[Update] Optus Store Sold Wife Wrong Phone

Ljohn71 on 09/05/2019 - 13:44
Last edited 20/05/2019 - 10:49 by 1 other user

I went with my wife this morning to buy a new iPhone from Optus with a contract. My wife requested the 256 GB model. When we got home, however, we discovered that the saleswoman at the store had sold my wife the 64 GB model.

My wife returned straight to the store to request an exchange. The manager made it clear that the saleswoman should have mentioned that the phone was 64 GB. (She absolutely had NOT done this during the transaction.) The manager also implied that it wasn't his problem any more as my wife had signed the contract.

My wife is distraught and I am outraged. We will absolutely pursue this all the way to court if we have to.

What should be our first steps? We were thinking of filing a complaint with Optus head office, then trying the ombudsman. Or is it better to go straight for the small claims tribunal?

Thanks for any advice.

UPDATE
Many thanks to everyone who took the time to comment and offer advice. Some of you criticised my wife and me for walking out of the shop without double-checking that the phone was the one my wife had requested, and I think that's a fair call. We won't be caught out like that again.

We talked to Optus on the same day and they were very helpful. My wife sent back the 64 GB phone, which had been used and had picked up a screen protector, and her replacement 256 GB model arrived a couple of days later. I think her argument that she was in fact trying to sign up for a more expensive plan made her complaint more persuasive. In any event, the Optus rep was infallibly courteous and did everything in her power to resolve the matter in our favour. (This was a gratifying contrast to the shop employees, who essentially told my wife to get lost.)

Thank you, Optus. While some of your retail store reps might be rude, condescending reprobates, your remote support team is right on the ball.

Mobile Apple Mobile Phone

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Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 13:45
    +29

    tio

      • Randxyz123 on 09/05/2019 - 18:07
        +5

        What is a delivery report for text messages?

        • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 18:11
          +2

          What is a delivery report for text messages?

          According to Quora:

          "An SMS delivery report (or "delivery receipt') is a message from your SMS server (known in the industry as an SMSC, or Short Message Service Centre) that tells you that the SMS message you sent was delivered to the phone of the recipient."

          Optus does not provide this report so whenever you check your message, it says that it is "Pending", which is confusing since you don't know if you should take action or the message has been delivered

          • Randxyz123 on 09/05/2019 - 19:01
            +3

            @[Deactivated]: If you want reliable delivery reports, use whatsapp instead.

            • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 19:51
              +1

              @Randxyz123: Thank you. Surely I use apps but not everyone uses apps or you don't know which app they use. Everyone receives a text message though, no matter what. Optus should provide the delivery report. Like every other provider.

              • Randxyz123 on 09/05/2019 - 20:36
                -1

                @[Deactivated]: What sort of phone do you have? I have an iPhone on Telstra and unless I send an iMessage, I don't get a delivery report. I think you'll find this is a phone feature, not a network feature. I've never heard of this sort of feature being normal.

                • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 21:40
                  +1

                  @Randxyz123: Dude it's been an issue for years, Optus forums are full of people complaining about this. They officially said that they don't provide the Delivery reports.
                  Telstra, Vodafone and every app tells you that you have sent your message in one way or another.
                  I am not lying, Optus is the only company who doesn't support delivery report.

              • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 21:01
                +4

                @[Deactivated]: @pal those delivery reports are unreliable. When you receive them, it doesn't necessary mean it was received by the receiver's phone. It depends on how the receiving carrier's network has been setup. Some carriers will send the report once it has been received by a local phone tower, even if it hasn't been delivered yet to a phone.

                  • wyrmy on 10/05/2019 - 09:20
                    +3

                    @[Deactivated]: Worked in the Telco space. Suggest you lookup what Delivery report actually is.
                    What you get back from a delivery report is confirmation the message has been received by the carrier (NOT the recipient)

                    What you are trying to look for is a "Read Receipt" and that only applies to MMS. There is no guarantee the receiving carriers will implement something which acknowledges a SMS being received at the handset end. Other carriers offering this "feature" for SMS is just giving you a best effort. If you have reliance on this feature you got played into a false sense of security and marketing.

