A DISTRESSED Ballan couple is without access to an emergency aged-care paging system since their internet and phone access were disconnected last week.
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David Smith and his wife Silvia, who requires an emergency paging button, have been left in the lurch since their service provider, ONEseniors, entered court-ordered receivership, along with sister company iBoss and parent company AsiaPac Communications last Friday.
“We’ve lost everything except for the mobile phone. I have a ONEseniors (with Optus as carrier) emergency phone line which has been cut,” Mr Smith said.
“When the administrators cut us off, they haven’t thought about the emergency side at all. I’m worried.
“There’s quite a lot of us in Ballan on this service who have been affected.”
Elderly Delacombe residents Damien and Christine Vella have also lost telecommunication services and were angered when they were direct-debited on Friday for the coming month.
Rather than receiving notification the company had entered receivership, Mr Vella received a direct-debit and invoice on Friday from ONEsenior for two months of credit.
“This is what annoys me. They’ve known this was going to happen for a while,” Mr Vella said.
“I’m 70 years of age and I don’t take kindly to that – if I pay for a service I expect to get service.
“I’m disappointed in their attitude towards their customers.
“They’ve treated us with contempt.”
Mr Vella has been given no notification of when or if he will be reconnected.
The ONEseniors website remained active on Tuesday night and with products and services still advertised.
A notification labelled “latest update” was present on the homepage that outlines the current status of the company.
ONEseniors management could not be contacted for comment.
david.jeans@fairfaxmedia.com.au
