Scores reflect the Overall AI Score for each category
Based on recent customer reviews, Sage South Africa is described by accountants, bookkeepers and small business owners as a capable software brand let down by its service operation. Customers consistently report locked or suspended systems, billing and debit order errors after cancellation, and long telephone holds with repeated transfers. A recurring theme is that queries remain unresolved for months, forcing users to escalate publicly or migrate to competing platforms.
Top Strengths:
- •Staff Professionalism & Expertise: Isolated bright spots exist where named consultants such as Nokulunga Simelane and Colleen Nyoni patiently walked a customer through payroll medical codes, and some call centre agents are described as pleasant, though most reviewers question agent knowledge and training.
Replied to 98% of negative reviews
Reply time on negative reviews: 7h 45m
TrustIndex
3
Ranking
#6
in Business Services
Reply Time
7h 52m
NPS Score
-54
Recommended: Unlikely
Replied to 98% of negative reviews
Reply time on negative reviews: 7h 45m
Nov '25 - Oct '26
Frequently Asked Questions About Sage South Africa
What do customers say about Sage South Africa?
Based on recent customer reviews, Sage South Africa is described by accountants, bookkeepers and small business owners as a capable software brand let down by its service operation. Customers consistently report locked or suspended systems, billing and debit order errors after cancellation, and long telephone holds with repeated transfers. A recurring theme is that queries remain unresolved for months, forcing users to escalate publicly or migrate to competing platforms.
What is Sage South Africa's biggest strength?
Sage South Africa's biggest strength, according to Hellopeter's AI analysis, is Staff Professionalism & Expertise. Isolated bright spots exist where named consultants such as Nokulunga Simelane and Colleen Nyoni patiently walked a customer through payroll medical codes, and some call centre agents are described as pleasant, though most reviewers question agent knowledge and training.
What are the most common complaints about Sage South Africa?
The most common complaint about Sage South Africa, based on Hellopeter's AI analysis of recent customer reviews, is Communication & Responsiveness. Customers report hold times of thirty minutes to several hours, calls dropping after transfers between departments, support emails receiving only automated replies, and promised callbacks and escalations that never materialise, pushing users onto public complaint platforms.
How does Sage South Africa compare to other Business Services companies?
Sage South Africa scores 0.8 out of 5 on Hellopeter's AI analysis of service quality in Business Services, compared to the Business Services industry average of 2.7. Their strongest theme is Staff Expertise (1); their weakest is Trust & Ethics (0.7). The top AI-rated Business Services business on Hellopeter is Road Protect (Pty) Ltd (4.4). How is the AI Score calculated? →
Is Sage South Africa trustworthy?
Sage South Africa has a TrustIndex of 3 out of 10 on Hellopeter, based on 81 reviews in the last 12 months. They reply to 98% of negative reviews, typically within 7 hours 45 min. Hellopeter has tracked Sage South Africa across 1,616 total reviews. How is the TrustIndex calculated? →
Recent reviews (81)
Used this business recently? Share your experience to help others decide.
Used this business recently? Share your experience to help others decide.
Share Your Experience1 reviews | Active since Sept 2009
Request to withdraw statements and cancel contract
I arranged with our business partner to begin using Sage's services. All paperwork was completed except the project implementation contract, which I never signed. I then had to relocate to another province unexpectedly, and I advised the business partner that the project needed to be put on hold. They understood and were supportive. Despite this, I have been receiving statements from Sage for a system that has never been set up and to which I have no access. I should not be penalised for a communication breakdown between Sage and the business partner. When I had a meeting with Sage, I was told I must pay regardless of access, because the business partner submitted the documents and Sage was never told the project was on hold. The best offer was to bill me for 6 months instead of the contractual 12. As I never signed the implementation contract, I do not accept that I am bound by its 12-month term. I am very disappointed. As I have received no service amd the business partner was advised on time, I request that: All statements issued to me be withdrawn, and The contract be cancelled without penalty. I value Sage's products and had intended to resume the project, but if this is not resolved fairly, I will move to another service provider.
