Worst IT Decision of my life

I have made a few mistakes in my life but signing up with WebAfrica has to rate as one of the worst. I signed up for a 1000/200 line which was supposed to be activated the 2nd Jan 2023. Monday the 19th Dec 2022 I wake up with no internet. Eventually I find out my line was switched to WebAfrica. At first everything worked but about 3 hours after that everything went to hell. It’s now Thursday 22 Dec, four days later I have only had working internet for 20 hours. The line will work for about 2 hours then drop.

The worst thing about WebAfrica is their support. You can only communicate with them via a WhatsApp bot which, in one case, took 4.5 hours for a response from a technician. I phoned their sales team who tell me that you are “not allowed” to speak to a technician. You also don’t get the same technician every time so the historical knowledge of your problem is lost with every interaction. After two days down I was told it is a Vumatel issue and a call was logged. On the 3rd day Vumatel came out and verified everything was working on their side. I contacted support (via the bot again) only to be told its a Vumatel issue after 3 hours of problem solving with the technician again. The definition of madness is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Yesterday my issue was logged to another area called CCT (whatever that means) and after a few hours I got a friendly message from the dreaded WhatsApp bot telling me my issue has been resolved!!! With my internet still down.

I have read up on ISP’s and WebAfrica is rated 3rd in SA by many different sources. I am not sure if I am just unlucky or if this is a true reflection of their support services. I was with my previous ISP for 6 years, although I had issues I could always call their support line and get a real human interaction and the matter resolved promptly.

I have asked to cancel my service and was promised a call yesterday before 4:30, alas my phone never rang so I will be phoning again for the ninth time this week after countless messages and emails. Once cancelled I will be running back to my previous ISP with my hat in my hand begging forgiveness and offering to pay them more money for slower speeds.

Overall I will summarize WebAfrica as this… “Excellent Sales experience but terrible support and follow up”