JW
Jaco W

1 reviews | Active since Jan 2018

06 Jan 2018, 00:24

Dreadful: C-Fibre customer care & installation process

I placed an order with C-Fibre for their 100 meg upload and 50 meg download package. The fibre provider in my area is Openserve.

The website and call center agent said I would receive an email as soon as I placed my order with all of the details of my order, including their order with Openserve. This did not happen - instead it took them 14 days to place the order with Openserve. Then, they said from that point that it may take up to 6 weeks. I am now approaching the end of week four since the placement of my order, with absolutely no information aside from an order number.

Throughout this process, I have had to call back and request information numerous times (approx twice every day). Their call center agents, as well as their Openserve accounts manager (I presume - Her exact role in the entire story remains a mystery despite asking) mostly ignore me - and when they deal with my queries, they make me feel as if I am an inconvenience.

Furthermore, they wash their hands of anything. The common refrain is "Wait 6 weeks until you are called". This is despite explaining that I travel abroad for work and that my phone does not always have roaming enabled - so I need to have their assistance regarding at least some type of information regarding the progress of my order - when to at least expect a call. Any inkling.

To top it all off - their own technicians start phoning me to complete my fiber installation before Openserve does. After explaining my situation to them, they were equally perplexed and reached out to their own call center and admin departments - to no avail. They could only apologize profusely. Sadly, their sympathy won't connect me to the internet.

To summarize my experience: C-fibre does not take ownership of the challenges their customers face, they don't proactively deal with issues, they never supply accurate or up to date information and drag their feet in everything they do. They are simply painful to deal with - and they never take their customers side. If you are their customer, you are an inconvenience.

Choosing them as a fibre provider has been been a dreadful disappointment and a decision I now profoundly regret.

To any C-fibre individuals reading this: Names of staff available on request - but omitted here for privacy sake.

0
Replies (5)
Cell C
Cell C's reply06 Jan 2018, 07:30
Official

You have come through to the correct platform for assistance.

Our team will investigate your query and provide you with feedback with the aim of resolving this matter.

Regards
Cell C | DA

Cell C
Cell C's reply08 Jan 2018, 08:27
Official

Maropeng has contacted you and escalated your query to C-Fibre for further assistance. Feedback will be provided as soon as possible.

Regards

Cell C | DA

JW
Jaco W's update10 Jan 2018, 09:46
Reviewer Update
An update: On Sunday, I received a call from Cell C. I appreciated that it was on a weekend and it had me hopeful that things would move forward. I was assured to expect a call from the fibre installation people over the course of the next 24-48 hours. This has now lapsed. In addition, I shared the order number with another ISP to see if they could do a better - and received feedback that "The order is ready for installation with the provider, I need to put pressure on C-Fibre to move it forward". This is within a day. Today, I try to do this and get apply the "needed" pressure but cannot reach the people that had reached out to me originally. It has reached a stage where it is so frustrating that it's comical. A simple message from those responsible at C-Fibre saying "I've followed up again today, this was the outcome" would be incredible. Yet they all seem to wash their hands of the matter. I don't know if I should go forward, cancel, approach a consumer tribunal or what anymore - since cancelling puts me back at square one with another ISP due to the Cell C mess. This is insane.
Cell C
Cell C's reply10 Jan 2018, 10:18
Official

A follow up request has been sent to Maropeng. Please expect communication soon.

Regards

Cell C | DA

Cell C
Cell C's reply11 Jan 2018, 08:26
Official

Maropeng confirmed that the matter has been attended to.

Regards

Cell C | DA