Thanks to Telstra, I make a false 000 Emergency call!

[JR.]

Thought I’d share with everyone a charming experience I had Friday night in the hopes that others will not go through the same panic that I did. This is really long (over 1000 word) post and I apologise, but I’m just so mad right now I have to get it off my chest.



First, a little bit of background:

I have an 83 year old grandmother with amongst other things a serious heart condition (that has resulted in past heart attacks and surgery). She also has arthritis, osteoporosis and a degenerative condition called Padgett’s (sp?) Disease.

When you combine all these problems, you can imaging that she’s not getting around the best now days, and is pretty much confined to the house when either my mother or I aren’t there to help her out.

Two weeks ago my uncle & his defacto took her out to dinner and while they were on their way his car was hit by a drunk driver (0.237). As you can imagine, the brittle old bones and frail body of an 83 year old woman didn’t take to kindly to the seatbelt compressing across her chest in the impact, and since being released from hospital early the morning after the accident she’s been having even more trouble moving around than usual and complaining of chest pains.

Now, Friday night:

So at 5:45pm last night, I get a call at work from my mother asking if I’ve spoken to my grandmother that afternoon. No, I haven’t.

We know she’s at home – alone – but she hasn’t been answering the phone for at least the past two hours my mother has been trying to ring. In peak hour Friday night traffic, it’s a 45 minute trip from the office to home, and I am closer than my mum.

You can imagine what I was thinking considering my grandmothers recent state of health, so as I frantically packed up to race home, I called 000 and asked for an ambulance.

I explained my grandmothers medical history and the fact that she SHOULD be answering the phone, and that I was gravely concerned for her welfare considering her heart condition, and the 000 operator agreed with me that this was a call of legitimate concern and that she’d dispatch an ambulance straight away.

I also asked her to dispatch the police, as in a previous medical emergency the ambulance crew had to wait outside the door for 10 critical minutes until I arrived with keys because they’re not allowed to break in someone’s door (but the Police can).

So I get off the phone to 000 and call mum to tell her the ambo is on the way. Then I get in my car and haul **** at WELL above the legal speed limit in a race to get home.

10 minutes later, I get a call back from the 000 dispatch service saying that I can slow down, everything is alright, she’s fine and just hadn’t put the phone back on the hook properly.

My relief and profound thanks was tempered by my embarrassment at wasting the time of the ambos and cops that had to respond to the emergency call. All told the ambo took under 8 minutes to arrive at the house with the Police seconds behind, and as someone who has an elderly relative in poor health who frequently requires their services, I can’t say enough about the job these guys do.

After calling mum and slowing her down too, I’m coming down of the adrenaline rush and realize that the home phone wouldn’t ring out if it was off the hook, it would just give you an engaged signal. This is a puzzling anomaly.

When I get home to find my mortified grandmother – poor old duck is sitting there minding her own business when suddenly ambos and cops started bashing on the front door – you can imagine my own horror to find out that TWO ambulances had responded and TWO two-man cop cars (in other words I’ve taken four cops and four paramedics out of service for nearly 25 minutes for no good reason).

So I check the home phone – no dial tone. I ask nan when she last used the phone (1pm) and if she saw anyone working in the phone pit on the sidewalk outside our house that day (yes, a Telstra van had been there in the afternoon).

So what it looks like is some useless Telstra service tech has been screwing around in the pit trying to fix someone else’s phone and disconnected ours by mistake – how, I don’t know, but to the outside world it was ringing out like no one was home to answer the call, but at home it was not ringing at all.

My question is this. How many other lives did Telstra’s actions endanger by setting off tat chain of events, and what if my grandmother really had been having a heart attack of some other problem and was trapped in the house with no other way to contact the outside world.

She’s unable to use a mobile phone – bad eyesight and poor manual dexterity – so that home phone is a critical lifeline for someone of her age in her health.

As you can image, the call I placed to Telstra service difficulties and faults after that was not my most coherent or polite exchange I’ve ever had – and now I’ve calmed down I’m quite appalled at the way I spoke to the poor bastard on the other end of the line, but this isn’t the first time it’s happened, and Telstra need to be held accountable for this sort of thing in a public arena.

This afternoon, a very contrite service tech came out and repaired the phone line (due to nan’s medical condition Telstra guarantee to repair any fault within 24 hours of it being reported), but that doesn’t absolve them of the fact that it happened at all.

Please excuse the huge nature of this rant, but I don’t think I’ve ever been more incensed with Telstra’s can’t give a stuff attitude than I am right now.


Cheers
JR

[Dark Horse]

Whoa dude!

