I'm an Optus customer and likely moving to Telstra after this since they're not offering us anything to stay. Are you staying or going?
Optus Customers - Are You Staying or Leaving?
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Unless maybe the provider breached the terms of service. Not keeping personal details confidential might constitute a breach of contract.
If I was an Optus customer and Optus were refusing to cancel the contract without any cancellation fees than I would be going straight to the TIO (Telecommunications Ombudsman) and lodging a complaint with them. They'll probably be flooded with complaints due to this major stuff up.
There’s no contracts with Optus (consumer), hasn’t been for years. The only ‘penalty’ is you having to pay your device out.
@mastermik3y: I agree, strange that OzB people want to honour their payment agreement in this case.
I think it’s worth asking if you are close to end of contract and want out.
@WhyAmICommenting: It's because OzB people aren't dumb enough to think that Optus suddenly owes people free phones if they want to leave while still paying off the handsets
@buckster: Exactly. Handset repayments are completely irrelevant to a federal investigation into the hack.
If you want to leave, then leave, but you need to pay off the phone.
The data breach is a completely different issue to hardware you are paying off.
Don't pay off the handset/device and your credit file will be impacted with a default.
The data breach is now in the hands of the government and this will be dealt with accordingly.
@WhyAmICommenting: The payment agreement is for the device you purchased, interest free.
You could likely get out of the rest of the device repayment if you send the phone back.
I think it’s ludicrous that people expect a free phone because of a data breach. Imagine if you were 1 month in?
@mastermik3y: You aren't being helpful because the you have no idea about basic consumer law.
The TIO will not deal with this matter, you are kidding yourself.
A data hack is irrelevant to you thinking you can take the law into your own hands and not complete your device repayments.
If you want to leave, then leave, but you need to pay off the hardware you owe or end up with a default against your credit file and debt collection agency after you.
There are no contract cancelation fees anymore, been like this for more than 5+ years. I know cause I worked in retail, they changed all the mobile plans. You only need to pay out the handset repayments and pro-rata of the plan.
But there is a cancellation fee for internet services.
They tried to charge me $230 on my final bill back in 2020, part of which was early termination fee. I told them to get stuffed and refused to pay on account of their rubbish service. They accepted my complaint and waived that amount, re-issuing the bill with amount "$0.00" to pay.
That’s a different story. If you want to cancel, just call, complain, and return the optus modem.
Yes internet services are different, I was only speaking on behalf of mobile products such as mobile internet and mobile phone plans
That's not the case. I got stiffed by a fee whilst changing a mobile postpaid plan to a cheaper one as the employee lied to me and insisted there was an agreed contract duration. They're not transparent about these things and it was very annoying. I'm glad I ended up leaving before this happened.
What fee? Porting out fee can happen but I only seen it in a few instances.
Mobile plan CIS will state this or similar: "Cancelling your plan You can cancel your plan at any time by notifying us. You’ll not receive a refund of charges paid in advance for the remainder of your payment cycle, unless provided in our standard agreement and subject to your consumer law rights. Any related device payment plan will be cancelled and you’ll need to pay out any remaining device payments in full and any other charges owing, as a one-off payment."
There is no cancellation fee but other fees will apply such as device payout and/or port out fee (which I rarely see).
Unless you were on a BYO Mobile plan contract, then yes, a cancellation fee most likely will apply. But looking at the Optus website now, don't see any contracted BYO mobile plans, only month to month which doesn't have any cancellation fees.
Already left Optus a few years ago. Still receive the e-mail from Optus
Currently taking advantage of the 50% western Australia discount even though I'm in Victoria. Thinking about switching but my plan fees will double
whats this discount about?
Being a Western Australian. It's on par with seniors discount.
same, for me to get same service on Telstra is an extra $30 pm (have 4 SIM family deal) …. not sure me paying more to port to Telstra is a great way to punish Optus …..
What about aldi family plan?
Probably eventually leaving.
Isn't that true for everyone?
You raise an interesting point.
It's almost certain that some of the victims of this breach are former customers, now deceased. So while you may decide to leave Optus, Optus doesn't leave you. And they'll keep screwing you over after death.
Haha and Optus will sell personal info whoever leaving now .
Leaving after plan expires
It doesn't matter if you leave, they still have your info. I haven't been a customer for a long time & still received the email yesterday about the data breach & disclosure of my personal info.
Haven't been with them for 5 years and also got the email annoying as but I was also part of the shopback breach too. Heaps of scam calls daily but what's new
Here's the email for anyone interested
Have done an Equifax report and will probably go get my driver's licence number changed free of charge
Dear A,
It is with great disappointment I’m writing to let you know that Optus has been a victim of a cyberattack. As a former Optus customer this has resulted in the disclosure of some of your personal information.
