Disgruntled Customer

Dear Sir/ Madam, Without prejudice Trust to find you well, I wanted to take the time to narrate my experience with your Call Centre and specifically with Miss. Londeka Mkhatha; on the morning of the 26th March 2023. The story starts as follows, our Dstv which is under my husband’s profile was disconnected on the 23rd March 2023 without knowing the actual issue to the disconnection being explained besides us getting a message to say we are owing R452.00 and upon my return from work in the evening; I contacted your contact centre and it was then explained to me at the time that the error at hand was due to us having two decoders which is the previous Explora decoder and the recently received Dstv Ultra decoder. I asked the gentleman assisting me at the time, that what is the R452.00 for that Multichoice insists us to pay; because when we paid on the 07th March 2023 we were charged R835.00 and it was verified at the time of the call that we were having these charges due to having two decoders on the profile; which says the Explora was not deactivated and the customer care personnel during the call asked me to stay on the line; whilst he deactivates the old Explora and reactivates our services back. Again, for cer*****y purposes I asked that I hope this won’t be happening again as it’s so confusing. It was cited that we are not owing the said amount. To my surprise, we woke up on Sunday morning on the 26th March 2023 only to experience the similar issue as on the 23rd March 2023 and upon us trying to see what the problem might be; I contacted DSTV and Miss. Londeka Mkhatha took my call. I had to explain the aforesaid story to her and me wanting to understand why it was never communicated at any time that we are owing after we paid the R835.00 on the 07th March 2023. She went ahead to explain, that her system says we must pay, and I continuously said you are not understanding I want to know the reason of us being required to pay the said amount and seeing that she was of no help to answer; besides what is on her system which makes no sense to me as a customer. I asked her to escalate this because I am not at all happy with the explanation given also referencing the incident on the 23rd March 2023. She told me there’s nothing much she can do, besides to escalate to her Team Leader; when asked if there are no Superiors that I could speak to at the time she shared the company policy; which says she is not allowed to provide any names of people in Management, not even a Team Leader. She issued me a reference number for the call ***-I 643. Honestly, I found the process appalling to say the least as I am a customer who is supporting your brand; I was not asking for any donations. I then assumed that Dstv makes it seem that we are not good enough to know who the Managers on duty are. I went to ask if the Managers are “disabled” not in the physical sense; as I could not comprehend that in 2023 there are still companies with such procedures. No one was available to assist loyal customers and I went on to ask if they are demi-gods because if you are not happy with the answers you are given by the call centre agent; there is no further recourse. The experience was extremely frustrating, and she mentioned that she will escalate the matter on my behalf with the Team Leader and I should expect feedback within 24hours. At 10:53 I got a call from a discourteous Team Leader named Ms. Reshma Rambriege, her approach was tremendously patronising, pushy and egotistical as soon as I picked up where she is going I corrected her, in mentioning that I am not welcoming her tone; as a person of colour she needs to learn that not every black person she speaks to is cut from the same cloth. She can’t address any customer, with the tone of prejudgment/ racial classing as we are in a country where people across assume black people don't know how to complain, speak nor write after mentioning that the conversation changed, and she collected herself. This is after, she from the onset saying as per verbatim "my name is Reshma, how can I assist you as she has listened to the call and she finds no wrong. I picked up that she jumped the gun, without taking the time to hear the concern to its fullest length and I asked her to back track and reference the details as in how they transpired. Only to find, that she did not even listen to the call of the 23rd, she verified that she asked Londeka Mkhatha to listen to the call and provide her the summary of the discussion and she called me on the basis of someone junior re-counting the story to her. I speak under correction, she then also mentioned that Londeka Mkhatha declared that I was made aware of the payment by the agent I spoke to on the evening of 23rd March 2023. That is when my frustration, grew as Londeka Mkhatha continued to lie and provided incorrect information, her listening skills are not on par as I asked specifics on the call at the time on the 23rd March 2023; on why we should pay not fighting just want a solid explanation and when the service was reconnected I asked that there won’t be further similar situations. Nonetheless, as I dislike strife I subsequently paid the R315.00 not knowing why it is needed, let’s be sensible and reasonable no one in their rightful mind can refuse to pay for services rendered if justified and explained properly. The frustration comes in where a service provider employs non-caring people. I now see why a lot of people in the country are continuously complaining about DSTV and say who still watches DSTV. Some of us still do watch DSTV and I have Netflix, Amazon Prime Show-max and Disney Plus, however I am asking myself a question on why we should also keep DSTV after such inexcusable customer service. The only valid reason is that I understand that it’s a South African brand and before all the other streaming services came on board we were with Multichoice, brand loyalty is pivotal to me but as always people also pay for the experience with a brand. This incident has been, so enlightening it made me see how Multichoice – Dstv treats their customers. I might be one customer to you, paying the little amount which you might not consider, however respect is key; there was no respect to the customer in the manner in which this issue was handled. In conclusion, there’s still no solid and essential account given to us on why we had to pay R835.00 and an additional R314.00 within the same month. I honestly regret taking the Explora Ultra as it has caused no joy but frustration. I am totally appalled in the manner this issue has been handled, it has really left a bad taste in my mouth. Even if nothing gets done about this situation, I will know that people who have decided to move from DSTV due to the several reasons this one included made a good choice; because one can’t be with a service provider that doesn’t care about their customers and also employ staff personnel who are inconsiderate about customer retention. So disappointing and so sad to see such a good brand losing many customers due to some factors that could be corrected. . With the above said, take it or ignore it I think a customer service refresher training should be provided to the Team in your Customer Care to ensure that this type of behaviour never takes place in the future; to the loyal clientele that is still with your company. Yours Sincerely,

Yvette