A Telstra customer has been trolling the company with photos of her cat for the last two weeks to highlight its poor service.
Sydney resident Laura Carrie bought a brand new 4K TV last month, and wanted fast, reliable cable internet so she could stream high-definition content on Netflix. So she switched over to Telstra.
More Business Videos
Telstra outage 'absolutely not acceptable'
Mobile phone data and call interruptions Thursday evening prompt Telstra CEO, Andy Penn to front the media with an apology and a promise of free data. Vision courtesy ABC News 24.
The connection didn't work. After days of getting nowhere on the phone, she took to the company's Facebook page to try to get the connection issue sorted.
But instead of venting her anger at Telstra, Carrie, a social media manager and online business owner who needs the internet for work, began blogging her relationship with her cat, Kittie Smalls. It was a chance to renew their personal connection ... in the absence of an internet connection.
![Laura Carrie with her cat, Kittie Smalls.](/web/20161013204404im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/f/9/6/a/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gpf4ed.png/1465513357975.jpg)
Since her daily posts caught Telstra's attention, she has been assigned a "lovely" case manager. Telstra has reimbursed her for a Wi-Fi dongle connection in the meantime - but it's not fast enough to stream 4K TV.
After 11 days of no broadband connection, Carrie and Kittie Smalls swapped Netflix for yoga.
After 12 days, Telstra told Carrie she'd be connected within 24 hours. So she and Kittie Smalls made preparations for a Netflix party the following night.
Kittie Smalls was very unimpressed when, on day 12, they still weren't connected.
Carrie says she's not a fan of Telstra-bashing, or being nasty to individual staff who are just trying to do their job. She even singled out a favourite staff member from the team that manages Telstra's social media feeds.
"I've read some of the posts to this page and, while I feel people's frustration, I don't condone social media bashing," Carrie wrote.
"You guys who have to deal with these posts are people too, you're not just a faceless corporation.
"You're people like Renee, who is totally rad and has a cat named Scruffles."
Other Facebook users suggested she give up on Telstra and change providers, but she wasn't having any of it.
"I'm irrationally, emotionally connected to Telstra now," she wrote.
"I can't let Renee down, we're both in it for the long haul."
It's been 15 days now, and Carrie says if there's no cable internet when she arrives home it will be time to "pull out the big guns".
"What they [Telstra]Â don't know is I actually have another cat," she says.
Her name is 'The Flee' because, unlike Kittie Smalls, she's rather camera shy.
"Kittie Smalls is very outgoing and brave and always wants to be involved in the posts," says Carrie.
"My other cat is very shy and nervous so to be included in this is serious."​
A Telstra spokesperson said there had been an "unacceptable delay" in connecting Carrie's broadband service and apologised for the inconvenience.
"We appreciate her and Kittie Smalls' patience," the spokesperson said.
"We're in regular contact with them and working on having them connected as soon as possible."
34 comments
New User? Sign up