What can you do when a service provider gaslights you?

I signed up with Axxess for one purpose only. To have a LTE backup during loadshedding when my fibre router does not work. Most of the time it works perfectly with download speeds of around 15 Mbps. However - every so often I will notice that it drops the connection and then when I reconnect, the speed hovers below 0.5Mbps. In this case Axxess is a reseller for Telkom. When I access my router, the interface shows me that there have been SMSs received from Telkom.

They read: "Internet access paused. Either your data bundle is depleted or you're not in Telkom's coverage and using a Telkom only bundle. Dial *180# or open your browser."

The first time it happened I contacted Axxess support, they reset my SIM card and I was once again able to work at normal speed - without making any changes to any settings on my router.

But within an hour it happened again. There was another SMS from Telkom stating exactly the same. I contacted Axxess again and explained to them what the problem was.

What is incredibly infuriating is that they say those messages from Telkom are not possible. They either imply I'm imagining them or otherwise that I'm making it up even after sending them numerous screenshots of the messages together with what my line speed is after I receive such a message and what it is when everything is normal.

They made me jump through all the hoops. I had to prove to them that the SIM in my router is indeed the one I got from them. I had to send them three speed tests which I did. They reset the SIM and once again the speed was back to more than acceptable.

Then I received an email to inform me that my support ticket had been automatically closed but that I could reopen it by commenting on it. I commented that the root cause has not been resolved. The problem is not that there is anything wrong with my router settings or that I'm using a counterfeit SIM (!!) card trying to access their network, but rather that even though on their dashboard it shows that I have more than 110GB available before my cap is reached. I reopened the ticket stating that the root problem had not been resolved. Again they asked for three speed tests. I sent them two attachments - One which contained all three speedtests and another one with a copy of the SMS received from Telkom. When I tried to follow up regarding the status I was informed that I only sent two speedtests and they need three before they can continue working on the ticket. I told them if they only bothered to look at the contents of the attachments instead of just counting them, they would see that I did send them three speed tests.

What is really the most irritating about the whole interaction with them is the blatant arrogance of the helpdesk personnel. I work in the IT industry myself and I would definitely say that I am very computer literate, but they treat me like someone who doesn't know the first thing about computers. They don't bother to read my feedback and come back with stock answers like "they don't have a SLA for LTE since it is dependant on so many factors." Yet on their website they are selling a much smaller router than what I have to enable people to continue accessing the internet even during loadshedding.

And when you look at their website they sell themselves as a customer-centric company. That is the most insulting to their existing customers who get treated with zero respect. I have copies of all my interactions with them. I can prove it.

I'm near the stage where I am going to give up completely and have the SIM that I purchased through them moved to another ISP. But before that I would like to give them a last chance to please get someone who is prepared to read the attachments I have sent and listen to my problem. Don't tell me LTE speeds cannot be guaranteed because I have proof that my speed is fine until I get the SMS that Telkom has "paused" my internet. Don't tell me that Telkom doesn't "pause" a subscriber's internet. Don't tell me that especially during loadshedding LTE speeds cannot be guaranteed - especially while you're running a campaign to sell sub-standard routers to customers to use for LTE during load shedding.