Telstra social media manager tells Foxtel customer to show kid ‘the outside world’

TELSTRA has been slammed for its unsympathetic response to a mother who complained about her Foxtel service being down.

TELSTRA has been slammed as “patronising” for telling a mother to show her kid “the outside world” after she complained about her Foxtel being down.

Michelle Stephenson, national newsroom manager at Nova and SmoothFM, last night tweeted Telstra about her Foxtel and broadband being down.

“.@Telstra my @Foxtel and #broadband are down and it says estimated time fixed is 2 days. I have a child who wants #TV though,” she wrote.

In response, a Telstra social media manager called Renee replied: “Heya Michelle, I can appreciate that, I usually show my kid the outside world when there’s no internet, it’s tricky..”

Ms Stephenson wasn’t impressed. “Not funny, I’m a working mum who’s spent part of the day showing him the world, I just want downtime,” she wrote. “Thoughts on fix time Bondi @Telstra”

Twitter users hit out at the comment. “What a patronising response. Fail,” wrote Fairfax’s Caitlin Fitzsimmons. Matt Martin wrote: “Patronising much?”

Craig Brown added: “You serious Telstra? Stick to fixing the problem, customers don’t deserve your sarcasm and ignorance.”

While sassy social media managers are apparently all the rage these days — ‘Dan’ the Optus man was lauded for shutting down customers who complained about multi-language advertisements — Telstra, may have overcooked it by offering parenting advice.

A Telstra spokesman told news.com.au: “The interaction with Ms Stephenson was an attempt by our team member to empathise with her whilst trying to assist with her enquiry. Clearly, this was an inappropriate way to handle her question.

“We apologise for this and we will continue to provide coaching to our 24x7 team in Adelaide on how they interact with our customers, who are our number one priority. For the most part, our 24x7 team in Adelaide do a great job in handling thousands of customer enquiries each day.”

@MishStephenson Heya Michelle, I can appreciate that, I usually show my kid the outside world when there's no internet, it's tricky.. -Renee

— Telstra (@Telstra) March 9, 2016

Not funny, I'm a working mum who's spent part of the day showing him the world, I just want downtime. Thoughts on fix time Bondi @Telstra

— Michelle Stephenson (@MishStephenson) March 9, 2016

@Telstra @MishStephenson Patronising much? -Matt

— Matt Martin (@LeftyMatt) March 9, 2016

@Telstra @SallyRMelb @MishStephenson What a patronising response. Fail.

— Caitlin Fitzsimmons (@niltiac) March 9, 2016

@Telstra @MishStephenson you serious Telstra? Stick to fixing the problem, customers don't deserve your sarcasm and ignorance

— Craig Brown (@BrownieHazCal) March 9, 2016

@Telstra @MishStephenson talk about condescending…

— Katie Hale (@katie18O) March 9, 2016

@Telstra @MishStephenson My god, what a terrible response! More helpful would have just been "I'm on it".

— Bec Foley (@akabexarella) March 9, 2016

@mrsjkmccarthy @Telstra @MishStephenson Wow. Social media fail. Customer service fail. A whole lotta fail. Wonder if she gets a phone call.

— Nathan Brereton (@thewrathofnath) March 9, 2016

Originally published as Telstra social media manager tells Foxtel customer to show kid ‘the outside world’