You'll pull your hair out dealing with VUMATEL

<p>After 2 weeks dealing with VUMA I would like to vent my frustrations. I am desperately hoping that someone will actually respond and hopefully someone even gives a damn.</p> <p> </p> <p>Before I start let me give you some background. I recently moved into Epsom Downs, Johannesburg. We were very excited at the prospect of getting fibre in our household and eagerly watched VUMA doing their thing in our neighbourhood. We were told that we could expect fibre to go live in our area in February and we even had our little VUMA grey box already installed on the outside of our house. Then due to construction constraints we were advised that it would be delayed until March, then April then May. Finally towards the end of April I saw on the VUMA website that our area was now live. I completed my online pre-registration and finally received a call to schedule installation. Happy Days !!</p> <p> </p> <p>This is where VUMA sadly fell short and since that day I realized that we were dealing with another 3rd rate company when it comes to service and customer care.</p> <p> </p> <p>· When the lady called me to schedule the installation I indicated that the address she had on record was incorrect. I painstakingly spelled out my entire correct address for her and she assured me I would receive a confirmation via email. Which I did. However the address was still incorrect even though 2 minutes before I had just explained this to her and given the correct address. I then rep**** to the email thanking them for my confirmation but indicated that the address was incorrect and gave the correct address. No response.</p> <p>· My installation was scheduled for the 3rd of May at 8h30. I took the day off work to ensure I was there as requested. By 8h45 no one had arrived. I called VUMA only to be put on hold and then told that someone would call me back. I waited and received nothing. I took it upon myself to go into the street to see if they were perhaps outside the complex. I finally found the technicians driving up and down the road. They couldn’t find me as they still had the wrong address given to them. Somebody finally called me to say they would give the technicians my number directly but by this stage they had already started the installation.</p> <p>· They then did the installation from the box outside to the CPE inside in my house. The technicians were very friendly and did a great job. Well done.</p> <p>· They then told me that the line had to be spliced outside and someone else needed to come do that. That was never explained to me before and I am not sure if this was related to the incorrect address or not. Your website however explains that after the installation is completed you plug into the CPE to choose your ISP and I quote “Once the CPE has been installed, you will need to plug your computer into the CPE. A customer portal will show up on your screen, and you will be able to select the service from your desired service provider.” Clearly not the case and after many frustrating hours on the phone they assured me someone would come the following day to complete this. I had to escalate my frustrations to the CEO’s PA. She by the way never ever came back to me either. However the splicing was completed the following day.</p> <p>· Now that my installation was complete I plugged in my computer as instructed and of course nothing happened. I noted that the lights had not changed and did not light up as the technician had explained they should.</p> <p>· After spending 20 minutes on the phone, being put through to 3 or 4 different people I got cut off. I phoned again and went through the same procedure only to be told my line had not been provisioned. I asked who I should speak to on that. I was then transferred again 2 or 3 times and then again cut off.</p> <p>· I called back to speak to someone else who then gave me a different story. They transferred my call and again I got cut off.</p> <p>· Finally I contacted the co-ordinator who I had dealt with previously who then indicated that there was a whole different issue and that contractors needed to be called in to repair something in a man hole somewhere. They would get back to me. That was last week Thursday and I never heard from anyone again.</p> <p>· On Monday I sent a text message asking for an update. No response</p> <p>· On Tuesday I asked again and was told “will update shortly”</p> <p>· Today is Friay and I still have had no feedback and my line does not work.</p> <p> </p> <p>What kind of company are we dealing with here? After many hours of wasted time on the phone, emails that never received a single response and no responses back to let me know what is happening I have now finally lost my patience. If I had the choice I would choose a company other than VUMA but unfortunately you have the monopoly on this one. If you have a major issue that needs time to be resolved all it takes is a call or an email to say that you *****ed up and need 2 weeks (or whatever amount of time) to repair it. But instead deathly silence.</p> <p> </p> <p>I believe that my next step in this process will be to advise anyone against your company if at all possible and will more than likely take this up with the media so that other people can be warned and do not have to be put through this kind of service. Although I have just checked Facebook and Hello Peter and there are numerous complaints of a similar nature so all I can see is that VUMA does not really care about their name or reputation.</p>