PB
Patrick B
1 reviews | Active since Sept 2016
25 Apr 2024, 16:15
No fibre and updates or feedback in Blairgowrie since Sunday
Our fibre went down on Sunday evening. Logged a ticket with our ISP, Afrihost. Initial feedback was that there were a number of fibre customers in the area affected due to a damaged exchange. It's quite a big deal as I mostly work from home and need my fibre connection. I now have to supplement with a 5G device which is fine but quite an added expense over and above the ~R1000 a month I already pay for my fibre connection. I have been in regular contact 2-3 times a day since then. Neither Afrihost not myself are getting any real feedback on when the issue will be resolved by Vumatel. All we keep getting is "Technicians are on site conducting repairs. There is no ETR." I have driven around our area and haven't seen ANY people working on any of the Vuma exchange boxes. It is now Thursday late afternoon. I doubt we are going to get any help again and we'll be heading into a 5th day without fibre. And possibly the weekend and then we know nothing will happen until next week. It's pathetic actually. I am now considering going for a full 5G option and cancelling fibre. Because this is not the first or even second time this has happened. And the BIGGEST issue is that Vuma sply won't tell anyone what is happening or not happening. No information. And so they literally force us to accept it. Well they are also forcing me to cancel my fibre and go with a 5G service instead.
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Replies (1)PB
Patrick B's updateReviewer Update
29 Apr 2024, 10:16Dear Vuma
A few things:
1. Replying/responding/engaging on a 3rd party public review platform is definitely not best practice for effective customer service/experience management. Most customers are needing engagement through your own channels. This was escalated multiple times through the ISP process, and yet Vuma could not provide ANY feedback of any value or use. It was always just generic nonsense that helps nobody. SO unprofessional!
2. Sending replies on a 3rd party public review platform, that members of the public, your customers, do not monitor is a truly poor way to try and engage with us. Again, SO unprofessional!
3. If you are using this platform you should know that it notifies by sending an email to the initial poster, in this case me. If you do not know that then that is on you and even more reason why you shouldn't be using this platform to try and engage. Again, SO unprofessional!
4. If you are using Hellopeter to engage with customers, something you should have been aware of if you lot had ANY understanding of customer/consumer decision-making process, you would know that by the time we lodge a complaint or protest on a public forum like Hellopeter we are so unhappy there is pretty much nothing you can do to salvage the situation, so responding on this is useless, unless you are actually able to do something directly. Asking for the ticket is pointless. The ticket has already been escalated several times with no response, so the logical conclusion is that you are just trying to give the impression you care, when in fact you do not even know what the status or nature of the issue is. It is just a desperate and random, incidental effort. You are not in control, your are just hitting and hoping. Not a proactive or helpful approach in a potentially volatile situation. In fact you are more than likely going to make it worse. Because you can't actually help or do anything until you have information that ha already been escalated through your own internal channels. Again, SO unprofessional!
5. If your own internal customer experience management processes/channels are not providing customers or ISPs with ANY useful or helpful information, how on earth do you think using Hellopeter a productive and effective tool for doing this? Again, SO unprofessional!
6. Our internet has since been restored late on Friday, finally, after days of nothing, including little to no feedback from Vumatel. I didn't even get a notification. I just happened to check again on Friday afternoon and it seemed to be working. Again, SO unprofessional!
7. Subsequently, later on that evening I got another further random communication from Vumatel on X/twitter with another generic comment about how the technicians were still busy trying to resolve the issue and that there was no ETR. Despite the fact that our internet had finally been restored. This distinctly gives the strong perception that you don't have any idea what is actually happening with your network and with your service. Again, SO unprofessional!
8. Sending through emails on Sundays after an entire week of no service is again not an effective way of approaching very unhappy customers. Again, SO unprofessional!
9. Only responding 64 hours after the original Hellopeter post is not at all useful either. Again, SO unprofessional!
10. You may try and tell us, the end user, that you are not a service provider, that you're a "fibre network owner", but at the end of the day, you are supposed to provide a service to both your ISP stakeholders AND most importantly the people who pay the money in your value chain. The fact that you lot try to defer responsibility at every turn and never provide any valuable assistance, support or feedback just means that you are a bad service provider, but you ARE a service provider nonetheless! You take our money. We deserve to get the service. End of. Again, SO unprofessional!
11. This is not the first time we have been messed around by Vumatel and your lack of transparency, honesty, integrity and customer centricity. I am this week investigating my options to move away from Vumatel completely. If that means I take up a wireless broadband option with slightly slower speeds etc. then that is what I am going to do. I fired Telkom fixed line ADSL a number of years ago for shocking service. And Telkom will NEVER, EVER see a cent of my money again. And Vumatel are going that way too. And just because you pretty much monopolise the fibre infrastructure in our area we have to put up with it. I've said it before, SO UNPROFESSIONAL!
A few things:
1. Replying/responding/engaging on a 3rd party public review platform is definitely not best practice for effective customer service/experience management. Most customers are needing engagement through your own channels. This was escalated multiple times through the ISP process, and yet Vuma could not provide ANY feedback of any value or use. It was always just generic nonsense that helps nobody. SO unprofessional!
