Readers' Comments

Reader Comments on Aardvark Daily 22 May 2001
Note: the comments below are the unabridged submissions of readers and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher.


From: bede
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: talking points

Why dont they just cut the overheads of running the points
and give us cheaper phones so that every time we use a
cordless drill we dont have to think those great guys from
telecom gave that to us!




From: Dave
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Price Rise

My latest intouch newsletter from Telecom tells me that
from July 6 Telecom will intoduce "whole minute rounding"
for calls billed to my home phone. This means rounding up,
not down. The example given is a 2:47 call rounded up to
3:00. Telecom neglects to use the example of a 1:01 call
rounded to 2:00.

Why don't they just call it a price rise?

Then they insult my intelligence by saying "this change
reflects the increasing use of capped price calls" - when
it has absolutely nothing to do with capped price calls.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a toll bypass
operator I should use?




From: Christopher Cookson
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Talking Points

It's a strange irony that Telecom keep whinging on about losing money on
domestic lines because they can't charge for the calls, and yet they offer
their Talking Points program to hang on to customers.

On the other hand, those of us who happen to have made the move from the
home office, pay a lot more for our lines, our calls, and don't get any
sort of reward.

When  I was involved in forming a company that combined two home businesses,
for practical reasons, an office in town made more sense. Shock Horror! First
month I couldn't believe our phone bill. That nice per minute charge for
local calls also applies for calls to the Internet, and as a company with
a strong Internet focus, that adds up pretty quickly. Basically, our phone
bills doubled from the equivalent working from home, and no incentives
either.

Just a quick word about Telecom's 'inflated' pricing on rewards.
Remember that the $40 of 'free' calls they are giving you doesn't actually
cost them that to provide anyway. That's the retail value of it, but if
you accept Telecom services as rewards, it's actually costing them a lot
less than the dollar value to provide you with the reward.

If they provide you with a product from another supplier, sure they're
inflating the price, but just bear in mind that $40 worth of free calls
from Telecom is actually costing them a lot less than $40, so your drill
may not be such a bad deal after all.




From: Wen the Eternally Surprised
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Telecom rental phone charges

A bit off topic but ... another thing I've found is the Telecom "Rental
phone" charge. If you don't have a phone rented from Telecom make sure
they aren't charging you for one.

I've come across several people who have had this done to them.
Now Have Your Say