So disappointed with poor service from Afrihost

Hi. I have been with Afrihost since 2011, a long time I would say – long enough to watch them grow into a much bigger company. But sadly as with most companies that grow so fast, their attention to customer service has diminished. I have always been so happy with Afrihost, having recommended them to many friends, family members and work colleagues and getting them to sign up with Afrihost. This is why it really saddens me to make this post on Hello Peter.

Around 23 October 2017 I took my (only 2 week old) Rain LTE router in to Afrihost in Rivonia to have it checked because it was switching off by itself, after being switched on for a few minutes. The young employee who assisted me took it to the warehouse next door to check, and verified with me it was faulty. This individual was really ****y and indifferent, not even offering me any kind of solution or alternative after telling me that there are simply no more devices left, so I can’t exchange it. All I wanted was some kind of surety that he would make a note, log a fault, SOMETHING, to assure me that he would look into some kind of replacement solution.. I actually had to suggest myself that they give a temporary replacement?!

When I decided this person couldn’t be bothered to actually help me, I asked to speak to his manager and with yet another ****y smile and nod he said ‘go ahead, my manager is right over there…’I was so shocked at this behaviour but because I was on a work lunch break I was out of time and just spoke to the manager, who was more helpful and logged it for me and gave me a temporary, inferior LTE router to the one I original bought. He said I could check back mid December and see if they got stock again of the Rain LTE router. He was helpful and polite which I appreciated.

A month passed and as planned, mid December I emailed this Walkin Centre Manager to follow up. No response. I waited 5 days, followed up again. No response. I then waited until 2 January to follow up again, still no response. 12 January I follow up again – still no response. On 20 January I felt I had been patient enough and CCed the Afrihost CEO, as well as Afrihost support, to express my disappointment in the lack of service or update.

So I finally got a response, but it was from a woman from Afrihost support, who told me the manager hadn’t responded because he was on sick leave. Sick leave from 11 December until the day of this email from Afrihost support – 22 January? I found it hard to believe, but ok. Maybe it was a combination of sick leave and annual leave. From here it was more back and forth emails and waiting 5 days in between without feedback until I asked for some. Basically the router still wasn’t in stock. Many days later (it is now 8 February….) this woman tells me the manager is now back and the manager suggested some confusing solution about signing up for another package , getting billed and then later credited once the router is delivered… I was not keen on this and simply wanted the exchange as promised. I was promised that when the router eventually became available again that a driver would be sent and it be delivered to my house to facilitate the exchange – to compensate for the obscene amount of time I have had to wait. Not to mention all this time I have been paying full price for a Rain LTE subscription since October 2017 but have received poor/intermittent internet connectivity and high latency due to this temporary inferior router.

Then I got an email at long last saying I can come collect the new router at their offices… What happened to delivery to my house? I feel it is only fair that the LEAST Afrihost could do is send a driver and deliver the replaced router to facilitate the exchange. For personal reasons to do with the current situation of my father’s business, he cannot afford a day without internet access, It is extremely difficult for me take the temporary router away from the house to Afrihost offices – plus I am working during the week and don’t stay with my father I stay in my own place a fair distance from the family home(where this router is supposed to be).

I started writing out this HelloPeter complaint a few weeks ago and have just not been able to finish it until now… yet in all this time still no follow up from Afrihost. I am so very disappointed and gutted at the level of service I have received from Afrihost and specifically this Walkin Centre Manager, who I will not name and shame only because of my loyalty to Afrihost all these years. I just want some kind of acknowledgement that I have been really poorly and unfairly treated, and would like a driver to bring the replacement router AS WAS PROMISED.

Kind regards Michael Munro (please email me at ********** since you will not be able to reach me on my cell phone number you have on record).