Ongoing Internet Fault – Poor Service & Billing Concern (Tickets #***8 and #***2)

Good Day Afrihost and Vumatel Teams,

I am writing to express my extreme frustration and disappointment with the ongoing fault on my fibre line and the poor service received from both Afrihost and Vumatel.

On 26 October 2025, after returning from church and going to the shops, we discovered that our internet connection was not working. Both our router and ONT box displayed an orange light. We restarted our router with no success and went outside to inspect the fibre line.

We found that the conduit at a previously repaired section was broken, and the fibre cable was damaged. Having experienced similar issues before — twice from rats chewing through the line and once when the garden service accidentally cut the fibre — we immediately recognised the problem.

I logged a fault with Afrihost under ticket #***8, explaining the situation exactly as above. However, it appears that the fault was incorrectly logged as a new installation instead of a line repair.

Despite numerous follow-ups, the issue has not been resolved, and I continue to receive conflicting information from both Afrihost and Vumatel. Each time I contact Vumatel, I am told only how long the fault has been open, rather than receiving any real update or assistance. As a paying customer, this is unacceptable.

For reference, I have had three previous faults logged over weekends, all of which were resolved within a few hours. In this case, Afrihost informed me that the ticket was “open and awaiting a technician.” On 27 October 2025, I was advised that a new ticket (#***2) had been created because the initial fault was logged under the wrong department. This effectively reset the timer, and now I am told that the issue has “only been open for 24 hours,” even though it has been unresolved since the 26th.

Given this ongoing problem and the significant inconvenience caused, I would like to know whether Afrihost and Vumatel will accept a reduced payment for this month’s bill, as I have had to purchase mobile data to stay connected. We are a household of six, and both work and schooling depend on a stable internet connection. I do not pay R1,300 per month to be without service or to receive such poor support.

I have escalated the matter multiple times, requested manager callbacks that never happened, and emailed Afrihost management without receiving a single response. The lack of accountability between both parties is unacceptable.

At this point, I am actively considering moving to a new service provider and will be advising our community Vumatel group to do the same. Many of our neighbours are already experiencing similar issues with downtime and slow response times.

I expect urgent feedback and resolution from both Afrihost and Vumatel.