VERY poor service

<p>Let me start off by saying that I don’t normally complain about bad service in general. I’m very patient, but I am now finally fed up with Telkom. I have put up with the poor & slow network, given that you have the most affordable prices – but I am now ready to move to a different network.</p> <p> </p> <p>On June 24th my debit was missed due to my pay date being the 25th. Telkom decided to collect a day early and my salary had not yet been paid. Our company pays on Saturdays as this is technically still classified as a business day. I work for a very reputable company and I know that many other big companies get paid on Saturdays too.</p> <p>Due to this missed debit my bank charged me R100. This is totally unacceptable as I am a customer that never skips payment EVER. Due to Telkom’s own “rules”, I as a customer, have now been penalised. I received an SMS from FNB (I forwarded the screenshot of this to an agent) stating that the debit has run and my balance went down too. In the agent’s response she stated that it was not successful and that I should consult with the bank (blame shifting the problem to FNB now). My fiancé also experienced issues with his Telkom debit order and he banks with Capitec so how can this be a problem with the banks? The common denominator here is Telkom, but no one bothers to investigate. Luckily his debit was successful, but when he checked his balance to transfer funds for other payments, it seems that Telkom had not yet taken the funds (I don’t know how this is possible). This, in turn, caused his balance to go into a negative after he had already transferred the funds out of his bank account. I phoned the call centre to dispute my issue, but I was told that I cannot be helped, because “that’s just how it works” (plain and simple). At this stage I was so enraged as I know exactly how debits should work. If the system doesn’t collect the first attempt they usually have a tracking in place in order to collect the next day and this will not put the customer in arrears or incur bank fees, especially over weekends (all of my other debits have this). I insisted on speaking to a manager as I was totally irate at this stage. I was told there is no manager. I insisted I would not let this go and after basically fighting to speak to a manager, only THEN was I transferred to a supervisor. Why did it take so much effort from my side?</p> <p>The supervisor was somewhat understanding of my situation, but still insisted that that's how the system works and that the funds cannot be refunded and that the process will not be changed. I called after the missed debit (on the 28th) and nobody told me that the debit had still not been successful or offered to investigate. Every other debit order that I have runs successfully on the 25th. I have never had any problems with any other debits except Telkom's. I want an explanation as to why my account was not debited the following day on the 25th (my pay date I specified in our agreement). I have been told various different stories.</p> <p>I received an SMS on 13/07/2016 stating that the payment is overdue and the service will be terminated within 48h. I checked my banking app and saw that the debit had gone off as well as my SMS notification and so assumed this was sent in error. (I don’t have time to phone the call centre all the time!!). My services were not switched off in 48h as the SMS stated it would be, and so I thought all was still well. Only to receive an SMS on 22/07/2016 (Nearly a MONTH after my pay date) to state that my services have been interrupted. The SMS stated that I should call 081180 to follow up, however, this was not possible due to the services being terminated. I had no way of communicating and had to get someone to call on my behalf. Perhaps you should consider making that number available even during suspension? </p> <p>I am a good customer and I have a very good credit rating. I do NOT miss payments on any of my accounts. When I received the SMS threatening with attorneys and listing me on the credit bureau I was highly disappointed and upset. I will not tolerate Telkom risking my credit reputation, because of their lack of service and inefficient processes. I also saw that Telkom tried to double debit on the 15th (not the date I specified in our agreement). I do not use this account for spending and so I will not keep funds in this account. I kept funds on the 25th as I stated in my contract I would. Once the debits are successful I transfer the funds (not that any of this concerns Telkom at all). This was not what was agreed upon.</p> <p>I have been without service since 22/07/2016. My service is still not activated.</p> <p>When I phoned on Friday morning, I was told by the agent that it would be active by Wednesday and her team leader said within 48h if I did a manual payment on Friday. Once again, 2 different stories.</p> <p>I feel as though the call centre offers no real assistance. I had to draw my own conclusion that I should change my debit date to the end of the month to avoid this happening in future. Nobody ever advised me to do this. How can the agent not advise the customer on what the better option would be or offer a solution to make sure they keep their customers happy? I also had to draw my own conclusion that if they have already submitted the double debit for Monday, that it cannot be cancelled and that I will most likely have to struggle to reverse the funds and that the service would in any case only be activated on Wednesday, however they still advised me to make the manual payment. So, whether I waited for the debit to run on Monday or whether I did a manual payment, the outcome would be the same. One of the other team leaders I spoke to on Friday also advised me that it’ll take 7 working days to unsuspend my service. Once again, another story. This is poor service.</p> <p>I am ever so sorry I upgraded my contract with Telkom.</p> <p>Telkom is terribly inconsistent in every way, except with service – their service is consistently terrible. The fact that things take so long - e.g suspension - is just something I cannot fathom. I was told by one of the team leaders that the system is automated so that when my payment is received, the system counts 72 hours before unsuspending. I find this very hard to believe. I told them that this matter is VERY URGENT as I need my phone for work purposes and nothing could be done manually? I was willing to pay on Friday, but found it pointless as I was told it will take the same amount of time to be activated.</p> <p>I feel that Telkom has dishonoured our agreement and that the trust has now been broken. I will never recommend Telkom again to anyone, like I used to. </p> <p>I patiently await their response regarding the banking fees I have incurred, my credit bureau score and the inconvenience caused due to their incompetence. I sincerely hope that this matter will be handled as serious and that this will not affect my credit rating, as this will definitely be taken further should it affect the credit bureau.</p> <p> </p>