Dishonesty and disgraceful customer from DSTV

This is my complaint (see below) as sent through to DSTV South Africa. This has been an endless, frustrating struggle. This is not just about the lack of their ability to respond, but also about the dishonesty that’s has been displayed by sales team in order to force a package into you to make their targets and we as customers are stuck with no response to our queries at all. They simply continue to debit out accounts. We make endless number of phone calls, we are put on hold for hours and take various meaningless references as they mean nothing when you try to follow up. You basically have to convey the same story over and over again. This level of customer care for an international company is actually quite disgraceful. The worst part is that the installer that initially came to us told us that there are at least 5 other clients that he has dealt with that has had the exact same issue. The clients we **** to by the sales consultants and not the clients are stuck as no one bothers to return calls or help to resolve the matter.

Letter to DSTV South Africa:

Dear Sir/Madam

I am desperately seeking your assistance.

I have two pvr decoders, both with its own view and recording functions. I recently saw your offer for price lock and contacted your call center and signed up for the R999 package which included the new ultra decoder with installation.

While talking to the sales lady, she informed me that if I were to take another decoder, I would only pay R49 extra per month and this would serve as a third view. We really have no need for a third view but the sales lady convinced me saying that the R49 per month would include the monthly subscription for a third view as well. She then said that the installer will install the third decoder as well all free of charge. I found this hard to believe so I enquired over and over again and the sales lady insisted this was correct. I agreed to the contract telephonically. A few days later, I was informed by a family member to double check this as he did have a third view and it did cost an extra R100 monthly. I tried to call your call center and sent numerous messages to your price lock number. I spoke to at least a dozen people, all promising to get their team leader to call me back but this never happened.

Unfortunately, when the installer came through he also informed me that this was completely incorrect and that I would have to pay an extra R100 for the subscription for the third view monthly and I would need to pay for the installation of the third decoder. We were very unhappy with this. I once again called you call center. Once again, I have numerous references numbers but no one has solved this problem.

I would like you to please uplift the extra decoder. I will not be using it and I will not have a third view. I only want to pay R999 for my subscription as per the original offer.

I am frustrated beyond words right now. It seems to me that the sales people will say just about anything to make sales and hit their targets. However, this dishonesty only creates frustration and distrust with you customers. I am a premium member. I have been for over a decade now and I find this to be totally unacceptable. When the installer arrived, he told me that I was one of 6 customers that had the exact same problem. Really, this kind of behaviour must be dealt with. It’s unacceptable that I have spent hours of my time on phone calls to sort a simple query that should not have surfaced in the first place. I am emailing you hoping I will get some sort of resolution, although, I must say with the customer care I have received, I am extremely doubtful. Urgently anticipating your response.

This email was sent three days ago, with no response except for an auto generated email to confirm that my email had reached the offices of DSTV.