Order placed 3 times, order "lost" 3 times and have had account debited already. Still no phone, nor communication.

I placed an order for the iPhone XS Max, Gold 64GB. I app**** through the Telkom website, and nothing ever came of it. I went in-store a week later to follow up and perhaps just get the phone in-store, and I was told that it was an online-only deal (not stated on the website at the time), and that besides for having someone call me back, there was nothing they could do to help me. I was called about 20 minutes later, explained the situation and was given no choice but to reapply for the same phone telephonically. I was told that I am pre-approved and that my account would be debited within 3 days, and nothing ever happened. Delivery address, job details, banking details and verification were all confirmed. I also did not receive the reference number by SMS, as promised, nor any other communication whatsoever. I called 10213 and chose the option to get my order status. After near to 30 minutes of waiting for the next available consultant, I was told that there was no order placed at all under my name. I told them that this was very strange, and confirmed with them the entire process that I went through when placing the order. The person that I spoke had no suggestions but to reapply, nor anyone else he could put me through to talk to.

I reapp****, a third time, unable this time to get the gold variant of the phone and had to opt for silver instead, and went through the entire process again, pre-approved, delivery address, job details, banking details and verification. I explained to him the situation with the first and second attempts, and asked him to guarantee that this order has 100% been placed. He guaranteed me of that, and offered to SMS me the reference number, and I said no, I want it now. The reference number he gave me is RYN***. Again, I was told that my account would be debited within 3 days, and this time it was debited the next day, this was 2 September 2020. I understand that it has been less than a week, but 2 years go I had the exact same issue with Telkom where orders were lost, and out of the blue, THREE months later I had a phone arrive on my doorstep that I was no longer interested in.

I am absolutely not prepared to have that same situation happen again and I will cancel the entire deal altogether if that is going to be the case.

I have received no communication since, and decided to give Telkom a call again, this morning, on 10213, to just check on the order and to find out what exactly is happening because I had a feeling that I would have to go through the same thing, again. And I was right, waited on hold again for 25 minutes only to be told that there was absolutely no orders placed under my name, nor under the reference number, and that there was nothing they could do or suggest that I do. Eventually after explaining the entire situation to the consultant, telling her that my account has already been debited and this is becoming beyond a joke, she explained to me that Mondo does Telkom contracts and that I should contact them and see if they pick up any orders. The number she gave me to contact them with, ***, is a number for TransNet, which obviously did not help at all. I found a number myself for Mondo and contacted them, and again, there was no order placed. She even suggested and imp****, twice, that I’ve made a mistake and placed an order through either Vodacom or MTN, and offered to put me through to one of them. I told her, being an existing Telkom contract client, I 100% know that I placed my orders through Telkom, and Telkom only.

So what have I been charged for? So my account was debited the amount of the contract, but there was no order placed? That is *****. Nor will I take another chance reapplying for anything through Telkom, having my credit score go down a fourth time, where it has already gone down 3 times over the course of under 2 weeks due to your incompetence.

I’d like this entire situation rectified immediately, and if immediately means next month I am not interested, and will cancel the entire deal. The new iPhone will be out by them and I will simply apply in-store with another carrier and likely receive it the same day. Having been with other carriers previously I know that their customer service is on-par with what we as consumers expect it to be, and have no problem paying extra monthly for that service. I am extremely happy to be with Telkom and have had no problems whatsoever with a current contract I have with you, but this is unacceptable. If the phone cannot be guaranteed to arrive by the end of next week, 11 September 2020, I’d like the entire deal cancelled and my bank account to be immediately credited the amount it was debited.

Regards,

Michael Belcevski