How long should it take to connect a service

[unhappy_1903]

We've just moved house on the 11 Feb. In early Jan we advised Telstra of the move to the new house and asked for the phone to be connected on the 11th. Late Jan we were told settlement wouldn't occur until late in the day, so 3 weeks before the move we advised Telstra we wanted the service connected on the 12th. They told us there was no service at the new address, so we looked up the phone number of the owners in the phone book and told them. Telstra said they would send a technician out on the 12th. A week before we moved, my husband confirmed the date with them. A few days before the move, they sent him a text confirming the 12th.

On the 11th, Telstra rang to say the technician was running late. We told them we didn't own the house and had no key until the following day and we had rescheduled and confirmed the 12th with them twice and they denied any record, even though they had the calls in their system. Another two calls to customer service had both my husband and I constantly repeating that we didn't have access to the house on the 11th until after hours and then they rescheduled for the 18th. I went to the local Telstra shop where the girl told me that we didn't need to be there, they didn't need access. She then told me that the delay was because the previous owners had used Optus.

On Monday, the 18th, we were both at work and the technician called my husband to say he couldn't connect the phone and he needed access to the house. He said he'd reschedule for Thursday. Telstra then phoned my husband to advise they'd rescheduled for the 28th! And that we had to be patient because most of their technicians were in the flooded areas restoring services to people there without phones. We both have to work on the 28th as well, and one of us will have to take a day without pay in order to be home.

So, now that's 17 days without a phone service basically because they failed arrive on the date we specified. In the 21st century I find it totally incredible that it should take so long to do such a simple task as reconnect a phone. Anyone got any reliable carrier pigeons?