Optus network outage: Telco forced to apologize after employee’s blunt response to customer complaining after crash

Optus has been forced to apologize after a customer received a very blunt response from staff when he contacted the company with a question following the hours-long outage.

The telecom provider’s response to the massive 12-hour nationwide blackout that affected 10 million customers on Wednesday was to give them up 200 GB extra data for their ‘patience and loyalty’.

The blackout left people and businesses unable to make and receive calls and complete transactions, with CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin only appearing publicly hours after the tragedy, leaving the Communications Minister in front of the cameras.

One Optus user took to Reddit to share his interaction with customer service when he questioned the 70GB of bonus data added to his account after the debacle.

He claimed that the company canceled his $30 per month plan with 15 GB of data, putting him on a more expensive plan — and that he wasn’t even using a fraction of the 15 GB anyway.

But the icing on the cake was the response he received telling him the change was “automatically happening” and giving him the choice to cancel the plan before the change happened automatically.

The last sentence was curt: ‘You stay or you don’t stay’.

Optus said Daily Mail Australia users will be contacted by text and email before any such changes are made and will have the option to unsubscribe.

“We recognize that in this specific case a customer’s experience did not meet our standards and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused,” a spokesperson said.

‘Optus is committed to providing transparent and timely customer service when dealing with complaints.’

“Our representative receives feedback and guidance on best practices for effective communication with our customers.”

Commenters on the Redditor’s original post said the response was “unprofessional” and that customers had to do more work to cancel a change to their account that they didn’t request.

Ms Bayer Rosmarin said earlier this week that the $100 bonus data would be given to customers as an apology for the outage.

It is the second debacle for the company in just over 12 months after a massive hack in September 2022 compromised the information of 10 million customers.

Ms Bayer Rosmarin is dealing with her own PR disasters related to her response to both incidents, which have been widely criticized.

Kelly Bayer Rosmarin (pictured) has been CEO of Optus since April 1, 2020, but most people only hear her name when the company becomes embroiled in a PR disaster

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said small businesses may be entitled to further compensation.

“Small businesses that have suffered reasonably foreseeable loss or damage as a result of the failure to provide the service may be entitled to compensation and this will vary based on the specific circumstances,” an ACCC spokesperson said.

Federal Labor Minister Bill Shorten said on Friday the additional data would not “address” customer frustration and encouraged small businesses to talk to their account managers.

“The telecommunications industry ombudsman can help small businesses who are dissatisfied with the responses. I would encourage those customers to keep records and document the impact of the outage on them, but it has been a nightmare for everyone,” he told Sydney Radio 2GB.

Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson said the issues faced by small businesses on the Optus network have not been addressed, and rejected suggestions from the telecoms provider that compensation for losses would be $2 per day.

“Small businesses rely on telecommunications as an essential service, but they have been poorly served by Optus during this event and some have suffered significant economic costs,” he said.

Customers, politicians and businesspeople have criticized Optus over the outage, with the Greens securing a Senate inquiry into the disaster and the federal government launching an investigation.

Business and personal customers were without access to essential phone and internet services for more than 12 hours on Wednesday

In September last year, the company suffered a major data breach, affecting millions of Australians who had sensitive documents, including passport and Medicare numbers, leaked online.

Optus claimed the outage was caused by a ‘network event’ that caused a cascading fault. The engineers are investigating the problem.

Nationals leader David Littleproud said it highlighted the need to make domestic mobile roaming mandatory in rural and remote areas so that users can access services outside the coverage of their own network.

“We need common sense on this issue… by launching mobile roaming in regional, rural and remote areas we can focus on the areas where the need is greatest,” he said.

“The urgency for the regions is the tyranny of distance we face and the threat of natural disaster emergencies, such as the upcoming forest fire season.”