00:00 About two weeks ago I did a story with Jenny Moncur, who's a Victorian widow, who said
00:07 she felt unnecessarily harassed and like she was caught up in a Monty Python skit when
00:13 she spent over nine years battling Telstra trying to stop correspondence in her late
00:18 husband's name, but nothing seemed to work. Even going to the ombudsman didn't stop it.
00:24 And then I was inundated with other people who say, "Well, I'm in this situation right
00:30 now and I can't stop it." And some of this contact comes out of the blue. It's people
00:37 receiving a cheque in the mail years after somebody has died, addressed to the dead person
00:43 so they can't necessarily cash the cheque. One of the people who's in this distressing
00:49 situation at the moment is Hobart pensioner David Farnham.
00:54 I don't want it. I've said it's distressing. Distressing to see her name coming up all
01:06 the time.
01:08 So what's been the response from Telstra to this, Michael?
01:12 Well, Telstra has conceded that we've identified systemic issues across its policies and procedures
01:19 in dealing with customers notifying them of a death. And so it's triggered an internal
01:25 investigation. They've also set up a dedicated helpline for anybody in this situation. And
01:32 they're going to need it, frankly, because people are continuing to contact me today
01:37 saying they're in this situation. They've also conceded that in some circumstances,
01:43 compensation may be required. I've interviewed Telstra's Claire Johnston and this is what
01:49 she had to say.
01:51 I know sorry doesn't cut it to erase the experience these customers have had, but we
01:56 remain committed to continuing to improve and do better. And I think that's what counts
02:01 here in terms of the measures that we're taking.
02:03 So is the regulator likely to take action?
02:06 It certainly seems they're interested. There are calls now for the regulator, the ACMA,
02:12 to launch an investigation into these systemic issues that we've identified. ACMA has told
02:18 me that it's already written to Telstra saying it's really concerned about what was identified
02:24 in Jenny Moncur's story, wanting to know more about Telstra's policies and procedures,
02:30 and it's considering what to do next. Telcos have very strict obligations about what they're
02:36 meant to do when a customer notifies them of somebody passing away as the account holder.
02:43 And so the regulator will be paying very close attention as to whether they should launch
02:48 an investigation and potentially enforcement action here.
02:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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