Vumatel, SADV (South African Digital Villages) and Britelink should all be ashamed of the pathetic service I have received over the past month.

Where do I even start with this review, I feel like I could write a book at this point. Vumatel, SADV (South African Digital Villages) and Britelink should all be ashamed of the pathetic service I have received over the past month.

I have had to repeat myself so many times to so many different people - to try and recount this whole ordeal into a brief summary would just be too much - so my apologies to you reading this but I simply feel the best way to ‘tell the whole story’ is just to copy and paste my emails over the course of these three weeks - and fill in the blanks where necessary in italics. Anything between the < > is me breaking the fourth wall and explaining/speaking to you the reader.

__________________ 1 June : (email to SA Digital Villages)

Good day First and foremost let me say that I have been patient, and am this close to writing a negative report on Hello Peter. I want my issue dealt with by someone who will follow through and not push me from pillar to post. I am a long time SADV client of 8+ years, living in <censored> Issue number 1 : I am unable to log in to my SADV account / your portal / whatever. It does not accept my password. The last person who assisted me said I needed to re-verify my account and sent me a link. I clicked the link and it seemed to verify, but still wouldn't accept my old password - but every time I click forgot password, it says its sent me a reset link but I never ever get the email to reset my password ( yes I have checked spam / junk, its not there). Then the ticket I had open was suddenly just closed by you, without any communication. This irritated me. So please help me to be able to log in to my SADV account.. Issue number 2 : I phoned in complaining about how I feel I am running older technology having been an older customer of SADV since 8 years or so.. never changed my router or the little black internet box or the circular wifi dish I was given 8 years ago.. Now I feel the wifi is acting up - my wife has issues with the TV connecting to the wifi at times, netflix and youtube often lose connectivity. <this right here is the main issue I have that has yet to be resolved. And the tricky nature of such an issue where its working but not working (eg dropping connection) is that when the technician comes of course it will be working.. It took over two weeks for someone to even come and assess anything, then no follow up.> I phoned SADV and was advised to get a new router which would be delivered to me and you guys would configure it on your side, all I would need to do is plug it in here. Here is where the confusion and problems start :firstly I received an email from a certain <censored> from Britelink asking about my availability for a fibre installation. WHO IS BRITELINK?! Why are they trying to install fibre when I already have fibre installed?? Then I receive a phone call from someone asking about the devices I have already, and asking for some serial number on the little black box - I could not find the number they wanted so they said to whatsapp photos of all my devices to their whatsapp number. Sure enough I get no more feedback from that number. No more responses from <censored> from Britelink (??) either.. Then suddenly the router gets delivered. No follow up call or email, no way of knowing how to configure this thing or what to do next?? THEN I get an email with a giant VUMA logo and no text whatsoever, and it just says VUMA order confirmation. So now VUMA?? What is that? A THIRD company?? PLEASE explain to me the relationship between SA Digial Villages (Who I understand to still be my ISP since 8 years ago?), VUMA and BRITELINK ? Now PLEASE assist me with configuring this new router, or how do we proceed from here? Lastly, please help me to be able to access my SADV account account through your online portal. Please don't pass buck, thanks. __________________

Now also on 1 June I get an automated email from SADV to the tune of :

We are happy to report that your service request <censored> has been closed. We trust that your request has been resolved to your satisfaction.

<Is this some kind of joke? They close my ticket without me having dealt with or spoken to anyone?>

Also note that Britelink goes on to try and book a fibre installation with me no less than three times throughout all of this (when as I said, I already have fibre installed and not once asked for a fibre installation)

__________________ 6 June : (email to SA Digital Villages)

Good day It's been 5 days and I have had zero response to my email I am re-forwarding (see below). To top it off, a Vumatel technician phoned me last week and arranged an appointment for this Saturday past (4 June) at 10 am to come and install the new router that is just sitting at my house. He was 2 hours late, only calling me at 12 pm - I had already left home. Is this the kind of service I am to expect from Vumatel and SADV?

<please note I received ZERO response for the 5 days before I sent this email, nothing at all> __________________

8 June : (email to Vumatel)

This is now the third time I am emailing because I have received no response from *** - my service provider being SA Digital Villages, which I believe merged with you Vumatel. Please read the following (my issues) :

<here I copy and paste my first email I sent them> __________________

9 June

<I get an email saying yet again that my phone number is unreachable… My response : >

Hi Here is my main number : <censored> That 082 number is my old number

__________________

At this point SADV finally decides to kick into gear and escalate my complaint - I see it being passed through a few hands and the person who assists me was the only ray of hope who might have prevented me writing this complaint here on this platform - but overall the service I received throughout all this warranted the complaint after all. She was very sweet and assisted me with finally fixing the first issue I had - being able to actually log into my ISP portal and my account. She reassured me she would stay on top of Vumatel to try sort my wifi issue.. But eventually she also stopped replying to me and following up, which was disappointing.

18 June An actual technician finally comes to my house, (Vumatel technician) and this time isn’t two hours late, who checks my setup but is mostly interested in getting his readings and this serial number that they have been so intent on getting from me, from downstairs from the shared ONT device outside my apartment unit. I receive no follow up or report or anything at all for days after this.

20 June I get yet another email asking about my phone number - between all these people I have already told that my number changed AND given them the new number - no one has been able to actually update my new number into the system it seems.

So here is my response :

__________________

Hello I have provided my new phone number to multiple people throughout this whole fiasco, including <censored> from SADV, <censored> from Vumatel, <censored> from Britelink, and <censored> the Vumatel technician who came to my house. How many more people shall I provide my number to? How many more different companies should I be dealing with? Please take my new number down once and for all and put it in your systems, for goodness sake : … <censored> __________________ 23 June

I get a call from SADV and am told a bunch of new information that no one has bothered to tell me throughout all of this.

Just for some context, I was told by two people that changing to this new router that got delivered to me would be a ‘step backwards’ from my existing white routerboard setup I had. But then the person who called today advised me to use this new router, which is conflicting advice. He also mentioned that my account had somehow been ‘deprovisioned’ by Vumatel last year on 31 August 2021. (More Vumatel incompetence coming to light). Now this SADV person suggested changing my existing connection to use this new router but I asked if that meant downtime and he said yes. I am concerned this will indeed be a step backwards and my internet could get worse.. But while I was asking him questions we got cut off and he never bothered to phone me back. __________________

It is now 28 June and My issue remains unresolved. Not a single person I have dealt with among all these people has bothered to follow up at this point. Communication between these companies is a joke, as is any actual problem assessment or follow up. Oh, and they seem to have trouble recording a phone number change.

TLDR : Avoid Vumatel, South African Digital Villages (now merged with Vumatel but still operating as an ISP) and Britelink like the plague.