The Telkom FreeMe trap!

<p>Before signing up for the seemingly fantastic Telkom FreeMe packages, read carefully and prepare yourself for the following:</p> <p> </p> <p>Month to month becomes 24 months!</p> <p>I signed up for the Telkom FreeMe 20gig package on a month to month basis in November last year. I did this at the Telkom store in Cresta and was happy with the package but disappointed with the network coverage, high number of dropped and unconnected calls and the slow internet even in Telkom's LTE zones.</p> <p> </p> <p>In January this year I skipped a payment and called Telkom to suddenly discover that I was put on a 24 month contract and that when I didn't pay my "optional" debit order, I get charged R200 on top of the R599 I pay every month. </p> <p> </p> <p>When calling Telkom to resolve this I get told that since I took the agreement out in store, I have to go to A Telkom store to resolve this and that customer service will not be able to help me.</p> <p> </p> <p>I have to mention that the reason why I went in store in the first place was because my then 24 month cellphone contract was at an end and customer service said that I have to go in store to cancel the contract; whereupon I decided to take on the "prepaid" month to month 20gig deal.</p> <p> </p> <p>So I went to the Telkom store in Sandton city where the I was met with a very uprehensive lady who amongst other colourful things told me that I should be able to put in 30 days notice anyway and cancel my deal and that I have to call customer service to do this. I left the store and called customer service and got told the same "go in store story"!</p> <p> </p> <p>So I decided to do it again, this time I went to Cresta, where I signed up for this deal and when I got there, I was told the entire Telkom system is down and has been down for 3 days. They won't be able to help me.</p> <p> </p> <p>So to wrap it all up:</p> <p>I asked for a month to month and even asked the lady who was helping me several time to make sure it's a month to month deal. I wasn't purchasing a new device and I thus had no reason to take out a 24 month contract on a package that I can purchase on a monthly basis with no difference at all. I gain nothing by taking a 24 month data and voice deal but Telkom obviously gains a customer for 24 months and they also get to charge you R200 every month that you default (******ion!).</p> <p> </p> <p>The lack of support from Telkom on this matter has been beyond appalling, not one person I spoke to decided to log my complaint or escalate it so that it can be resolved quickly. Once you in it might as well forget about getting out of it, just like what would happen if you get caught in a bear trap. </p> <p> </p> <p>Very disappointed frankly, my saving grace might be getting Cell C to buy me out of this **** then I can forget about Telkom's service!</p> <p> </p>