Billing and Collections headache

If there was a negative rating I would give it to Telkom. My issue is with billing.

I had an issue with a payment in December as our salaries were late and split into two payments so I made 2 manual payments to Telkom as the debit order(D/O) bounced.

I sent in the POPs to the required email as instructed by a consultant over the phone. In January I started getting sms's on my numbers saying I was in arrears. I phoned into the customer service centre and I was told that the payments were showing on the system and it was a glitch.

February came, debit order went through as normal but I still kept receiving messages saying I was in arrears. The calls to customer service yielded the same results, an email sent and I was told it is a glitch.

At the end of February my numbers were blocked and my account was sent to the collections department. I was told that my account was in arrears by the amount I paid in December, The bill for January and the bill for February. When I called in I was told that I cannot communicate with the collections department directly and that they will send an email to rectify the problem and that my numbers will be active in 6 hours.

After my numbers were unlocked I was sure the problem was sorted, only to be given a knock to reality when I received another message and automated phone calls saying my account is in arrears. I ignored the calls and messages, at the beginning of March I made another manual payment because I had taken an additional device, the payment was more than the requored amount which should have given me credit on my account. I called into customer service to confirm my account had been updated and I was told it was updated.

Low and behold my account was again taken to collections department, regardless of the fact that no debit order had bounced and that I had made additional payment. I was told by the call centre to allow the collections department to debit my account so that they can update my account as the customer service consultants had sent numerous emails.

The collection was successful and the amount was taken from my account, I called in to customer service and I was told that the payment is showing on the system and that collections department needs to allocate it and an email will be sent to them. My numbers got blocked again March and I was told that there is no way for me to communicate directly with collections all they can do is to send an email as they are working from home but they will ensure my numbers are unblocked.

End of March the collections department deducted the amount that was my bill, not in arrears, and I was told that the issues will be sorted. It is now April and my account is up to date as it has been the whole year and I am getting the same messages and collection attempts on my account.

I call and get the same answers and Collections Department is not doing anything. I am getting bank charges that telkom refuses to reimburse and my credit record is being negatively affected. I am sick and tired of Telkom and I cannot wait for my contracts to finish.

Stay away from Telkom, it doesn't matter if they have cheaper data. They are *********** when it comes to resolving issues, there are too many layers to go through to get service and you are blocked from communicating directly with the department where the issues are. Totally useless!