Australians impacted by Telstra’s outage last week will be able to apply for compensation from the telco.
The failure affected phone calls for customers, halted some public transport services and impacted a payment system used by about 80,000 businesses last Wednesday.
Telstra CFO Michael Ackland during press conference regarding the outage. The Age
The company later identified a software problem as the source of the issue.
Telstra chief financial officer Michael Ackland apologised for the disruption to customers and the broader community.
“We know how much you rely on our network – for work, for travel and to stay safe,” Ackland said.
“We take that responsibility very seriously.”
Customers and small businesses who have experienced loss during the outage can apply for compensation from the telco.
“We require evidence to support your claim and will ask for you to provide this via a reply to that email,” Ackland said.
Customers can provide evidence such as error messages or speed tests.
Small business customers will need to provide evidence to support their claim including point of sale records, EFTPOS transaction reports, booking records, invoice or order records, accounting reports or comparable sales records from previous Wednesdays.
“Once your complaint has been lodged, you’ll receive an email from your case manager,” Ackland said.
“Providing a clear description of the impact, your estimated claim amount, and supporting documentation will help us assess your claim more efficiently.
“We may contact you by phone to discuss further evidence required or to clarify your claim, if we need to.”
Ackland also urged customers to be vigilant about scams following the outage.
“We’ve seen reports of fraudsters calling customers, claiming to be from Telstra and trying to take advantage of the outage,” he said.
“If you get a call from someone claiming to be from Telstra asking for your details in light of the outage, hang up and call us directly.
“Our teams are working as quickly as possible to resolve any remaining issues.”