                    • [Deactivated] on 10/05/2019 - 12:21
                      -6

                      @wyrmy: You are very confused or you are trying to mislead people, unfortunately.

                      Besides you don't know me, so thank you but no!

                      A delivery report is an 8-bit signal request attached to the string sent from the carrier to the individual device which triggers the signal back to the antenna right after the string touches the device and the device gets the request along with the message. Which also indicates that the individual device is active within the network. In some cases the geographical position is also requested but sometimes you can stop that. I guess in new protocols that might be forced.

                      • wyrmy on 10/05/2019 - 14:50

                        @[Deactivated]: And what happens when you send an SMS to an international number?

                      • [Deactivated] on 16/05/2019 - 11:26
                        -1

                        @[Deactivated]: Wat. Wtf is this garbage. Whoever told you that was wrong.

                        This is from wikipedia:

                        Some providers allow users to request delivery reports, either via the SMS settings of most modern phones, or by prefixing each message with *0# or *N#. However, the exact meaning of confirmations varies from reaching the network, to being queued for sending, to being sent, to receiving a confirmation of receipt from the target device, and users are often not informed of the specific type of success being reported.

                        From the GSM standards (3GPP TS 23.040 V15.3.0 (2019-03)):

                        report: response from either the network or the recipient upon a short message being sent from either an SC or an MS
                        NOTE 7: A report may be a delivery report, which confirms the delivery of the short message to the recipient, or it may be a failure report, which informs the >originator that the short message was never delivered and the reason why.
                        When issued by the Service Centre, the delivery report confirms the reception of the Short Message by the SC, and not the delivery of the Short Message to the SME.
                        When issued by the Mobile Station, the delivery report confirms the reception of the Short Message by the Mobile Station, and not the delivery of the Short Message to the user.

          • ATTS on 10/05/2019 - 07:43

            @[Deactivated]: just curious, how do you check delivery report for text messages?

            • [Deactivated] on 10/05/2019 - 17:08

              @ATTS: It depends on your device. Previously, it was system settings specific, under Setting/Messaging/SMS/MMS/Delivery report. Recently I noticed that it was sometimes left up to the app developers as well. I can't help you further unless I know what device it is.

              • ATTS on 10/05/2019 - 17:34

                @[Deactivated]: Oh right. Thanks anyway

                My phone probably dont have it lol old samsung galaxy s5

                • [Deactivated] on 10/05/2019 - 17:44

                  @ATTS: All devices have this basic function! Samsung Galaxy S5:
                  Settings > Applications > Messages > Text Messages > SMS message > Delivery reports

                  • ATTS on 10/05/2019 - 19:26

                    @[Deactivated]: Oh right thanks

                    Is there a charge for each report?

                    … im on pay as you go atm

                    • [Deactivated] on 10/05/2019 - 20:25

                      @ATTS: No worries.

                      Good question. It depends on your carrier. For the life of me, I have never paid for the report for as far as I remember but I think there has been instances that it was mentioned in a clause within the terms and conditions of a contract that the carrier would charge as much as a text message cost for the delivery report.

                      With all these cheap unlimited plans it's never been my concern though. Please check with your provider or just send a message and let us know how much you were charged!

                      • ATTS on 11/05/2019 - 08:22

                        @[Deactivated]: oh right thanks, so if you got plan with unlimited sms, you wont get charged?

                        • [Deactivated] on 11/05/2019 - 13:13

                          @ATTS: It shouldn't. Unlimited (text messages) means unlimited, and unlimited plans are prepaid so they can't charge you, I guess!

                          • ATTS on 11/05/2019 - 14:13

                            @[Deactivated]: Thanks for clearing that up

                            • [Deactivated] on 11/05/2019 - 14:39

                              @ATTS: No worries mate

                    • [Deactivated] on 10/05/2019 - 21:08

                      @ATTS: I was charged 10c (?) per delivery report when I was with Vodafone. That was way back in 2016 though.Best to ask them to confirm.

      • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 18:16

        I'm with Optus and I get delivery reports for mms. If I'm sending an important message , I usally send it as an mms.

        • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 22:20

          I just sent 5 messages 1 MMS and 4 texts, using Optus MMS, Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Optus again. Both Telstra and Vodafone say "Delivered", the other 3 from Optus don't say anything, just the app says "Sent".

          Anyway this issue is well documented. Telstra and even Vodafone deliver a way better customer experience than Optus.

          Optus not providing a delivery report, means unreliability for your business and 2 more potential embarrassing messages:
          -"Sorry, Did you get my message"
          -"Leave me alone, Yes"

          • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 22:42

            @[Deactivated]: Works for me

            • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 22:48

              @[Deactivated]: Optus themselves say they don't! Just search "Optus delivery report" and see.
              Here:

              https://www.google.com.au/search?q=optus+delivery+report

              • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 22:53

                @[Deactivated]: They don't support sms delivery messages but they do support mms ones.

                • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 23:10

                  @[Deactivated]: Anyway the point stands. As you said, Optus doesn't support message delivery report.
                  When it comes to business, Optus is a joke compared to any other app or carrier.

                  • Slo20 on 10/05/2019 - 07:19
                    +1

                    @[Deactivated]: If you need confidence that Optus Are actually delivering your messages than you’ve got bigger concerns in the network as a whole.

                    • [Deactivated] on 10/05/2019 - 12:13
                      -1

                      @Slo20: Well that was a shallow and unsolicited personal attack. It's not about trusting Optus which no one should trust a foreign government in Singapore running their infrastructure anyway. That's a shame and another story, shame on our government.

                      The point is you send a message because calling people is not polite. Now, they might have their phone off, might be out of coverage, their network might be down,… But you need to know if they received the message before going ahead and do what you supposed to do. That's the main purpose of communication. Goes back thousands of years, even animals communicate. And then Optus comes in: money is good but delivery report is bad!

            • chriise on 10/05/2019 - 09:27

              @[Deactivated]: Did she say yes?!

  • altomic on 09/05/2019 - 13:47
    +29

    We will absolutely pursue this all the way to court if we have to.

    yes, please do this.

    it's the vibe of the thing

    🡅🡅🡅 sarcasm

    🡇🡇🡇 advice

    talk to optus head office,

  • garetz on 09/05/2019 - 13:48
    +23

    Any contract you sign, especially for a mobile plan, you have a cooling off period, just cancel it.

    • john71 on 09/05/2019 - 13:49
      +4

      We did think of that. Unfortunately, it seems the cooling-off period only applies to contracts bought over the phone or internet. (Happy to be corrected, though.)

      • garetz on 09/05/2019 - 13:56
        +45

        If they told you that, go directly to the tio, all contracts have a cooling off period, no matter if its the internet or over the phone, or anything else. They can get fined big time by misrepresenting themselves, especially since they gave you incorrect information as well to get you to sign the contract.

        • k-rokfm on 09/05/2019 - 13:58
          +19

          Make sure to go back and ask for it in writing too

        • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 14:15
          +6

          The contract may have a cooling off period but the phone is now in "used condition". They may terminate the service portion of the contract but the cost of the phone would be harder to dismiss.

          Unless the phone packaging is unopened.

          (If it is open, this means wife signed contract without looking and opened box without checking. Not looking good it that's the case.)

        • hikaru78 on 09/05/2019 - 14:34
          +2

          um no they dont… can you show me the specific law that says you do.

        • lolz112 on 09/05/2019 - 14:35
          +37

          This is totally wrong. From the TIO website:

          Contracts which have been initiated by a service provider over the phone such as a telemarketing call or at a location other than the provider’s place of business (for example, a door-to-door sale or being approached in a public place such as a shopping centre) are generally subject to a cooling-off period. Cooling-off periods do not apply where a consumer visits a provider’s store, calls to request a service or orders a service online. The purpose of a cooling-off period is to protect a consumer from being bound by an unsolicited contract that does not fit their needs, by giving them time to reassess and cancel the contract if necessary.

