Telkom, the so called ''teleCOMMUNICATION'' company

I am a mobile contract holder with Telkom. Telkom send out the monthly invoices early every month and the invoice reads, "pay on or before debit date". now my debit date is end of the month. so in April I paid around the 26th/27th and come end of April Telkom attempted to debit my account however it was unsuccessful due to insufficient funds in my account. I did not think much of it since I knew that I had already paid and that there was nothing to worry about. True to that my services were never cut and everything went smoothly in May.

Then in early June I received the usual invoice but in this invoice there was a R201 fee which they say its for non-payment. So I was charged for the unsuccessful debit in April. This suprised me because i had paid before the debit date. I called them to enquire and i was told that they issue a mandate to the banks to debit accounts 10 days before the actual debit date and therefore if you want to avoid them trying to debit your account you should pay 10 days before. then i told them that why am i being charged for non-payment when i have paid, and i was told that it should have been done 10 days before and its procedural and thus there is nothing he can do. I feel that this is daylight ******* because this issue of 10 days before was never communicated to me. the invoice clearly states that "PAY ON OR BEFORE 31" in my case. it doesn't say 10 days before debit date or anything.

having procedures and systems in place is mandatory for any business but if those systems and procedures affect the consumer in any way, then they should be communicated, you cant have one party in the dark. R200 is a lot of money for something you were never made aware of.

Telkom, a telecommunication company which is failing to effectively communicate with its consumers!!!!.....