Unresolved Telkom Case

I am reaching out to log a complaint regarding the ongoing issues I have faced with Telkom Mobile. Despite my loyalty to Telkom over the years, I have never experienced such poor customer service.

A few months ago, I upgraded my contract online to an iPhone 15 Plus in black. After waiting three weeks, I received the phone, but it was yellow. When I contacted Telkom to return the device, I was met with resistance from staff who dismissed my concerns, suggesting I keep the yellow phone as “it’s not a big deal.” I refused, as I cannot justify paying R989 per month for the next 36 months for a product I did not order. Eventually, a return was logged, and the phone was collected by the courier service.

After the return, I was assured via email that my contract would be canceled, and my account switched to prepaid. However, instead of canceling the contract, Telkom sent the phone in for repairs without my consent. Three weeks later, late on a Friday afternoon, the same yellow phone was delivered back to me.

Realizing that the online service was unhelpful, I personally returned the phone to the Telkom store in Menlyn. The staff sent the phone back to the warehouse, provided me with a CPA form, and assured me the matter would be resolved. I began receiving SMS confirmations that my account had been switched to prepaid, and the Telkom app showed a balance of R0, which confirmed the cancellation.

Unfortunately, on November 30, Telkom debited R989 from my bank account. I returned to the Menlyn store, where I spoke with Nomsa the virtual agent from the billing department. She informed me that I had been billed R25,000 because the warehouse had not confirmed receipt of the returned phone. She promised to resolve the issue and open a new case to refund the R989, but this never happened.

I followed up a week later with Radebe the virtual agent at the Menlyn store, who assured me the refund would be processed within 48 hours. However, despite this assurance, the refund has not been credited to my account.

On all the above occasions, I have stipulated the urgency of this case to be resolved, as I have now moved to a rural community where I am not able to resolve this issue in-store.

I would also like to highlight the unprofessional and dismissive attitude of the staff at the Menlyn branch, who stated that my concerns were trivial and that I was “getting annoyed over nothing.”

This entire experience has been frustrating, time-consuming, and unacceptable as it is still not resolved after 3 months.