‘I’m sorry the way you feel’: Customer trying to cancel Optus plan shares ‘infuriating’ chat messages

A fed-up Optus customer has shared their “infuriating” experience with the telco’s customer service after making a simple request.

A fed-up Optus customer has shared their “infuriating” experience with the telco’s customer service team while trying to cancel their plan.

Posting on Reddit, the customer said they were trying to cancel after Optus raised the price of its cheapest $49-per-month data plan to $52.

“Cancelling anything is so exhausting, but what the hell is this?” they wrote, sharing a series of messages with the customer service rep who seemingly wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“I’m sorry that you have thought about cancelling the service, you’ve come through to a loyalty specialist, I’ll be able to help,” the rep wrote.

“Is it OK if I review your account to see what we have available to give you more value?”

The customer said, “No thank you. I’ve already decided I’ll be cancelling, I’m not interested in looking at anything else Optus has”.

The Optus rep asked why the customer wanted to cancel, to which the customer replied that “increasing the cost of plans and adding more data that people don’t want is ridiculous”.

The customer shared the ‘infuriating’ experience. Picture: Reddit

“Optus treats the people who use their services like crap and there’s no benefit to staying with Optus,” they added.

The rep said they were “sorry for the inconvenience” and asked again if they could “see what we have available to give you more value”.

“No, cancel my plan,” the customer wrote. “I’m not staying with Optus.”

The Optus rep tried a counter-offer of a $10 discount on the $52 plan for 12 months. When that wasn’t successful, they upped the ante.

“I had a check with my manager and got approval for $15 discount for 12 months, the plan will be $37 per month with no lock-in contract. Will that be OK?” they pleaded. “Will you like to take this offer?”

“I know you’re doing your job, but respectfully Optus is an awful company and I will not be giving them any more of my money,” the customer wrote.

“I’ll be contacting another provider tomorrow to cancel my plan since this is going nowhere.”

The Optus ‘loyalty specialist’ was persistent. Picture: Reddit

The rep replied, “I’m really sorry the way you feel,” before continuing the bargaining phase of the break-up, to no avail.

Some Reddit users questioned whether the canned responses indicated it was an AI chatbot, but the customer said Optus had confirmed it was “a human expert”.

Others suggested they open a complain with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).

“Future reference, just port your service to a new provider and let the new provider handle the transfer,” one person advised.

Another said: “Pro tip for everyone. Say you’re leaving the country. Simple, no upselling, no value adding. Power bill, gas bill, phone bill, internet bill, Foxtel, all of them. No need to go through the ringer. ‘I’m leaving the country and can’t use the service anymore’.”

An Optus spokesman said in a statement: “Optus values every customer, and we are committed to supporting our customers promptly. We regret that on this occasion a customer’s experience has not met the usual high standards that Optus strives for.”

Another former Optus customer shared a similar experience last year, accusing the company of wasting “30 minutes of my life” after a simple request to cancel a mobile plan.

The nation’s second-largest telco has been through a tough 18 months, suffering a massive hack in September 2022 followed by a nationwide network outage in November 2023 that crippled the nation for half a day and led to the resignation of chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin.

The telco has had a horror 18 months. Picture: Diego Fedele/NCA NewsWire

Optus last month reported largely flat financial results in the year to March 31, with full-year revenue up 0.1 per cent to $8.1 billion and profit up 0.7 per cent to $2.1 billion.

Its Singapore-based parent company, Singtel, saw a 64 per cent drop in net profit to $SGD795 million ($888 million) after being hit with a $3.5 billion impairment charge, largely related to Optus.

The company said it added 116,000 mobile subscribers over the year, including 108,000 prepaid customers “underpinned by strong performance from Amaysim”.

“Optus is working hard to rebuild the trust of customers after a challenging 18 months and these results demonstrate we are on the right track,” said interim chief executive and chief financial officer Michael Venter.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) last month filed proceedings in federal court against Optus over the 2022 data breach, alleging the telco “failed to protect the confidentiality of its customers’ personal information from unauthorised interference or unauthorised access” as required under the Telecommunications Act.

About 10 million current and former Optus customers were caught up in the September 2022 breach, with personal information including names, dates of birth, phone numbers and email addresses exposed over three days.

Optus said it had “previously apologised” to customers and intended to defend the proceedings.