Edgars client service a Disgrace!

My mother has an Edgars account for over 50 years now, that is a long time! Not once in this time has she ever made a late payment, missed a payment or in any way jeopardised her good standing with the company. In fact, most of the times she will pay more than the monthly amount due or sometimes just pay off the account at once. A while back we requested that she receive her account on her mobile device. She could never open the account on her phone due to errors when trying to open it, but the account still arrived ad-hoc in the post as well.

In September, she received an account in the post with an outstanding amount for airtime. Never did she request for airtime on her Edgars account. After numerous phone calls to numbers not being answered, people that could not or would not assist her in Afrikaans, never phoning her back, we decided to visit a local Edgars branch and requested for the airtime to be removed from her account and the monies reversed. Staff could not tell us for what number the airtime was or if there even was an application done on her account for the airtime but logged a support mail to have it cancelled. The following week my mother started receiving sms’s to notify her that she is being handed over. My mother, in a panicked state, tried numerous times again to phone the numbers to no avail. Not one person tried to assist her, and she was told point blank they could or would not assist her in Afrikaans. The sms’s changed to: she is now being handed over and blacklisted. For R 400… which was an error on Edgars’ part to begin with!

We again went in to a branch, where the staff member called the helpline in front of us, logged the cancellation and my mother even received an sms to state that the cancellation has been logged. Still, the sms’s came in to say she is blacklisted and handed over. She phoned again, were told there was nothing on the system, the cancellation was logged again, the 48-hour period started again. Finally, a call centre agent phoned my mother to say the cancellation will take 48 hours but is [this time] logged. The sms’s still came.

At this stage my mother is in full blown panic mode, which is understandable. Never in her life has she missed a late payment, EVER! and now she is being blacklisted for a mistake that she had nothing to do with! And still we are getting nowhere fast! She again phoned the call centre, were given the assurance AGAIN that the cancellation was logged NOW as they could not pick anything up on the system… this after the cancellation has been logged AT LEAST four times! They could also not help with the legal part because (OF COURSE) this is on another system, not available to them on THIS system. Back and forth, back and forth, and not one person can tell us for what number the airtime is, who did the application or just do the cancellation! And every single time the cancellation will take 48 hours. To date, we still don’t have the phone number linked to the airtime or the forms that was supposedly filled in to request it.

For over 50 years my mother has supported you, Edgars, she was a faithful customer who spent much of her money in your store, and now for a mistake on your part, you penalised my mother and blacklisted her. It is human nature to make mistakes but how is it possible that such a large company as Edgars are so incapable of reversing an error made?

This is totally unacceptable, and my mother will cancel her Edgars account if this matter is finally resolved. She may be only one small customer and of no great loss to you but if one small customer has such difficulties in dealing with the company on such a minor incident, how many more are there?

It is such a disappointment and humiliation that the ‘thank you’ received for a pensioner lady being a loyal customer for over 50 years is being blacklisted for R 400.