Telstra opening Gmail accounts in Pensioners names, without authority

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Telstra opening Gmail accounts in Pensioners names, without authority

6 yrs ago

Dear readers we are 70+ retirees living in Nth Qld, and have a 93 year old widow as a neighbour on one side, and an 85 widow as our neighbour on the other side.

Both women live alone and have had Telstra landline telephone numbers for over 20 years, with itemised paper bills and prompt payment to Telstra.

A month ago our eldest neighbour broke her leg and was hospitalised 60 Km from her home.

We collected her mail for her, and visited her in hospital.

One letter was from Telstra saying she hasn't paid her phone account.

Further enquiry by us said the account was sent to her Email address.

The dear lady has never used or owned a computer, EVER!!!

After talking to Telstra we got the bill paid and we hope have her receiving her paper billing as usual from now on.

Today our other elderly neighbour received a letter from Telstra saying her bill had not been paid since January, and she asked us to help her as she always pays her bills on time.

Guess what, we went through the same scenerio with a Gmail account being opened in her name, and the billing sent to that address.

I wonder how many pensioners are unknowingly having email accounts opened by Telstra, billing sent there and then Telstra hitting on them for late payment fees?

I tried sending a complaint to the Telecommunications Ombudsman, but as I have resolved the problem for my two neighbours they will not accept it,as it is now not in dispute.

Any suggestions to get the message out there to vunerable pensioners, and to get Telstra to stop this illegal practice?

Larryand Coreen. Babinda. 4861. Qld.

6 comments

Do you work for Optus ?

you are making a very serious accusation

telstra or any other company has no advantage to vision by having their bills unpaid

on the other hand perhaps Telstra offer their third part co tractors or employees an incentive to get their customers onto paperless billing

if it's the latter , then Telstra would want to k ow about the dishonest practices of its contractors or empliyees or probably sussed it out by now and dealt with the problem

call telstra and they will set you straight

L&C

6 yrs ago

Raphael, I am not making any accusation.

It is a FACT as we talked to Telstra on both occasions and supposedly got our neighbours back on itemised paper billing.

The bogus email address for our two neighbours is on Telstra letterhead, and the Call Centre acknowledged it was sent by Telstra on both occasions.

This is an official Telstra letter, not a third party scam.

Incidently we have been with Telstra for over 20 years too, so your assertion as to working for OPTUS is not what I thought a forum for constructive discussion and advice for retirees was for.

You won't get any "constructive discussion" from our Raffy. More like destructive babble, mate. Ignore him.

You have brought to light something I suspected for a while now.

L&C

Please send said letter to ombudsmun

also post it on here

i repeat - what commercial advantage has Telstra to gain by their customers having unpaid bills ?????

L&C

6 yrs ago

Thanks mate.

first time on a forum.

We, { the missus and I} just think it is so wrong what is happening to the Elderly who cannot fathom the new techno world and are getting hit in the hip pocket for that lack of knowledge.

There does not seem to be anywhere they can go to to get a techno related problem sorted out.

Even myself who is computer literate was stunned to see so few online forums for everyday help for the elderly.

Their only outside contact in a small country town is usually a landline telephone, the mail, and a visit to town on pension day. I suspect it could be even worse in a big city.

I chose this forum to bring it into the open for others of our age to know of the problem, and help thy neighbour, and change these sharp practices, if possible.

Thanks again for the positive reply.

You're welcome L&C, as I said before ignore the negative ones.

catsahoy

6 yrs ago

HI LAND C, as said above contact your ombusman, or local member of parliament, they will act for you, i had trouble with telsta myself, a differnt kind, and to long to go into here, but they messed me about for months, got fixed in the end and they gave me $50 compensation off my bill, [landline]

PlanB

6 yrs ago

This was on the 7.30 report last night -- very scary what is happening and happening very quick too

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2017/s4690340.htm

L&C

6 yrs ago

Thanks for that PlanB,

very very scary for the ordinary citizen, and the banks and government want us all to go to a cashless society!!

I have just sent off the Telstra information to the ABC!!

Banjo

6 yrs ago

The "do not say 'yes' phone scam has been around for a little while now. But these people are finding more and more ways to get you to say "yes".

The question they're asking now is "Can you hear me?" -they know lots of senior folk are a little hard of hearing and so hoping this new ploy will get them.

I've advised a few that I know, to put a large notice near the phone to remind them not to say YES".

Triss

6 yrs ago

How does this work? If I don't tell them my credit card number it doesn't matter how many times I say "yes" they can't charge items to my credit card or access my bank account for fraudulent purposes.

YES - you're right Triss

PlanB

6 yrs ago

L&C good that you have sent that info off to the ABC -- I wonder if they will do anything about it -- I remember sending some info and never heard a thing again, which I thought was VERY poor!

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Telstra opening Gmail accounts in Pensioners names, without authority

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