Dial 000 for Telstra

I wasted almost 24 hours trying to get answers, getting passed from one centre to another.

Finally, “the young lady who seemed to know what she was talking about” was unable to help further as Telstra’s computers were down and she couldn’t access my account.

I then tried the Telstra centre in Geelong only to be told "Oh we are not required to pass on this information, we are a retail franchise and our job is to sell services".

A very poor exercise in marketing I would think, leading to unsatisfied customers.

The six or 12 month plans or prepaid offers from Telstra were more expensive than I needed and wouldn’t offer me the service I needed i.e. to be able to make the odd emergency call if required.

The important issue is that there are many people living in isolation who may require an emergency contact, apart from all the parents who wish their child to carry a mobile phone, for emergency use only, without paying monthly bills for calls that aren't needed or made.

In my own case I pay this $20 out of my pension and I have a rapidly diminishing purchasing power.

It seems obscene that a large corporation Like Telstra can take money from the weak and most vulnerable sectors of the community to add to its already high profits.

In my case the inability to make the call could have been serious if I had been unable to get to the house to use the phone.

I do not see people for sometimes two or three weeks and if, for example, I had fallen and perhaps broken a leg or something else I would have been unable to call for assistance and could have laid there for days, especially now in the middle of winter.

I have followed this up and spoken to many other people living in similar circumstances and this is a major concern and fear for them.

I have urged them to take it up with their local Member of Parliament and suggested that a secure service could be set up that would protect and safeguard pensioners, disabled and others who may need to call someone urgently.