Faulty Hardware - No Responsibility

Afrihost -

I have been a customer with you for the last couple of months - and the "Internet Line" is been fine, no complaints.

Recently the router that was provided in my package (D-Link Dir-816) - the wireless has packed up - and all wireless devices are unable to authenticate after an hour - this means I have to restart the router again for the wireless to work - but it will then break again.

I called Afrihost advising this - the engineers who answer the phone are find, this isnt their fault they just follow policy, and are dictated to by their supervisors.

This is what they said:

I am welcome to log an exchange on the router, and a courier will come out to collect the router and take it back to afrihost. Afrihost will NOT dispatch another router for us to use in the meantime - while the diagnostics is carried out.

The turn-around time?

2 Weeks.

I run a business from home, and internet is imperative to the success of my work. I explained this to them. And kept being told that unfortunately its policy that we dont send out a new router while trying to diagnose the current one.

I spoke to the engineers supervisor (Sheldon) Sheldon when he answered the phone sounded about as enthusiastic as a corpse - honestly - I dont know where he finds the will to live.

Sheldon was unenthusiastic, cold, distant and couldnt give 2 hoots about the fact that the afrihost owned device is faulty, interrupting service that I pay for on a monthly basis - and there is no support for the client at all - other than the client to absorb the 100% downtime for 2 weeks (which afrihost came back to me to say: "Oh , well, because its a FTTH, we dont actually guarantee 100% uptime)

This was Sheldons amazing advice: • Try and borrow a router from someone in the meantime from neighbors or friends. • He didnt agree with the business practice - but that was policy • After he kept repeating himself that it was policy, he was nearing the point of hanging up.

So here is the summary of all of this: • I call customer care • I advise them of my problem • They tell me to log an exchange • I do • They tell me turn around is 2 weeks • They refuse to send me out a replacement router to use internet in those 2 weeks because its "Against policy" • So what Im left with is a faulty router, no internet for 2 weeks, and Afrihost thinks this is acceptable.

Ive now resorted to having to BUY my own router so that I can actually continue my day to day job, all because of Afrihosts lack of ethics, customer service and poorly planned "policy"

SORELY disappointed with my overall experience, and was the cost of a R600 router really worth our continued patronage?

Will be looking for alternative suppliers.

Thanks for nothing Afrihost.