TPG Warning (Caution for Current and Potential Customers)

I’m sharing this as a cautionary tale for anyone considering signing up with TPG or currently using their services. Having been a loyal customer for over 17 years and working in the IT industry—where I frequently engage with various ISPs—I feel compelled to share my recent experiences.

Over the past few months, my service with TPG has deteriorated significantly, culminating in a major outage a few weeks ago. After the outage, my internet was still malfunctioning for an entire week. During this time, I attempted to reach their support line multiple times, spending hours on the phone before finally connecting four days later. When I did, they informed me that ongoing maintenance was affecting my service and provided me with an extended estimated time of resolution. I live in the Sydney metropolitan area with HFC, and I noticed that there were no NBN outages reported nearby, while my neighbors’ connections remained operational.

Frustrated with the situation, I decided to cancel my service. However, my attempts were met with two arduous hours of being transferred from department to department. I was repeatedly put on hold, hung up on, and had to start the process anew with each call. Eventually, a representative confirmed that my service was canceled and that I would receive a pro-rated refund. I also sent an email to their complaints department, which auto-responded, promising a reply from a senior escalation officer within 24-48 hours.

I then switched to a new ISP, and my internet was reconnected within just 15 minutes.

A few days later, I received a message from TPG stating that a new router had been ordered and an NBN technician was scheduled to visit—neither of which I had authorized. Upon calling TPG, I learned that they had no record of my cancellation request. After another hour of navigating through customer service, I was told they would submit a cancellation request on my behalf. When I inquired about my previous cancellation attempts, the representative couldn’t find any record of them, despite having authenticated my identity through multiple calls.

Throughout all this, I sent numerous follow-up emails updating my situation, but received no response from the supposed escalation officer. Frustrated, I opened a case with the TIO.

Fast forward to today, I received an email from TPG notifying me that my plan would change next month to a more expensive rate, despite having spoken to over ten representatives who assured me my service would be canceled.

I strongly suspect that this isn’t merely an issue of incompetence—it seems systemic, making it increasingly difficult for customers to cancel their services.

For anyone else experiencing similar issues, feel free to share your experiences. I’m still awaiting a response from the TIO, but I wanted to share my warning with fellow customers.

EDIT: After posting this, I received a call from TPG, and a representative in Australia resolved my issue in just two minutes. Go figure.