Telkom - KEEP CLEAR - NEVER SUPPORT - BUNCH OF ****S!!!!!

This is my Telkom Story of trying to cancel my LTE service. My 24 month LTE contract with Telkom ended and I was about 12 months into a month-by-month routine during which time I could cancel anytime. I decided to get fibre installed but Telkom could not help me as they were not in the area yet, so I contacted Vodacom. Sorted!! They could help. I needed to cancel my LTE with Telkom and have fibre installed all within a week of each other so as not to have too much overlap and have 2 pay both Telkom and Vodacom simultaneously ****tle did I know the ****up that was to occur). I organised to get fibre as from 1 Sep 2018, so I had to cancel my LTE with Telkom on the 31 Jul 2018, giving August as my notice month. I went into the Clearwater Mall branch of Telkom to cancel, but was told that I could ONLY cancel online. They gave me instructions and I went home, got onto their website, logged into my user account, and ‘cancelled’ my LTE. I did all the steps as I was instructed and was left with this screen shot – (SEE PIC 1) I was told that someone from Telkom would call me to confirm. No-one did. So after 3 weeks I called them and was told that they have NO CANCELLATION INSTRUCTION on record!!! ***reak? I referred them to my ‘Request number’ of ********** 858 : ********** , (SEE PIC 2), but was told that they ‘DID NOT KNOW WHAT THAT WAS’ and that I needed a Case Number. [I had never received one!!]. It was supposed to have been sms’d to me. It was NOT!! Yet the pic above states that “The below references may be used to follow up on your request”, and when I refer to ********** no-one knows what the FRACK I am talking about!!! When I went online again to try and re-cancel the system told me – ‘Request already logged’ (SEE PIC 3). So the COMPUTER knew about my request, but the idiots at Telkom DO NOT!!! ***reak? After about 12 calls again and again and again, and waiting for freaking hours in total, NOTHING!!! So I fracking lost it and shat them out from a height. Then again, the freaking dumb telephone operators know **** anyway!! All they can say is’ “Sorry for the inconvenience”. What about’ “Sorry, but we don’t really care and our system stinks!!” I finally got a Case number and started calling referring to this number. I was then told it would now take 21 days to cancel, from THAT DATE (12 Sep), and NOT my online requested cancellation date of 31 Jul. So after 20 days I called only to be told that it is 21 fracking ‘WORKING’ days (ie, a month). What the hell??? I work 7 days a week. 5 working days weeks went out in the 1980’s!!!!! Telkom? ***reak?? So when August rolled around and my LTE was STILL not cancelled, I instructed my bank to return Telkom’s debit order. Telkom promptly charged me R243.79 for the returned debit. In September still frack-all happened. In October I was still calling Telkom, with calls lasting 22min08sec, 35min20sec, 09min22sec, 26min06sec, 37min17sec, 16min13sec, 20min47sec, and on and on and on and on. Then my LTE gets suspended because of non-payment. I think, “Great. I am cancelling anyway”. I call Telkom to check up on things. They now say that my LTE is still not FRACKING cancelled, but cannot now be cancelled because it is suspended. ***? Now I must pay for August and September and the returned debit order fee before they can process the cancellation. So, I paid the R2269.15 to get my account out of ‘Suspended’. Let’s see how long it takes to get it cancelled now!!! AM I DEALING WITH A BUNCH OF IDIOTS AT TELKOM??? YES!!!! --- Well, day 20 of 21 days to cancel and it is cancelled!!! No freaking chance that they would cancel on day 3, then they could only charge you 3 your notice month from day 3, so they ONLY cancel on day 20!!! THEN I AM STILL BILLED FROM 12 OCTOBER TO 11 NOVEMBER, PLUS A ‘RECONNECTION FEE’ TO GET ME ‘ACTIVE’ BEFORE THEY CAN ‘CANCEL’ MY ACCOUNT!!!! THEN THEY CHARGE ANOTHER ‘DEBIT ORDER/CHEQUE LEVY’ FOR A FURTHER RETURNED DEBIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I phoned the next day to check that the ‘cancellation’ was legit. The woman says she sees an Order for Cancellation, but that the Cancellation is ‘STUCK’ and that she needs to escalate this and that it “requires some action by IT”, and that I must follow up in 72 hours (3 working days)!!! What the FREAK??? I ask about my final account, and she says it can take up to 60 days to get a final account. FRACK THESE FRACKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, three working days later I phone again, too hopefully. Confirm my LTE cancellation. I try 081-180, no luck; 10210, no luck – I am given 3 Options : Option 1 – Faults, Option 2 – Billing and Option 3 – Relocate of Downgrade. When I get through to the wrong department (which is ALL of the time!!!), I am told to call 10210, then they say that is not the correct department and I must phone 081-180 and choose Option 8. When I phone 081-180 they say I must phone 10210 and choose Option 8. THE FRACKING PROBLEM WITH THAT IS THAT THERE IS NOT AN OPTION 8. Then I am told to select Option 4 – THERE IS NO OPTION 4!!! Then I am told that my LTE Home Landline is a Mobile Business Contract!!!! I then have to call 10217. Same problem!!! NO OPTION 8!!! The I am told to call 10213, Option 2 for Sales (?). So, after 11 calls over 1 ½ hours duration, and speaking to Nqolo, Zindele, Wanele, and 7 others, finally Samantha can help me by jumping through a few hoops (STILL NOT the right department)!! I get a final amount due. I have already over paid R1500 since my original online cancellation date and now I must pay a further R618 to close the account.

