Bullying and Harassment of the elderly

My elderly mother who is 78 years old and is now utterly traumatised by a telephone call that she received by one of your employees.

The background to this matter is in Feb/March 2015 I contacted Telkom to change her tariff/plan. I, her daughter and carer, submitted the proof requested by Telkom to confirm her age and met all the other requirements as per the request from Telkom. At this point I was not informed that there were any outstanding fees or payments relating to the switch from one package to another - or whatever Telkom is now referring to this outstanding amount as.

Between the period Feb/March 2015 to 18 June 2018 Telkom have not made contact to advise us that there was an outstanding amount. Indeed, during my communications with Telkom in 2015 I asked that they put me and my details down as the main point of contact because my mother does not have capacity to deal with financial or business related matters. I provided my email address and contact numbers. I reiterate that during this period, now over three years, I have not received any communication to my email address or via post or telephone to raise the issue of this outstanding amount.

Instead, on the 19th June 2018 my elderly mother received a distressing and threatening phone call from Telkom stating if she didn’t pay her outstanding bill of R1300 (which was R400 three years ago but due to interest is now R1300 plus), the following actions may be taken against her:

· She would be liable for reconnection fees

· The line would be cut off in 48 hours if she didn’t pay the amount

· Litigation/legal action would be instigated against her

As you can imagine, she was entirely shocked. Imagine if you will, talking to a child, and threatening the child - one who is entirely bewildered. This is the situation she was faced with today and I can only suggest that this was an attempt to bully, harass and intimidate her into paying a bill that she (nor I) knew she had.

I would have been more than prepared to pay the bill of R400-R500 at the time when I switched to a new tariff had I been advised of this outstanding debt and the reason for it. However since this time, because of Telkom’s incompetence and inefficiency to communicate with their clients, my mother, who receives a pension grant of R1700 per month is expected to pay this amount in 48 hours.

Is this an appropriate way to treat a human being? Particularly an elderly one with limited capacity?

I am raising this as a matter of urgency that I expect to be dealt with immediately given the seriousness of the threat my mother has been faced with.

If this matter is not dealt with as soon as possible, and if her line is indeed cut off I will be contacting ICASA and the Ombudsman. It is disappointing to note that despite Telkom being a telecommunications company, you fail significantly in your ability to communicate to customers. The irony of this would most certainly be laughable if it wasn’t so serious and distressing.

It is wholly unfair that my pensioner mother should be held liable for an amount that we were not told was outstanding due to Telkom’s sheer and utter incompetence. I expect that this amount should be entirely written off and an apology to be issued for the threats made against my elderly mother.

Despite sending this message several times via their facebook page I have not heard back. I also received one email from David Stellenberg saying he would look into it but I havent heard back from him either.