Cancelled my fixed line 6 months ago, Telkom still charging me, adhoc "service fees charged", epitome of institutional dysfunction

<p>Summary:</p> <p>I emailed the Telkom cancellation department the cancellation form for my fixed line connection on the 25th of January 2016. A few days later I had telephonic confirmation that my Telkom connection was cancelled. However, later I found that I was still getting charged for the connection. I went to the bank to reverse this unauthorised debit order and blocked Telkom’s account from taking money off my account. Nonetheless, several months went by and found that Telkom debit orders were still coming off my account. It became clear that Telkom generated different account numbers as to circumvent the fact that I blocked them off my bank account and managed to take more money off my bank account. In addition I got charged a R600 ‘service fee’ for a service that I have never received. I then called Telkom’s service at 10210 several times to complain about the fees charged to my account. I was told that a dispute had been launched which would take 10 working days to be resolved. I followed up several weeks after the dispute was generated. The Telkom employee informed me that she would issue a credit note but could not do so as she could not contact Telkom’s cancellation department (My connection needed to be 'cancelled' first). Once again I tried cancelling the line and requested a direct contact for the cancellation department – I was told that the cancellation department is not contactable by phone. A Telkom consultant gave me the email address of her manager and said that he will escalate the cancellation. I emailed the manager (Mr Vivesh Chitbahal) three times and requested acknowledgement of receipt – I received none. Once again I got charged for the connection on the 1st of July andthen reversed all the debit orders against my account yesterday. Unfortunately, I expect to get charged for the connection again on the 1st of August. I acknowledge that this summary is pretty long but there is a lot more details.</p> <p> </p> <p>My opinion:</p> <p>I think Telkom is not surviving the fast pace of technological change and innovation in the ICT sector and is desperately trying to cling onto its revenue base that it once enjoyed when it faced little competition. I think the fact that Telkom’s cancellation department is not contactable both internally and externally is a constructive decision made by Telkom’s management and it is used to elicit revenues out of customers who still have active fixed line connections despite their efforts to cancel these connections! The only other explanation is that Telkom is institutionally dysfunctional. Further, to support my view, is the fact that it generates new account number to circumvent blocked debit orders – all an attempt to extract as much revenues from customers as possible.</p> <p>Sadly, I needed Telkom connection to get broadband – I would have chosen another service provider. Despite my disappointing experience with Telkom, the service I got from Afrihost with respects to ADSL and data was excellent.</p> <p> </p> <p> What do I want?</p> <p>1. I want Telkom to (i) issue credit notes for all the debit orders it was unauthorised to take off my account (ii) render the amount I owe Telkom as zero (iii) cancel my fixed line connection and (iv) stop all future debit orders on my account.</p> <p>2. I want Telkom to restructure its cancellation department such that it can be contacted internally and by external stakeholders so that cancellations can be escalated.</p> <p>3. I want Telkom to stop charging adhoc “service fees” for services that have not been received. </p> <p>4. I want Telkom to facilitate its debit orders using one account number only and stop using multiple account numbers. This is to stop its debit order abuses.</p> <p>5. Lastly, I want Telkom to make a commitment to put into effect these points which I have raised on this platform (i.e. Hellopeter). </p> <p> </p> <p>I am of the view that if Telkom cannot publicly commit to the aforementioned points it proves that it is not committed to deliver customer service. </p>