Phone tragedy - changing telco's

Recently a friend of mine and their partner moved all their telecommunications over to Telstra. They combined their mobile accounts, their landline, their internet, their mobile data plans, and their Foxtel all together to reap promised discounts, additional credits, and a single simplified bill.

If only we could bill the telco for the hours we spend letting them frustrate us
What they didn't sign on for was over 20 hours of frustration with countless Telstra consultants in too many locations to count. All either promised to solve the numerous problems (billing, promised credits, promised discounts, promised combinations of services) and didn't, or just passed the problem on - that old transfer roundabout.

Transfer roundabout 
I'm sure you are familiar with the drill: "This is not a sales problem, I'll just transfer you to technical support.", or "Oh your on a Mac, not my area, I'll have to transfer you." or the dreaded promise of no solution: "Well I will have to escalate this issue." - when to you it has already 'escalated' to mind numbing frustration.

Customer service
Now my friend is no slouch at customer service. Every phone call was logged, every consultant's name remembered, every conversation noted, every incident number recorded, and every consultant's ID taken down

What a waste of time for my friend, but what a huge waste of time for Telstra.

There must be a better way to manage customers than this.

Oh - and I forgot to tell you – my friend's old telco still thinks they are their customers, and bills them accordingly. Another poor call centre operator to argue with!