Unsatisfactory service

Both my wife and I have a gym contract with Virgin Active from prior to us being married. I contacted my local gym and asked them to add my wife to my contract. This took two attempts at my local gym. Once this had been done, I was under the belief that all was fine. Surprise, three months later my wife gets a bill from Virgin Active - account not paid. I called the Virgin Active call centre: Attempt 1: I provide my ID tell the person about my query (the person complains about the pathetic Virgin Active network speed) and shortly afterwards the line drops. Attempt 2: I speak to a different agent and provide all the same details again. Also, this person complains about the pathetic network performance. We are about to check and update the details when - no surprise the phone line goes down again. Attempt 3: Same as attempt 2, however the person calls me back. Finally success. My question: why does it take 5 attempts to get this problem sorted out? Is this a South African problem or worldwide? I can see why so many small gyms have sprung up all over the place.