DIVORCE NEGOTIATIONS WITH TELKOM HIT THE ROCKY ROAD

Today I received my Telkom bill, and for the third month running I have been charged for ADSL and a landline where cancelled as part of an upgrade to fibre on the 11th of September 2018. In addition to this I have had endless trouble resolving internet issues with Telkom over the past 3 months. I emailed their legal department (please see the email with all the details and reference numbers below) and was advised telephonically by Mrs E Grobler (06/11/2018 10h42) that it has been agreed that they will cancel ALL existing contracts as requested and I can walk away from Telkom. However, to date there has been absolutely no change and neither sales department or billing department and I am unable to sign up with any other ISP as Telkom has not released my fibre line with Vumatel. My latest reference number given by Mrs Grobler is ********** 774, but I have a long list of unresolved reference numbers, as you will see from my letter below to the legal department.

MY EMAIL TO TELKOM LEGAL DEPARTMENT DATED 22 OCTOBER 2018 08H00:

Good morning Mrs Salzman

I need to walk away from my contract with Telkom as the service provided is not reliable or stable. I run a business from home which involves me working on a server in Cape Town up to 12 hours a day and a solid and reliable connection is essential. This is the reason I chose a fixed line ADSL service, and then a Fibre service. Telkom can take back the modems and I will forgo the money that they owe me.

Here is my situation:

In July and August of this year I had ongoing connectivity issues on my ADSL line and had the Open Serve technicians at my house almost daily. They suggested that I upgrade to Fibre as it had been rolled out in our area and was more stable than the ADSL lines. I called Telkom on the 10th of September to enquire whether it was possible to upgrade my contract to fibre and I was told I could do so and the order with Vumatel (who had rolled out fibre in my complex) was placed on the system immediately by Ayanda from the call centre – Ref# ********** 77A. She also advised that I must log on to my self-help portal and cancel my ADSL contract online, stating that it was due to upgrade. I did this immediately – Ref#’s ********** 8, ********** 0, ********** 7. I advised that my current modem was suitable for Fibre and that I did not need a new modem. A new modem was delivered by courier on the 14th and signed for by my neighbour.

Despite the fact that the order had been placed, the status was not updated from “Site Survey Pending” until 19/09, despite 13 (yes THIRTEEN) telephone calls in this regard. This meant that Vumatel could not come and do the installation until the 20th. In the meantime, my landline and ADSL were not working again since the 11th, but the Open Serve technician advised that it was probably due to the upgrade and cancellation of ADSL. I had to buy data for my Vodacom Modem and my Telkom cell connections in order to be able to work. I bought 6 Gig from Vodacom and a further 4 Gigs from Telkom Mobile. At the time of the installation I was advised that the new modem sent was part of the contract and already set up for my fibre and I should rather use the new modem. I now had Fibre which was tested and working properly, but still no internet as it had not been activated by Telkom. My internet was finally activated by Telkom late in the day on the 28th of September, despite a further 21 (yes, that’s TWENTY ONE) calls to try and resolve this. I finally had internet!!!!!

On the 1st of October I logged a call as I was only getting 4MBPS on my line, but had app**** for a 20MBPS line. This issue was eventually resolved on the 11th of October after 8 calls.

On Saturday the 13th I received my Telkom Bill for October month – I was charged for ADSL, a voice line, and a new device. My bill was R2258.88. On Monday the 15th I called and filed a dispute – Ref# ********** 9. On the 16th my account was suspended until I paid the amount owing (for the 31st!) or the dispute was resolved. I am once again without internet!!!!

In the last 2 months I have had working internet (though not the 20MBPS I pay for) for exactly 23 days!!! The amount of stress I have dealt with having to spend so many hours on the phone with call centre agents that are all very polite, but NEVER EVER resolve any issues, has brought out the very worst in me. All I ever get is “I will escalate the matter and someone will call you”, which pretty much never happens. I have sworn, I have cried, I am truly at wits end! We have enough stress to deal with in our lives without still having to deal with such ongoing incompetence. I am not prepared to continue this relationship with Telkom. If I don’t get to walk away and try and source a more reliable ISP, I will go to the CGSO. I am giving Telkom one final opportunity to resolve this issue. Send me an email with a course of action and what has to happen for us both to walk away from this contract.

I have screenshots of my call logs and some of the calls were recorded. In total, I have made 57 calls to Telkom in just over a month.

Herewith a list of reference numbers for the last 3 months:

**********

**********

********** 0

********** 1

********** 3

********** 8

********** 8

********** 8

********** 7

********** 0

********** 2

********** 3

********** 6

********** 4

********** 6

********** 9

********** 9

********** 77A