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ZDNet / Optus / Story
Exetel wants Telstra sorry ad
Topics
court, exetel, isp, john linton, optus, litigation, telstra
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John Linton, chief executive of internet service provider (ISP) Exetel, has challenged Telstra in court after it allegedly incorrectly listed the ISP as a "bad debtor".
According to Exetel's statement of claim, it wanted Telstra to atone for alleged misleading conduct by placing an advertisement in NewsCorp paper The Australian, which must include its logo and the wording as per the mock up presented below:
Dear John, we're sorry for listing you
(Credit: Ben Grubb, Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au)
The ISP lodged its statement of claim with the Federal Court on 2 March, over an alleged breach by Telstra under Section 52 of the Trade Practices Act, which deals with misleading and deceptive conduct.
Telstra had listed Exetel with credit reference company, Veda Advantage, over several bills it said Exetel had defaulted on — bills which Exetel claims are not legally its responsibility.
The disputed bills were the trigger for three listings Telstra made in 2008 with Veda — a service used by creditors to verify whether a credit applicant has any recorded defaults.
Exetel is not a customer of Telstra Wholesale; however, it is a wholesale customer of Optus, which itself is a customer of Telstra Wholesale.
In Exetel's claim it argues that the bills were not its own, therefore the listing on Veda's credit check register was false and the information Telstra supplied to Veda was misleading. The deception claim appears to be based on the fact that the information deceived Exetel's potential creditors.
The ISP has given Telstra 14 days to respond to its claim. Exetel has prescribed that the advertisement it wants run in The Australian should be at a specific size and feature Telstra's logo (also at a specified size).
Related stories
Talkback
Not a customer?
"Exetel is not a customer of Telstra Wholesale"
I think this 'fact' should be checked.
Anonymous March 10th, 2010That's fair
I had a problem with telstra like this, Reported me as a bad debt when I had no services with them. I say force them to apologise regardless. I really cannot stand the likes of Telstra.
Anonymous March 11th, 2010Re: Pay Your Bill
And that is the whole point about why Linton has got this all wrong. There may be some logical explanation why Telstra has the right to report a default on an Optus bill (may have something to do with the regulated manner that Telstra supplies access, may not), but it doesn't change the fact that Exetel didn't pay its bills or make arrangements to do so. I'm pretty sure that if Telstra didn't shop Exetel to a credit reporting agency, Optus would have been happy to do so - although Linton wouldn't have had an excuse to call Telstra "teh evil" for the umpteenth time.
AOTB March 11th, 2010Dear John
So John Linton cowtows to AFACT and Conway but wants an apology for this. I find it difficult to beleive this is a matter of principle. It is a funny time for him to grow a spine.
Anonymous March 11th, 2010Afact
Yo do realize that exetel has changed its response to AFACT demands right? Changed them in favor of its customers, not against.
Mike C March 11th, 2010RE: Afact - MARKED AS SPAM BY AKISMET
They changed their response only after the courts ruled in iinet's favour. Exetel only followed the trend of other ISP's in Australia, to not do so would have been a big disadvantage in the market. Far be it from exetel to advocate customer rights on ANY occasion.
Anonymous March 12th, 2010Exetel is the worst ISP in Australia
Exetel is the worst ISP in Australia & I have solid proof
Exetel sucks balls March 11th, 2010What Proof?
And yet you do not provide the proof. What a useless and unproductive comment.
Phil March 11th, 2010Proof
I can change dog poop into gold & I have solid proof.
Mike C March 11th, 2010Do people still use EXEHELL?
Do people still ACTUALLY use exetel? or is it their billing system that keeps trying to send out invoices to disconnected customers and they use that database to justify paying their execs like John Litton and his wife? Strange.....
John Littlton March 11th, 2010Exetel vs Telstra
Telstra has a history of overcharging and underpaying - just ask Crazy Johns! Yet another customer of theirs has drawn a line in the sand and said "enough is enough". Exetel ALWAYS pays its bills, and withholds disputed amounts, just like I would. Geez, they paid CASH for their new offices, not a loan, so its certainly not a cashflow problem!
And to those who have been "kicked off" - if you take an unsubstantiated complaint to the TIO, which costs other users big $$, then yes you will be kicked out. And good riddance. My monthly fees should not be subsidising your whinging.
Anonymous March 11th, 2010Typical Exetel Fanboi retort
Tell that to the 'whingers' that has been using the service without any issues or complaints that has been booted off.
Your turn will be next it wont happen tomorrow but one day it will because Exetel will come up with a pathetic excuse to boot you off their services.
Their business ethics stink!