1 reviews | Active since Sept 2009
Request to withdraw statements and cancel contract
I arranged with our business partner to begin using Sage's services. All paperwork was completed except the project implementation contract, which I never signed. I then had to relocate to another province unexpectedly, and I advised the business partner that the project needed to be put on hold. They understood and were supportive. Despite this, I have been receiving statements from Sage for a system that has never been set up and to which I have no access. I should not be penalised for a communication breakdown between Sage and the business partner. When I had a meeting with Sage, I was told I must pay regardless of access, because the business partner submitted the documents and Sage was never told the project was on hold. The best offer was to bill me for 6 months instead of the contractual 12. As I never signed the implementation contract, I do not accept that I am bound by its 12-month term. I am very disappointed. As I have received no service amd the business partner was advised on time, I request that: All statements issued to me be withdrawn, and The contract be cancelled without penalty. I value Sage's products and had intended to resume the project, but if this is not resolved fairly, I will move to another service provider.
1 reviews | Active since Nov 2023
BANK FEEDS NEVER WORK WITH NO PROPER FEEDBACK
If you are looking for a system that needs to update from banking daily please do not invest in Sage - every day there is an issue with my bank feeds which wastes both mine and my directors time as we need to disconnect and reconnect, it should be something that saves you time but it is doing the absolute opposite and this is highly frustrating. It has been ongoing for more than a month and the support team/bots dont provide any proper feedback!
1 reviews | Active since Nov 2023
BANK FEEDS NEVER WORK WITH NO PROPER FEEDBACK
If you are looking for a system that needs to update from banking daily please do not invest in Sage - every day there is an issue with my bank feeds which wastes both mine and my directors time as we need to disconnect and reconnect, it should be something that saves you time but it is doing the absolute opposite and this is highly frustrating. It has been ongoing for more than a month and the support team/bots dont provide any proper feedback!
1 reviews | Active since Aug 2024
Don't care about small customers
I am a small bookkeeping business with only a handful of small business clients and yet I have to pay same subscriptions as bigger firms, who use Servers. In fact seems like I will pay more, because I am not on a Server. Their focus is on large business, not individuals and despite being a Pastel Sage user for more than 20 years. I was informed this morning that my helpers who are Single users not on a Server, need to pay for a Site licence over and above the very high renewal forum bundle amount. I was also shunted from one assistant to the other. I am still waiting for feedback
1 reviews | Active since Aug 2024
Don't care about small customers
I am a small bookkeeping business with only a handful of small business clients and yet I have to pay same subscriptions as bigger firms, who use Servers. In fact seems like I will pay more, because I am not on a Server. Their focus is on large business, not individuals and despite being a Pastel Sage user for more than 20 years. I was informed this morning that my helpers who are Single users not on a Server, need to pay for a Site licence over and above the very high renewal forum bundle amount. I was also shunted from one assistant to the other. I am still waiting for feedback
1 reviews | Active since Jun 2016
Appalling Customer Service and System Glitches at Sage - Business Incapacitated at Month-End!
I have been using Sage Accounting for my business, JAZ Engineering, seamlessly since 2018, and Sage Payroll for almost two years. On 22 September, I was forced by Sage's system to activate mandatory Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) on our accounting profile. Following this update, we have been completely locked out of our separate payroll profile right at month-end. When I phoned their support center on 29 September (Original Phone Ref Ticket: ***), the agent was completely unhelpful and repeatedly insisted that I had manually changed our payroll email address, which I categorically did not do. It is evidently a backend glitch on their side triggered by their forced 2FA rollout. Because of this, we are currently unable to process our month-end payroll or finalize our PAYE for SARS, which has strict statutory deadlines. I sent an urgent formal escalation yesterday and a follow-up today (New Complaints ***), and we have been completely ignored. Absolutely zero response from their complaints or support teams. It is shocking that a payroll software provider can leave a business completely incapacitated at the most critical time of the month and simply refuse to provide support or even acknowledge the issue. If you are a business owner, think twice before using Sage. We are now actively looking to move all our business accounting and payroll to another provider that actually supports its paying clients.
