Double billing and contravening their own website commitments / ********* billing and business practice

I moved house at the end of December from Alberton to Wilgeheuwel. I initiated the move process through their website on the 14th of December and received confirmation from Webafrica that the move has been scheduled on the same day. My move date was the 28th of December and the fibre line at my new premises were supposed to be active on the same day. Given that it was December with a number of public holidays in between, I expected a delay in the activation. I followed up early in January on the activation of my fibre line and was told by one of their agents that the line is not clear and they cannot activate my line and I must wait for the month end or I must contact Vuma to clear the line. As a longstanding customer of Webafrica, I did not expect that "couldn't care less" response nor anticipated that I would have to contact Vuma to have the line cleared. I thought that would be done by Webafrica as they are my internet service provider. I know very little about the back-end workings of the internet and its systems/integration. None the less, Vuma were very helpful and informed me that the line is clear and that Webafrica could continue with the activation. This was two days of up and down phone calls and endless holding on for a consultant (because the response on their WhatsApp line is painfully slow). Eventually my line was activated on the 5th of January after spending almost an hour on the phone with one of their consultants guiding me on how to configure my router. On the 1st of February I received a debit order notification from my bank informing me that Webafrica tried to debit my account to the value of R1831.68 This was not the amount I expected as I confirmed with the consultant on the day of activation whether there's any other fees which will be deducted other than the agreed amount of R979. I logged onto the customer portal to view my invoices and realized that I was billed twice for January (Once for the OpenServe line and once for the Vuma line) On the 2nd of February I started the process of querying the bill on your WhatsApp chat service. After about an hour of waiting to be connected to one of the agents, I eventually got connected to Bongumusa. I discussed my dispute with him. He gave me feedback stating that I was billed because I did not follow the one month cancellation period and that I was informed thereof. I referred him back to your FAQ section on your website stating that; " Normally we would require a full calendar months’ notice for cancellations, but seeing as you are moving home and taking a replacement service with Webafrica this rule is waived in your favour. Please Note: To ensure there is no double billing, we will pass an automatic credit note provided there is no overlap of the activation and cancellation dates which you have set (your “move in” and “deactivate” dates). This excludes LTE which can only be cancelled at month end."(https://www.webafrica.co.za/moving-home.php) He couldn't resolve my issue and transferred me to support who would be able to resolve my issue. I never got any response from their support service. At 07:12 on the 3rd of February I received an automated response saying that they are still trying to connect me to an agent. I continued to keep the chat active and eventually got a response at 14:37 from Lwando (Seven and a half hours later!) I explained the situation to him and he informed me that he logged a credit and is waiting for Finance to approve it. Chat reference number: #661715 I inquired whether there was any way I can pay the Vuma invoice as I am satisfied with that amount and do not wish to have my service suspended. I was informed that Webafrica do not use EFT as a method of payment and I must just wait. During the seven and a half hours I waited for a response from their agent on WhatsApp, I managed to call their support number and spoke to Refiloe. After explaining the whole story to her and being placed on hold several times, she came back with various excuses why I was billed twice. Again stating that I did not apply the 1 calendar month notice period. I also referred her to the same section on their website. She then placed me on hold again and came back with the excuse that I was billed because I cancelled one service and signed up with another one. I did not cancel anything as the entire process was conducted through their website's service for moving home. She then told me it is because I moved from OpenServe to Vuma. Their website clearly states that the notice period will be waived in my favor if I take a replacement service with Webafrica. This is exactly what I did. Their website further very clearly state that the is "No fear of accidental double billing on your account when you move between services" (https://www.webafrica.co.za/moving-home.php) I asked her for a reference number for my query / complaint which I will need should I need to refer the matter to ICASA or the Consumer Commission to which I was told that Webafrica do not give reference numbers and I can just use her name as reference. The following morning I received an email stating that my account is in arrears and my service will be suspended if I do not settle the amount of R1831.68 within 24 hours. And now I'm being charged a further R50 due to the debit order not going of. This sounds a lot like ********* to me, especially since I have been disputing these billings for days now.

I was thus forced to pay the full invoice amount to prevent my service from being suspended. Not to my surprise I have been trying to get hold of them for about another hour now to follow up on my dispute without any success.