When Telstra announced a radical revamp of its mobile plans several months ago – and a new aim to earn $50 or more per month from postpaid customers – it was inevitable that they would start shifting off contract postpaid customers onto these new plans bit by bit.
We have now heard from a few people that were off contract on old Telstra postpaid plans that they were being told by Telstra that they would automatically be switched to new plans soon.
Our contact at Telstra affirmed that was correct for “less than 7% of our entire consumer and small business mobility customer base”.
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To be fair to Telstra, there will be a percentage of winners and a percentage of losers from these changes. Telstra are running a for profit business – not a charity – so there can’t be 100% customer winners from changes to products/services.
Some people who managed to negotiate postpaid mobile plans for $29-$40 with lots of data and other inclusions will lose, because their minimum cost will rise to $50/month if they stay with Telstra postpaid.
On the other hand, there are many Australians who don’t pay attention to the best available mobile, gas, electricity and other utilities plans, so they will benefit from being forced onto the new Telstra postpaid plans as their inclusions will improve and they can’t get bill shock anymore from using more than their monthly data quota or domestic calls/sms.
No date Yet For ‘All Post-Paid Customers’ to be Migrated to $50 or More Plan
The Telstra spokesperson further advised:
“There is no date yet for ‘all post-paid customers’. In this instance, selected older plans that have not had a price change recently have been impacted so will be moved to the latest in market plans available. Some of these plans are more than 10 years old”.
“The changes will commence from 26 August 2019 and we wanted to give our customers plenty of notice so they could look at different plan options available to them before they are migrated over”.
“We are unable to provide a full list of plans, however at this stage post-paid mobile customers who are on plans less than $50 a month should expect to receive a email or direct mail notification of change to bring them in line with our current in-market plans (from a spend and inclusions perspective)”.
“We understand that there is never a good time to make price changes and we don’t make these decisions lightly. From time to time we need to review our mobile plans to ensure we’re offering customers value while managing our own costs”.
“We know affordability and value is important to our customers and we have worked hard to keep any price increases to a minimum”.
“We continue to offer the Telstra Bill Assistance Program for eligible customers. For more information customer can visit us online or in store”
How Will You Know If You’ll Be Auto Migrated to a new Plan?
Telstra advises that customers being auto migrated should have been advised well in advance by Email and Direct [posted] mail.
Telstra said they are emailing or writing directly to customers affected by the changes. The changes will come into effect from 26 August onwards for Consumer plans, and from 29 August onwards for Small Business plans.
Customers have been given plenty of notice so they can look at different plan options available to them.
Who Will Be Forced to Change First?
Telstra advises from 26 Aug 2019, existing customers (consumer and small business) on some of their older post- paid mobile plans will be auto-migrated onto the latest in-market plans with the new minimum monthly price and additional inclusions.
Will The New Plan Change Be Automatic?
These changes will occur automatically, no action is required by the customer and, unless they chose to cancel their service, they will be migrated to latest in-market plan.
Customers will have the option of re-contracting to an in-market plan if they wish. To discuss their options customers can call Telstra on 13 22 00 (Consumer) or 12 20 00 (Small Business) , visit us at their nearest Telstra Store or the online store .
Will I Have to Pay An Early Termination Charge?
Telstra Customers will not incur an early termination charge if they choose to stay on Telstra but change their plan manually to a new one. The only exception would be if a customer is paying off a mobile handset and they decide to leave – in this instance they would have to pay out any remaining charges against that handset.
Last modified on 31 August 2019 1:47 pm