Disgusting Customer Service from Telkom South Africa

It is with a heavy heart that I draft this post today. Over the last few weeks I have tried extremely hard to resolve the major issue that I have with my latest invoice in which I was billed over R 1100 more than my normal monthly charge. I have called Telkom on several occasions and spoke to different consultants who advised me that I would need a manager to assist.

On 15 October 2020, shortly after receiving my invoice and noticing the amount, I called through and spoke to a consultant by the name of Bonga. After informing him of the issue and expressing the importance of having this resolved before my debit order was due at month end, he informed me that only a manager could assist me. I offered to hold as long as it takes in order for me to be connected to a manager as this was extremely urgent however, was told that this was not allowed and that he would have a manager call me back in 2-3 working days. I accepted this as I respected the policies in place and waited.

To my absolute disgust, I waited for the call back I was promised and it was not forth coming. On 26 October 2020, I called Telkom again and after being on hold for more than 20 minutes (which is the norm with Telkom), I spoke to Clarence. After telling him the whole issue again, he told me that I would need to speak to a manager and he would request a callback, even though I told him I had been waiting since mid October.

Despite me insisting that I wait for a manager he told me that there was no way for him to put me through to management and so I had to accept what he told me would be a callback within the next 2 working days.

Today is 31 October 2020, I have still not had even so much as an email of acknowledgement of my query from management. My debit order was set to go off today and I have no doubt that my account will be suspended as soon as it returns.

I have been a loyal customer for over 7 years. I have multiple contracts with Telkom and always ensure my payments are made on time. With all of this being said, it is beyond disappointing that this is the type of service I am offered.

I fully intend on taking the matter to the appropriate ombudsman as the over charge in the first place is due to substandard service by Telkom employees. I expected the Telkom management to atleast be more competent in assisting to resolve my query however, here I am 3 weeks after my initial query without any response.

I am absolutely disgusted by the "customer service" offered. Sales consultants are very efficient however when customers have queries everyone is silent. That shows the type of values that Telkom South Africa have.

Matthew Ramchuran Extremely dissatisfied customer