Misleading Promises and Poor Service from Telkom

My experience with Telkom has been nothing short of frustrating. I was in contact with a Telkom agent for months regarding a fibre installation at our new home, as we were moving from a flat to a stand-alone house. I was assured that going with Telkom would be the quickest option—7 days to be up and running—compared to other providers, which supposedly would take much longer. This convinced me to stick with Telkom.

However, the reality was far from the promises made. After the ONT installation, which was done haphazardly with wires dangerously hanging over the roof, I was informed that we needed to wait for the router delivery—something that was never communicated earlier. Despite receiving a notification from the courier service for delivery by Friday, I was told on the day that it was canceled due to missing documents from Telkom. It turns out Telkom didn’t even provide my address and phone number to the courier company!

This meant a further delay until the following Monday, leaving us without internet for the weekend. When I informed the agent, I was met with a dismissive response, stating that I should wait because he had “prioritized” me over bigger companies that pay R30,000 per month. This completely contradicted the initial promise of a 7-day turnaround, for which I had already patiently waited. Now, I’m left disappointing my family, especially my daughter, and having to purchase extra data just to get by.

If I had known this was going to happen, I would have definitely chosen another provider. Telkom has wasted my time and failed to deliver on their promises. I would not recommend Telkom to anyone, especially if you expect timely and professional service. It feels like they think they’re doing customers a favor by sticking to their deadlines, only to prioritize bigger companies instead.