Laurence Kain is a pretty good guy and a recent interview subject.
So we’re a little surprised to hear the HonkyTonks co-owner has been chaining himself to the Optus help desk.
Laurence Kain is a pretty good guy and a recent interview subject.
So we’re a little surprised to hear the HonkyTonks co-owner has been chaining himself to the Optus help desk.
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Protest Update:
My problem was fixed in 5 minutes confirmed with a call from Optus management in Australia, someone from Australia actually called me!
Further to this I received a call from the manager of Customer Complaints in Australia at Optus, this issue was escalated to the Director of Optus Australia, they credited my phone bill for 3 months and are apparently reviewing their systems to ensure it never happens again.
A successful protest IMO.
Archer said :
The TIO can help small businesses but there are limits.
http://www.tio.com.au/consumers/who-can-complain
So no, not quite everyone.
I think anyone who has had the misfortune of dealing with Optus (or Telstra for that matter) has considered drastic measures to get simple tasks done. Congratulations to Laurence for taking the least violent option.
Having to wait over 40 minutes on hold for “customer service” is just not acceptable.
ChrisinTurner said :
I don’t think Optus management care, they care purely about end of month figures, that’s it. All the while the end of month figures continue heading in the right direction (up where they need to go up, down where they need to go down, and deleted off the paper when they have no affect on the bottom line) they don’t care, because all the telco’s are as bad as each other.
Due to the time and expense of setting up a new telco (not just reselling existing services), the current telcos have little to fear, they can continue to act as an effective protected monopoly.
Laurence, I applaud your stance- if only more folk were to follow your lead then maybe Optus would get the hint. My current service provider (Vodaphone) is lucky that I don’t wander into one of their shopfronts and punch 5 shades of shite through the first person wearing the bright red uniform that I see..I have about a 50% success rate in sending text messages and I live in the geographical heart of our capital city…Also,you have done well with Honkytonks.
good luck Laurence!! 🙂
Good on him.
Service these days from so called service providers is virtually non existant.
Well I am impressed. We begrudgingly accept bad service too often and this guy has said “enough”. He hasn’t hurt anyone and made his point in his own way. Congratulations to Laurence.
Kimjongill said :
You realise your security cannot legally do anything to anyone besides ask them to leave? Also being 150 kilos means nothing besides they would be incredibly easy to take down if needed. Don’t talk like that, it’s incredibly gross and also ridiculous.
Having said that, I applaud you. I wish there was more to be done about incompetent telecoms. But from my experience the peeps in the shop can’t do anything besides ring the higher ups, who generally refuse to do anything besides tell the customer to suck eggs.
Your stunt, while did nothing to help your case ATM, will hopefully bring attention to Optus as a crap service and cause higher up to act. Good luck.
For those critisizing Laurence for doing this, you all should get a life. It’s good that he made a stand to show companies like this that its not acceptable that their levels of service these days are sh*t. I had problems with optus before as well (not to the extent as this case) where transferring a personal mobile to a business name where I was the sole director/shareholder was too much hassle for them.
I also must say that in a previous role I’ve dealt with Laurence and his staff at one of his previous employers, and his team always did everything they could to ensure their customers were treated well and had a good time, … its a pity that all businesses these days dont have that attitude
I had a similar experience with optus (not the chaining myself to the desk bit though). I had ordered a new phone, got confirmation and was given an order number. After a week of nothing, I thought i’d ask “where is it?” After speaking with 9 people, and after 4 hours of solid talking to optus people. I finally found out that the initial order never went through and the order number I got was for someone else of the same name in a different state that ordered a phone last year.
For those that care, I’ve upped the webchats which are only really a slice of the whole drama.
*Names removed to protect the innocent.
http://pastebin.com/qqSC1RP4
thehutch said :
If you don’t like the service go right ahead and chain yourself up, then you can have 3 x 150kg + security guards come over and hasstle you out just like I did + the police.
I just really don’t think you have the balls to do something like that if you did you might show more respect to someone who does instead you hide behind the convenient veil of an internet forum and post negative comments.
This protest was not just about me getting my account sorted out it was about showing big companies that consumers are not ok with them taking our cash and not providing after sales service.
I don’t think Optus management have any idea how hard it is to deal with their customer support people in the Phillipines. I formally complained and was only told that my comments would be passed back to the call-centre, not to Optus management in Australia.
Awesome! Laurence Kain is my favourite person today!
I had a business account with Optus and spent two and a half years dealing with their pathetic excuse for customer service over a number of different issues. The longest of these took eighteen months to resolve. While trying to deal with the last of them, I found out about the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (ombudsman is such a stupid word!) and it was resolved within three weeks.
One of my favourite interactions with Optus was the day when they rang me asking how my service was after I had already decided to terminate our service with them when our contracts expired (three months away). I told them this and they asked what the problem was, so I told them, and they put me through to someone else saying “I’ll let them know what the issue has been so you don’t have to explain again”. When they put me through, the person I got had no idea what the problem was, so I still had to explain again. Then they said “oh, you’re a personal customer and you’ve got the business section, so I’ll transfer you. I’ll explain what the problem is, so you don’t have to go over it again”. And the same thing happened. Almost. The difference was they said I’m a business customer and transferred me back. Then I had the same conversation a third time and they tried to transfer me again, but no one answered. So I had a good laugh. Glad to be rid of them!
ROFL! Awesome!!
I’m guessing the camera crew was to suggest a media frenzy might follow giving Optus bad press? Did it work? I am surprised that a chown form to get filled out and submitted took so long. Pretty usual delay on them to go through Optus internal QA but three months means something on that form wasn’t filled out or the franchise owner is f***ing bereft of their obligations in being a premium dealer for them. Its a really simple thing to get done and I know being a former employee of them in Melbourne office. Shocking.
In my experience Optus shops are useless, the staff can’t seem to do anything beyond selling you a phone. As soon as you want to port a number, change your details etc they tell you to ring the call centre as they can’t do it in their stores. (though, they will let you use their phone call the call centre…) And now I am no longer with them 🙂
“photos and videos of the protest are attached to this email”
Come on JB, where is the video?
Still waiting for the video!
That security guard is totally checking out your package.
Hahaha top work Laurence!
Kimjongill said :
So Optus breached their contract with you – sue them. With the 3million turnover each year you can afford it… or, if you dont like, take your phone business to one of the other phone companies down the road.
In either case, solve problems like an adult.