WELCOME TO HELLKOM…

WELCOME TO HELLKOM…

I have been trying since 14 September to cancel a number of Telkom contracts; a frustrating and time-consuming exercise in pointlessness, delivering nothing but my growing suspicion Telkom’s customer care credentials is more on less on par with the ANC’s service delivery record.

As a last resort, on the recommendation of the website hellkom.co.za, I contacted “the Regional Customer Care Manager by calling FreeCall ***” this morning, only to be informed via a bedraggled voice message that the number, not unlike my patience, does not exist.

What does exist, and persists, is my problem. Herewith the timeline:

4 September 2021: I submit the necessary documentation to ***.

14 October 2021: • I contact the call centre, choosing the “billing option”. • My call is taken by Peter who informs that, a full month later, NO SERVICES HAVE BEEN CANCELLED.

4 November 2021 (Today): • I follow up again via the call centre billing option. • I am informed AGAIN that none of the six items specified on the prescribed forms have been cancelled. • I instruct the consultant to immediately cancel the debit order for the amount of R548, and she informs me that she has done this. • She also informs me that she can see the email that I sent to Peter on the system. • She undertakes to escalate my matter to “Customer Retention”, but cannot give me any indication as to what the turnaround times or procedures are. • According to her: # I must follow up again in five days, again via the call centre “billing option; # the reference for our conversation which took place at 09:12 and has presumably been recorded, is Shuma 4/11/2021.

What I expect I will not wait another five days or waste another five minutes on the call centre’s billing option. If Telkom has any interest in my remaining contracts with them, I suggest they contact me as a matter of urgency to: # Cancel the relevant accounts with immediate effect; and # Reimburse me for any funds that continued to be debited as a result of their service neglect.

Telkom account number: ***.