The airtime diaries, when will I ever get it?

I have been receiving absolutely no help from Telkom for the past 3 & a half weeks.

On 30 September I purchased 2 airtime vouchers, one for R50.00 and another for R100.00. After midnight, (now the 1st of October) I recharged with the R50 first and received a sms that my account had been recharged with R50.00, I then recharged with the R100 voucher. I did not receive a sms stating my account had been recharged with R100 but I ignored it, thinking there was just a delay in receiving the notification. Upon checking my balance a few hours later I realised that I hadn't actually received the R100 airtime. So on the 2nd of October, I phoned the Telkom call centre and was informed that they could see on their system that the voucher was used by checking the serial number and voucher pin, and that they can also see that the amount of R100 never actually reflected on my account balance. They said the matter would have to be handed to their "Back Office" and that the Back Office would give me feedback in up to 72 working hours, which is about 7-9 working days. In this time, I received no calls from Telkom and I had to call in myself to get any feedback, each consultant I spoke to, told me the matter was with the back office & to wait for the turnaround time to lapse. After 9 working days, and about 100 calls later, (Friday 13th October ) I spoke to a lady by the name of Phindile who told me that the turnaround time has lapsed and that the case is now a priority and she would escalate the matter to her manager Paul, who would follow up with the back office. She informed me that close of business for them was 10pm and that Paul would call me before then with feedback, needless to say, that did not happen. I then phoned again on Monday 16th October, I asked to speak to Paul and was informed that he was on another call and would call me back in 5 minutes. Clearly that didn't happen. When I phoned again that afternoon, they kept me on hold for about 27 minutes, fed up with waiting for a consultant, I ended the call. I called again later in the week, the 21st, and spoke to a Lebo, and asked for Paul and lo & behold, he's conveniently on another call again. Yet again I was told he'd call me back. You already know by now that Paul does not know how to operate a phone as he has not returned any of my calls. A few hours later, livid at this point, I call in again and ask for Paul. This time, he isn't on another call but he's left for the day. How he managed to do that but not return my call is beyond me. So I request to speak to a different manager as I am now fuming and would just like my airtime and maybe some professionalism and efficiency from Telkom cause they have shown me that they do not understand the meaning of "service". I get put through to a manager by the name of Clifford, who asks me a bunch of useless questions and doesn't seem to understand that my issue is that after 3 weeks, I still have not actually received my airtime. He informs me that the issue is that the shop that sold met the vouchers is at fault as they sold me a voucher that's showing on Telkom’s system as being used on the 18th of September. He asks me to send him proof of my voucher and to hurry up as he'll be knocking off soon. He says he needs to just verify that the fault is with the shop and not Telkom. You can only guess what happens when I send him proof. He calls me back and says that he can actually see that the voucher was used on the 1st of October and not the 18th of September. So I ask him if that verifies that the probably is actually with Telkom and not the shop, he then prevaricately ignores my question by telling me that their system has just gone down and he cannot confirm that the problem is with Telkom because it seems like the shop sold me a faulty voucher. I requested to speak to someone higher than him and he tells me that he will escalate the matter with the back office. When I ask him how he'll do that as the matter was escalated to him he says there is no one person higher than another at Telkom. I explained to him that because I have received 0 service from Telkom that I would be making this matter public as all proof seems to show that the problem lies with Telkom, he responds by telling me that it's fine. What's fine Clifford? ??? He asks me for a case number, rather late in the conversation, and then proceeds to tell me that according to their system, the case is marked as closed as the matter has been resolved. "How Clifford??? If I'm on the phone with you now about the very same issue, where and how was it resolved?? “His response? “But it's fine". What kind of incompetence does Telkom promote that they can state that issues are resolved thus closed and no longer have to be dealt with when customers are calling in regularly to follow up on cases that are clearly not resolved. Clearly Telkom employees live in a chimerical world where no one has any issues with them. I am absolutely appalled by the lack of service Telkom is willing to give. What is everyone sitting and doing if they can't even resolve a matter as simple as this?? I hope my posting here is a wakeup call to Telkom to get their act together and actually provide good service to their customers.

On 26 October, I posted the above statement to Telkom’s Facebook page. I received a response from them requesting that I direct message them with my cell phone and ID numbers so they could tend to the issue. I messaged them on October 27th and they responded on October 28th informing me that their records show that my line was never recharged and they requested proof of purchase to investigate. I thus forwarded them the proof of purchase. On the 29th of October I received feedback from them stating that their support team discovered that the R100 airtime was recharged on cell phone number ********** 09 and that it was still unused since the recharge. I was asked to advise on whether I am aware of the aforementioned number. I advised that I was not and that I would like for the airtime to be transferred to me. I got an automated response requesting me to resend my message during working hours. So I resent my message on 30 October. Telkom responded by providing me with a case reference number and advising me that they would contact me with feedback. On 3 November, I messaged to follow up as no one had given me any feedback. On 4 November, they told me they had urged their support team to follow up with my case and further correspondence would follow. On 7 November, I messaged again to follow up on my case as I still had not received feedback. I was then informed that their systems which are used to transfer airtime or data were down and that I would be assisted as soon as their systems were up and running again. I called in again today, 8 November as I still hadn’t heard anything again. I spoke to a lady by the name of Shandre who informed me that there was still a 7-21 working days waiting period before I can be assisted. It seems rather ridiculous to be expected to wait basically 2 months for assistance and for such a simple matter to be resolved. It is very disappointing that Telkom does not care enough about their customers to at least call their customers and provide feedback, instead we have to call in all the time in order to be kept up to speed. R100 might not seem like a lot to be upset about, but it is the principle of the matter and Telkom is not doing their part as they are not providing any service whatsoever.

when and will i ever get it ?