A Victorian woman has been left in shock after receiving a phone bill from Telstra in which her middle name was changed to a homophobic slur. The woman, who had decided to change phone providers after 40 years with Telstra, said she didn’t believe the word was put there by mistake.
The woman, known as Kathy, claims she has never provided Telstra with her middle name. And yet Telstra included the middle name ‘faggot’ in her phone bill.
The woman’s husband was outraged, saying “It wasn’t a misprint, it wasn’t a mistake, it was meant to be.”
“We’ve been with Telstra since 1971,” he told A Current Affair.
Marketing expert Dr Brent Coker from the University of Melbourne was outraged by the event.
"What’s happened here is quite shocking and really quite surprising actually," he told A Current Affair.
"They need to do what it takes to fix things and make it right because if they don’t it is certainly going to come back to bite them."
The woman said she was confused as to how they could think someone could have such a derogatory term as their middle name.
“I got very upset and angry," Kathy said.
In a statement a Telstra spokesperson told A Current Affair, they are investigating the incident.
“We are extremely disappointed with what has occurred and have contacted the family to apologise," the spokesperson said.
“Incidents like this are unacceptable and we are conducting a thorough investigation to understand how and when the error occurred.”