Telstra screwed 9000 Belong NBN customers – it does not pay to Belong
Telstra screwed Belong NBN customers after moving 9000 of them to its broadband and never delivering the speeds they were contracted for.
Following court action by the ACCC, the Federal Court found that Telstra made false or misleading representations about the upload speed of residential broadband internet services supplied to nearly 9,000 Belong customers.
In October and November 2020, Telstra migrated 8,897 Belong NBN maximum 100/40Mbps download/upload to its service, which only had half that upload speed, 20Mbps. Telstra profited because NBN charged it $7 less per month for the 20Mbps service.
Telstra lied by omission, never telling Belong customers they were getting less for the same money.
Telstra’s failure to inform customers that their broadband service had been altered denied them the opportunity to decide whether the changed service was suitable for their needs,” ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver said.
The ACCC seeks declarations, penalties, consumer redress, costs, and other orders.
The Court will determine the penalty and any consumer redress after a hearing on a date to be fixed.
Not the first time Telstra has screwed customers
The ACCC instituted these Federal Court proceedings against Telstra in December 2022.
The ACCC has previously instituted proceedings against Telstra on several occasions, including in August 2021, for making alleged false or misleading representations in their promotions of some 50Mbps and 100Mbps NBN plans. Telstra was subsequently ordered to pay $15 million in penalties.
CyberShack’s view: Telstra screwed Belong customers and everyone else too
We have one piece of sage advice. Get rid of Telstra and get onto a company that cares. No, we don’t mean Optus or Vodafone because they are just as bad. Read TIO Complaints report Q4/2024 – the usual suspects let you down.
Telstra charges premium prices and still can’t get the service right. In 2022, Telstra made a big noise about relocating its overseas call centres to Australia and employing 2000 Aussies. Still, this is largely a mirage, as the first-response consumer call centres are in the Philippines and India. Only when you get frustrated and demand escalation might you get an Aussie. Onshore call centres are for ‘business clients’.
Aussie Broadband and Everyday Mobile (Woolworths) have local call centres; frankly, I use these two companies because of their superb service. No more blood pressure and threats to go to the TIO.
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