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Telstra has turned to the best group of advisers, its customers, for guidance on how to fix its reputation as the number one company in Australia when it comes to customer complaints.

After all, the complaints came from them, the customers.

Telstra launched a program called "My Telstra Experience" and asked for 18,000 volunteers from its 10 million customers. The volunteers will have to spend around 10 minutes every fortnight to participate in online surveys as well as discussions.

The program was launched to address the growing number of complaints against Telstra to the industry watchdog.  Among the numerous complaints are bill disputes and poor response to concerns reported by the customers.

The volunteers will not be paid but they can win cash prizes in a monthly draw.
David Thodey, the new CEO admitted that the company’s dissatisfaction level is soaring to twice that of the previous financial year.

In 2008-09, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman received 104,000 complaints from Telstra users and 30,000 complaints from Optus users.  The complaints were only about half as many in 2007-08, when Telstra and Optus had 51,000 and 23,000 complaints respectively.

Mr Thodey’s ambitious goal is to make Telstra customers the most satisfied among telco users.

Aside from getting valuable information from the volunteer customers, Mr Thodey is also said to have offered bonuses  up to $40 million to company staff if improvements in customer satisfaction levels are attained.