Do not use telkom call centres or online for upgrades.

On August 16, I received a call from Telkom’s call centre regarding an upgrade to my LTE contract. I inquired if I could upgrade another number as well, and after the consultant checked with her manager, I was given the go-ahead. I even double-checked with the consultant to confirm that this was an upgrade to my existing Infinity contract, and she assured me that it was.

However, when I received the device on August 23, I realized that instead of an upgrade, I had been signed up for an entirely new contract. I canceled this new contract within the cooling-off period on August 26, yet I am now faced with an incorrect bill of R20,000. Despite numerous calls to Telkom to arrange for the device’s collection and resolve the billing issue, I have had no success, and to make matters worse, my service has been suspended due to this erroneous charge.

This is not the first time I’ve had issues with Telkom's upgrade process—this is the third time since 2018 that I've encountered problems. Once my Infinity contract ends, I will be terminating my relationship with Telkom. I strongly advise against taking out device contracts with them, as their service has been consistently disappointing.