          • sghetti on 09/05/2019 - 16:12
            +3

            @lolz112: This. And I recall being in the Telstra store recently and being told that I was waiving my right to my cooling off period. Most likely the same thing occurred.

            I know at least with the Telstra store that I frequent, they show you the contract and the device on the contract etc. so you know exactly what you're getting. The iPhone box also has the storage size on it.

        • Nuggets on 10/05/2019 - 10:27
          +5

          As stated by others, this is totally wrong. If you initiate the interaction with the telco, there is no cooling off period. You're giving incorrect information here.

      • EmployeeBencx @ Optus Accessories on 11/05/2019 - 10:10
        +23

        Hi John, I work for Optus and I'm sure we can sort this out for you. Please PM me your contact details and I will arrange for someone to get in contact with you next week.

        • Ghost47 on 11/05/2019 - 14:13

          Legend! Although OP's wife should have clarified everything before signing the contract…

          • abuch47 on 12/05/2019 - 15:47

            @Ghost47: I agree but this is the whole business plan of an aussie telco.

            1.customer comes to store
            2. Pretend it's all easy and here's what you wanted with no extras
            3.?
            4.profit at customers expense

            I had a few issues at a T store and turns out the manager had scanned the wrong side of my documents they sent to head office. Also got signed up for two note8 contracts, also signed up online for a certain cost and got charged more. 18 months later Took going to tio to sort it out and pushed for slight compensation which I finally saved about $1pm over the contract price I started.

    • AnDyStYLe on 09/05/2019 - 13:51
      +7

      Not if it's unsolicited.

        • hikaru78 on 09/05/2019 - 14:27
          +7

          its going to be a he said she said. What did she sign on her contract?

          If that is your basis for saying it's unsolicited please don't hand out legal advise or at least say your not a lawyer

        • Seraphin7 on 09/05/2019 - 15:52
          +1

          Customer … I'm here for a zPhoneXYZ+s with 800 terabyte storage.

          Shop … Sorry, dear customer, we don't stock those, but we do have an iPhone 64gb?

          Customer … Ah, ha! Got you now! Unsolicited contact!!!

          • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 16:05

            @Seraphin7: Ugghh.

            You do know that people actually do that.

          • hikaru78 on 09/05/2019 - 16:58
            +4

            @Seraphin7: Cooling-off periods do not apply where a consumer visits a provider’s store, calls to request a service or orders a service online.

    • hasher22 on 09/05/2019 - 23:32
      +2

      There is no cooling off period for a mobile phone contract if you go to a store, phone sales. Cooling off period only applies to door to door sales men.

      • [Deactivated] on 10/05/2019 - 00:07
        -4

        only applies to door to door sales men

        What about sales women?

        • hasher22 on 10/05/2019 - 00:10
          +5

          sorry, forgot sales non-binary, genderqueer, agender, bigender rep

          • [Deactivated] on 10/05/2019 - 00:11

            @hasher22: Thank you

          • xoom on 10/05/2019 - 02:40
            +5

            @hasher22: You forgot those who identify as apache helicopter. Will someone think of them.

  • Seraphin7 on 09/05/2019 - 13:51
    +25

    Optus. That's where your problem started. These guys are fantastic … right up until you have a problem and then they don't want to know you.

    • All Blacks NZ on 09/05/2019 - 21:13
      +6

      Yep. You go to the store to sort out the problem, they tell you to call the call centre. Call centre tells you to go to store. Nothing gets done until you tell them that you are going to TIO and even then you have to keep calling them and they won't have record of your previous call or whatever they promised. It's very frustrating. But it's the same for Vodafone or Telstra.