Importantly, no financial information or passwords have been accessed. The information which has been exposed is your name, date of birth, email, phone number, address associated with your former account, and the numbers of the ID documents you provided such as drivers licence number or passport number. No copies of photo IDs have been affected.
Upon discovering the cyberattack, we immediately took action to shut it down to protect your information. While our investigation is not yet complete, we wanted you to be aware of what has happened so that you can be extra vigilant at this time.
We are currently not aware of customers or former customers having suffered any harm, but we encourage you to have heightened awareness across your accounts, including:
Look out for any suspicious or unexpected activity across your online accounts, including your bank accounts. Make sure to report any fraudulent activity immediately to the related provider. Look out for contact from scammers who may have your personal information. This may include suspicious emails, texts, phone calls or messages on social media. Never click on any links that look suspicious and never provide your passwords, or any personal or financial information. If people call you posing as a credible organisation and request access to your computer, always say no.You would have seen we announced this first in the media. We did this as it was the quickest and most effective way to alert you and all those impacted, while also communicating the severity of the situation through trusted media sources.
For the most up-to-date information and FAQs, go to optus.com.au. If you wish to speak to us, you can contact us on 133 937.
We apologise unreservedly and are devastated this could occur. We are working as hard as possible with the relevant authorities and organisations to ensure no harm comes from this unfortunate occurrence.
Warm regards,
yep, we pounce on deals that are mispriced (human error) , so we should be savvy enough to know this type of thing would happen one day to us …….. equifax was hacked so your banking details are out there also if you've applied for credit cards or loans …..
Are you planning on changing your phone number?
This^. They still have the data. Even though we ask them to delete (not sure they will be do but CSR confirmed they can do now), it's still out there now.
Biggest worry is that for how long we have to keep looking for identity theft comebacks.
They were required by law to keep data for customers for up to 6 years.
Telcom is 2 years, not 6
The negatives of SIM card swapping and I guess credit card hoppin
Do they send an email to those who have been breached? I don't think I received one?
I think every current and previous customers' data have been breached, it's sooner or later you will receive an email if you've been with Optus for the last X years
Check your Spam box, somehow gmail consider the email as spam on mine
Yep, I left Optus in 2019 and received an email a few days ago that I'm part of this Optus f#$kup.
Doesn't mean you should still be giving them money. silly argument.
Exactly. Choosing to leave isn't so much about starting up protection of your information now as much as it is about sending them a message.
Yes but a lot of people are saying they will leave because they think their data will be safe elsewhere.
But that's stupid, the data has already been leaked, Optus still have it, Optus will potentially be more secure than anywhere else going forward (due to the intense focus etc) and there is no guarantee that other telcos won't fall victim to some breach in the future.
So if you are leaving to send a message fine, but if you are leaving because you think your details will be safer elsewhere then it doesn't make a lot of sense.
What about when you change your details, lets say card payment. Does Optus then have 2 set of card details to leak, or only your newer one?
Optus's signal is most stable for me so imma stay with them, for now
might be better to go with a MVNO instead of Optus directly, which uses their same network, And probably a lot better security
If you do not leave, You are sending a message to Optus, that you forgive their mistake. I would not forgive them, Had account year ago, and I still have to suffer all through this crap.
You've seen how they carry on and winge when they all knowingly jump on obvious price errors.
When's the refund
I expect $10 compensation vouchers
Is this legal for them to cancel
ACCC
Tracy GrimshawAgain no reason for expecting something for nothing.
T̶r̶a̶c̶e̶y̶ ̶̶̶̶̶̶̶̶G̶r̶i̶m̶s̶h̶a̶w̶
Carrie Bickmore
She has an annoying laugh.
Considering hackers are ransoming my information and making money off that, I would hardly say that's nothing.
So if I rob your car for nothing (aka to give to someone else, not for me) You wont expect anything from culprit ?
Going back to Optus for a month, then back to Telstra once there's a JB or Goodguys gift card offer.
Horse. Bolted. Stable door.
^ pretty much it. There is no guarantee that Telstra or Voda not gonna get hacked.
This incident probably make the OPTUS business practice more secure for future. Imagine OPTUS leave, then there be Vodafail with shitty connection and Telstra with shitty call centre plus monopoly pricing RIPThis is the time government and banking sector should come up with new method on verifying people other than dob, licence etc.
