Stupendously bad Telkom service

This has been a comedy of errors, if not a deliberate subversion of service by Telkom. I have app**** no fewer than FOUR times via Telkom's direct selling team for an upgrade from ADSL copper to Vumatel-Telkom fibre. THis is a product that Telkom advertised itself. After the first application was approved over the phone, I received an SMS from Telkom saying I needed to pay a deposit of (around) R400. I went to the Cavendish shopping centre Telkom shop in Cape Town and tried to pay the deposit. The Telkom employee there told me the "system was hanging" and would probably continue hanging all day. That's classic Telkom! Vintage performance! This employee nevertheless assured me that my application was in the system and would go through. She even gave me a printout with details on it. I waited, and waited, and waited. Then, after a month of deep frustration with a hanging ADSL internet that is too slow for streaming, I asked for a callback from the direct-selling Telkom team. Now the fun really started. I repeated this exact same process THREE times. Each time, the sales agent on the phone was courteous but had no answer for the fact that my previous application had somehow disappeared. Each one then promised to 'ESCALATE' the matter. Each time nothing - I mean NOTHING at all - happened for weeks afterwards. I now believe that Telkom must be deliberately undermining their own product. Maybe they don't like the Vumatel connection? The last sales consultant I spoke with, Tyron Ragunath, said he had received precisely the same complaint from someone else earlier the same morning. Mr Ragunath promised to 'escalate' the matter urgently. I don't doubt the sincerity of the sales agents, but somewhere upstairs someone must have said, "**** these upgrade to Vumatel fibre applications, but do it quietly." Because, despite the 'escalations', MORE NOTHING happens. Otherwise, one can only think it is another example of Telkom's stupendous, world-class incompetence. Telkom, PLEASE prove me wrong by upgrading my ADSL to Vumatel fibre, as you have promised to do now at least four time in four months and still haven't been able to do!