DSTV Accounting Nightmare

Multichoice Price Lock. ***

On 1.7.97 I paid my first subscription to Multichoice for Mnet services. Digital satellite Tv was offered by Multichoice through DSAt, forerunner of DSTV. I signed up for this service on 11.6.1998.

As soon as Multichoice offered the Price lock plan at R949 I changed my subscription to the Price Lock plan which expired in April 2018.

After the expiration of the Price lock plan I was billed the normal rate which amounted to R1027. During may 2018 I asked to join the new price lock plan at R959. This plan also offered the following on DSTv premium + DSTV explora+acces fee+DSTV smart LNB+DSTV wifi +installation.

During May 2018 a new explora was delivered by courier and installed on 29 May 2018. I was informed that I had to pay a prorata fee for the 29,30,31st of May 2018. No credit was allowed for the fully paid subscription of the old decoder. I was informed that an amount of R1 842 was payable in advance. Not understanding the reason for this request, I asked the installer to enquire from the service centre why this was necessary. An argument ensued and he handed the phone back to me.

The following day I noticed that an amount of R1842 was deducted from my account which was promptly reversed by my bank as it exceeded the agreed amount on Price lock plan of R959 which I paid on 8 June 2018.

This would be the beginning of my endless battle with Multichoice’s faulty calculations, for which I received ridiculous explanations such as having two decoders, extra view, no payment for June 2018 etc.

Multichoice has switched off our service on a monthly basis because of their faulty calculations - so many times that the hard drive became *******, had to be reformatted and eventually replaced on two occasions.

Fed up with their ridiculous explanations, I handed the matter over to attorneys, who later advised that the matter had been resolved and that the credit of R809 on my account was not out of goodwill by Multichoice, but was a credit on my previous account!!

Lately Multichoice is again billing me the ridiculous amount of R 1 704.03. Multichoice also has offered no explanation why no new disc nor smart LNB has been installed and has also not credited my account for these. Multichoice also failed to supply a statement for the period 2.5.2018 to 1.6.2018. During a visit to Multichoice Head Office in April 2019 to replace a ******* decoder, numerous decoders were reflected on my account. They could not be removed unless I authorised their removal, which I did. So my account should reflect only one decoder, which still is not the case.

There is no avenue to contact the accounts department, as they are the culprits who owe me an explanation. They hide behind the poor call centre staff, who can do absolutely nothing but escalate the problem time and time again! They do not have any authority to call back a customer with updated information and the accounts department remains mute and indifferent about all the escalations. No feedback at all – only bloated accounts and warnings to pay the ridiculous amounts!

As my attorney could not resolve this matter and the fact that I am now fully fed up with making numerous phone calls and having to listen to hundreds of ridiculous explanations, I am now posting this on Hello Peter as a warning to others and hopefully to get some attention to this matter from the mighty Multichoice.