STAY AWAY FROM TELKOM MOBILE

We are constantly receiving terrible service from this company, and I would highly recommend people stay away.

Their pricing makes it seem like a good deal, but the reality is that the lack of service renders the product unusable. Right now we are litteraly cut off from communication as soon as we leave our wi-fi network. No calls, no WhatsApp, no texts, no internet etc.

We recently moved our bank accounts, and successfully switched our Telkom debit order. The first month Telkom still tried to deduct from the old bank account. After being contract customers of this network for 10 years, and never missing a single payment before, we were handed over to the collections department instantly. After this our service was abruptly suspended, without warning. We had no way to contact anybody once this happened. We then got a text message saying our account was in arrears. We immediately made contact with the call centre, which is the only number you can contact, and were told the debit order had failed to be deducted. My wife immediately made the payment for the outstanding amount on the same day, and made contact with the call centre again to have the service reinstated. After 30 mins on the line with a consultant the line was dropped, with no return call. I ended up phoning in again, and after speaking to the third consultant we waited an hour and eventually had our service reinstated. A week later the service was once again suspended, on Christmas day ai might add, only to be automatically resolved later the evening. Then on 03/01/2025 our service was once again interrupted due to "non payment". We went to our local Telkom branch, and when explaining our situation, we were told that we'd have to contact the call centre, as the branch could not assist us with the problem. This is where I finally had enough. I said that I would not leave until something was done. The staff member then proceeded to call the call centre, only to be faced with the exact same challenges as us. Firstly, the in store consultant was on the line for about 25 minutes, when the call was just dropped. Then upon phoning them a second time he passed the phone to my wife for verification (as both contracts are on her name), the call centre agent asked my wife how she was doing, and she simply responded with "unfortunately not too good, thanks sir, how are you doing?", he immediately told her "lady, you have to calm down, only then will i help you". In shock she passed the phone to me, and I asked him to repeat himself, and again he said, "Tell the lady she must calm down first, and then phone us back so we can help her", then he dropped the call again. I turned to the two in store consultants, and asked if they thought my wife had been rude on the phone, to which they both said not at all. She was so soft spoken they could barely hear her speak. The in store staff member then sent en e-mail to the call centre agent he spoke with the first time, and we were eventually told that the banking details on the system was correctly changed to the new details, and after sending them a copy of our bank statement showing there was more than sufficient funds for the debit order they could not give any answers as to why the debit order could have been declined. We then also realized we were charged 2 x R202 penalty fees for the declined debit orders. This was eventually disputed, and we have been told that these would be removed. I had to once again pay the outstanding amount yesterday, on 04/01/2025, and the call centre agent told the in store staff member that our service would be reinstated the same day. The in store consultant said however that with his experience our service would likely only be reinstated on 10/01/2025. This means we have to go a full week without service after giving them the proof of payment I made yesterday. This is unacceptable, and I want to be reimbursed for the periods in which I could not make use of the service I pay a premium rate for.

Overall, the staff are very nonchalant about the customers, and everyone hides behind the call centre. The call centre is virtually the worst part of it all, as the voice prompts sends you around in circles, and when you eventually speak to a person, it is someone who simply couldn't care less. They are rude, uninformed, and don't care about solving your problem. Honestly, I do feel that writing this review is a futile action as this company simply does not care about their customers. I would have appreciated if they would adhere to people's complaints and make attempts to ammend their mistakes, but I know that is asking too much of them. I can only hope this is an eye opener to other consumers out there to STAY AWAY FROM TELKOM MOBILE. You have a phone to be connected to the outside world, though even if you are honest and want to pay on time for the service, they will find A way to cut you off. And this could be very dangerous if someone needed help and they had no means to contact anybody.