Telkom Fibre - Cancelled Within Cooling-Off Period - Refuses To Release My Line

Last month I transacted with Telkom for a 200Mbps line. Frogfoot installed. But after installation, I could only get 20Mbps on my 200Mbps line. After more than 15 or so calls to Telkom, and sitting hours on the phone with technicians trying to sort the problem out, they were unable to assist. I had to call Frogfoot directly, against the advice of the Telkom technicians, and beg them to assist me in fixing the problem.

After more hours on the phone, changing IP's and plugging and unplugging my ethernet cable, their technicians could not figure out the issue and advised that seeing that everything is okay on their side, the only conclusion is that the issue is on Telkom's side.

I decided to make a quick decision to cancel my Fibre with Telkom while I was still within the cooling-off period, which I did. I was worried that if the situation wasn't resolved by then, the problem would only worsen for me if I needed to cancel later on.

The cancellation process was an absolute nightmare. Eventually, after being advised to register on the website and do it online, and it not working as advised, I eventually managed to get a hold of the cancellation department who assisted me in "cancelling" my fibre with Telkom. A day after, I no longer had internet access, even at 20Mbps. It has remained as such since. This was about 2 weeks ago.

I then found Afrihost and signed up for another 200Mbps fibre line with them. I was advised that because it's a migration and that I've already paid for the Frogfoot infrstructure to be installed, the process should take anything between 48 hours and 5 days. We are now on day 11.

After contacting Afrihost numerous times via telephone and whatsapp as to why my line had still not been activated, Afrihost contacted Frogfoot who advised as follows:

"Please note early release approval is required to allow the progression of this order before the contract end date. Existing order will reach its end date on 01/June/2021".

When I asked what this meant, Afrihost advised:

"Means the line is active with another ISP (Telkom) until 01/June/2021. Until they cancel, we cannot get activated."

I was surprised by the feedback and contacted Telkom thrice thereafter. Both times I was advised that the line was indeed cancelled.

I called Frogfoot, and once again I begged them to assist me. They made enquiries and I was told that on their system, it still shows that I am "active" with Telkom. They advised that like Afrihost, they are unable to assist me in any way due to me still being active with Telkom. When I told them that Telkom confirmed more than once that my line was cancelled with them, they advised that what Telkom is not disclosing to me is that they have me on a 1-month notice period.

As a result of Telkom's actions, I have been struggling without an internet line since cancellation and being forced to use my cellphone as a hotspot on a daily basis so I can continue with work, which is beyond inconvenient. All this, in addition to the massive inconvenience of what happened prior to cancellation.

I cancelled with Telkom because they were unable to provide me with the service I wanted. But now it seems like I'm being punished for the cancellation and I'm not allowed to sign up with any other ISP until that period expires.

I cancelled with Telkom within my cooling-off period, so I'm unsure as to why any notice period is being app**** in my situation. This should not be the case legally. In addition to this, if Telkom was legally entitled to hold me to a 1-month notice period, the 200Mbps line (which was actually only a 20Mbps line) should still be active for this period.

Irrespective, I am extremely frustrated at this entire process with Telkom. This experience is making me wish I never interacted with Telkom for my fibre line in the first place.

I have since been liaising with Telkom almost daily to get someone to assist me to have the notice period cancelled so I can move on. A gentleman by the name of Franklin Josiah Marimuthu in the cancellation department assured me that he would escalate the matter to his manager. This was a few days ago. He then asked me to send my issue to the following email address: ***. I assumed that it was his manager's email address. But since then, I still haven't received any positive feedback about my situation. I emailed Franklin back a few times, and he assures me that my issue is receiving attention and that they are working on it, but he is unable to tell me what they are actually working on and what they are really doing to assist me. After numerous requests, he also won't provide me with any of his superior's contact details so I can't even take this issue further. I am left dealing with faceless people at a call centre. All this over just 6 days with Telkom!

I desperately need someone to assist me! Any help or advice on how I can get free from Telkom would be hugely appreciated!