Unfair Treatment from Telkom

Good day,

I would like to lay a complain against Telkom for what I think is an unfair treatment towards me. Last year in October 09, 2019 I contacted Telkom after receiving a bill of R8364.35, I was given a case number: ***0 and told that my case will investigated. I wanted to find out from them why my bill was so high and to let them know that I won’t be able to have that kind of money in my account

The problem had started after I contacted Telkom call Centre to ask them to increase my data package from 5gig to 10gig on the SIM card: *** the call Centre person failed to tell me that there would be an additional charge of R7444.00.

On the 30th October 2019, the same month of my complaint, my account was debited with R8364.35, there was six thousand and some change in my FNB bank account and the Telkom debit took everything leaving me with nothing while the month had just began, I was forced to go to my bank and asked them to reverse that debit order for me. I then paid R809.34 that I believed was my monthly usage fee and subtractracted the amount of R7440.00 that I was disputing as Telkom told me that they are investigating.

There was no feedback from Telkom about my case, in December 04 2019 I receive an invoice of -R6305.03 the payment was a negative which my understanding was that Telkom is correcting the mistake, I enquired in their Telkom social network platforms about my case and still didn’t get any feedback. So I have been getting negative invoices up until the end of March. My March 14, 2020 statement also came with the amount of -R4576.88 that was to for March Ending 31, 2020. I didn’t pay since it was aLeo a negative balance.

On the 24th of March 2020, my account was locked and all my SIM cards didn’t work so I went to a Telkom shop at Galleria Mall in Durban to find out what was the problem and I was told that my account had been locked. The Telkom shop got the call Centre to phone me about my Enquiry but did not receive any help.

On the 05 April I received an invoice of + R4790.11 that was due to be paid on April 30, 2020, this amount was above my monthly usage so I paid a R1000.00, Ten days later Telkom debited my account in two consecutive days, an amount of R2687.47 was taken from my account on the April 15 2020 and an amount of R1102.64 was taken the following day when I had already paid a thousand Rand earlier in the same month. This leaving me with nothing to feed my children during the lockdown.

I contacted Telkom call Centre to find out why they are taking all of my money in the middle of the locked down when I have already paid and asked them to reverse the money so I can be able to buy food, the lady that I spoke to only told me that my account is in arrears, arrears that I was never made aware of, that I was learning about for the first time, for all I know Telkom is still investigating my case and no one has updated me of any progress or findings.

The following are my complaints:

1. Telkom failed to give me the outcome of case number ***0 2. No one from Telkom has communicated to explain to me why my invoices are negative payments even though I have inquired numerous times. 3. Telkom failed to give me an invoice that will make it clear that Even though my account is negative payment I’m still expected to pay and to tell me the amount. 3. For taking a large amount of money even though I had already paid and was not aware of the arrears. 4. For inconvenience in the middle of the lockdown 5. Cutting service without notice 6. Taking all of my money from my bank account without notice or agreement, when I have never refused to pay in the first place but wanted explanation and good service. 7. Not making payment arrangements for arrears I was never made aware of.

Thank You, Sindisiwe Msomi