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Thread: Austar *really* giving me the shaft

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    Default Austar *really* giving me the shaft

    Long story short: I signed up for the $1 a day deal about a month ago, had to use a friends' credit card for the payment, and got an installation booking.

    Installer didn't turn up, rang up austar: "oh it was cancelled the day after the booking, you have to ring up accounts on monday". Waste of a saturday waiting for the installer, wasn't too happy when I rang up accounts.

    Anyway, the lady at accounts pretty much said "an authorised person on your account (he had to be authorised due to being the payee) has the same name (John Smith - seriously) as someone who had austar there before, here's our fax number, you need to prove to us whether or not this is the same guy that owes us money" (obviously not in exactly that tone, but that was the message I got. I replied that there are a lot of John Smith's in the world, that I've lived here for 6 months, this guy that's letting me use his credit card lived in Victoria until 3 months ago, and that it's enough to ask a friend to use his credit card, letalone faxing documents that include date of birth and address to a company!

    "unfortunately these are the kind of times we live in" she said. She did offer the $30 initial fee back, but that isn't the point. I've applied and paid for a service to be hooked up, and Austar are basically denying me a service because 1) some guy with a very common name happened to live at the same address at some time in the past (who knows how long ago? even ISPs will hook someone up at the same address if the last guy skipped on their bill), and they're pressuring me to ask someone that's been kind enough to let me use his credit card, to send of very personal information to Austar. I don't know about you, but if I were in his position, I'd be saying "sorry, mate, this is just too much rigmaroll, I don't mind them charging my credit card, but when they want things like a fax of my drivers' licence, it just sounds too dodgy to me".

    I was going to go to the TIO, until realising that Austar isn't a telecommunications provider. Consumer affairs won't get involved unless you pay $100. It's a real joke that I have to wear this just because someone who used to live here owes them money. Not that it's my business, but don't some of the larger companies write off debts after a certain amount of time - to avoid just this kind of thing from happening? I doubt my mate is going to go for faxing his I.D to them, and I'm being denied a service just because the guy paying the bill happens to share an extremely common first and last name with a previous account holder. If I were really trying to swindle them, what would be in it for me anyway, 1 month of free austar? That doesn't make sense, since they already have my money for that 1 month (no contract)...



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    I recon some would disagree butI have to reply...

    Seriously,

    You live at the same address a "John Smith" used to live at...
    You know a guy with the same name who....

    1. Has left Victoria 3 months ago
    2. Is Letting you use his credit card to pay an ongoing bill that could last upto 2 years..

    All sounds legitimate to me.

    I recon you have been caught out trying to pull one over the provider and now want to cry about it.

    Because....

    If you were serious about it you would pay the $100 to consumer affairs and take it all the way, the outcome would mean you would get what you want and I recon even the provider would have credited the amount back to you after having to deal with consumer affairs, see it would cost them way more than $100 if found by consumer affairs that they were in breach of anything. I believe they would agree before anything went to far, to allow you service and credit your costs to your new account and probably upgrade your service for a few months for FREE.

    OR why not....

    Apply to get your own Credit card or discuss other payment plans with the provider like a prepaid or do they do Direct Debit? etc...

    Anyway your turn to shoot me down and make it personal

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    Q: Does this person you borrowed the credit card live at the same address, and have they had Austar previously connected at the address you are living at?

    Sounds to me like Austar have linked the two elements above together and want this settled before you get the service installed. Without Austar doing some due diligence, it would be easy for people to rack up significant debt, then when disconnected, get the next person in the household to apply!

    Seriously, as to the credit card issue - we live in a world where credit is just accepted, and if you don't have a credit card, you are an exception to the norm. Possibly consider getting a Visa debit card, if you allergic to credit or you have a hideous credit history!
    We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them - Albert Einstein

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    Quote Originally Posted by davo View Post
    Apply to get your own Credit card or discuss other payment plans with the provider like a prepaid or do they do Direct Debit? etc...

    Anyway your turn to shoot me down and make it personal
    Almost all banks will update your eftpos card for a visa debit card (on your existing account) which is accepted as a Credit Card but uses your own account balance.

