Telkom Fibre Installation requests : SHOCKING SHOCKING SHOCKING NO SERVICE!!!

Item: Telkom
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Introduction: I have been a Telkom customer for over 30 years. I have also worked for Telkom years ago so have always supported Telkom in my capacity, where possible. I have been an ADSL user for about 10 years. When your contractors started installing the fibre infrastructure in my neighbourhood for most of 2016, I decided it was time to upgrade my ADSL to Fibre. To date, a number of my neighbours have installed fibre. Situation: On the 7th Nov 2016, I was phoned by a Telkom Agent (Agent 1) to sell me a Fibre package. I accepted and signed up for Telkom Fibre 10mbs Uncapped with the agent 1. She explained that someone would phone me within a week to give me my sales order number and to arrange an installation date. After two weeks I followed up with agent 1 via email and got no response. I then phoned the helpdesk and was told Telkom had no record of my application. In mid December 2016, a Telkom sales agent 2 arrived at my house and explained the fibre offerings and I again app**** for Fibre on paper. The lady took my forms away and said she would hand in my application. After 2 weeks I phoned the helpdesk and was told they had not received my application. I tried contacting the agent 2 and she told me she was told that I don't qualify for fibre. She said she did not understand this herself and was not sure how she could help me further! Since then I have not heard from her again. On Monday 16th Jan 2017 I decided (for the 3rd time) to visit the Telkom Direct store in Menlyn Pretoria. I stood in a long queue and eventually was helped by an agent 3. I completed a 3rd Telkom fibre application and agent 3 captured my information onto the system. At some point she mentioned that there was a problem on the system and it was telling her that I did not qualify for fibre. She said it was a system problem and that she would escalate this and that it should be sorted out. I then left the shop. On Tuesday 24th January 2017, I received a phone call from agent 4, a call centre agent. He said he was phoning to tell me that my ADSL (yes-ADSL) application could not go ahead as I lived too far away from the exchange. (I already have ADSL running). I told him I did not apply for ADSL, but for Fibre. He quoted agent 3's name and the Menlyn store as the originator of the application, so I know it was my 3rd application he was referring to. Agent 4 insisted it was an ADSL application and not a Fibre one. At this point, I decided to call a friend who works for Telkom for assistance. I don’t like doing this, but I was desperate to get this sorted out. The case was escalated and on 31st January I was called by a Telkom manager to say that my application was on track and that the installation was scheduled for the 16th February 2017. I then received a call from a Telkom agent asking me if it was ok to install on the Saturday 11th February, which I declined and we agreed on the original date of the 16th February 2017. On the 9th February I received an SMS to tell me that Telkom had scheduled the installation for the 11th February, and that I must reply with a YES or NO. I rep**** NO. On Tuesday 14th February 2017 I received another three SMS’s to confirm the installation date for the 16th February and I rep**** YES to all of them. I also received a phone call from an agent to confirm the 16th February 2017. A side issue: Meanwhile – on Sunday 12th February I discovered my current phone line ( ********** 636) was swopped with ********** 206. I logged the call immediately and on Tuesday 14th February got an SMS to say the technician had started working on it. 20 minutes later I got another SMS to say that the fault had been resolved. Upon checking, the problem still existed. I logged a new call on Tuesday 14th February. Eventually, after many phone calls a technician came to my residence and checked out my problem. He drove away and said the fault was at the exchange. At about 2.30pm on the Tuesday 14th February he phoned me to say it was fixed. Indeed it was fixed. Installation date: 16th February 2017 I was told to be available all day as this was an “all day appointment”. I put in a day’s leave and waited at home for the Telkom team to arrive. At 10h30 they had not yet arrived so I called the Telkom call centre and was informed that the installation would be quick and that it was scheduled for the day. He said a technician would phone me before arriving. I accepted this and continued to sit around all day waiting for the installation team. GUESS WHAT! No arrival by any Fibre team! No phone call, no explanation, nothing! At this point I ask myself 3 questions: 1. Is Telkom really serious about deploying fibre? 2. Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing? 3. Does Telkom appreciate my business and do they value me as a customer? 4. I have been AN EXTREMELY TOLERANT customer. Most people would probably not have gone through this painful and time consuming/wasting experience. Should I hang around further and wait patiently for Telkom to get their act together? I'm afraid, at this moment, the answer is NO to all four questions. It saddens me, but I am forced, it seems, to take my business elsewhere. Goodbye Telkom! Thank you Peter Finlayson

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