Telkom Call Centre incompetence and no apology for deleting email history

<p>On Fri 10 Jun16 I called the Telkom call centre to purchase additional ADSL data as the self-service top-up on the Telkom website was not functional (and hadn’t been for a number of days). The consultant assured me that the most cost effective option was to migrate from my 10GB ADSL data bundle to 20GB, and while keeping me on hold, she proceeded to call my wife (the account holder) for confirmation. Not only did she then drop my call after 30 mins without calling me back on my cell no. (which she had taken down) to explain what she was about to do, but her actions were to change our lives forever.</p> <p>Just over 3 days without an email service and ± 4 hours wasted on over 15 calls to the call centre (being shunted from pillar to post), we finally had our email reconnected on Mon afternoon, only to find out that while we continued to have the same email address, a completely new mail box had been created instead of being migrated i.e. the consultant had (in her infinite wisdom) created a new TIN no. on our account and as a result all the received, sent and draft messages in our old mail box were deleted, most of which were home business emails.</p> <p>Besides the pain of knowing that this is the service we pay good money for, the lack of accountability, system training and knowledge as well as the general disinterest demonstrated by more than 75% of the consultants and their supervisors, and more importantly, the absence of management and follow-up, is most disheartening (prior to this incident I had a 2 month battle with the Telkom call centre and technicians on an intermittent ADSL speed issue). Occasionally, an exceptional consultant does become available, but to reconnect with them is impossible and I have no doubt that their spirit is quickly extinguished in that environment.</p> <p>The invisible nature of the call centre and the very apparent lack of management, allow for all sorts of games to be played at the customers expense i.e. the dropping of telephone calls at will (none of which are shorter than 10 minutes), the closing of logged issues without proper resolution, and the favorite game of “bouncing” the customer between Sales and Technical.</p> <p>Even the logging of case no. ********** 81 to 2nd tier technical to investigate and report back on this matter did not generate a response. Silence, with no explanation as to 1) why my email history could not be retrieved from some back-up, that I have no doubt, should exist, or 2) why the system allowed the consultant to delete my history in the 1st place without some senior approval, or 3) at least, an apology therefor.</p> <p>All this leads to a most unpleasant and draining customer experience and no doubt, is part of the reason why Telkom is fast on its way to becoming an extinct dinosaur and in no ways helping our ailing economy.</p> <p>Let’s see what happens when I bring Telkom Billings into the picture and insist that they grant me a refund equivalent to 6 months of email service charges …. PLEASE GIVE ME AN EMPOWERED TELKOM MANAGER TO SPEAK TO.</p>