Telkom Hell

<p>So about 3 weeks ago i decided to apply for the October Special R299 for 25Gb deal with LTE router. I visited the Clearwater store and submitted all required docs, ie. 3 months bank statement, proof of address, identity doc (passport in my case), etc. After a day i received an sms to say my case had been resolved. I called in and was told that my application was declined on the basis of my current passport not having any credit history attached to it. I understood that since my old passport, that i had used to open all my accounts, expired and changed last year. I brought in the old passport for them to check and another case number later i got the same response (declined due to insufficient credit history). I have Edgars, Dstv and rent paid out from my bank account every month. So what constitutes "sufficient" credit history? I went into the store and i was again asked to go through another hoop of getting a confirmation letter from my bank, FNB. Luckily for me, the FNB was next door (otherwise i'd given up on the matter), so i went and got the letter printed out, resubmitted my application and received a new case number. A day later, same response. Again, i went into the store and there was a note at the bottom of the case that said "Customer to pay a 12 month deposit". Despite this, i still wanted the deal. I asked the consultant to tell me how much i needed to pay, she said she didnt know. She'd have to email somebody, who had gone home. So i was to go home and she'd call me the following day. I asked if the 12 month deposit didnt mean paying 'price of deal x 12'? She said she didnt know. I wasnt happy with this so i asked to speak to the manager and was told she had left. I was referred to another lady who confirmed this figure to be what i had assumed. She got the first consultant to write down Telkom's banking details, ref number that i was to attach to the payment and consultant's email address that i'd send proof of payment to. The next morning i logged in to my internet banking and as i typed the ref number i realised that the maximum i could put in was 19 or 20 characters, the Telkom ref was 28 digits long. At that point i called customer care and spoke to a lady who seemed to understand that there was a mistake. She took down my details and promised to call within the day. That was Tuesday 11 Oct or Wednesday last week. That was the last i heard from her, and 4 or 5 case numbers later, i never got the deal. After this experience, it seems to me that Telkom never wanted my business, despite going through extra-ordinary checks that im sure most people do not have to endure. The worst experience i've ever had trying to BUY something.</p>