2. Sending replies on a 3rd party public review platform, that members of the public, your customers, do not monitor is a truly poor way to try and engage with us. Again, SO unprofessional!
3. If you are using this platform you should know that it notifies by sending an email to the initial poster, in this case me. If you do not know that then that is on you and even more reason why you shouldn't be using this platform to try and engage. Again, SO unprofessional!
4. If you are using Hellopeter to engage with customers, something you should have been aware of if you lot had ANY understanding of customer/consumer decision-making process, you would know that by the time we lodge a complaint or protest on a public forum like Hellopeter we are so unhappy there is pretty much nothing you can do to salvage the situation, so responding on this is useless, unless you are actually able to do something directly. Asking for the ticket is pointless. The ticket has already been escalated several times with no response, so the logical conclusion is that you are just trying to give the impression you care, when in fact you do not even know what the status or nature of the issue is. It is just a desperate and random, incidental effort. You are not in control, your are just hitting and hoping. Not a proactive or helpful approach in a potentially volatile situation. In fact you are more than likely going to make it worse. Because you can't actually help or do anything until you have information that ha already been escalated through your own internal channels. Again, SO unprofessional!
5. If your own internal customer experience management processes/channels are not providing customers or ISPs with ANY useful or helpful information, how on earth do you think using Hellopeter a productive and effective tool for doing this? Again, SO unprofessional!
6. Our internet has since been restored late on Friday, finally, after days of nothing, including little to no feedback from Vumatel. I didn't even get a notification. I just happened to check again on Friday afternoon and it seemed to be working. Again, SO unprofessional!
7. Subsequently, later on that evening I got another further random communication from Vumatel on X/twitter with another generic comment about how the technicians were still busy trying to resolve the issue and that there was no ETR. Despite the fact that our internet had finally been restored. This distinctly gives the strong perception that you don't have any idea what is actually happening with your network and with your service. Again, SO unprofessional!
8. Sending through emails on Sundays after an entire week of no service is again not an effective way of approaching very unhappy customers. Again, SO unprofessional!
9. Only responding 64 hours after the original Hellopeter post is not at all useful either. Again, SO unprofessional!
10. You may try and tell us, the end user, that you are not a service provider, that you're a "fibre network owner", but at the end of the day, you are supposed to provide a service to both your ISP stakeholders AND most importantly the people who pay the money in your value chain. The fact that you lot try to defer responsibility at every turn and never provide any valuable assistance, support or feedback just means that you are a bad service provider, but you ARE a service provider nonetheless! You take our money. We deserve to get the service. End of. Again, SO unprofessional!
11. This is not the first time we have been messed around by Vumatel and your lack of transparency, honesty, integrity and customer centricity. I am this week investigating my options to move away from Vumatel completely. If that means I take up a wireless broadband option with slightly slower speeds etc. then that is what I am going to do. I fired Telkom fixed line ADSL a number of years ago for shocking service. And Telkom will NEVER, EVER see a cent of my money again. And Vumatel are going that way too. And just because you pretty much monopolise the fibre infrastructure in our area we have to put up with it. I've said it before, SO UNPROFESSIONAL!
PB
Patrick B's update29 Apr 2024, 10:16
Reviewer Update
Dear Vuma
A few things:
1. Replying/responding/engaging on a 3rd party public review platform is definitely not best practice for effective customer service/experience management. Most customers are needing engagement through your own channels. This was escalated multiple times through the ISP process, and yet Vuma could not provide ANY feedback of any value or use. It was always just generic nonsense that helps nobody. SO unprofessional!
2. Sending replies on a 3rd party public review platform, that members of the public, your customers, do not monitor is a truly poor way to try and engage with us. Again, SO unprofessional!
3. If you are using this platform you should know that it notifies by sending an email to the initial poster, in this case me. If you do not know that then that is on you and even more reason why you shouldn't be using this platform to try and engage. Again, SO unprofessional!
4. If you are using Hellopeter to engage with customers, something you should have been aware of if you lot had ANY understanding of customer/consumer decision-making process, you would know that by the time we lodge a complaint or protest on a public forum like Hellopeter we are so unhappy there is pretty much nothing you can do to salvage the situation, so responding on this is useless, unless you are actually able to do something directly. Asking for the ticket is pointless. The ticket has already been escalated several times with no response, so the logical conclusion is that you are just trying to give the impression you care, when in fact you do not even know what the status or nature of the issue is. It is just a desperate and random, incidental effort. You are not in control, your are just hitting and hoping. Not a proactive or helpful approach in a potentially volatile situation. In fact you are more than likely going to make it worse. Because you can't actually help or do anything until you have information that ha already been escalated through your own internal channels. Again, SO unprofessional!
5. If your own internal customer experience management processes/channels are not providing customers or ISPs with ANY useful or helpful information, how on earth do you think using Hellopeter a productive and effective tool for doing this? Again, SO unprofessional!
6. Our internet has since been restored late on Friday, finally, after days of nothing, including little to no feedback from Vumatel. I didn't even get a notification. I just happened to check again on Friday afternoon and it seemed to be working. Again, SO unprofessional!
