No cost upgrade: but seems to be $20 extra for phone

[Pij]

Following technical difficulties, I was offered an upgraded Bundle plan "at no extra cost".

I don't understand the $20 portion in the invoices I received this morning. I was told that this change of plan was to cost me no more than I previously paid, but it looks like I'll be paying an extra $20 (monthly? I don't know! Maybe it's a one-off fee?) for phone. When this upgrade was first discussed, I pointed out that previously I had been paying 69.99 rather than 64.99, and the support person said that the other $5 was for the phone component. If so, then why does the phone component now seem to cost me $20 (monthly?) rather than $5?

[Anonymous]

Hi @Pij, 

We'll check on your account and confirm the plan that you're on. Send us a private message with your TPG customer ID or username please. 

How do I private message (PM) in the community
 

Regards, 

Angeli

[Pij]

Thanks, Angeli. However today I received an email from TPG, and it looks like TPG is not going to honour the "upgrade at no additional cost" that they offered me: it seems TPG intends to charge me an additional $20 (monthly? I still don't know) for the phone component, even though that was previously included in my $69.99 bundle.

Please see the email conversation:

Dear Paul,

Thank you for your email.

The $20 charge is for the Extra Talk bundle.

Extra Talk  allows you to make unlimited calls to Landline and Mobile numbers in 15 countries (Canada, China, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Korea (South), Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States), unlimited Local Calls (excluding 13/1300 numbers), unlimited Standard National Calls to Landlines and unlimited calls to Standard Australian Mobiles. Calls to 19/1900 numbers are not supported. Standard per minute rates listed on our International Call Rates page apply for International Calls to other countries and calls to satellite phones.

You may confirm via return email if you would like to remove the Oz Talk bundle.

Once removed, your calls will be charged based on our regular call rate.

Please let me know if I can assist you further.

Kind regards,

Rowena | Customer Service | UserID: 15487

I already had a similar deal on my previous account, from which I was receiving an upgrade "at no additional cost" to a faster plan. From what you said, it seems that there is, indeed, an additional cost, which is for the telephone portion.

Please check my records, especially those relating to the "upgraded faster internet plan at no additional cost" which I was offered.

On the TPG Community, the person called Angeli wrote these messages to me:

Thank you Paul. Seems that the voice add on removal is still pending and our billing team has requested it to be removed from the account. Once it is completed, we'll definitely let you know immediately. Expect that this $20 invoice will be reversed soon. Apologies for the confusion caused. 

And

You are most welcome, Paul. Don't worry we'll take care of it and we'll keep you posted.

So now I am even more confused than ever before, and more than ever dissatisfied with the honesty and reliability of dealing with TPG.

Please advise whether TPG is going to honour the "upgrade at no additional cost" or not!

Regards

I will further point out that when I was originally offered the "upgrade at no additional cost" I was advised that it covered all my phone calls except for 13/1300 numbers. This latest email mentions "19/1900" numbers, which have never been mentioned before.

[Pij]

Now TPG, via email, advises this: "Your request to remove the add-on has been forwarded to Plan Change Team."

Let me be VERY clear: I did NOT request to remove the addon! What I DID request was whether TPG intends to honour their own offer to me of an upgraded bundle "at no extra cost." My previous bundle included broadband NBN internet PLUS phone calls, at $69.99.

This should not be too hard. This is my question: Does TPG intend to honour their offer of an upgrade to my previous bundle at no extra cost? According to previous conversations, that included phone calls excluding 13/1300 numbers.

[Anonymous]

Hi @Pij,

Apologies for confusion. Let us keep your plan NBN25 and keep your voice add-on active for now we will discuss this at length with our Engineering Team since the offer came from them. We will get back to you as soon as update becomes available.

Regards,

Thanks, Angeli. However today I received an email from TPG, and it looks like TPG is not going to honour the "upgrade at no additional cost" that they offered me: it seems TPG intends to charge me an additional $20 (monthly? I still don't know) for the phone component, even though that was previously included in my $69.99 bundle.

Now TPG, via email, advises this: "Your request to remove the add-on has been forwarded to Plan Change Team."

Let me be VERY clear: I did NOT request to remove the addon! What I DID request was whether TPG intends to honour their own offer to me of an upgraded bundle "at no extra cost." My previous bundle included broadband NBN internet PLUS phone calls, at $69.99.

This should not be too hard. This is my question: Does TPG intend to honour their offer of an upgrade to my previous bundle at no extra cost? According to previous conversations, that included phone calls excluding 13/1300 numbers.

[Pij]

I just got off the phone from a call from TPG. They had nothing to say, really, except that this issue was being shifted to the Customer Service department, rather than Technical. However, I was pressured to receive a phone-call. I had to state 6 or 7 or 8 times that I preferred email.

My reason: I no longer have ANY trust in what TPG has to say, and I want everything in writing from now on.

No more phone-calls, please. If you want to discuss this honestly and with transparency, then be prepared to put it all in writing.

[Rica_R]

Hi @Pij,

We've informed our Engineers to communicate with you via Email. Further updates will be provided once available. 

[Pij]

I'm still waiting for a response:

Does TPG intend to honour their offer of an upgrade to my previous bundle at no extra cost?

[Anonymous]

Hi @Pij, 

Our Accounts Team is currently assessing your recent plan change. We'll be in touch via private message when an update is ready. We appreciate your patience.

Regards, 
Angeli

[Pij]

Jhoey: We've informed our Engineers to communicate with you via Email. Further updates will be provided once available. 

Angeli: We'll be in touch via private message when an update is ready.

PM from Angeli: ‎05-10-2022

Hi @Pij,    Your case has been endorsed to our Customer Relations Team for further handling. A case officer will be assigned as your sole contact person for this matter. We've relayed all the information to them for investigation and they should be in contact with you within 24 hours.    Regards,  Angeli    

So, having been advised that (A) they'd stick to email, as I requested, for further communications (@Jhoey), then (B) that they'd contact me by Private Message (@Angeli), I've been keeping a close eye on my emails. I was disappointed, but not surprised, to have nothing after 48 hours.

I'm more disappointed (but sadly not entirely surprised) to find an SMS advising that they'd tried to phone me, and asking me to phone them.

Is there an English literacy problem at TPG headquarters?

What about digital literacy? Let's try this:

agreedContact=email,

email<>phone;
email<>SMS;
PM<>phone;
PM<>SMS;
email-num=PM;
0<num<email*0.5

Please contact me by email, as previously confirmed.