Kiama resident Ian Harvey-George had a simple desire for high-speed broadband, so in October he went about applying to have the NBN connected to his home.
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What should have been a seamless task took three months, more than 40 phone calls and a lot of spent energy to make his simple desire a reality.
The first time Mr Harvey-George ordered the NBN with Telstra it was thwarted due to confusion over the property’s address.
“After speaking to both Telstra and Foxtel the order was put through the system only for it to be cancelled again for the same reason,” he said.
Another attempt to secure an NBN bundle from Telstra resulted once more in confusion over the address, however things started to look a little more promising when the modem arrived.
“When I plugged it in, the internet wouldn’t work,” Mr Harvey-George said.
“The NBN box on the property has a red optical light indicating the signal was not being received.
“Hours on the phone to the technical department with Telstra didn’t resolve the issue. There was lots of “turn it on and off again”, “try a different cable”.”
After making no progress, Mr Harvey-George opened the external box on his house to discover the NBN fibre optic cable was not connected.
“The cable comes out of the ground and then ends, the cable from the NBN box goes out through the wall and ends there,” he said.
“After several more hours on the phone, Telstra finally believed me and organised an appointment with the NBN engineer to come out and visit.”
With much excitement Mr Harvey-George waited patiently for the engineer to arrive.
The engineer never turned up.
When Mr Harvey-George contacted Telstra, they believed the problem had already been resolved.
“Somewhere between the two companies the addresses were mixed up,” he said.
“Following more phone calls I managed to get another appointment booked. I sat around waiting and again no one came.
“I contacted Telstra and they told me the appointment had been cancelled as they believed the system was working.
“To add insult to this, because NBN told Telstra the system was working, the order was marked as complete so Telstra started billing me, the total cost of the bills are $600 and rising.”
Mr Harvey-George made more phone calls, yet the customer service staff at the NBN weren’t convinced he lived at the address.
“I had to send proof to the NBN that I was in the correct house with utility bills and so on,” he said.
“A few weeks later I received a phone call from the NBN and the error was quickly found that Telstra had given NBN the incorrect address.
“I have had several failed attempts through the Telstra complaints department who showed no sympathy, an offer to refund the bills or any compensation.”
Mr Harvey-George and his wife have a five-week-old baby, he said the NBN would have provided a lifeline to communicate with family in the UK over Christmas.
So frustrated by the experience he felt compelled to lodge a complaint with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsmen.
On Wednesday, three months after their initial enquiry, the family managed to get an NBN engineer via Telstra to their residence, who took less than five minutes to connect the two fibre optic cables.
“It’s amazing how long it took for a simple job,” he said.
On Tuesday, Mr Harvey-George was told he would be credited for the bills he received for the non-existent internet service.
“I then asked about compensation and was told bluntly that wasn't a policy despite the months of stress we faced,” he said.
“I responded by saying I would happily wait until the deadline of the January 17, at which time the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsmen would open the case.
“Within the hour Telstra came back with an offer for two months free internet valued at $198.”
