TH
Tracey H

1 reviews | Active since May 2020

24 May 2020, 03:20

Is Telkom Woodlands manipulating temperaturecheck to prevent 'difficult' customers receiving customer service?

I entered Telkom Woodlands at 11:51 on 2020-05-23 on their Ticket number 43 after my temperature being tested by their agent at the store entrance. She advised it was 36 degrees Celcius. I was assisted by a Technical agent, who advised my sim card was faulty and that I needed to queue outside again with my ID, to be able to be assisted by an agent at another desk, for a sim swop. I voiced my disagreement with this procedure, but as I was trying to avoid being exposed to the Covid19 virus, being in a confined space for a prolonged period, I followed their procedure and asked the agent at the door to signal my turn to me, where I went to stand outside in the sun. At 12:22 I re-entered the store on ticket 46 and was advised that my temperature was now 34.1 degrees Celcius. I waited at the counter for about 10 minutes. I started showing my displeasure at having to wait and pointed out that they had allowed the gentleman being served before me, to leave the store to collect documentation, without him having to also queue again and had kept the remaining customers in the queue waiting. The next thing, a Telkom agent advised me that my temperature reading had being faulty and that it had to be retaken. I tried to resist and voiced my displeasure, but she insisted. My temperature reading was now advised to be 37.9 degrees and I was told I was therefore not allowed to be in the store. Upon leaving, I asked to view the record of customers' temperature readings and was advised that they did not keep any records. The agent, however, wrote down the readings she thought she had taken for me on the back of my ticket. I went a few shops down to Dermalogia, whose agent very kindly and safely agreed to take my temperature at 12.45, duly recorded it to be 36.2 degrees on their official log sheet and allowed me to record it photographically. I returned to Telkom suggesting that their thermometer might be faulty or that they were perhaps manipulating this 'safety precaution' to prevent me from entering their store. All the agents now refused to communicate with me. After more than an hour, the manager had still not attended to me. I proceeded to the Woodlands Centre Management office. Tshepo kindly contacted the Telkom manager, and eventually, at 13:55 she eventually attended to me. She took my temperature, which she advised was now 37.8 degrees Celcius and she and Tshepo started advising me how thermometers work and assured me it was not faulty. The three of us stood close to the entrance inside the store, having a heated discussion for at least 10 minutes, with customers entering the store and having their temperatures taken in very close proximity to us. I was apparently a safety risk as my temperature was too high and the manager refused to assist me in arranging a sim swop. Tshepo, the Woodlands Centre manager would not provide me with any record of my complaint and the fact that the Telkom manager had advised him that they do not record the temperatures. I went next door and the gentleman at the next store kindly took 3 temperature readings between 14.14 and 14:15, which he was happy for me to record photographically. The readings were recorded as 36.4, 36.2 and 36.5 degrees Celcius. I realised that I had now wasted a lot of time trying in vain to insist on the customer service I felt I was entitled to as a contract paying Telkom customer and started worrying that in the process I had put my health at risk by spending this unintended time around agents, who in my view were not trained and equipped in the necessary health and safety procedures to protect my or other customers' health in this time of the Covid disaster, in a confined Telkom shop space. I went to the Irene Village Mall, whose agent took my temperature, which was in the normal range, duly recorded it on their official log and assisted me most politely and professionally with a sim swop. Besides my extreme shock at the treatment I was given by Telkom Woodlands staff and the Woodlands Centre Management, who were clearly only looking after their Tenant's interest, my concern is that, if they felt so strongly that I was a health risk, why had they allowed me into their store for such a lengthy period? How have they ensured the health and safety of the other customers? What records do they have to follow up and protect their customers from this supposed health risk? Why was I healthy when I first entered their store and how do they explain their concern that I suddenly become ill whilst being in their store? What intervention has the Woodlands Centre Management taken to address my complaint and to protect all the customers who frequented their centre yesterday and will continue to do so in the days to come?

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Replies (1)
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Tracey H's update24 May 2020, 08:48
Reviewer Update
Please can you advise which health and safety- or other authority, I should report my concerns regarding Telkom's temperature check and health and safety procedures to, regarding protecting their and the Woodlands Centre customers' health and safety, during the Covid19 disaster?