Disgusting service from Webafrica

I wrote this to Webafrica's CEO, Sean Nourse, on 14 June: On Sunday 5 June, I received a call from CSS to let me know that they were unable to view my cameras. I could still view the cameras on my own monitor. I had the CSS technician come out on Tuesday 7 June, and he established there was no fault at my home, nor a fault at CSS. He attempted port forwarding, but when the ports are checked, they are not open, but should be. All configurations are perfectly fine. I then spent an hour waiting for a bot response, then chatted to an Agent who transferred me to the Technical Support department. I spent a further two hours, on Whatsapp with that Agent, who said that they had not done anything on their side, as I asked if they had blocked ports, and why. All checks my technician did lead back to blocked ports from Webafrica’s side. The Agent’s solution was for me to get a static IP address, at extra cost. Since the system has been working with no issues with my current IP, that is not a workable solution, and would not work anyway, because the ports would still be blocked. Additionally, the cameras themselves are static IPs on my home network. When I asked if the issue could be escalated to a technical desk, the Agent informed me that anyone else would tell me the same thing – that I’d need a static IP address. Of course, Webafrica does updates, etc, and I’m thinking that perhaps something went awry during one of these processes. My technician also found down time of about 1 ½ hours on the Sunday, but strangely there was no loadshedding or power failure, nor did I notice any wifi downtime on my side, so I’m deducing that something must have happened in that period. My technician also tried using a different router, a long shot to see if that was perhaps the issue, but again, we established that the ports remained blocked. I then contacted Webafrica through Facebook messaging on 9 June to ask for assistance. They responded on 10 June to say they would investigate my problem. and I provided information they required (13H14). I heard nothing further until I wrote again on 13 June asking for feedback ((08H57). I was assured that an Agent would call me. When the Agent did call at 11H28, he thought it was to do with my IP address. When I explained the problem once again, he said that he would escalate to CCT (Webafrica’s ‘critical care’ department), and I would receive a call very shortly. Disappointingly, I have not received a call yet. My technician has also tried using different IP addresses for me, but the same port blocking persists, even though all ports are open on my side.

On 13 June, I received another call from “Thanda”, who said he had been in touch with Webafrica CCT, and said that because Webafrica had changed to CGNet (without letting customers know), I am now required to have a static IP address (even though both my cameras have static IP addresses). This at an additional cost of R29 per month. Since I do not trust the information, Thanda assured me that Webafrica would assist me with a trial on a static IP to ensure that this indeed solves the problem. Since then, I’ve been in DAIY communication with your marketing person who responds to Facebook messages, who DAILY assures me hat the situation is escalated and being treated as urgent. I still have not had a call from anyone at Webafrica to resolve my issue, now any response from four mails to your CEO, and it is now 7 weeks since I first made the request to Webafrica for assistance.

I am astounded at the lack of urgency or resolution. I am equally disappointed that Webafrica’s representatives refuse to provide me with any names or contact numbers, preferring obviously to remain anonymous. I received the 'complaints' email address from your Facebook messenger responder, who also refused to provide me with his/her name.

If you're planning on using Webafrica as your provider, don't!