Yeap, pretty pathetic that they got away with that one. Telstra's management needs to be held more accountable than this....

[XD-Machine]

i agree, you should be able to sure testra for wasting your time, embrassing you and wasting the cops and ambo's time

[Stav]

Thank goodness your granny is ok. It is terrible that this has happened. But lets face it...Public services are failing due to lack of funding and accountability. What good is Telstra in that situation if there is a need for help?? Nothing.. It makes you wonder if it is in the hands of backyarders?

[Yaw]

Wow is all I can say, some serious stuff there.

My answer is Copy-paste, your above rant, email telstra with a cc to your local major newspaper and the minister for comminication.

[3Toed]

A big YAY for Tel$tra.

Glad your nan's OK, though.

[MO]

NO it was not a false call...given your Grans condition it was the best call you could make.

Emergency services get heaps of malicious calls on 000 all the time. They would've happily attended this call given the possible outcome as it was based on genuine concern for your Grans safety.

So don't feel bad..but how about you go and personally see the ppl who turned out or at least pass on your thanks through their boss...they would appreciate it.

I know I am a retired firie.

[cArSiK]

I dont think it's telstra as a whole that deserves a bashing , but the twit that did the work in the pit certainly does , he obviously didnt double check his work before he pi$$ed off....glad everything turned out ok but..

James

[XplosiveR6]

this kind of thing is only going to get much worse when Telstra gets fully sold of, just imagine that, we will have no control over all our telecommunications.

[MO]

Originally Posted by EF_Dave

this kind of thing is only going to get much worse when Telstra gets fully sold of, just imagine that, we will have no control over all our telecommunications.

Given that they've now got an American CEO you just might be right...scary isn't it!!!!

[LUXO_8]

woah shocking.
glad everything turned out ok though

[b2tf]

Not good. Been in a similar situation a while back with my nan, ended up following an ambulance to her house and breaking in to let them in.

I remember a case a while back where a small girl died from an asthma attack because her parents couldnt use the phone to call an ambulance. I wonder whatever became of that and whether anything has changed?

[deesun]

Telstra is a company for profit like most others and as such will weigh up the cost of sending a techie 100s of klms out the bush today to avoid fines or send him out in two/three days when he has more jobs/faults to fix. It has a huge workforce and they are all human and humans make mistakes. Truth be known like any big buissines there f**k ups are only a very small percentage of the amount of service they provide. I know people who have left Telstra and gone back cos of the crap service from others,and it's so very easy for other carriers to blame Telstra for their own faults. My own ISP uses Telstra lines and hates their beauracracy and is now putting in their own equipment but still have to use Telstra infrastructure,easier access,same lines,still means better service. Myown experience is that I only left Telstra after 30 years because of a better internet deal but after only two months there billing was so bad I went back to Telstra cos I'd never had a problem in 30 years, not one, and I'm not the only one.

[T_Terror]

Dont be too hard on Telstra, it seems that it was actually the technician that caused the problem and theres a good chance he was a contractor too.

Nowadays there is very tight regulation on telco providers and standards of service exactly because of situations such as yours which was pretty close to a worst case scenario.
Not usre if its is so with Telstra but if made that kind of mistake I would have been fined and copped a lot of flak for that kind of mistake.

[Sourbastard]

OK So telstra screwed up a phone for a couple of hours. As tragic as that is for the world at large, it can hardly be called a critical event. Phones go down all the time and theres plenty of reasons other then poor maintainence, but keep in mind that domestic phone lines are not critical infrastructure in regards to uptime. Most domestic home phones arent even used for up to 16 hours a day because people are either not home(At work), or asleep.

What might be a better line of question is why is an 83 year old who has previously complain of chest pains, has poor vision and bad manual dexterity, arthritis, osteoporosis and Padgett’s Disease, which I might add my mother suffers from, is at home alone without either a call allert necklace, or in some form of full time or part time medical care.

My Grandmother recently died of lung cancer, and the amounts and types of care that could be provided in her old age were many and varying in their levels of support. From a District Nurse calling in once a day, to full Palliative Care, and many variations inbetween.

Even ringing a neighbours mobile to check on her could have avoided this.

And before I get accused, no I dont work for Telstra. :rolleyes:

[MAGPIE]

Originally Posted by sourbastard

OK So telstra screwed up a phone for a couple of hours. As tragic as that is for the world at large, it can hardly be called a critical event. Phones go down all the time and theres plenty of reasons other then poor maintainence, but keep in mind that domestic phone lines are not critical infrastructure in regards to uptime. Most domestic home phones arent even used for up to 16 hours a day because people are either not home(At work), or asleep.