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    Quote Originally Posted by davo View Post
    I recon some would disagree butI have to reply...

    Seriously,

    You live at the same address a "John Smith" used to live at...
    You know a guy with the same name who....

    1. Has left Victoria 3 months ago
    2. Is Letting you use his credit card to pay an ongoing bill that could last upto 2 years..

    All sounds legitimate to me.

    I recon you have been caught out trying to pull one over the provider and now want to cry about it.

    Because....

    If you were serious about it you would pay the $100 to consumer affairs and take it all the way, the outcome would mean you would get what you want and I recon even the provider would have credited the amount back to you after having to deal with consumer affairs, see it would cost them way more than $100 if found by consumer affairs that they were in breach of anything. I believe they would agree before anything went to far, to allow you service and credit your costs to your new account and probably upgrade your service for a few months for FREE.

    OR why not....

    Apply to get your own Credit card or discuss other payment plans with the provider like a prepaid or do they do Direct Debit? etc...

    Anyway your turn to shoot me down and make it personal
    I don't have any retort to point number one, all I could suggest is that someone moving to another state doesn't necessarily make this situation legitimate or illegitimate.

    As for the second point: I'm not sure where you get the 2 years figure from. I sat down with my mate and pointed out the fine print that there is no contract, and that the minimum cost is $30, cancellable after one month without penalty. Sure, it wouldn't be unheard of for somebody to add extra channels, commit to a contract etc, but really who would do that to someone they want to keep as a mate and who had done a favour for them, plus as a joint account holder (needed due to him being the credit card holder) he could simply ring up and rescind permission for his card to be charged (and that wouldn't be a smart move, since I declared that I had authorisation to use the card upon signing up!).

    About going "all the way" with consumer affairs, sure, it might have been ruled in my favour, but not only is there a lot of paperwork, and making a good mate the "meat in the sandwich", but $100 is quite a gamble to go up against a huge corporation with the best outcome having 30 more channels than the 20 I already get from the 5 FTA networks. And even if they graced me with a few months of a free package deal, then what? It's all speculation and "what if", it might have happened but personally I doubt it, I was interested in the service when it was offered to me at $30 a month, but no thanks if it involves typing up correspondence, presenting it in court, etc.

    The offer was for using a credit card only, and I'm of the (what some may call old-fashioned) mindset that you either pay cash for something or save up for it. No point getting a credit card with god knows how much interest just to pay for a $30 a month service.

    I haven't been "caught out" doing anything, let's face it, lots of people here make their opinions known far and wide about Austar and Murdochs' ability to charge like a wounded bull, I thought this was the best place to go about something like this. when I told the bloke that they weren't prepared to accept proof of address and wanted a birth certificate, drivers' licence, he almost did a double-take and we both agreed to let everyone else considering Austar to know about our experience with them before they made their decision, and he had the $30 initial payment refunded, making it clear to them that his offer of sending proof of address was fine by him, but he'd rather not deal with anyone asking for a photocopy of drivers' licence etc, since he was only providing for a means to pay for the service, and that it's just too much for someone you've only known for a couple of months to ask.

    Not going to shoot you down mate, it's a free country and you had your own interpretation of what I was saying, based on my first post. I just wanted to clear up some of the facts. And onya for showing respect to Grant in your display pic, I haven't been on these forums all that long, but even I could see that he was a wealth of information and always more than willing to help out around here.

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    Quote Originally Posted by porkchops View Post
    it would be easy for people to rack up significant debt, then when disconnected, get the next person in the household to apply!
    I've heard installers say that already happens a lot in "certain" areas.

    And get a Visa Debit, good point! most of the banks will give you one free now. No credit check required.
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    If getting a VISA debit card is too much trouble, why don't you get another friend with a different name on the card to pay saves a lot of stuffing around in your case mate

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    Ah yes, a debit card... I was under the impression that most places offering goods/services in advance required a real credit card. This was my experience with paypal - tried several debit cards, all rejected. I've heard the same thing for hire cars as well.

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    Mate I'm with Police Credit who give you a FREE Visa debit card each month. They have pretty awesome rates for savings accounts and everyday accounts which is why I am still with them. As for the story, I agree with you in part, but having been on their side of the situation myself (working for a similar company), it's not 'strange' that certain verification checks like this are in place.

