Sneaky Telstra and pensioner discounts

Here I was thinking it was just another task I had to do for my parents.  They regularly ask me to ring different companies on their behalf because their English is, let’s say, hopeless.

They get all muddled on the phone and thoroughly confused (Italian migrants).   It’s tough enough working out which ‘number’ to select on the automated service.

You know that lovely lady who tries to direct you to the ‘right department’ and you end up going around in circles.

Anyway, they have been loyal Telstra customers for decades and having phoned them recently, we were told they were eligible for a pensioner discount on their land line service.   Read more

Telstra’s sneaky trick costs you money

Q. A few weeks ago you gave a number to ring Telstra to extend the rings on your mobile phone before it goes to message bank. Mine goes to message bank so many times. I was driving at the time and didn’t get the number. I hear your show most Sundays while I’m traveling to my children’s sporting events. I love the show.

Josie’s answer: Thanks for listening to Money Matters and happy (and humbled) to hear you love the show.  This was one of my Money Saving Tips without the BS (boring stuff) that I do at the end of the show.

I was doing one of my usual rants and raves and implied that the phone companies are very sneaky as they set the number of rings on our phone to about 3 or 4 and then it goes to message bank.

As a result, we have to pay to retrieve the message and then ring back.  Furthermore, the person who has rung you has also paid for the call.   Basically a blatant rip off.    Most of the phone companies are doing this to boost their profits. Read more

Excessive exit fees on superannuation products?

Q. Hi. I was listening to your program this morning 06/04/08 re the guy who rang about the 60% termination value on his super.

I have worked in super for 32 years in the private sector ( life offices). I am concerned that this guy may be unaware of termination costs. These were set by the life offices to recoup paid commission to “advisers” before the term of the contract was satisfied.

These terms were for mainly 10 years and were introduced in the late 1980’s early 1990’s. So if this guy has a “termination penalty” of 60% NOW, there is certainly something very wrong with his contract.

I haven’t heard of a penalty of 60% that high. As you know, the life offices were held hostage by the “sales forces” in order to enforce higher commissions from super products.

Hence the now crackdown on these guys having to be licensed to sell all financial products. The life offices were also totally gutless in standing up to these stand over sales forces because of “sales targets”.

I would suggest a segment on your show outlining the consequences of termination penalties and also why they were imposed.

It was not just the life offices saying they wanted more money but also the sales forces saying they wanted their commissions UPFRONT which means the life office had to recoup any overpaid commission if the contract was terminated early within the contract period.

Josie’s answer: Thanks for your comments and totally agree. I have been in this industry for nearly two decades now and started life in the corporate superannuation area……

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