Elizabeth Keenan’s elderly parents spent the last month without a landline phone when it was cut off in a changeover of providers.
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Worried, Ms Keenan said she spent a total of more than 24 hours on the phone since then between the NBN, Telstra (the old service provider) and Dodo (the new provider) to fix the problem.
“They’re octogenarians,” Ms Keenan said.
“They are living independently but at that age there are some issues with health. While my dad does have a mobile he’s not very adept with it and my mother’s not adept at all with it – she relied on that landline.”
Ms Keenan said the problem started when her parents switched over to the NBN.
They took the phone contract away from Telstra and opted to go with Dodo.
And then their phone went dead.
“It was a few days after they’d signed up for the swapover and they’ve had no joy since.”
A Telstra spokeswoman said they had “done everything we can from our end” and the Keenans’ number had been released.
Just over 12 hours after the Mercury contacted Dodo about Ms Keenan’s problem, she said there was “a miraculous resolution” and her parents’ phone was working again.
“I did get a call from one of the honchos in Melbourne from Dodo who admitted that, yes, it’s been their fault all along and we’re very very sorry for blaming everyone else and the inconvenience it all caused.”
She said Dodo offered her parents three months free internet to make up for the month her parents spent without a telephone.
Dodo’s parent company Vocus Communications was contacted for comment on this story but did not respond by deadline.