One star is far too generous!

Where do I begin with this tale of the inadequacies and lack of interest Telkom employees display towards their customers? How do I best describe the poorly trained and utterly ineffective staff who can offer us only platitudes and lies while continuing to profit off of our misery.

6 months ago a very enthusiastic sales team finally convinced me to upgrade my DSL line to fiber. I only caved because they finally offered me the same terms as my existing line. That was in June of 2017.

I have since moved to a new city and have still not had Telkom fulfill the order for the line upgrade.

But wait there’s more...

One would think that the largest telecommunications company in SA could mange a simple line relocation. They can’t! I spoke to a very friend Naledi, she told me that because I had an existing order for a fiber line pending. [the one that they didn’t bother to install because they obviously had better things to do and couldn’t find time somewhere in that 6 month period]

But I was assured that, Naledi, was personally going to attend to the cancellation of the order and call me back with my reference numbers and confirmation for the line relocation.

She assured me that technician would be at my home on Tuesday the 9th of January and everything would be sorted.

If only...

Not hearing from Naledi, I called back to to confirm the installation.

The new call centre operator, a less than friendly Mampulalello, assured me that no order had been placed, no cancellation had been issued and no technicians would be coming to assist. Her demeanor was, “oh well, tough buddy - that’s how it is.”

She also assured me that the fiber line, [the one that never came because Telkom technicians were all out to lunch for 6 months] would be dealt with and I would receive confirmation of my relocation.

Call 3:

Thuba - a young, switched on male call centre operator was shocked and mortified at the terrible service that we had been subjected to. After a call that lasted 1h14m12s we had finally reached the “get things done guy” who made us all the same promises. If only it were true.

Our next call to Telkom was just as fruitless and Thuba hadn’t even bothered to log our call of 1h14m12s on the system, never mind doing any of the work he had promised to deliver on.

Tomorrow we will log our 7th call to Telkom. In that time, not a single person has managed to do the job that they are paid for.

Nothing has been done. Nothing!!!!

I learned how to press the delete button on a computer when I was 5 years old, Telkom call centre operator and back office staff have yet to master the fine art of this monumentally challenging task.

Orders can’t be met Cancellation are too complicated Line relocations seem too laborious. Staff are trained to make promises they can’t keep Pride in the job - nonexistent.

But they’ll gladly take my money and have plenty of time to send emails asking for the next payment.

Telkom truly is the gold standard when examples are sought for what can be expected from South African, state run enterprises.

And selling 61% of there shares into the private sector hasn’t even dented their uselessness, lack of service delivery or ability to address issues to an adequate customer satisfactory level.

Only Telkom can turn a simple line relocation into a cancelled contract.

At least there is a plethora of new fiber service providers to chose from.

Telkom... if you’ve bothered to read this far, my reference number is: ********** 7A

And I will continue to hound you only social media platforms till I get satisfactory service.