Telkom - Horrible infrastructure and terrible customer experience throughout

I took out a Telkom Mobile contract towards the end of 2018 after hearing some decent reviews from friends and family regarding their service offering and they were alot more affordable than the competitors. I had been on MTN for my previous contract and only had one problem in 48 months after a country-wide outage that lasted a few hours.

I experienced numerous dropped calls, random missed calls, my internet sometimes went completely offline and the Telkom network was sluggish to say the least. At the time I was staying in a newly developed area of Pretoria and gave Telkom the benefit of the doubt that perhaps when I am back in central Sandton I would have no issue. The issue still remains - the Telkom infrastructure is shocking.

I bugged a nearby branch on numerous occasions on advice how to resolve the issue. Eventually I got to the state that I just want to cancel my contract, and move back to MTN. Of course without paying any of the penalty fees as Telkom's coverage map (available on their website) was clearly inaccurate information to a consumer. The manager of the branch advised me to cancel that contract Telkom would dispatch a network technician to test my area to see if there was an issue. He also added that he is aware of 2 other cases in the same area that are also in process of canceling their contracts.

After nearly a month, eventually a network technician is dispatched and my coverage was tested. He noted that the coverage in my area was unbearable and he couldn't understand how Telkom can expect me to be satisfied with this service. He provided me with a reference number with which I can cancel my contract. He noted Telkom would not let me go easily. He was from an independent network company, not Telkom.

I called the call centre whereby a lady **** to me numerous times over the phone when I asked her questions. She would not provide me with a reference number to that specific call, nor a recording of the call. I lost my patience and demanded to speak to her manager. After being placed on hold for about the 8th time, I was put through to someone who contradicted Telkom's own call centre - mentioning that all would be in order once the network technician detects there is an issue. He advised me that the only way was to go to the online portal and cancel from there.

From the cancellation terminal, you cannot supply the technician reference number. Essentially you are forced to cancel with the cancelation fee.

It is also worth noting that the branch staff to the call centre promised to follow up numerous times in this 2 month journey to try and cancel a 24 month contract. Even getting hold of the regional branch manager who assisted in escalating my issue would not return my phone call after the first time I spoke to him. My issue until today remains unresolved.

Absolutely shocking customer service from Telkom, I would highly recommend that no-one joins Telkom in the hopes of receiving a good service or even after-sales customer service.