In mid 2008 I was living with my father for a few months. He connected the internet on a 24 month contract broadband plan. When my husband and I moved into our own place in February 2009, we asked Telstra if we could transfer the remainder of the contract into our name. However it still kept some of the same details that my father had registered it with.

In February 2010 we went over our 12 gig limit for downloads. I rang up to ask what could be done and got a very helpful operator who said that hed make us a new account with our own details attached, link our mobile, home and internet into one bill, increase the download limit and make our bill cheaper. He also said hed get a technician out to look at our home phone which had been very staticky and then not worked at all for several months.

Less than a week later we got a call from Telstra asking us why wed cancelled our original contract and informing us of a $120 cancellation fee. After explaining that the original operator had not told me of that, they agreed to a refund of the fee. It turns out that after all that hed done, the original technician hadnt left a single explanatory note on our account. However, everything seemed sorted. In April I rang up again just to make sure all the accounts were correct (Id been advised to ring and make sure the original account was cancelled). I was told the new account was working fine, the old account was closed and all was sorted.

In May I got a letter warning me that the service would be suspended if I didnt immediately pay an overdue amount of over $200. I rang up, paid and then requested that they check both accounts. Turns out the original account had never been closed and that Id been paying for two internet connections for nearly three months! However Telstra agreed to refund the unused internet onto the new account and promised that this time, the original account was permanently closed.

Then, a few weeks later I completely lost internet. After 24 hours of no internet, about 5 calls and finally a promise that a technician would be here by the end of the day, I wasn't too impressed. And remember that promise to fix our home phone as well? It never did get fixed. In fact, we've since moved house, so I guess the new tenants will have to deal with trying to make the phone work.