TELKOM IS A DISASTER

<p>DECLARATION: OUR TELKOM ACCOUNT</p> <p>We were previously residents in 43B Rissik Street, Louis Trichardt and used the Telkom ASDL line for Internet connections. However, there were regular breakdowns and then it would take up to a week for a technician to come and fix the problem. As I was still teaching at the University of Venda and quite dependent on an Internet connection. For this reason we decided to terminate the service and find an alternative. At first we used MWeb, but then discovered that they were using the Telkom line, so we encountered exactly the same problem. On 1stSeptember 2015 we switched over to Vonitel, which utilises radio signals.<br />Several futile attempts were made to inform Telkom of the termination of service. Because the Telkom office in the Makhado Mall in Louis Trichardt had closed down, it was not possible to give notice in person. Instead, we had to phone their ‘Help’ line. We tried three times in the course of a week in July: you phone, you hold on for at least 40 minutes and the moment they hear your surname, they plonk down the phone! The last of the three calls lasted an hour and ten minutes, with the same result: they keep you holding on and then cut the connection after ten or fifteen minutes.<br />In the same month — July 2015 — we had to go Polokwane to see a specialist and took the opportunity to go to the Telkom office in the Mall of the North. One lady behind a computer was twiddling her thumbs while a couple of other customers were being served by her colleagues. I went up to her and said that we would like to cancel our ADSL subscription. She was extremely rude and waived me away: “You can only do that telephonically!” I said, “But you open accounts here, don’t you?” She did not reply to that. I found this very pecu****: we are in the electronic age, so why can’t we give notice electronically?<br />Back in Louis Trichardt we tried the toll-free number a fourth time. After holding on for more than an hour we were told that the cancellation has been processed; this was early August. Nevertheless, we still received the full account for an ADSL line at the end of August!<br />In September 2015 we were notified that a flat at the local Old Age Home has become available and that we can move there, which was done on the 23rd October.<br />After getting the account in August, I went to the Telkom website. You can do lots of things there, including requesting the transfer of a line to a new address, but you cannot terminate a service! I suspect that they treat others like ourselves and rake in millions for services they have not rendered! Anyway, I gave notice there to transfer the line to a new address, but left the second address blank. <br />The last Telkom account I paid was at the end of September 2015. This included rental for the ADSL, which I had still paid in August, although we had cancelled it. In view of this, we actually had a credit with Telkom.<br />Telkom blissfully ignored everything and continued to send accounts. Late November I went back to their website where I lodged a FORMAL COMPLAINT stating that the ADSL had been cancelled in July. According to the website they were supposed to contact me within a few days. I am still waiting.<br />Telkom could no longer call us on the landline, which should convey a clear message to anyone with a grain of intelligence, but started calling us on our cell phones. For some inexplicable reason the account stopped accumulating somewhere in early 2016. I am now 75 years of old and have become progressively deaf since 2001. I have a rather expensive hearing apparatus in both ears, but nevertheless I cannot really follow telephone conversations, because the sibilants obscure the words. I can follow normal conversations provided the person speaks clearly and I can do a bit of lip-reading. Because Telkom has ignored verbal instructions to terminate the service, was the second reason why we repeatedly requested an e-mail address so that I could sent this letter to them. They never comp**** to the request.<br />More recently (I think in January 2017) they ‘handed us over’ to Debt-in. On the 7th of April we requested an e-mail address from Debt-In, but there was no response.<br />Last Friday (the 6th May) there was an SMS from Debt-in on my wife’s cell phone saying that we will now be blacklisted and our latest address traced. I responded by sending them a short message on their website (again no e-mail address is available).<br />I don’t think we are the only ones who have suffered in this way at the hands of Telkom. (The other phone companies are not much better!) <br />Perhaps there is a simple explanation for all this: it is possible, that like the State President, they can only read very large capital letters provided the words have no more than six letters…<br />To say I’m fed up, is an understatement.<br />I have copies of all supporting documents which can be forwarded upon request.<br />Your intervention will be appreciated.<br />Thank you.<br />Sincerely<br /></p> <p>Jacques WA van Heerden (410 ********** 088)</p> <p> </p> <p> </p>