So I spoke to a guy at Telstra who asked about how this guy handled himself and what things he was doing, and the Telstra Rep was adamant this guy does not work for or with Telstra. Telstra telemarketers are not allowed to call a number more than once unless invited by the customer to do so. So the guy is a liar to boot.

The Telstra Rep suggested if anyone calls making out they are from Telstra, ask them for their Employee number. Telstra staff are required to give it to you if you ask for it. I think thats a good idea if you are thinking of taking a deal offered by phone but want to be sure its Telstra doing the offering.

Finally, he suggested I visit www.donotcall.gov.au and register my phone number(s) on their do not call list. That way, telemarketers are not supposed to call me. I’ve done that, and we’ll see how many calls I continue to get.

Oh, and the guy just tried ringing me again!

Update 2: I just lodged a complaint against them on the do not call website, my complaint number is 445A09. I’ll update if anything happens.

Update 3: A couple of days later he rings again and starts the speil from scratch like we’ve never spoken. I played along for a while, and he blindly ignored every objection I put in front of him. After two or three attempts to demonstrate that he has nothing to offer me, I had to remind him I wasn’t interested and hung up the phone.

At the start of this phone call he said “My name is Michael and I am calling on behalf of Telstra”. I guess thats how he gets around the fact that he doesn’t work for Telstra at all!

Update 4: 20th July, he rang me AGAIN! Can you believe this guy? Again he started his speil as if we had never spoken. This time he said “This is Michael from Telstra”. Really? I immediately asked him for his Telstra Employee number, and he tried to evade the question. I told him that all Telstra employees are required to give the number if asked, and that I wanted the number so I could ring back and complain about him. He gave me some random four digit number, which I suggested was a bit short, and as he started to rant again I hung up the phone.

I have his telephone number now; If anyone knows how I can find out what company the number is for so I can find out where to address my complaint, I would appreciate it.

Update 5: Aha! A good friend of mine did a little detective work, and it appears Michael is in the employ of the TSA Group.  They have a call centre in Stones Corner. Now… what should I do with them?