    RoOSTA

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    VISA debit works the same as VISA credit to a vendor and is usually accepted everywhere that VISA credit is.

    As mentioned, another option is direct debit.

    Both of these options satisfy your preference of having your own funds available, without the need for credit, either your own, or someone elses.

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    Quote Originally Posted by tigertoddy View Post
    Ah yes, a debit card... I was under the impression that most places offering goods/services in advance required a real credit card. This was my experience with paypal - tried several debit cards, all rejected. I've heard the same thing for hire cars as well.
    What you are referring to is a standard eftpos type card connected to your savings account. Ask your bank to replace it with a Visa or Mastercard Debit card. It works exactly the same as a credit card except it only uses your existing funds.

    My 17 yo daughter got one of these yesterday, it took the CBA only 3 days to process her claim and have it in our letterbox.


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    Quote Originally Posted by roosta View Post
    As for the story, I agree with you in part, but having been on their side of the situation myself (working for a similar company), it's not 'strange' that certain verification checks like this are in place.RoOSTA
    I wasn't really getting at that I thought it was strange, just a whole lot of rigmaroll. When I mentioned before about primus, where the debt had been written off: That happened to a mate of mine, similar situation to me - previous tenant had an outstanding account with them. From my knowledge, most ISP's weigh up the cost of pursuing the offender through the court system etc, to what the debt is actually worth to recover. Keep in mind that it costs $100+ to lodge a claim with a collection agency, if you were running a business, would you use this to chase a, say, $70 debt? I guess if you were a tradie, a better way of doing it would be to let your association/guild know the guys' details and advise against dealing with him/her...

    Quote Originally Posted by Sanity
    What you are referring to is a standard eftpos type card connected to your savings account. Ask your bank to replace it with a Visa or Mastercard Debit card. It works exactly the same as a credit card except it only uses your existing funds.
    I definately meant a visa debit card (regarding paypal, technically it was 2 visa debit cards, and 1 mastercard that was rejected). I've had a few people report to me that all of a sudden, Paypal are refusing their debit cards after having had them accepted for years. As for my hire car example, my cousin is a mechanic at a local hire car company, and his boss will definately not allow a debit card to be used as a credit card (he was able to tell from one of my old cards that it was debit, before they had "DEBIT" plastered in the corner) - obviously so someone couldn't put $xx in the account attached to the debit card, use it to hire the car overnight, go over the maximum mileage/keep it for a week, then have the hire car company find "oh, it's a debit card, and it was declined, so we can't charge him for all those extra expenses".

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    Quote Originally Posted by tigertoddy View Post
    ..........obviously so someone couldn't put in the account attached to the debit card, use it to hire the car overnight, go over the maximum mileage/keep it for a week, then have the hire car company find "oh, it's a debit card, and it was declined, so we can't charge him for all those extra expenses".
    The same can happen with a credit card too, so that's no guarantee of payment. eg: overlimit, transaction denied.

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    I setup a Paypal account for a customer last week using a Visa Debit card and had no problems whatsoever.

    As to the hire car company, how do they actually survive in business ? It sounds like they live in some kind of time warp from the 80's. Very few people carry cash these days for transactions like car hire and most business is happy not to have large amounts on premises due to risk of armed holdup. If he thinks credit card only is a safe line he is kidding himself. It takes one phone call by the credit card holder to turn the transaction around. If he takes credit card bookings he wouldnt know a debit from a credit, they all run the same number sequencing.

    If he has a high percentage of people doing a runner with his cars he might have to think about what sort of clientele he is attracting and how he runs his business. Very few businesses ban a major form of payment just in case someone abuses it.

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    When Paypal went Feral 2 years ago and changed their payment system I got the 'Visa' attatchment to my EFTPOS card and I havent had any problems using it with either Paypal or buying/paying for services with other business's.
    I ALWAYS tell them that it isnt a credit card if I am paying by telephone and none have refused to accept it.
    I ALWAYS make sure I have the money in the account before I commence the transaction.
    I stand unequivicably behind everything I say , I just dont ever remember saying it !!

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