Abysmal Service and Utter Lack of Accountability

I am utterly appalled by the ********** service I have received from Cool Ideas and Vumatel. This review is a desperate plea to warn potential customers of the sheer incompetence and disregard for customer satisfaction exhibited by these companies.

Ticket Number: ***4 Date Logged: 13/05/2024 at 8:43 AM Issue: Complete Fibre Line Outage

From the onset, my experience was marred by a complete lack of communication and transparency. On May 13th, my fibre line went down without any prior warning or indication of scheduled maintenance. It became apparent, that many of my neighbours also lost their connection. Our perfectly working lines were being yanked out and disconnected for no apparent reason. I even checked the maintenance schedules on Cool Ideas and Vumatel sites. I reported this immediately, and all I received was a feeble acknowledgment that my line is down, with no concrete information on why it's down or when it would be resolved.

Responses and Follow-Ups Despite multiple follow-ups, I was met with a barrage of generic and unhelpful responses from Cool Ideas. They continuously promised updates and assured me of their efforts to resolve the issue, but these were nothing more than empty promises.

Here are some highlights of the incompetence:

Nhlanhla Mntungwa (13/05/2024, 9:14 AM): A vague response saying that the issue was with Vumatel and a turnaround time of 24-72 hours was given. Spoiler: It took much longer.

Faith Ngoasheng (13/05/2024, 11:57 AM): Informed me that the ticket was assigned to maintenance pending tech arrival, with no timeframe provided. No one made contact with us.

Kamogelo Mahlangu (13/05/2024, 4:58 PM): My phone rang for 3 seconds. He claimed he couldn't reach me and no substantial update provided, just a follow-up request to Vumatel.

Nhlanhla Mntungwa (14/05/2024, 7:23 AM): Claimed Vumatel had worked on the issue, asking if my line was still down. Spoiler: It was still down.

Mauritz Kloppers (14/05/2024, 7:39 AM): They had the audacity to mark my ticket as "resolved" for no apparent reason. I explicitly informed them that my line was still down and to keep the ticket open. No meaningful response followed.

Multiple Follow-Ups by Me (14/05/2024 - 15/05/2024): I continually requested updates, only to receive repetitive, useless responses.

Karabo Malope (15/05/2024, 5:08 PM): Claimed my line was up and running without confirming with me. When I responded that it was temporarily back and I still see Vumatel staff yanking out people's cables (still no reason provided), I received no information about the outage reasons or future risks.

Mauritz Kloppers (26/05/2024 & 03/06/2024): Despite the temporary fix, I repeatedly asked for reasons behind the outage, why weren't notifie and assurances it wouldn’t happen again. No substantive response was ever given.

Final Straw I argued that this downtime was not due to any failure, but due to them intentionally disconnecting our cables and leaving us without internet for 3 days. The utter lack of communication was reprehensible. After all this back-and-forth, the issue culminated in Cool Ideas outright refusing a credit request for the downtime, citing I was “not reachable,” a blatant lie. I was available and responsive throughout the entire ordeal, constantly monitoring my phone and email.

Conclusion Cool Ideas and Vumatel have displayed an alarming level of incompetence and a total lack of accountability. Here’s what they failed to do:

Notification: No prior warning about the supposed maintenance. Communication: Abysmal communication and failure to provide updates during the downtime. Resolution: Took an unacceptable amount of time to resolve a simple issue. Transparency: No feedback or explanations provided post-resolution. Accountability: Denied any responsibility and refused reasonable compensation. To potential customers: beware! If you value your time, money, and sanity, avoid Cool Ideas and Vumatel like the plague. They will fail you at every turn and leave you with nothing but frustration and regret.

Rating: 1/5 (Only because a 0 is not possible)