Only empty promises from Telkom
'I think the service Telkom provides is absolutely substandard, to put it very mildly.'
ANONYMOUS writes:
I would like to complain, but not about the usual things, like municipalities, administration and traffic, but this time it is about the service we, as the public, receive from Telkom.
On November 22, 2015, we reported that our landline was out of order. My daughter reported this to Telkom (ref 959CRZ221116) via the Internet. We are pensioners of over 80 years old and my husband and I are both disabled.
We desperately need a phone to call for help if needed as we struggle to work with a cell phone and airtime is too expensive for us.
We waited for a few days and nothing happened. So, we reported it again, via my granddaughter, and still nothing happened. Then I personally went to the Telkom shop in Festival Mall.
They took all the details and promised us they would send it to the technicians. I think it was on Monday, November 29, we received a call advising us that our line would be operational the next day. Wishful thinking! Nothing happened.
I again went to the Telkom shop in Festival Mall and complained. Another promise was made and still no results.
In the meantime, my daughter had received several SMSs advising that technicians had been allocated and that an interruption of service had been experienced – they were upgrading the system – and she even received a call to advise that technicians would come the next day, but still nothing happened.
It is now more than two months that we have been without Telkom service and we are not the only ones. It is the whole area where we stay. I have spent hundreds of rand (more than I would normally spend on my Telkom account) on cellphone airtime, which, as pensioners, we cannot afford.
We are vulnerable at shops where we have to ask strangers to assist us to load the airtime when my daughter is not available, and I am still getting an account from Telkom to pay for the basic services we have not actually received.
Who will reimburse us all the extra expenses we have had in the past two months? And, all of this over the festive season.
I think the service Telkom provides is absolutely substandard, to put it very mildly, and I hope that the head of Telkom operations will read this letter and feel ashamed of the service they provide.
