Telkom...Worse Than Home Affairs

On the 21st of Jan I called into Telkom to enquire about my account as I was advised that my account was in arrears. The lady that answered the phone advised that I had called in on the 19th and advised them to collect on the account. This call never happened. And if it did I'd like the recording cos it definitely wasn't me on the other side of the line. I checked my account and indeed I was debited on the 19th for December. My payday is the 21st, as such I did not have sufficient funds in my current account to cover this. The debit order bounced and my bank charged me R100 for this. I asked the consultant from Telkom if I could settle the account that day, as previously when I had paid for an arrears amount Telkom then debited me anyway, and getting that money back was a nightmare, so I wanted to ensure this wouldn't happen. She advised me that since the debit date is the 25th I should wait till then and see that it debits. It did in fact debit on the 25th for both Dec and Jan. I was also ensured that the account is not sitting with your collections dept. I have just been told that although the funds have been paid, are still with your collections dept and not allocated to my account. I should wait 24 to 48 hours for this to happen. This obviously means that I can only expect the money to reflect in my account on Wed next week. This whole mess has been created on Telkom's side and I am being penalised for it on every corner. This has been the trend with Telkom since I became a customer 2years ago, and it has all been from their accounts department. No one there actually cares, nor treats clients with any sort of decent service. I am not a client that doesn't want to pay, I pay all my bills. They are acting like they chase me for money, but their administrative process there is an absolute shambles. I'm actually fuming. I have been dealing with a vet helpful gent at the Telkom branch in Fourways mall who has gone above and beyond to secure me the phone I am looking to upgrade to. Unfortunately his sale has been ruined as Telkom has just reminded me why I should NEVER deal with them. If you are looking to open a Telkom contract I seriously advise you to reconsider, and I have never dealt with a worse service provider in my entire life