What might be a better line of question is why is an 83 year old who has previously complain of chest pains, has poor vision and bad manual dexterity, arthritis, osteoporosis and Padgett’s Disease, which I might add my mother suffers from, is at home alone without either a call allert necklace, or in some form of full time or part time medical care.

My Grandmother recently died of lung cancer, and the amounts and types of care that could be provided in her old age were many and varying in their levels of support. From a District Nurse calling in once a day, to full Palliative Care, and many variations inbetween.

Even ringing a neighbours mobile to check on her could have avoided this.

And before I get accused, no I dont work for Telstra. :rolleyes:

I'm with you on this one.

At the end of the day the Telstra tech is only human.... we all make mistakes.

Originally Posted by sourbastard

OK So telstra screwed up a phone for a couple of hours.

I wouldn't even say the liney screwed up at all. Working in joints, which is what it sounds like has happened, it is very easy for a wire to break and is not soemthing that is easy to spot when you are closing a joint back up. Happens all the time, most times you can spot it and fix it straight away, sometimes it gets missed...

What might be a better line of question is why is an 83 year old who has previously complain of chest pains, has poor vision and bad manual dexterity, arthritis, osteoporosis and Padgett’s Disease, which I might add my mother suffers from, is at home alone without either a call allert necklace, or in some form of full time or part time medical care.

best thing I've heard.. the cost is easily offset by the peace of mind.. and IIRC they even indicate when there is no dial tone

And before I get accused, no I dont work for Telstra. :rolleyes:

Well, I used to work for Telstra and got stuck doing linies work, so know first hand how these things happen. Now though I work for a fully owned subsidiary of them... and don't have to touch anything outside again.

[T_Terror]

Originally Posted by devil cv8

I wouldn't even say the liney screwed up at all. Working in joints, which is what it sounds like has happened, it is very easy for a wire to break and is not soemthing that is easy to spot when you are closing a joint back up. Happens all the time, most times you can spot it and fix it straight away, sometimes it gets missed...
best thing I've heard.. the cost is easily offset by the peace of mind.. and IIRC they even indicate when there is no dial tone


Well, I used to work for Telstra and got stuck doing linies work, so know first hand how these things happen. Now though I work for a fully owned subsidiary of them... and don't have to touch anything outside again.

God I hate any work involving phone lines thats why i avoided jointing and stuck to co-ax work. Nothing to hard about it but its so bloody delicate and causes 90% of my faults.

But yeah i would imagine a mistake would be pretty easy to miss looking at those cylinder things that house all the lines.

i work for "The Other Side" by the way.

[JR.]

Originally Posted by sourbastard

What might be a better line of question is why is an 83 year old who has previously complain of chest pains, has poor vision and bad manual dexterity, arthritis, osteoporosis and Padgett’s Disease, which I might add my mother suffers from, is at home alone without either a call allert necklace, or in some form of full time or part time medical care.

Indeed, it is a good question, and if you can point out the law that allows me to force these on a fiercly independant old woman who refuses to accept any of them are necissary then I'll be happy to hang my head in shame.

Despite the protests of her family and doctors, she, like many people of her age, will not accept these things for fear of becoming cripples in their own self image.

The woman has little of her life left, and I'd prefer her to live it with whatever dignity she feels she needs even at the cost of constant worry about her well being.

Fortunately, we live in a society that doesn't lock our elderly away without their consent and ignore them, but the cost of that is some form of vigilance and a minimum guaranteed level of service on the part of public services and utilities.

Telstra failed to meet that guarantee on Friday - not for the first time - and the fact that it was an accident is of little comfort because Telstra haven't learned from these accidents in the past.

Do i blame the actual idiot who made the mistake - no. I blame the disgraceful corporate culture of the telco who are more interesting in raping their consumers for profit without even pretending they give a damn.

[Sourbastard]

Originally Posted by JR.

Indeed, it is a good question, and if you can point out the law that allows me to force these on a fiercly independant old woman who refuses to accept any of them are necissary then I'll be happy to hang my head in shame.

If she is in medical danger, and she refuses to acknowledge it, you can have her declared incompetant and get power of attourney.

[Shonky]

Originally Posted by sourbastard

If she is in medical danger, and she refuses to acknowledge it, you can have her declared incompetant and get power of attourney.

Ahhh... Getting awful close to the thin red line there bastard...

[RED_EL_XR8]

Whilst I am far from a fan of the free range sheltered workshop known as Telstra Corp, I cannot see the connection.

