Do NOT sign up with Mweb Fibre... unless you are happy to get ZERO service

We have been clients with Mweb Fibre (ona Vumatel fibre line) for exactly a year. However, we have been experiencing WiFi connectivity issues for several months now. We did ask Vumatel to test the line and look at it from their end, but the technicians found it to be working... so the issue must be with Mweb.

When the issue started, we tried resolving it by following the troubleshooting FAQs on the Mweb website, which did not help at all. We then logged several support tickets online, but never received any feedback from Mweb on those. After it became clear than no attention was given to the support requests, we started phoning their helpdesk...

Firstly, the automated system is worthless. The automatic validation system Mweb implemented is a waste of time, requiring us to repeatedly enter credentials without being able to accurately capture any information. on their end. Then, when the system finally decides to allow you to proceed, you wait online for hours to get any human assistance...

This happened around 8 times, ranging from dropped calls after a 40+ minute hold to shifting the blame to Vumatel or the dreaded “please hold for another department...” response... At least some of the instances we managed to get “assistance” from someone (each time after holding nearly 1 hour+). This resulted in having to change the settings of the WiFi router 3 times, eventually resulting in reverting to the factory default - all on the Mweb technicians’ instructions... However the issues persisted and connectivity remained an issue.

After weeks of being sent from pillar to post by Mweb without the issue being resolved, we finally decided to cancel our Month to Month (which turns out to be not so “month to month” after all) package. This in itself is turning out to be a major headache...

Firstly, when we phoned Mweb 9am this morning to finally cancel (again holding 45 minutes), I was informed that the ticked was logged and someone from their retentions division will be in contact before the afternoon. At 3pm, after hearing nothing back, we called again (and yes, held 40+ minutes again...) to request the cancellation to be finalised, only to hear that there is a cancellation fee payable before they can process it (more on this to follow). I then asked that they do the necessary, and Mweb confirmed that they will send an email to me (I did verify the correct email address) regarding the fee right away to finalise the cancellation... Guess what, no email yet...

Now, regarding this allusive cancellation fee, it must be said that we were on a month to month package with Mweb, subject to 6/12 months in order for the WiFi Router and connectivity to be free... we have been with them for more than 12 months. Then, after expressly requesting confirmation from Mweb in a call (one of the many) last week on what the cancellation fee (if any) would be, we were informed that there will be ZERO fees payable if we cancel. Now, when cancelling today, we were informed that there is now a R350+ fee payable...

So we are now sitting with useless Fibre/WiFi from Mweb, unable to cancel the package, needing to pay yet another mysterious fee after already spending hundreds of Rand in airtime on hold, and still waiting for Mweb to get back to us an give us ANY proper service...

Bottom line: DO NOT SIGN UP WITH MWEB FIBRE!!!!