I'm so fed up with Telkom

I have been a Telkom customer for more than 10 years, but after all the problems I’ve encountered since 1 December 2018, I cannot wait to be finally done with this company and the POOR service I have received.

On the 29th of November 2018 I requested on the Telkom website for my line to be MOVED from Secunda to Centurion, as we were moving in December 2018. On the 1st of December 2018 I app**** again online, as I did not receive any reply from Telkom in 48hrs. (I took a photo of this request). On the 4th of December 2018 I phoned 10210 (as I still did not receive any sms from Telkom confirming my order) and told the consultant that I would like Telkom to MOVE my line from Secunda to my new address in Centurion. Ref.nr 3** *** **7A.

On the 13th of December 2018 (after still not receiving a sms from Telkom confirming the MOVE of my line) I phoned 10210 again. This time the consultant promised to escalate my order. Ref. nr 3*****4.

For the next few weeks I frequently visited the Telkom store at Mall@reds to check up on the order and to phone 10210 from the store, as it costs so much to phone from my MTN account and hold for long periods of time.

On the 4th of January 2019 one of the consultants gave me my new nr 012 6** ***9 and said that the order was finally released and that a technician would contact me, but nothing happened. On the 11th of January 2019 I went back to the store and the manager and Rachel promised to try and sort the mess out (but they could not do anything).

All this time I was still receiving my account (and paid), although I didn’t have ANY service. On the 18th of January 2019 I phoned billing on 10210 to ask for a credit on my account, but Cindy told me that they cannot do anything until the service has been restored.

On 18th of January 2019 I phoned sales again to find out what was happening with my order (Ref.nr 3*******7A.) to MOVE my line, and then Muzi suggested that we open a new order for RELOCATION, as nothing has been done on the old order yet!! The new order nr was 3*******9A.

On the 21st of January 2019 I went to the store again to phone 10210. After holding for 33 minutes before a consultant answered, Simpiwe told me that a tech had been booked and the installation would take place on 28 January 2019.

On the 28th of January 2019 the tech Eric came and after a few hours said he cannot help me as he needed to get access to another address, as the Telkom pole was there, and if I did not organise it MYSELF, I would have to wait longer for his supervisor to organise that. I then organised access for him for the 30th of January 2019. He did manage to activate my line (and I received another number 012 6*****4), but that is when my new STRUGGLE with TELKOM started. I’ve been paying for a 4mbps uncapped adsl line, but now I only get 0.5mbps to 1.7mbps (on a good day), and the excuse is that the house I’m living in is too far from the exchange. Eric told me to downgrade my account to 2 mbps, but that would mean that I would be paying MORE for a 2mbps line than I’m paying now!!!

My line 017 6*****6 was supposed to be relocated on 4/12/2018 to Centurion and cancelled as I would have to get a new number. This line ********** was only activated on 30th of January 2019. From the 4th of December 2018 to 30th of January 2019 I had NO Telkom line, NO adsl line, NO SERVICE FROM TELKOM AT ALL!!!!

On the 30th of January 2019 I again phoned billing to lodge a dispute for the 8 weeks that I had no service. I spoke to Shilane and got a dispute ref.nr 2******3. This dispute was for the invoices for the 8WEEKS (56 DAYS) that I had NO service, but still paid (5/1/19 and 1/2/19).

On the 5th of February 2019 I visited the Telkom store again to find out about upgrading my account to fibre, as the poor internet was taking it ’s toll on us. Imagine my surprise when I was told that the 017 6*****6 was STILL active although it was supposed to be cancelled on 4/12/2018!!!

On the 6th of February 2019 I AGAIN phoned 10210 billing and spoke to Thobeka. She told me that the cancellation of the Secunda line was cancelled at the end of January. I lodged a new dispute with ref nr 3*******1A.

On the 7th of February 2019 my emails suddenly stopped working. I phoned 10210 technical, but they told me that my email username, password and TIN does not work anymore. I have to phone sales AGAIN to find out what the problem is. I phoned 10213 and spoke to Jabu. She the told me that there never was a relocation order (big surprise to me!!!) and that the consultant put in an order for a new line. She said I had a new email address (after I had the same one for more than 10 years AND relocated my line MANY times in that time). I told her that I would like to have everything restored to the way it was, and she said the only way to do that is to change the TIN again and then change everything back. After more than an hour on the phone with her, the line was disconnected and by this time I was REALLY UPSET AND FED UP WITH THE VERY POOR TELKOM SERVICE I’VE RECEIVED UP TO THIS POINT!!! I then phoned technical again as my internet stopped working AGAIN and everything had to be synced AGAIN.

On the 8th of February 2019 I again phoned billing, as my e-mails suddenly stopped working AGAIN. I spoke to Verda and she said I had to install my modem again (this was the 3rd time in less than 2 weeks, as the TIN changed again).

By the 11th of February 2019 I was hoping to see a credit on my new account for the 56 days (8 weeks) that I had no service, so you can imagine my SHOCK when I finally received my account and my telkom bill is R 1663.67 for the new month!!!

I’m SO tired of dealing with the Telkom call centre and trying to sort out this mess caused by *********** consultants that could not do a simple job of relocating my line from Secunda to Centurion. I’m tired of telkom’s POOR customer service and overall service. All I want is for my account to be credited for the weeks of no service, and then for my account to be CANCELLED, as I’ve decided that I CAN NOT DEAL WITH TELKOM ANY LONGER.