COLIN Guest doesn't know whether to laugh or cry after a recent bout of telephone ping pong with Telstra.
Like an episode of Fawlty Towers, it all began when Colin, from Sale, tried in vain to close his old Telstra account.
After a fruitless journey to Telstra's Bairnsdale office - Sale's office has been closed - he was told he would have to phone the helpline.
He was then bounced around Telstra's call centres here and in the Philippines but could find no one capable of taking his $230.70 to wind up the account.
Much of the problem stemmed from the fact his date of birth on Telstra's system was wrong - something each operator assured him was easily fixed, but never was.
After finally finding someone who could take his money he was told, err, sorry, no can do. His birth date was wrong but if he would like to pop down to his local office in Bairnsdale ...
Colin wonders if he should just wait for the debt collector to knock at his door and save himself hours of frustration and petrol.
