We began the process of going with iiNet for ADSL and purchased a modem from them. When Telstra came to connect our phone line we were informed our phone line was damaged and a new trench would need to be dug. This was not possible as we are renting. We cancelled our plan with iiNet and we were told a postal bag would be sent to us to return the modem. Instead a second modem was sent to us. After many calls and waiting for 'call backs that never happened', I explained the problem and was assured 2 postal bags would be sent to me to return the 2 modems. I have now just received a 3rd modem in the post!...and have spent another couple of hours on hold and waiting for 'call backs' to try and explain the situation all over again.

I phoned Iinet and spoke to a lady [redacted name] and after having to repeat myself over and over with what appeared to be her difficulty understanding what I was saying I spelled words using the phonetic alphabet and I finally signed up.
I received an email with my account name and it was spelled incorrectly. So i emailed them and was informed someone would get back to me. No one did. I phoned and had the same difficulty with language barrier. I hung up. Later that afternoon I received a call stating my satellite connection would be set up 10 days time and a technician would come to our place.
I mentioned the incorrect spelling of my name and I got "Sorry to hear that sir" and she hung up. WTF I thought.
So i phoned again and spoke to a [redacted name] who said she was able to change the incorrect spelling. I then mentioned to her to check the day the technician was due and she stated there was no connection for that day. In shock I gave her the reference number and she still couldn't find an appointment. She stated she would get back to me. No one did. So the next day I called support again and didn't bother with a name and asked her to check the appointment time and she said it was 18 days time. No one informed me of the change of date. I had enough so I cancelled my impending connection with Iinet and told the lady that the customer service is appalling and borderlines on disgusting. She said I would not be charged as it was in the cooling off period. She then asked me is that my final decision? WTF. I had only experienced 6 days of their bullshit. I am now waiting for Port 1 to be closed so I can go with another company. This time if it is offshore customer service I will hang up instantly. Iinet W.A. [redacted offensive language and name]

Approximate cost: $0

Major points:

- Call wait times are horrendous
- Attention to detail non existent
- Customer service appalling
- Technical support non responsive and careless
- Border line criminal by incorrectly billing $100s to my account.

Ever since Adam internet was taken over by iinet their service has declined rapidly and the service is what I can only describe as appalling.

I've been with iiNet for 8 years. Over the past year and a half they have been absolutely awful. If you have a problem that needs resolving, prepare for weeks of phone calls, being put on hold for an hour and unfulfilled promises.
Incredibly frustrating. I used to love this company, but after several issues resulting in weeks of phone calls and emails, I now can't wait until my contract is up and I can switch providers.
Avoid at all costs.

Approximate cost: $90

I was a previous iinet customer returning, I now wish I never returned.

I signed up for a $69.99 per month service but iinet have decided to charge extra for a home phone that I never agreed to.
I have called on numerous occasions with one person deciding to not return any calls from the account enquiry help line. The next person I spoke with agreed that I had been overcharged as he could see that a home phone was not part of the package deal and that a credit would be issued before the wrong amount was debited from my bank account. Of course that credit never came and I was over charged on the direct debit. On my frustrated call to the "service centre" the next operator could not find the notes although all conversations are recorded.
Next the phone disconnects and no one bothers to call me back so I call them again only to be placed in another 35-55 minute queue.

The next operator to call me says that another operator is handling and that they will transfer me , this just like the previous person said who hung up mid conversation. I might add that most of the operators are very difficult to understand due to their strong accents and terrible pronunciation of many English word,

AVOID iinet.

This is part 2 to my issues with iiNet. I have listed my first complaint (that actually resulted in a call from someone at the bottom of this post)
Long story short, if you are considering iiNet as an ISP find literally anyone else!
I have tried to be understanding, I have tried to be calm, I have tried escalating my concern within iiNet’s resolution framework. Literally none of this has actually worked.

Last week through desperation I turned to social media. I posted on iiNet’s Facebook page in multiple areas. No response. So, I turned to product review sites. Finally, someone responded to my concerns, and called me back. After a brief discussion with a "senior manager" I was told they would be looking into my concerns and account and would call me back. It seemed like I was actually making progress for once! But alas, that afternoon I receive a txt saying they hadn't finished considering my situation, they were away Friday but would call on Sunday...needless to say, I am yet to hear back from them.

Upon logging into my iiNet toolbox, why was I not surprised to find that Task 299071322 (ESCO Call Back) had been closed...like every other complaint I have had before. Not a call back, not an email, nothing. I tried to write back to the post in the hope that someone might actually respond seeing as it worked last time, but nothing.