So, I then get my cellphone bill mid-october and notice that the, so-called, FINAL balance of my LTE account is actually the net of VAT amount owing on my cellphone contract for October!!!

So, on Monday I try and phone again, expecting the SAME OLD ****!!!! And I am not disappointed!!! Telkom excels at disappointing!!!

I try 081-180, 10217 and 10213, hoping against ALL odds to find some sort of intelligence on the other end...

Over one and a half hours, and 5 calls later, speaking to Alistaire, Mpho, Graham, Muadisa and some other unpronounceable, and being pushed from pillar-to-post, phoning the Mobile number to be told that it's a fixed line number, phoning the Fixed Line number to be told that it's a Business number, (which IT IS NOT!!! It's in my home and always has been), phoning the Business number to be told it's mobile... ***???

I end up being told that it's an FMC line (Fixed Mobile Contract) and to phone 10213 again, which I have done about 15 times already in the past 2 months!!

EVENTUALLY, the admin person manages, against all odds, to see that my LTE reflects as cancelled on 5 October, not the 22nd, and not the 9th as I was previously told, but that the 'instruction' is 'STUCK' and needs IT attention...

I tell her that about 3 weeks ago I was told that it was 'STUCK' and needed IT attention and that upon re-phoning a few days later that all was well and that it is now un-'STUCK' and okay...

But NOW it is STILL 'STUCK' and needs IT attention, AGAIN!!!

I then get ANOTHER ref number - 206 048 772A and must call in a few days to re-check on the status of the account.

No-one EVER, EVER, EVER says that THEY will phone you back. That is just beyond their mental abilities, it seems!!! No-one gives a f***!

In the meantime my October bill for my 'cancelled' LTE is now payable, for the period from 12 Oct 2018 to 11 Nov 2018, a total of R1531.44, due on 5 Nov 2018. I am advised that I must pay this amount and that I will get a refund.

Refund??? What if my LTE is NEVER finalised? Must I continue paying every month till the ***s-come-home, or until all is said-and-done, or until-the-dust-settles???

So, still I wait!!!

