Another ode to Telkom

In 2017 we had intermittent faults with our landline which lasted almost six months -- we could not make any calls and we could not receive any calls. Telkom eventually corrected the fault and everything seemed fine for several months afterwards. However, our landline went dead again last Friday morning, 16th March 2018. We logged a fault that same morning.

Telkom sent a message to my mobile phone informing me that they would endeavour to attend to the fault within five days. Five days have passed and we have still not heard whether a technician has been assigned to the fault or not. When I phoned yesterday, the call centre agent could not tell me when our fault would be attended to.

Last year was a nightmare trying to resolve this and we made dozens of phone calls to Telkom and sent them emails and visited two of their Telkom branches trying to get the fault fixed. There was often apathy from Telkom employees and no empathy or concern for our situation despite us paying for a service we did not have. We also had to use our mobile phones to phone the Telkom call centre and this was entirely at our own expense. Just one call to Telkom would cost me thirty rand or more, because one would be waiting in queues for quite a while before an agent answered the call.

Now the nightmare has begun all over again. I need my landline. I have an elderly mother who lives a thousand kilometres away from me and I can only speak to her via landline. She does not have Skype nor does she have the WhatsApp call option. I also operate from home a lot and really need a landline.

When I glance through all the other complaints here that are directed at Telkom, I realize that I am not alone and that there are many people who have also been without landlines and the internet for much longer that I have. C'mon Telkom! What is happening here?

I see that you are 39% state owned. This means that taxpayers help to fund Telkom whether they have a Telkom account or not. This is cause for concern, especially when there are many complaints that are not being dealt with effectively.

Shocking service.