I have been a Telstra customer for over 10 years, and I have, and still use various services from mobile, pre-paid and internet. Overall products are good and have never really had an issue until I decided to take advantage of the recent Telstra Day Promotional Bonuses.

This is how it’s played out over the last month.

- I waited till Telstra Day to take advantage of the promotional bonuses offered by Samsung
- I received immediate confirmation of my order and over the following days I received various emails explaining when I should receive my new device, and the steps to follow to claim my Promotional Bonuses
- 1 week later I received my device and uploaded the proof of purchase supplied with the device to the Samsung promo redemption page
- 6 days later I receive a response from Samsung saying, "The document you provided is not a valid Proof of Purchase".
- I contact Telstra who proceed to email me another proof of purchase document.
- I upload the new document again
- I receive the same response from Samsung

This cycle happened another 5 times meaning a total of 6 declined claims from Samsung due to the proof of purchase document supplied by Telstra not being valid.
The final correspondence from Telstra Customer Support being:
"Call the Samsung Promotional Team and find out why they are not accepting the proof of purchase"

Sooo... For the past 4 days I have been reaching out to Samsung Customer Service and Promotional Team via emails, messaging, and phone to try and prove that I am entitled to the Bonuses.

It seemed that Telstra customer service attempted to help multiple times at first but then handed it over to me to complete. Telstra is not willing to contact Samsung to confirm the requirements and rectify the issue. Apparently if I really want the promotional bonuses, I am required to chase it up with Samsung myself.
Telstra has me locked in for another 24 months so there is no real incentive to try anymore. Now I am on a deadline with Samsung because if I do not submit my new claim in the next 10 days, I will forfeit my validity for the bonuses.

Is this common? The whole experience has been frustrating, stressful, disappointing, and now a waste of my time. If I had known it was going to be this difficult, I would have never signed up for the new device.

Approximate cost: $150