Consistent disappointment and false promises from Telkom

<p>I had a laptop contract with Telkom Mobile Cresta. The laptop unfortunately broke (screen cracked) and I sent it in to Telkom Mobile Cresta (where I got the contract from) to get them to send it to their preferred repair centre. The agent who "assisted" me with this, Akhona Mhlawuli sent my laptop to the repair centre.</p> <p> </p> <p>Upon him forwarding the quote onto me (total of R2000), I asked if he would enquire with the repair centre if it would be possible to settle the amount with monthly payments. He agreed to do this for me, as his details (name, email and Telkom Mobile Cresta's address) were on the quotation and none of mine were on the quote. After emailing to follow up and not receiving a response, I called the repair centre to ask about my laptop. It had been disposed of to cover costs. I then proceeded to call and email Akhona about this new situation. His manager Ifraan Sahib, then sent emails explaining that Akhona should not have put his details on the quotation and should have in fact told me that from the point of forwarding the quote to me, he could no longer get involved in the matter (a fact that as the customer I was not made aware of by Akhona). Not only did he have his details on the quote but did offer his services to me to assit with the quotation. His manager then sent a number of emails defending Akhona an dhis handeling of the situation. I then got my attorney involved for information regarding my issue.</p> <p> </p> <p>According to Turquand Rule (1856, a legal case last confirmed in 2015)), when an employee (Akhona Mhlawuli in this case) deviates from internal procedures, processes and/or internal mechanisms of an establishment (Telkom Mobile Cresta/ Telkom) then the onus of any wrong doing then fall on the employee and / or the establishment involved and NOT the customer.</p> <p> </p> <p>I then visited Telkom on my only free day and was met by Akhona and his other manager Gordon MacKenzie. Gordon heard the details of the situation from Akhona, who simply stated that I broke my laptop and wanted a new one. He omitted any wrong doings on his part. I explained my story to Gordon who then offered to cancel the old contract, give me a <strong>new contract and that all extra costs WOULD BE WAIVERED. </strong>Gordon assured me that any debit orders from the old contract would no longer go through. Gordon and Akhona told me that I should receive a cancellation sms within the day or week of cancellation. A verbal agreement was then formed and we proceeded with the cancellation and the new contract for a new laptop. An agreement was made that my first debit order would be the following month pro rata.</p> <p> </p> <p>The sms confirmation never came through. At the end of the month (April), I had been debited for the old contract(R299). This cam to my attention rather late as I am used to having this amount debited for the service every month. I took this up with Akhona, who said he would look into the matter- nothing! At the end of May I was not only debited the pro rata amount for the new contract (R598) but another R299 for the old contract yet again. I called the call centre (seeing as Akhona cannot answer emails on time and often does the incorrect things). The call centre agent logged a case. It has been a total of 22 working days and today I get a phone call stating that when Akhona logged the cancellation, he did not mention anything about waivering any costs and did not mention anything about the urgency of this matter or that any wrong doing with regards to the reason for cancellation was on him or Telkom. Now I may have to pay an estimated R1400 once off termination fee for a contract that I was told I would ot have to pay. </p> <p> </p> <p>I was told by the call centre agent (Lesego Nxunklo) that I would need to contact the people I dealt with at Telkom Mobile Cresta to urge them to log another case correcting the situation about the contract and get a refund. As it is, Telkom or its employees rarely answer their emails, unless confronted with a situation where any wrong doing is placed on them. The email addresses currently in use by them are <strong>***</strong>, <strong>***</strong>, <strong>***. </strong>I am not able to make it to Telkom before closing time, as I work quite far away. My only option is to email (and potentially not get a response) or go into the branch on Sa****ay morning. I am extremely disappointed with the lack of attention to detail, the inconsistency, the false promises and negligence of work. </p>