Updating to Telstra's new Upfront Plan - Really no change fees? (Originally Connected through JB HiFi)

C0mbat on 30/05/2021 - 09:36
Last edited 30/05/2021 - 09:37

Telstra's new upfront plans provide data sharing so I'm keen to update some of my services to the plan. When I click through on the option to update it says that there are no change fees.

I took out the $99 plan (150gb data) at the end of January as part of the JB HiFi Samsung S21 pre-order offer where you got $800 credit towards the phone if you took the plan.

Telstra have a really good offer on the XL Plan where you get $50 off the $115 plan for 12 months and that gets you 180gb data per month. Given that I would be going from a $99 ($89 after the $10 pm discount) to a $115 ($65 after the $50 pm discount) do you think I'm ok because there are sometimes issues with the JB HiFi credit if you change or cancel the plan right?

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Comments

  • Sweaty-penguin on 30/05/2021 - 10:47

    It will be a hassle.

    I did successfully go from the JB plan to the month to month option but I was a lot of back and forth to get the ETC fee waived.

    • Pelicannn on 30/05/2021 - 12:13

      I’m curious as to how you waived the ETC?

      I’m currently on a $99 JB plan. As it stands right now, I have a ~ $450 ETC. if I was to switch to Telstra’s $115 (reduced to $65) for 12 months I’d actually be almost net no difference over the time period.

      12x99 = 1188
      12x65 = 780 + 450 ETC = 1230

      But I’d gain Telstra plan features plus an extra 30GB per month.

      If I can get the ETC waived and just pay the sign on bonus back, it definitely makes it worthwhile as the sign on bonus is only $135 of that $450 total.

    • C0mbat on 31/05/2021 - 08:21

      Yeah, this is what I'm afraid off as it's such a hassle talking to them to get stuff sorted out. In fact sometimes it's impossible for them to do even simple tasks.

      However, when you click through the change plan option from your Sevices pages it clearly says there are no fees. So you definitely have grounds for ETCs to be waived.

      • Pelicannn on 03/06/2021 - 18:06

        SO jumped through the steps and submitted the order, got an email with the confirmation and all was hunky-dory.

        About two hours later order is completed and I get an order estimate confirmation and estimated charges for first month and BAM, getting slugged with a crazy ETC. Luckily for me I took screenshots as I always do when jumping through online contracts where it clearly says "Change your plan with no fee change" and also the first month's costs. Strangely enough, I knew I had an ETC for cancelling the contract, and I actually have that in a photo too, which was $455.43. The ETC I got stung with to upgrade my plan was $581.51, meaning it cost more to upgrade my plan, than cancel and re-sign. The ETC did not include first month charges either, so total bill cost $624.87.

        Obviously a little worried so I contacted Telstra given this was written nowhere on the website at any point during the plan swap. They have assured me not to worry as they can't see it on their end but boy I don't know if I'll be sleeping well tonight haha.

        Keeping the screenshots handy until the bill arrives I think but it's hard not to be worried over $581 in phone bills.

        https://imgur.com/a/I8bpkyi

        • C0mbat on 06/06/2021 - 19:53

          Yeah, I stepped through the process online and it showed me the ETC right at the end so I didn't proceed. Are you saying that you didn't see the ETC before submitting? I used Chrome on my laptop so maybe you used the App?

          • Pelicannn on 15/06/2021 - 09:38

            @C0mbat: Sorry for the late reply.

            Correct. There was no ETC charges showed prior to any submit button.

            I luckily took screenshots of every page as I was a bit dubious.

            Telstra just contacted me yesterday via email to inform me they were waiving all fees and charges and keeping me moved to the XL plan.

            https://imgur.com/a/kH85Slp

  • Namespoofer on 06/06/2021 - 14:56

    Here's my experience with this when I did the same during March this year.
    - Got slugged with a change fee that exceeded the actual cancellation fee.
    - Contacted Telstra support several times, staff weren't able to resolve the charge and one of the staff stated that the above was correct.

    After a week of the above, ended up cancelling and lodging a complaint via their website.
    The team member handling my complaint re-calculated the fee and resolved the issue.

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