Task 289232258 (Monitor/Fault Investigation), well that just seems to get passed from one CSM to the next, It’s just another iiNet customer service pass the buck customer service policy.

And finally, Task 299014418 (Social Media Touch). It's nice to see that iiNet actually pay attention to the negative social media that is posted, too bad as has been proven over and over to me, they can't actually find a way to resolve these issues.

I have discovered social media is a powerful tool that seems to make iiNet pay attention. If I can make one suggestion for all of you having issues. Post them on Facebook and any review site you can find. They may actually start to take notice of their terrible service.

In a final attempt, 2 days ago, I emailed multiple people (including the following advised to me by another disgruntled customer [email protected] & [email protected]) at iiNet informing them of the continuing lack of help despite senior management being involved. All I asked was that I would like someone to either call or email (despite an ISP's reluctance to actually email, probably to avoid any records) to resolve my concerns.
On the last call after my multiple posts the "senior manager" asked what I wanted to resolve the issue. I told him to read my email and tell me what iiNet thinks they have done wrong and what they think is fair and reasonable. Taking the approach of letting your customer service department look after what they think a customer is looking for was obviously the wrong decision, albeit a calm, rational and open minded way to approach the situation.

Seeing as this didn't work yet again, take note iiNet, I want you to waive the installation fee (for the botched installation and my lost income to take an additional day off work), waive the January VDSL charge (as the account was charged for a full month despite a loss of connection, AND I was assured that I would only be charged for the days I was connected) along with waiving the February VDSL charge for overall terrible customer service, and the hours spent trying to resolve this, I feel, would be at the very least fair.

I would like both an email from a real person (not Matt Conn, who if you’re an existing customer I’m sure you have seen his automated emails) acknowledging my concerns and the steps to be taken along with a phone call from someone that can actually do something. For a phone call please note, I can only take calls between 9am - 5.30pm AEST and 6.30pm - 10.30pm AEST. If you don't reach me the first time please try again.

If anyone is interested feel free to re-read what I posted last time on Facebook and productreview.com.au to actually get a response from iiNet. I have included my original comments below for anyone interested.

I will be posting this in as many locations as I can find, I urge everyone who has had a negative experience to do the same and we may eventually get some action.

iiNet I do hope you take this seriously for once, it won’t stop.

“PREVIOUS POST”

Hands down the worst customer service I have ever received.

Having previously been with iiNet when they took over from ACTEW Grapevine, and I have to say they provided exceptional service. I was looking forward to getting another VDSL connection with them. How wrong I was…

iiNet should be embarrassed by the service they are providing to their customers.

It started with initially setting up my connection on 12/12/16. As a previous customer my details were in the system and just needed some basic updating, address, phone etc. all going well so far. I was told I would receive an email with some information on my new account and the process for connection (perfect!). I was asked if I needed a modem for this connection, which I declined. The service was great, the iiNet rep also ran me through a phone plan he could offer me, which I agreed to as it was much better than the one I was already on. He said the SIM would be dispatched and I just have to activate it when it arrives. Great outcome for all, I have my internet setup underway & a better phone plan, iiNet have a return customer that they have also signed up for an additional service.

Task 295932171 - When the customer service representative failed to tell me was that the SIM would actually cost me money, not a great start. It was only $10 but I would have liked to have actually been told. As well as the surprise charge, they also dispatched the SIM to my old address (of 5 years ago). I called them up to mention the SIM charge and the error in delivery address. No worries, they apologised for the error in delivery address and would send another one out…for another $10. So now I have an account charged $20. After a few phone calls I finally spoke to someone where I could explain the situation, it wasn’t the easiest thing to resolve but they did waive the charge for not disclosing the initial SIM fee and the replacement one as well.

Task 295931836 - Now the internet. On the 12/12/16 (the same day I called to set up my VDSL connection) I did receive an email. iiNet said it’s friend’s Visionstream would be in touch to book a connection appointment. After 2 days I hadn’t received a call or email with any further information, I sent an email off to iiNet just to get an idea on what the timeframe is for contact. As seems to be standard practice for iiNet, they never responded. So I left it a couple of days and then decided to hold for the standard hour or so to discuss it with someone. To say that the customer service representative didn’t want to give me the information on the progress of my account would be an understatement. Turns out iiNet hadn’t even processed my application, so Visionstream were not even aware that they needed to contact me. I was advised that they were still processing application from the 4th and didn’t know when they would even get to mine. This story didn’t quite match with the thanks and congratulation email that I had received back on the 12th.