      • solidussnake on 10/05/2019 - 07:51
        +4

        When I have ever had a problem with opus I got on their internet chat had it solved in under 5 mintues, People still call or go into stores is just crazy…

        • abuch47 on 12/05/2019 - 16:04
          -2

          Nah if you go in with a bleached blonde Bob and say " I wannabe speak to your manager". The manager actually comes out and can do much more that a chat rep can. I've had whole contracts wiped when they've (profanity) something up in a similar situation to OP.

          Only think hate about stores is how the floor reps think they're phone wizs and ask to handle your phone to "set it up".

          I know a T store businessman and there is a huge amount of incompetence at the lower level whether in store, online or on chat.

        • [Deactivated] on 15/05/2019 - 12:44

          Same. They've always resolved my problem swiftly and efficiently.

  • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 13:51
    +2

    64GB or 256GB on signed contract?

    • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 13:58
      +56

      I'm guessing 64GB

      Optus sold wife wrong phone

      Wife signed contract without looking at it

      • outlander on 09/05/2019 - 19:46
        +10

        In other words, the wifes mistake was not treating the rep as someone deviously waiting to scam her.

        • 2024 on 09/05/2019 - 20:29
          +3

          Hardly a scam if the phone was sold or repayments match the correct sized phone to the plan.

          If it were 256gb phone repayments but supplied a 64gb phone it could be classed as deceptive, but its not and what does optus have to gain from supplying a phone that is the default phone on most plans over that of a 256gb phone that the customer either didn't ask for, or checked before signing.

          • p1 ama on 12/05/2019 - 16:32
            +1

            @2024:

            what does optus have to gain from supplying a phone that is the default phone on most plans over that of a 256gb phone that the customer either didn't ask for, or checked before signing

            Not even Optus itself, but a sales rep who is being paid little over the minimum wage.

        • p1 ama on 10/05/2019 - 01:37
          +8

          I don't think that's a fair assessment. If the contract says it's the 64GB and she is paying the price for the 64GB, then I don't understand what the problem is?

          There could be a plethora of reasons why this situation has arisen:

          1) You might have forgotten to say 256GB, so were given the most popular 64GB option.

          2) The sales assistant misheard and thought you wanted the 64GB.

          Plus a whole host of other reasons. Why would the assistant even want to sell you a 64GB instead of a 256GB, it affects them in no way.

          There is a definitive record of what the transaction was. All parties agreed. Where's the scam?

          • deadfishies on 10/05/2019 - 09:16
            +1

            @p1 ama: Perhaps they were attracted to the cost and signed the contract because they thought they were getting a 256gb phone.

            • p1 ama on 10/05/2019 - 16:12
              +1

              @deadfishies: Why would they think they are getting the 256GB phone? From what I can see, on the advertisment, the contract and all other materials, it is always clear which phone you are getting.

              I think these are two separate issues. If there was an advertisment which stated a 256GB phone for that price, then that is a pricing error and I would actually support OP’s point of view and agree that Optus are being dodgy in selling the 64GB phone without making the error clear.

              However, if all of the materials say 64GB, the contract says 64GB, then how are they responsible for OP’s wife mis-reading the information? I just think OP’s wife needs to take some responsibility in all of this, that’s all.

          • outlander on 10/05/2019 - 10:15
            -1

            @p1 ama: I'm not saying I disagree necessarily. Maybe tightbottom is right, maybe you should treat every financial transaction as if you're dealing with someone who wants to rip you. Its certainly one way to avoid potential problems

  • chumlee on 09/05/2019 - 13:54
    +42

    Do you have anything showing 256gb was the offer? It will help your cause

    • Twodogs on 09/05/2019 - 17:43

      Finally ^ This

    • bmerigan on 12/05/2019 - 21:14

      It wasn't the offer. It was the expectation.

  • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 13:55
    +1

    Could be a new south park episode…

    HumancentiPhone

  • MagicMushroom on 09/05/2019 - 13:59
    +7

    I had a similar problem with Vodafone. Took me like 10 calls and 4 store visit to get it returned. The call centre tells you to go to the store and the store tells you to call customer service. Complain to TIO probably will save you time.