Anonymous March 11th, 2010I agree
It seams every ISP has taken the lie down and die approach to frivilious TIO complaints. The TIO has specific Terms and Conditions that state that you may not initiate a complaint agains your ISP until you have attempted to resolve the matter with your ISP. Just because everyone else ignores customers who do this (and therefore charge more) while Exetel have said no and proceded to terminate the service with customers who do the wrong thing does not make them wrong. You are still wrong if you launch a TIO case without even contacting your ISP first and I am glad that Exetel do not charge me for the luxury of you being able to do this.
For those other people who get disconnected, I would suggest in many cases that you wanted too much phone support or otherwise and Exetel was not prepared to provide that. Again, their decision, they still let you churn without penility and it allows them to provide customers like me and the above with internet services at one of the cheapest prices around. There is nothing criminal in them doing this. You may not like it and that is duely noted but it doesn't make it wrong. Even to say it is ethically or morally wrong would be borderline in my opinion.
Anonymous March 11th, 2010telstra apology?
was that an actual telstra apology? or are you using telstra trademarks ona mockup, which would technically be illegal and stupid?
Anonymous March 12th, 2010mock up
glad to see you fixed your misleading graphic, but I think a statement of apology from the editor would be fair
Anonymous March 15th, 2010The editor probably doesn't see the need to respond or apologise to AC's
meski April 29th, 2010Haha
Suck eggs to Linton.
I remember seeing a comment from Linton along the lines of "If you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about" in an article regarding piracy.
Time for him to eat his own words me thinks or pay his bills.
I once was an Exetel ADSL customer on a telstra fixed line. How can Exetel not be a customer of Telstra Wholesale for this setup?
Fungyo March 15th, 2010Exetel shouldn't offer services that are not financially viable and then treat the customer like a freeloader. They originally offered their services cheap in order to get people on board and now that they have more customers than their infrastructure can support, they want to get rid of certain customers - in particular, those who have been with the company for a number of years who are not on 'shaping' plans. That's fine with me - I've had more downtime with them over the past 12 months than I did the entire five years prior and their service? Well, it's off shore and not particularly useful. Personally I'm glad Telstra did this to them, now they know what it's like to be hard done by and treated poorly.
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LOL
What about a sorry ad for all the people Exetel has booted off their service because they have become 'unprofitable'??????????????????.
And please Exetel fanbois don't even bother because one day you will be booted off one day...........
Happy TPG customer
Yeah, I got booted from Exetel after they made a "commercial decision" to terminate my account.
I'm now a very happy customer of TPG!
@LOL
A commercial business cannot exist without profit.. You would rather Exetel become bankrupt by keeping unprofitable accounts? Think about it. You would lose your service eventually anyway. I was given plenty of notice by Exetel and changed to another plan, a few dollars more a month. I'm sure you had the choice to do the same.
No choice
I asked them if I could change plans, they told me no. As I said, I've been with TPG now for about 6 months and have had absolutely zero complaints.
I want to know what kind of business model they have where a user who uses the service within the monthly limits, does not download anything illegal and pays their bills on time can become "unprofitable"?
@Dean
You asked to change plans and they told you "No" ?
Funny, I found plenty of different plans at the time.
And to explain how something can become "unprofitable" I will give you 1 example: compare your current electricity bill to last years electricity bill. The price of the supply has gone up, hasn't it? Eventhough you didn't do anything illegal and have paid your bills on time.
Yes, but
The electricity company doesn't disconnect you when you become 'unprofitable'. Besides, in general, the cost of supplying internet goes DOWN over time, not up. That's why we have faster speeds and higher limits now than we did three or four years ago.
Why was I the only one? Our company had a number of employees under the SAME account, why was I the only one they wanted to disconnect? Why didn't they let me switch to a different plan?
Of course, I don't really care now. Obviously, I've stopped recommending Exetel to my friends and family, but as far as I'm concerned, that's their loss, not mine.
No disconnections form power
Of course you won't be disconnected from power if you become unprofitable, simply because there is no way, with the service fees and lots of other little fees the power companies throw in, that you could ever become unprofitable.
Power generating prices also drop over time, but isn't it funny that our bills are always increasing and they keep trying to find new ways to add on 50c/week here and 24c/day there.
Power generating prices do not drop
That's not true at all, electricity production prices do not drop over time. The increased maintenance on plants as they get move towards their end of life ensures this. With water shortages across the country also ensure water cost is always increasing.
Bankrupt
If they go bankrupt its basically their own fault..
I was paying for a service and I was happy with their service until I received a termination notice...
Sorry but its complete BS no other company does this to its customers....
Why even offer a service in the first place and they cut the customers off at the knees.
Gas and Electricity companies don't do this or any other ISP's don't do this.
To hell with Exetel anyway if they can't handle their customers then they shouldn't be even in business...
Me too
I was also booted from Exetel, after they made a "commercial decision to terminate" my phone service (after less than a month). This phrase is code for "you complained to the TIO about us". It has nothing to do with terminating plans; the one I was on is still available.
I've switched to TPG...