Shockingly poor service - billed for something I cancelled

Item: Telkom
Rating: 1

I cancelled my fixed line on 1 February 2016. I followed the cancellation procedure required by Telkom – submitting the “Consumer cancellation request” together with my ID to the service cancellation department and even received an acknowledgment receipt from the service cancellations department. Despite this, I was still being billed for 3 months after the cancellation. I made several attempts to resolve the matter via the call centre department and via the @HelloTelkom twitter handle – but each time I simply got the blanket response of “it has been escalated” and I didn’t hear from Telkom again. Tried the call centre was told that there is no supervisor on duty – and that nothing can be done until a supervisor has a look at the matter. I spoke to Nohlanhla Tukutse on the 29th of April who said Telkom would get back to me within 24 hours – no one did. I also spoke with Meshack Ndlovu on the 3 May who literally wouldn’t even commit to anyone getting back to me – all he said was that there was no supervisor available and that he would escalate the matter but wouldn’t even tell me what the next step was – who will get back to me or when! This despite me informing him that I could send him an acknowledgement from Telkom that they have received the cancellation request – he literally said he couldn’t do anything with that! Needless to say – no one got back to me again. Frustrated by the process I contacted someone who I knew that works for Telkom who spoke to someone in accounts. A few minutes later I got a call from Telkom. According to them they had tried to call me to confirm the cancellation but couldn't get a hold of me so they didn't cancel the line (despite the fact that they had a signed copy of the cancellation request and a copy of my ID and acknowledged receipt of the cancellation on the 1st of February already and that I had tried several times to contact Telkom thereafter). . So I was called once (apparently) - no email, SMS, message or missed call – Telkom then just decided not to cancel the line. I was told that everything had been sorted out - that the cancellation had been processed and that the billing had been reversed. Subsequently, I never received any further correspondence from Telkom related to my fixed line. Fast forward to today (17 October 2016) – I got contacted by SA home loans saying that they cannot process my bond application because I have a default on my account. I pulled my credit record and under defaults there is an amount of R355 which is flagged as Telkom “bad debt written off”. So telkom continued to bill me for 2 months after my line was cancelled - didnt send me any bills or contact me in anyway to let me know that they were going to raise a default on my credit record. I called the telkom call centre - eventually actually got to someone in accounts after the third attempt. I spoke to Nomawethu Sofisa – who logged a dispute on my behalf (ref: ********** 9) and told me I would be contacted in a few weeks (meanwhile my bond application cannot proceed and I'm probably going to miss out on the house I want). Nomawethu confirmed that the line was only cancelled in June only - even though I requested the cancellation in February (and received confirmation). I've decided to pay the outstanding amount owing even though I now have to pay for Telkom's incompetence. I would gladly pay to be rid of Telkom for good!!!! Coincidently after I asked if there is an email address for the attroneys the agent sounded very irritated and I heard her say "oh my God" under her breath in frustration – as if I was inconveniencing her!

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