The contradiction that is vox telecom

I recently moved to ftth from copper as services were being discontinued in my area. I have survived vox telecom for about 14 years since they bought out xstream/xsinet with whom I initially set up my email address. I needed to keep my mail address but soon discovered the survival technique of living with vox. It was to keep my head down and maintain a low profile…LOL (who would have thunk?!?!). They have on record (a sophisticated system that records all calls, enquiries, emails etc etc. Like big brother!) my numerous enquiries of past years about fibre, enquiries which I did not pursue because vox were either too expensive, but mostly because their sales people are poorly equipped to answer specific questions about what I wanted/needed.

Reading HP, I empathise with a great many people’s frustrations. Billing ****** ups, non-responsiveness to queries are recurring complaints. Sure, some people expect too much too quickly but the sheer number of complaints points to there being problems at vox telecoms, which my recent experiences confirm.

In this bog-land of ineptitude, inefficiency, indifference and arrogance are pockets/individuals of great efficiency.

Unresponsive Melashyn Govender - sends me an email one Sunday advising telkom is discontinuing copper service in my area. I respond to her but she doesn’t bother calling back to discuss options.

Arrogance/Indifference Marlene van heerden (debtors clerk)- threatened legal action when my bill was not paid (circa 2007), BECAUSE SHE HAD NOT SENT ME AN INVOICE OR STATEMENT IN 7 MONTHS!!!!!! Pathetic people skills, and she’s still employed there today?!?! Go figure, a celebration of mediocrity. I have refused to deal with her and it appears that someone else has been assigned to me. In this category would be the invertebrate accounts department manager(s) who hide behind their minions like van heerden, thinking that the problem will be resolved if the minions speak to peeved customers again instead of growing a spine and reaching out to resolve the issue themselves. Robyn de Keijzer (debtors manager)- couldn’t be bothered to respond. Send a minion to make the call. These are people who revel in their senior positions with the huge pay and perks but who haven’t the fortitude to handle the responsibility necessary for these positions.

Outstanding Pieter Roodt - Head of Porting dept. A shining star of efficiency and helpfulness. Makes promises and keeps them, gives more than is expected of him! Sello Mabaso - installed router and got me up and running. Good man, knows his stuff. Fibre connections team who connected boundary fibre to my office. Good guys.

Prepare yourself to police their every action and stage of an installation or migration, and CHECK CHECK CHECK their invoices. Check for credits due from last months payments (you have to ask for them as the accounts dept won’t offer them to you despite honesty dictating that it is due to you), check that you’re not double billed for ADSL and fibre for example because they will happily run up a bill for you and their systems are so disjointed and disconnected that it doesn’t connect their porting department (who assist in shutting down copper services/ADSL) with their accounts dept. Despite their obviously sophisticated system that records EVERYTHING, there are no links connecting the action-flow to their accounts dept. REMEMBER, you have to ask for a fair deal, fight for your right not to be **********. Vox’s operations/projects dept works well but remember it’s the accounts dept who send the bills!

Management guru’s promote a concept of “Knowing Your Customer” (KYC) in order to provide efficient, knowledgeable service to clients. Vox, despite their sophisticated system do not, and seem to have no interest in, knowing their customers. After 14 years as a loyal paying customer they still didn’t know that I had, and only required, a single line-in source for internet access. I am, and others too clearly from what HP shows, merely a invoice address to extract payments, a source of revenues. “Shut the hell up and pay your bill!”

CEO of Vox, Jacques du Toit, publicly stated that one of his secrets to success was to “treat others with respect, treat them as you would like to be treated” or words to that effect. Clearly the some folk here didn’t get the memo. He also publicly stated that “always give more than is expected of you” or words to that effect. Some folks got that memo and took it to heart.

Overall, my conclusion is use this co at your peril if you want to maintain your sanity. There have got to be more efficient customer-centric ISP’s out there who make an effort to know their customers and deliver service.