    • Diji1 on 09/05/2019 - 18:38
      +2

      Probably? These businesses refuse to help customers until they go TIO and often have a script to waste the customers time until they give up.

      They have their own pet consumer rights body that they install industry shills into.

  • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 14:13
    +10

    We will absolutely pursue this all the way to court if we have to.

    No you won't.

    The fact is it is a weekday. Office is open. If you're that resourceful and resilient, you would have resolved the matter by now and this wouldn't have made it to ozbargain as a resourceful person would know - if the contract details match the item supplied, all undocumented discussion is hearsay.

    • Wallyt99 on 09/05/2019 - 22:35
      +10

      You don't even know the meaning of hearsay please don't bold it. Hearsay is not the same as he said she said. Out of court statements are perfectly admissible in order to prove e.g that a person was misled.

      Hearsay evidence is "an out-of-court statement offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted therein."

      Take for example - if the salesperson said "this is an iPhone 256gb". Hearsay evidence would be relying on that statement to prove that the iPhone was a 256gb phone.

      • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 22:37
        +2

        Noted.

  • obiwanmy on 09/05/2019 - 14:18

    Don't you check the box first to ensure you got the correct phone ? I would be checking the iphone box first to ensure i got the correct product before i sign anything.

    If not, probably an expensive lesson learn (and you have 24 months to remind yourself to always check your purchase first and don't sign anything until you are sure you got the correct product).

    • db87 on 10/05/2019 - 11:22

      Don't they normally fire these things up in the store before you leave, so that you have an active service, product demo, any questions answered, etc.

      It's been a while since I bought a phone + plan in-store but that's what I remember of previous dealings.

  • CyberMurning on 09/05/2019 - 14:37
    +3

    We will absolutely pursue this all the way to court if we have to.

    Go go go ole ole ole

  • djones145 on 09/05/2019 - 14:49
    +1

    so are you complaining that the $XX deal you got was suppose to be a 256g but it was only 64g?

    or are you saying wife sign up, they signed her for a $XX deal 64g but she wants a 256g and is willing to pay $YY for a 256g but they wont change the contract?

    • john71 on 09/05/2019 - 14:54

      Good heavens - so many replies! Thanks everyone.

      Wife requested 256 GB phone with associated contract. Optus saleswoman misunderstood and sold her 64 GB model with cheaper contract.

      At no stage did the saleswoman go through the product's specs, which she is supposed to do. If she had, of course, we would immediately have picked up on her mistake and changed the phone. My wife was happy to pay for the 256 GB contract.

      • djones145 on 09/05/2019 - 14:55
        +2

        have u opened the phone?
        if you haven't im sure they will upgrade you to the higher contract

        just go to another store

        • john71 on 09/05/2019 - 15:02

          Yes, she opened the phone. That's when she realised that it was only 64 GB rather than 256 GB.

          • djones145 on 09/05/2019 - 15:06

            @john71: ouch that's gonna be hard to change… good luck

          • Hybroid on 09/05/2019 - 16:00

            @john71: What does the contract/receipt say? If it specifies 64GB then that's what you contractually agreed to, whether you emotionally agree or not, and hence out of luck.

            • [Deactivated] on 09/05/2019 - 16:19
              +5

              @Hybroid:

              That's when she realised that it was only 64 GB rather than 256 GB.

              • Excitedly plugs in new iPhone into MacBook.

              • Would you like to restore phone from backup.

              • Oooh Oooh yes please smart computer

              • Sorry. You do not have enough space.

              • Darl, I have a problem. Dumb macbook says something is wrong.

      • Twodogs on 09/05/2019 - 17:49

        You said wife requested the 256GB phone associated contract , cant you just show them the phone and contract ? Or did they sell you a lower priced contract instead of the one you wanted ? , and the monthly price would have been different soooo.

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