1 reviews | Active since Jun 2016
Appalling Customer Service and System Glitches at Sage - Business Incapacitated at Month-End!
I have been using Sage Accounting for my business, JAZ Engineering, seamlessly since 2018, and Sage Payroll for almost two years. On 22 September, I was forced by Sage's system to activate mandatory Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) on our accounting profile. Following this update, we have been completely locked out of our separate payroll profile right at month-end. When I phoned their support center on 29 September (Original Phone Ref Ticket: ***), the agent was completely unhelpful and repeatedly insisted that I had manually changed our payroll email address, which I categorically did not do. It is evidently a backend glitch on their side triggered by their forced 2FA rollout. Because of this, we are currently unable to process our month-end payroll or finalize our PAYE for SARS, which has strict statutory deadlines. I sent an urgent formal escalation yesterday and a follow-up today (New Complaints ***), and we have been completely ignored. Absolutely zero response from their complaints or support teams. It is shocking that a payroll software provider can leave a business completely incapacitated at the most critical time of the month and simply refuse to provide support or even acknowledge the issue. If you are a business owner, think twice before using Sage. We are now actively looking to move all our business accounting and payroll to another provider that actually supports its paying clients.
1 reviews | Active since Mar 2009
Sage Support Team Ineptitude
Sage one recently rolled out two factor authentication without letting us know and without asking permission. Trouble is that our email login was a legacy one which we no longer have access to. For over 2 weeks now they have been unable to sort this out and we now have a VAT payment due that we cannot calculate properly. Each call is me with "Our dev team is on it and it will be sorted by tomorrow". We are now having to investigate other options as we cannot run a business where we are doing VAT calcs on a spreadsheet. Our company has over 400 staff and a turnover of over R40Mil. Looking at Xero accounting now as a way to solve the problem we have.
1 reviews | Active since Mar 2009
Sage Support Team Ineptitude
Sage one recently rolled out two factor authentication without letting us know and without asking permission. Trouble is that our email login was a legacy one which we no longer have access to. For over 2 weeks now they have been unable to sort this out and we now have a VAT payment due that we cannot calculate properly. Each call is me with "Our dev team is on it and it will be sorted by tomorrow". We are now having to investigate other options as we cannot run a business where we are doing VAT calcs on a spreadsheet. Our company has over 400 staff and a turnover of over R40Mil. Looking at Xero accounting now as a way to solve the problem we have.
1 reviews | Active since Nov 2014
Still invoicing after the account is closed
I closed off the *** now when I try to access it they are saying I owe them money, what type of **** is this
1 reviews | Active since Nov 2014
Still invoicing after the account is closed
I closed off the *** now when I try to access it they are saying I owe them money, what type of **** is this
1 reviews | Active since Dec 2010
Utterly ridiculous service!!!
I am extremely frustrated with Sage south Africa. Had the most rudest person speak to me (Thulisihle). I recently moved from sage desktop to sage cloud. I needed a report which I could easily download from the desktop version and needed guidance on where to find a similar report on the cloud version. He or she was arrogant as hell on the chat function. At this stage I want to cancel my subscription with sage and move to a different accounting system. I will not be treated with such disrespect. I have emailed sage complaints and I'm sure I won't get feedback from them either. It is shocking how we as clients, have to tolerate this type of service.
1 reviews | Active since Dec 2010
Utterly ridiculous service!!!
I am extremely frustrated with Sage south Africa. Had the most rudest person speak to me (Thulisihle). I recently moved from sage desktop to sage cloud. I needed a report which I could easily download from the desktop version and needed guidance on where to find a similar report on the cloud version. He or she was arrogant as hell on the chat function. At this stage I want to cancel my subscription with sage and move to a different accounting system. I will not be treated with such disrespect. I have emailed sage complaints and I'm sure I won't get feedback from them either. It is shocking how we as clients, have to tolerate this type of service.