There's no guarantee, but Optus was wildly negligent with this sort of error. They won't be fixing that easily, especially as they're publically saying it wasn't their fault.
yep, gov needs to have some sort of ID system rather than we hand over 100 points whenever we get new credit applications, etc …… then only need one point of contact rather than vic roads, passport, medicare …..
Yeah, but let's not keep giving them money. A bad business deserves to go under.
I don't think they will go under, its own by Singtel
I’ve got 3 current services with them and got no email :(
I contacted them to ask if my account was impacted as I haven't received any email either. One representative said your account hasn't been impacted at all. The second representative said that it has been impacted including passport and licence number.
So they’ve got no clue really haha
CSR isn't going to be privy to that information.
Sounds like the normal level of Optus support, none….
Just now got an email from them.
wooI contacted them and was told none of my details were involved, then two days later I got 'the email'.
Pretty sure they didn't have the full picture for the first few days (or at all)
Same..but I did get emails for previous services 🤔
I've got 2 services with them and no email. My dad on the other hand with a phone plan received an email yesterday.
I have 4 Prepaid services earlier this year, now 1 expired service. Have not recieved email yet.
I think Postpaid service requires more personal info. Hence, it is most affected.
None of my services are prepaid, all postpaid.
Having worked in the area for Mandatory comms before, they’d be working on a list of affected customers, then seeing what contact details they can find that are usable. Large corporate data can be really bad especially for ex customers.
Right now they’d be working how and who to contact eg SMS, Email, direct mail. Even once they press send, they’re going to need a couple days to get through it all.
When did people need to give Optus a license or passport number? Ive never had to do that. On mobile and internet with them.
Signing up for a plan to do a credit check I’d imagine.
All mobile services require ID to sign up. You can check if you provided your drivers license following the links in the thread here: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/726222
Dont bother. I keep 5 active numbers, switching providers from time to time. Telstra Full/Wholesale signal is not always better than Optus/VF along my daily routine. If you do not experience blind spot in your daily routine, chances are that the others may have it.
Where's the option for staying and leaving? I ported my pre-paid service out yesterday, a few days ahead of when I was going to do it anyway, but I've left my post-paid $0 plan as-is.
By sheer dumb luck, going by info posted on Whirlpool, my ContactID is outside the affected ranges.
Oh, what is the affected ranges? Didn't realise that had been known. Would like to check mine, I'm in 6XXXXX
Apparently the impacted ContactID ranges are 1 to 8,000,000 and 40,000,000 to 48,000,000, so you're in the first range if that's your ContactID and not something else.
Yep, me be screwed then. Thanks for the response.
For those saying it's too late to leave, it's not about leaving to protect your identity, it's about leaving because I don't want to support a company that is that is so careless with very sensitive data, and doesn't want to take responsibility either ("Optus was a victim…")
This does make sense. Data has been leaked and we can't protect it by changing the provider.
It's the only option we have as individuals to punish Optus for being so reckless with our data
If everyone leaves Optus, they go under or CEO gets fired (think CBA after AML breaches) then other companies will invest more in their security and protect our data (because it will be in their personal best interests to do so)
If ALL companies get breached, we're back to square-one, and they don't have to compete anymore…?
So you left SB?
What happens when CR gets hacked?
Yep, I'm glad we all decided to leave NSW because of it.
wonder if there would be compensation
last time i got 300 bucks credit cause i had bad reception for a month (didnt notice, think it was during lockdown and was wfh anyway)Forget credit or perks. The compensation needs to be cold hard cash. Many of us are former customers, so offers of credit won't cut it.
I left them years ago. The service was too unstable.
I’d support a class action lawsuit.
Is there any? If the data is heavily encrypted, we would be in much better position. Unless it's an insider job?
data was scrapped from an api… so everything in plaintext
Obligatory I'm not a lawyer but….
i reckon there are grounds for a class action, especially as this screw up on their part (given how easy it was to access) can and will cause trouble for many people for many years to come.
From what I understand the data was technically not ‘hacked’ from their servers. It was simply copied as Optus left parts of their network unsecured, which happened to be where they stored customer information. In other words, Optus left the back door unlocked and someone came in and stole some stuff..
It’s textbook negligence, as they have a legal requirement under the privacy act to securely store sensitive and personal customer information.I’ve heard there are some lawyer types out there gathering info for a class action. I think Slayter and Gordon was one.. Not sure though.
Dont Care - K mapping 😷😜
I've been meaning to leave for a while and this just gives me the impetus to make it happen
Staying on Gomo which is owned by Optus - does that count?
Most customer are on a plan and they cannot leave without a financial penalty.