7. Subsequently, later on that evening I got another further random communication from Vumatel on X/twitter with another generic comment about how the technicians were still busy trying to resolve the issue and that there was no ETR. Despite the fact that our internet had finally been restored. This distinctly gives the strong perception that you don't have any idea what is actually happening with your network and with your service. Again, SO unprofessional!
8. Sending through emails on Sundays after an entire week of no service is again not an effective way of approaching very unhappy customers. Again, SO unprofessional!
9. Only responding 64 hours after the original Hellopeter post is not at all useful either. Again, SO unprofessional!
10. You may try and tell us, the end user, that you are not a service provider, that you're a "fibre network owner", but at the end of the day, you are supposed to provide a service to both your ISP stakeholders AND most importantly the people who pay the money in your value chain. The fact that you lot try to defer responsibility at every turn and never provide any valuable assistance, support or feedback just means that you are a bad service provider, but you ARE a service provider nonetheless! You take our money. We deserve to get the service. End of. Again, SO unprofessional!
11. This is not the first time we have been messed around by Vumatel and your lack of transparency, honesty, integrity and customer centricity. I am this week investigating my options to move away from Vumatel completely. If that means I take up a wireless broadband option with slightly slower speeds etc. then that is what I am going to do. I fired Telkom fixed line ADSL a number of years ago for shocking service. And Telkom will NEVER, EVER see a cent of my money again. And Vumatel are going that way too. And just because you pretty much monopolise the fibre infrastructure in our area we have to put up with it. I've said it before, SO UNPROFESSIONAL!
A few things:
1. Replying/responding/engaging on a 3rd party public review platform is definitely not best practice for effective customer service/experience management. Most customers are needing engagement through your own channels. This was escalated multiple times through the ISP process, and yet Vuma could not provide ANY feedback of any value or use. It was always just generic nonsense that helps nobody. SO unprofessional!
2. Sending replies on a 3rd party public review platform, that members of the public, your customers, do not monitor is a truly poor way to try and engage with us. Again, SO unprofessional!
3. If you are using this platform you should know that it notifies by sending an email to the initial poster, in this case me. If you do not know that then that is on you and even more reason why you shouldn't be using this platform to try and engage. Again, SO unprofessional!
4. If you are using Hellopeter to engage with customers, something you should have been aware of if you lot had ANY understanding of customer/consumer decision-making process, you would know that by the time we lodge a complaint or protest on a public forum like Hellopeter we are so unhappy there is pretty much nothing you can do to salvage the situation, so responding on this is useless, unless you are actually able to do something directly. Asking for the ticket is pointless. The ticket has already been escalated several times with no response, so the logical conclusion is that you are just trying to give the impression you care, when in fact you do not even know what the status or nature of the issue is. It is just a desperate and random, incidental effort. You are not in control, your are just hitting and hoping. Not a proactive or helpful approach in a potentially volatile situation. In fact you are more than likely going to make it worse. Because you can't actually help or do anything until you have information that ha already been escalated through your own internal channels. Again, SO unprofessional!
5. If your own internal customer experience management processes/channels are not providing customers or ISPs with ANY useful or helpful information, how on earth do you think using Hellopeter a productive and effective tool for doing this? Again, SO unprofessional!
6. Our internet has since been restored late on Friday, finally, after days of nothing, including little to no feedback from Vumatel. I didn't even get a notification. I just happened to check again on Friday afternoon and it seemed to be working. Again, SO unprofessional!
7. Subsequently, later on that evening I got another further random communication from Vumatel on X/twitter with another generic comment about how the technicians were still busy trying to resolve the issue and that there was no ETR. Despite the fact that our internet had finally been restored. This distinctly gives the strong perception that you don't have any idea what is actually happening with your network and with your service. Again, SO unprofessional!
8. Sending through emails on Sundays after an entire week of no service is again not an effective way of approaching very unhappy customers. Again, SO unprofessional!
9. Only responding 64 hours after the original Hellopeter post is not at all useful either. Again, SO unprofessional!
10. You may try and tell us, the end user, that you are not a service provider, that you're a "fibre network owner", but at the end of the day, you are supposed to provide a service to both your ISP stakeholders AND most importantly the people who pay the money in your value chain. The fact that you lot try to defer responsibility at every turn and never provide any valuable assistance, support or feedback just means that you are a bad service provider, but you ARE a service provider nonetheless! You take our money. We deserve to get the service. End of. Again, SO unprofessional!
11. This is not the first time we have been messed around by Vumatel and your lack of transparency, honesty, integrity and customer centricity. I am this week investigating my options to move away from Vumatel completely. If that means I take up a wireless broadband option with slightly slower speeds etc. then that is what I am going to do. I fired Telkom fixed line ADSL a number of years ago for shocking service. And Telkom will NEVER, EVER see a cent of my money again. And Vumatel are going that way too. And just because you pretty much monopolise the fibre infrastructure in our area we have to put up with it. I've said it before, SO UNPROFESSIONAL!