Hi and welcome to Customer Underground!  A brand new entertainment / information site, we plan to be the online community in Australia devoted to customer service.  Here you can rate businesses, share tips and stories about where to go and where to avoid, or just browse our articles and videos. This is version 1.0 of our beta site - so we'd love you to help us build the ratings and stories, and let us know what works and what doesn't.  Got feedback? Email us at cu@customerunderground.com. Want to kn... Keep Reading

Last year, I switched mobile phone providers.  Not because there was anything wrong with the one I had, but rather because my mobile broadband provider went belly-up, and my husband and I decided that this was an opportunity to do a blanket telecommunications upgrade. With this in mind, I went to the websites of various providers to compare plans.  I had a spreadsheet ready to enter the information.  Did I meet with success?  No.  Instead, bleary-eyed, I gave up after a few hours, and the next day went to the Telstra store and spent a packet of money and signed lots... Keep Reading

I wanted to host my mother’s birthday dinner – one of those big, important, you-get-sparkly-jewellery-presents-and-don’t-hold-back-on-the-champagne birthdays.  I wanted something really special for her, and I figured a restaurant by the sea on a Sydney spring evening, with a guest chef working in a restaurant known for its commitment to organic food would be all that.  And I was only talking dinner for ten people – not something you’d try at home, but not so hard for a professional, right?  Turns out it was amateur night - no, amateur week... Keep Reading

TripAdvisor.com, one of the world's most popular, successful and trusted travel advice sites, may not, it turns out, be offering only the independent comments of ordinary travellers. According to news reports like this one from the UK's Telegraph newspaper, UK site Travolution has uncovered evidence of hotel owners ... Keep Reading

Since mid to late January, 'Underground' readers will have seen myriad news stories - like this one - reporting on car manufacturer Toyota's mass recall of millions of its vehicles. The recall, now affecting some 8 million cars (at last count), results from reports of at least four known possible defects: failing brakes; accelerator pedals sticking when pressed; c... Keep Reading

Let me ask you a question. When you go to the supermarket, does the checkout chick relieve you of $80 before you've even bought anything? Didn't think so. Or, when you've purchased $55 or more worth of goodies, does she demand a further $80, against future purchases? Thought not. And if you only ended up buying $40 worth of stuff, would you find it strange that she kept the remaining $40 forever? You bet. Then why is the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority permitted to sell e-Tags (its brand of electronic tolling tags) which do exactly this? That slug you for $80 worth o... Keep Reading

Personally, we only found the letter mildly entertaining, but evidently we were in the minority. Passenger Oliver Beale's complaint (accompanied by disturbing photos) about the alleged "meal" Virgin Airlines purported to serve him on a flight from Mumbai to London made headlines worldwide when it became public in January 2009. Virgin brand impresario Richard Branson ... Keep Reading

Did you know there are cooling off periods that apply when you take out, via the telephone, a new contract for internet service or for a mobile phone? We didn't.  The first inkling we ever got of it was a few months back when one of our team was talked into a new mobile contract with Telstra based on entirely wrong information. Attempting to get out of the contract when the incorrect info came to light, our teammember was shocked to be told "you're lucky; you just came in within the cooling off period". What cooling off period? We never knew one existed, were ne... Keep Reading

Qantas' customer service is far from perfect. Yet, in the matter of Qantas’ new ‘charging for exit row seats’ policy, we feel compelled to come to the airline’s defense.  In essence, the new policy slugs travelers $80 for one way international economy exit row seats for short haul trips (Australia to Asia, Asia to Europe), and $160 for one way on longer haul flights (Australia to Europe, the Americas or Africa); apparently, same-flight stopovers on the way to such destinations won’t count as separate trips in the exit row. Meaning, for example, it&rsq... Keep Reading

Before I even became pregnant with my second child, I assumed that I would have my next baby at Royal Prince Alfred hospital, where my son, Patrick, was born last year.  The doctors, nurses, and staff at the hospital had treated me kindly and – most importantly – responded quickly and with empathy and skill to the emergency birth it turned out to be.  While the accommodation afterwards wasn’t exactly ‘five-star hotel’ (think school cafeteria and you can picture the food), it had been perfectly comfortable, and the midwives supportive and helpful. ... Keep Reading