*****ulent Data Contract

The below complaint has been lodged with ICASA:

Good Day,

I am lodging this complaint on behalf of my mother Anne Larlaine Smith, ID Number ***.

Last year in August or September my mum who is a unemployment pensioner received a call from a sales consultant working on behalf of Telkom she advised her that her current data contract 10 GB night time data & 10 GB with a monthly premium of R141 would be coming to an end soon and offered her an upgrade on the contract for 20GB day & Night for R99. My mother agreed to the terms on the understanding that this would be an upgrade of her current contract. At the end of the month my mother noticed that she was being debited for R141 & R99. She went to one of the Telkom branches in Durban last year and was advised by a consultant that her contract for R141 would only be ending in November 2024 and not soon as indicated by the sales consultant. The consultant knowing the what had happened advised that the issue would be escalated to be resolved however to date this has not been done nor has the *****ulent contract been cancelled.

Due to the fact that my mother is old, a pensioner and does not have a full understanding of how to handle these situations I called into the Telkom customer care dept today 081 180 to try get them to assist in resolving the issue as she has now been handed over to a debt collections company. I have made 3 attempts to call in and on the first call the consultant quickly transferred us to the survey without assisting, the second consultant named Zanele put the call on mute and ended it after a few seconds, the third consultant Nkosinathi Khona advised that his manager was not available when I requested that the call be escalated, he then went on to say she was in a meeting and then said I could not speak to her at all. I advised that I would stay on hold until his manager was available and I was placed on hold and then transferred again through to the survey.

Please can I ask that we be provided with the sale call where the additional contract was sold, an investigation take place regarding whether the contract was sold ethically and compliantly. Should it be found that the contract was not sold compliantly, my mother should be refunded all monies deducted *****ulently, her details should be removed from the debt collections company currently perusing her and her profile on the bureau should adjusted accordingly and any activity that negatively impacted her credit score should be removed.

It is extremely concerning that elderly people in this country are being taken advantage of daily by business who do not have ethical business practices particularly at a time where South Africans are suffering from extreme economical constraints. My mother only received a pension as an income to support herself and this has negatively impacted her way of life.

Please can this be looked at seriously and feedback provided