Anyway eventually someone was in touch to set up the installation, for the 17/1/17, a little longer than I was expecting, understandable for the time of year, but poor customer service from iiNet for not at least telling me installations are delayed at the moment. I would not have had a problem if I had known from the start. Back when I first set up everything I specifically said I did not want a modem, so you could imagine the surprise when I received an email letting me know I had a new modem on its way for $60. I decided I just couldn’t be bothered to go through the hassle of dealing with customer service on the phone again then collecting and posting a modem back etc. I sent an email at least making them aware of the mistake and how disappointed I was with the service. I thought maybe someone might see I was getting stuffed around a bit and would contact me to try fix it. I wasn’t surprised anymore when they didn’t.

The big day comes, the installation happens, we finally have internet. That went great for 17 days….when it then stopped. Tech support seems to be the only team that actually helps and is pleasant to deal with. Unfortunately this time the issue was something where a technician needed to come back out again. So another day off work would be needed and we are without internet for another 14 days because they can’t get anyone out sooner. To top it off I receive the charge to my account for installation of a product that isn’t even working. After speaking to someone (Task 298232258 if you’re interested iiNet), I was advised that I would be credited for the down time of my service, a full investigation would be done on my account (whatever that means), and he would personally look after this and call me between 6-9pm once my service is up and running with what he has found…you wouldn’t believe it though, I’m still waiting for that call back! What iiNet has done really well, is make sure the invoice for installation and 2 months internet connection was sent to me the next day. The best part, the “credit” for the down time seems to have been overlooked.

If someone at iiNet would like to actually look into this you can find it in the 6 emails I have sent over the last 2 months that you never respond to. They are obviously read because they then show up in my Toolbox being passed from one customer service representative to the next before being deemed “safe to close”

iiNet seem more than happy to take people’s money and charge at any opportunity, but providing the services they advertise, basic customer service, and accuracy in invoicing seem to be a little more difficult.

As I have said to them before, I look forward to the day that NBN becomes available in my area so I can cancel every service I have with them, although that didn’t seem all that concerning to the customer service team.

There are plenty of ISP out there, and it wouldn’t be hard to do better than iiNet.

On the plus, it’s only taken over 2 months for iiNet to actually install an operational internet connection, so now I can write this post!

Approximate cost: $80

Tried to get Internet with this company and never have I dealt with such incompetence. 4 days of phones calls trying to resolve the problem a day each call started with at least an hour on hold. Each call I was fobbed off and told different things. I was promised a call back on 2 occasions and set time aside in my day but the calls never came. 4 days of my life were wasted on hold and waiting for calls from the company. Nothing was ever resolved and I was going round in circles. The most appalling company and customer service. Avoid at all costs! I have cancelled my service after them failing to connect me. They also owe me money which I'm do not hold out much hope for. I am taking my case to the ombudsman.

Unreliable connection and non-existent customer service. I'm on a cable plan in Geelong which is rated at 100mbps but varies between 80Mpbs (which is fine) down to no service at all. The drop outs and slow speeds generally happen from 4:00pm until late into the night, so it's pretty much useless outside of work hours. The last speed test I ran was at 4:30pm with a download speed of 0.68Mbps, which is the fastest speed I'll get until tomorrow. This has been happening regularly for the last month and iiNet's advice after being on hold for 40 minutes is that it will take another month to fix. Calling is no use and emails are not answered.
Make no mistake, iiNet is a bad option. Simple text based web pages like this take up to five minutes to load and using anything that needs more data is out of the question. At iiNet's current rate, downloading data takes 147 times longer than it should. iiNet thinks this is acceptable thinks I should be happy to pay full price for it. If you're in the market for a new ISP, read as many independent reviews as you can before choosing one. If you do read genuine independent reviews, I doubt you will choose iiNet.

I was generally happy for 11 years. But when your internet drops out for no reason 3 days ago, you expect action.
No a fault prevented my fault from being lodged. The customer service told me to remove the ethernet cable before hard reset, well how is my modem going to get the new instructions not connected? They then hung up on me.
Waiting for a resolution. I agree with other recent posts - iinet customer service is on the nose - leading to customers wanting to get out for good.

Technical assistance line - wanted me to wait over an hour.
Not once, but EVERY time I have rung for a simple email password issue over the past week.
This is unacceptible.
Been with iinet for over 14 years and have never seen such abysmal customer service Iinet - YOU ARE LOSING LOYAL CUSTOMERS