Telstra call centres jammed by speech recognition outage

By Liz Tay on Jul 20, 2010 10:33 AM
Filed under Telco/ISP

Customers advised to use live chat.

Telstra customers were unable to reach the telco by phone yesterday due to a malfunctioning interactive voice response (IVR) system.

The telco flagged the issue at 1.30pm on both its @Telstra and @BigPondTeam Twitter accounts.

"Hey guys. We are currently having some issues with our phone systems. In the meantime try our live chat service," account administrator Scott posted.

A Telstra spokesman told iTnews the issues stemmed from a faulty IVR at "some" of the company's call centres.

"Some of our call centres are experiencing intermittent issues with their IVR, which has resulted in some customer calls not correctly being put through to our consultants," he said.

"We apologise to our customers and thank them for their patience as we resolve this as quickly as we can."

The spokesman declined to disclose which call centres were affected, and for how long the issue had been ongoing.

Just after 3.20pm yesterday, he informed iTnews that the issue had been resolved.

Customers on the Whirlpool forum reported experiencing a "stuttering connection and eventually dropping out". Others reported experiencing up to 30-second delays between each voice prompt before being disconnected.

On Twitter, the telco was lampooned by customers - even after the fault was said to have been fixed, and despite messages from the telco recommending customers attempt alternatives like online chat services.

One user, @fionazeee posted after 4pm: "@telstra, you're a joke, waited for 1 hour on phone and then the phone hung up. Great customer service!!!!"

Another user, who identified himself as Andy Pearce, Creative Director of digital advertising agency Amnesia, complained of having experienced call centre issues "all weekend".

"I've been trying to get through all weekend and all day today," Pearce posted past 3pm yesterday. "Call credit is now $0. Thanks. Your service is appalling."

Telstra call centres jammed by speech recognition outage

7 comments in this discussion

"ahhh, my bad then.. I saw where you QQ'd me so I (incorrectly) assumed you were directing it at me. I do understand why people complain tho, nothing can be more frustrating than going through all ..."

By realitybites

Tags

telstra, ivr, outage, call, centre

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Comments: 7

realitybites Jul 20, 2010 12:03 PM	"waited for 1 hour on phone and then the phone hung up" and "I've been trying to get through all weekend and all day today," These are the sorts of comments I hear from people, and personally experienced regularly for the last 5 years! Why is everyone so upset now ?
ITrant Jul 20, 2010 1:19 PM	Maybe it's not just Telstra jammed. Government departments must be using the same service. Anyone else finding this problem?
Digger11 Jul 20, 2010 2:36 PM	Live Chat !!!! I only have ever phoned Telstra when the Internet isn't working !!! Typical Telstra spin rubbish.
Bazwalt Jul 21, 2010 8:18 AM	"waited for 1 hour on phone and then the phone hung up" and "I've been trying to get through all weekend and all day today," People like that are a joke. CLEARLY there is an issue and the fact that you waited an hour isn't their fault..it's yours. If you are not being answered or transferred within 10 minutes than there is obviously an issue (either high queue or non-functional IVR) Instead of complaining about how crappy Telstra's service is and being little to no valuable input...try posting up or contacting some tips on perhaps how you would have handled the situation or better yet how you think they could improve. I am not a Telstra "supporter" and I don't believe that their customer service is the greatest thing to walk this planet but im sick of people QQing and having a sook yet failing to provide any actual valuable input.
realitybites Jul 21, 2010 1:57 PM	My point was that problems with customer service, and the systems companies use to implement customer service, is not really news. They have been ongoing for a long time. I used comments from the story and my own experience to emphasize this point. "im sick of people QQing and having a sook yet failing to provide any actual valuable input" And yet you did exactly the same thing? Pot -> kettle
Bazwalt Jul 23, 2010 8:21 AM	@Reality bites Mate, my response wasn't targeted at you specifically (if that's what this is about) - but either way...I think you will find that most comments here will be people either complaining about Telstra or complaining about the people complaining. Yes, what I said was basically a reiteration of your post - but I offered my own detailed response.
realitybites Jul 23, 2010 9:58 AM	ahhh, my bad then.. I saw where you QQ'd me so I (incorrectly) assumed you were directing it at me. I do understand why people complain tho, nothing can be more frustrating than going through all the right channels, continually running into a brick wall and nothing is achieved.