Some of the calls I made to 10210, 10213, 10217 and 081-180 :- 22 Oct 2018 @ 12h23 - 6 min 09 seconds 22 Oct 2018 @ 12h43 - 7 min 30 seconds 17 Oct 2018 @ 12h40 - 2 min 13 seconds 10 Oct 2018 @ 10h05 - 13 min 10 seconds 04 Oct 2018 @ 08h39 - 12 min 26 seconds 03 Oct 2018 @ 12h13 - 35 min 35 seconds 26 Sep 2018 @ 12h11 - 37 min 17 seconds 26 Sep 2018 @ 12h58 - 26 min 02 seconds 20 Sep 2018 @ 14h01 - 12 min 34 seconds 20 Sep 2018 @ 14h20 - 9min 22 seconds 29 Oct 2018 @ 08h45 - 15 min 34 seconds 29 Oct 2018 @ 08h00 - 13 min 54 seconds 22 Oct 2018 @ 13h12 - 1 min 11 seconds 04 Oct 2018 @ 12h49 - 16 min 13 seconds 22 Oct 2018 @ 13h21 - 13 min 33 seconds 29 Oct 2018 @ 08h29 - 16 min 02 seconds 29 Oct 2018 @ 08h04 - 24 min 22 seconds 22 Oct 2018 @ 12h51 - 21 min 30 seconds 22 Oct 2018 @ 12h42 - 11 min 06 seconds 22 Oct 2018 @ 12h34 - 13 min 03 seconds 22 Oct 2018 @ 12h30 - 13 min 25 seconds 17 Oct 2018 @ 12h43 - 12 min 49 seconds 17 Oct 2018 @ 12h30 - 16 min 55 seconds 04 Oct 2018 @ 13h05 - 20 min 47 seconds 17 Sep 2018 @ 17h07 - 35 min 20 seconds 17 Sep 2018 @ 08h55 - 22 min 08 seconds 22 Jul 2018 @ 13h22 - 16 min 34 seconds

That's 458 minutes and 7 seconds. That is 7 hours, 38 minutes and 7 seconds of wasted time. Almost an entire working day!!!

Now in November 2018 , after STILL getting LTE account bills, I follow up and get replies asking why I wish to cancel my Huawei P20 Pro cell phone contract.

***??? - WHO ASKED THAT???????????????????

My reply –

Hi (name)...

I am now getting mails saying that I am wanting to cancel my CELL PHONE CONTRACT.

I DO NOT WANT TO CANCEL MY CELL PHONE CONTRACT, ONLY MY LTE!!!!!

I enclose 2 statements from my LTE account which DOES NOT SEEM TO BE CANCELLED AS YET, as I am still getting accounts for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I also enclose 2 statements from my Huawei P20 Pro account which is paid-up to date and still used by me…

CLEARLY these are 2 different accounts-

Telkom LTE = Account number ********** 90001 and Service number ********** (to cancel). My P20 Pro = Accouint number ********** 42 and Service number ********** (NOT to cancel).

I am now getting mails stating that I wish to cancel my cell phone contract – THIS IS NONSENSE!!!!!!!

I DO NOT WANT TO CANCEL MY P20 PRO PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ONLY MY LTE CONTRACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DO NOT CANCEL MY CELL PHONE CONTRACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please find out what is going on as this is clearly a stuffup!!!

**************************************************************************** Any today 14 November I get ANOTHER bill for December STILL NOT REFLECTING AS BEING CANCELLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ***??? ***??? ***??? ***??? ***??? ***???

Please, anyone reading this with a Telkom contract, let it run its course then CANCEL asap, 3 MONTHS BEFORE YOU WANT IT ACTUALLY CANCELLED!!!! Hopefully with less frackups that I have had. Those with no dealings with Telkom – STAY AWAY!!! DO NOT EVEN TRY. SAVE YOURSELF THE FRUSTRATION. I have had a ****-load full of them!!! After about 25 years of great service, this new set of people have fracked it up!! Now I am going to have to fight my **** off to get Septembers and possibly some of Octobers, and the debit cancellation fee charge reversed and refunded. I can honestly tell you that I will be lodging 200 Disputes on their website, sending 1000 emails and going to Hellopeter dozens of times, till the ***s come home, or until they die… Mark my words… Let it begin!!