First and most importantly domestic telephones ARE NOT an essential service, never were, probably never will be. We may rely on them but there service isn't guaranteed. As stated Telesta promised in this situation the fault should and was rectified within 24hrs.

Is it Telstra faults the elderly wish to retain dignity and reside alone despite a lesser degree of care?

Is it Telstras fault and old ladies family have work and home located a distance away? Many people have made huge sacrifice and sold homes, changed jobs, etc to be able to support family members in need.

Is it Telstra fault neighbours require service changes in a pit that serves other subscribers?

I am not about to tell anyone how they can or should conduct their lives, but how about a touch of reality here. happens! Telstra has a contingency for rapid repair and seem to be the only party that has .

Several alternative solutions have been offered and there are many more.
The argument that the elderly will not adapt to a mobile service wont wash, there are alternatives even if they cannot be sourced from a shopping centre phone kiosk. If continuity of service is the only option there are numerous devices that allow a conventional phone handset to be used via a mobile device. Many payphone work this way and you would not know the difference from a fixed line phone when using them.
There are numerous granny alarms and pendants etc on the market, many of which are subsided by councils, health funds etc.

As stated above I don't want to tell people how to conduct their lives, but I am fed up with the idea that their is a third party that can be conveniently blamed for the world not being a perfect place.

The nonsense of Duty of Care that has invaded our lives is a menace it has nothing to do with Duty or Care, and it should be renamed Avoidance of Responsibility as soon as possible.

In reading your tale I can see responsibilities for each party You & your mother, your aged grandmother, Telstra, her GP etc. The nonsense that tries to push all blame onto one party is the same nonsense that escalates prices of a service and enforces draconian legislation such as enforced hospitalisation.

[RED_EL_XR8]

Originally Posted by Young 'un

Ahhh... Getting awful close to the thin red line there bastard...

How else is he gonna open his chewing gum?

[Sourbastard]

Originally Posted by JR.

Telstra need to be held accountable for this sort of thing in a public arena.

Ill also add that you are accountable for the safety of your loved ones, not the phone company, because surprisingly they dont care, and no ammount of tantrum will make them care. You do care though, therefore the onus is on you to make sure theres some planning and forethought involved in the care of an aged loved one.

[angelwithinvisiblewings]

Yeah I kinda agree with the above comments. You gotta understand that stuff ups happen. Think about the last time you f'd up.

It was just co-incidence that it happened when you guys were trying to contact your gran.

My fiance works in police radio and I can tell you the coppas wouldn't have minded going out. That's what they are there for.

Don't mean to sound like a meanie, but lets be real here. Oh and do I appreciate that you needed to vent and have a rant and rave. I hope in future everything goes much smoother for you and hope your granny is ok.

[Ghiadude]

i used to be a liney and im glad that some people can see the glaring problems in front of the poor guy in the van. chances are he was a contractor getting hammered for the time he takes on each fault and getting paid alot less than you think... remember a liney has two hundred 0.4mm wires in fromt of him and one bad connection can cause instances like this. I am sorry for your stress, no one should go through that!
so instead of having a go at you ill tell everyone what they can do in instances like this when someone ill isnt answering their phone.

1 try and contact them by ANY alternative means, if you can, ask them if the phone's ok
2 if you cant contact them, call telstra faults and explain the situation. remain as calm and polite as you can( i know its hard) remember the nicer you are the more inclined the person on the other end is likely to help
they can test (thats what i used to do) the line and determine a fault condition (like an open cct (i suspect) in your case.
3 always have a standard telstra phone plugged in even if you have a cordless because these give more conclusive test results(higher capacitance)

4 if you go through another company but use telstra infrastructure, you may need to call them instead of telstra

5 people with life threatening medical conditions will have restoration times of less than 24hrs. be honest though because youll get found out later anyway and your denying somone in need of service by doing so.

6 try not to panic it just stops you from thinking clearly and getting you what you need


ps congrats on your 500th sour bastard... your comments have been the source of many a tearful roll on the floor...and im sorry for your recent loss

[4.9 EF Futura]

Hey, sounds like you handled the situation pretty well, calling ambos and police - i'm sure you'd much rather the peace of mind as opposed to the potential of something bad happening.

Lay off of telstra tho... accidents happen.

this kind of thing is only going to get much worse when Telstra gets fully sold of, just imagine that, we will have no control over all our telecommunications.

Disagree. This will be the most heavily regulated "private" company in the country... we'll still have virtual control of the beast... just not the shareholding....

[deesun]

May I suggest you talk to a couple of her neighbours and ask for their phone numbers and if they would mind if you ring them in just such a case. I can't imagine even a perfect stranger refusing such a request.