MIRACLE OF MIRACLES

Just got the follwing email from Hans vd Groenendal - spot how long it took him to answer my revious mail...May to October, now that is communication and customer service in action for you!
<hr noshade size="1">
Dear Philippa


Just to inform you that ADSL is now available in your area. Please place a new order.

Thanks

hans
-----Original Message-----
From: philippa davis [mailto[email protected]]
Sent: 14 May 2003 07:57
To: Hans Van De Groenendaal (JHN)
Subject: RE: ADSL


Thanks Hans

I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Regards

Philippa

and i went online and made my application and got the following message...
<hr noshade size="1">
Your exchange doesn't support ADSL yet. ADSL roll out for this exchange should be in MARCH 2005.
Also read the Requirement pages to test your number(s).
<hr noshade size="1">
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH[}]
These people couldn't organise a shag in a whore house

and then i phoned telkom and tried to order ADSL and was told no ADSL till MArch 2005 in your area.
Oh please!!!!!

Oh good grief! This is oh so typical of Telkom. The one hand has NO idea what the other is doing. I think someone (pointing to Peapod) should write a book about our experiences with Telkom. We'll have the most frustrating comedy of the year bestseller!


----------------
United we stand!
----------------

and then I called the Telkom office in Ballito and was told that Jeanine (and she IS a good guy) had no idea that ADSL was a go, had no order forms, had no clue how to handle the hordes of people streaming in the door (I sent out an email to all my ADSL campaigners, all 80 plus of them and all their mates) and was desperately trying to get hold of her supervisor. When she did, she was told that ADSL was a go but only for Ballito. So where the house 3 doors down from me has a 946 dialling prefix, and mine a 525, and we are both on the same exchange, she can have it but I can't.
So I phoned Hans VD Groenedal, who is flabbergasted and is trying to resolve all of this before he flies off to the States.
I DO GENUINELY feel sorry for people who try hard at Telkom. It cannot be easy to work in an organisation that is so basely incompetent and ethically corrupt.
Might see you online, might not. Lets see.

I find this whole story so unbelievable. I really hope they can pull themselves together and you get the service you so obviously need. Good luck!


----------------
United we stand!
----------------

Peapod
If its in the same exchange building you shouldnt have a problem,you see(your neighbour and yourself)share the same MDF(main distribution frame)this is where all the cables from the area are terminated at the exchange,wires are then run from the TEL PORT to the cable feeding that area.So you could get 2 different numbers right next to each other,you probaly find the older of the 2 numbers is full(yours)
,then also the problem could be that the older of the 2 is not equiped for(ADSL) the prefix exchange(the port of your NO)so that would explain why your neighbour could get ADSL and you cant.The only thing that would help is if you changed your number[]to the new prefix,hope this explains,and I dont even work for Telkom[]

Hi SK33T
None of the above apply to us although I do appreciate your explanantion. Amazingly, all that has happened is that the instruction came from PTA to Ballito Telkom Offices saying "ADSL in Ballito area only" which should have said "adsl on Ballito <i>exchange </i>only". All numbers are on the same exchange so there is no issue. Just a communication issue and we all know how GREAT telkom are at that!
A new instruction has now come down from PTA and hopefully our local telkom office will understand that 525 numbers are included in the ADSL rollout for Ballito. Unreal as it seems, there are no technical constraints, just incompetence as usual - ho hum! [xx(]

This is just so typical - Wendy, who lives down the road from me has the same problem, only I'm the lucky one (or not - its all relative [])

...i regret the day i sold my isdn modem. Peapod, soon you will understand.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by cwayjone</i>
<br />...i regret the day i sold my isdn modem. Peapod, soon you will understand.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I get the impression Hans vd Groenendal will regret the day Peadpod got ADSL if things are not running to purrrfection! []

LOL Yeah,go girl []

This will have you rolling in the aisles!
Got a call today from the appointed ADSL rollout manager for this area. Conversattion goes like this:

No, he says, we didn't upgrade 525 numbers for ADSL, I thought it was only a Ballito demand.

Oh, didn't you look at the pre order list i sent to telkom about 40 times?

No, he says. Can i please send it to him.

Wow, I say. So you spend loads of money on upgrading an exchange without ever gauging what your customers actually wanted.

His response?

Eish.

Now God love him, he is a decent man and is truly well intentioned, bit HOLY SHANOLY WHAT DRUGS ARE TELKOM ON???

So, despite me applying pressure at every level, and WINNING for Ballito, me, the driving force, the needle in Telkom's eye, will NOT HAVE ADSL until Telkom can sort this monumental **** up out.

Where I was vexed before, i am now like a sodding rottweiller on steroids.

Keep an eye on the national press for my very personal attack.

Yours so unamusedly
Peapod

Peapod, you probably believe in The Big Conspiracy theory, right? Uhm, I think they are actually very smart. You see, they checked your code, noticed there was also another for Ballito, then thought by themselves...."what a way to get back at that women - *chuckle*-*chuckle*. We will go out there and give everyone else ADSL and make sure it is only within spitting distance. Just because we can."
And then....I could be completely wrong.

[)]

Mux, you are so close to the bone it is scary - when I spoke to Hans vd Groenedal, he actually laughed out loud on the phone and said "maybe someone doesn't like you down there".

In sad reality though, it genuinely is a monumental telkom cock up AGAIN. There are some very very embarassed people, and seeing that the pre order list was 40% 525 dialling prefixes, my sense of security is very much assured that there was nothing personal in the "oversight" [xx(]

I bielive that all of this stupid rules are probely made to give some peaple jobs so that telkom workers have something to do , i mean how eas would it be for telkom to get us of they tails all they have to do is get rid of this redicules CAP well personaly thats the bigest thing bugging me , everything else is a minor issue , that can be fixed but hay who wants to fix it down there its to much paper work and to much of a hassle

JOY OF JOYS
ADSL has been installed - and this will have you peeing in your broekies....
Telkom installation guy arrives circa 9am
Check my hardware i tell him - my system crashed last week and i havent verified all drivers are 100 % reinstalled.
Yes everyting is fine he tells me.
Of he goes.
5 minutes later he says...i can see the modem but i cant get the adsl initialised. I'm following all my instructions but its hard you know, we have had no training.
Wow i say. Have you checked my hardware?
Yes, its all fine he says.
i go to meetings.
i come back 4 hours later.
there are now 2 telkom trucks in the drive.
hi guys, hows it going?
oh, we are stll having the same problem. you know its embarrasing for us, we have had no training.
oh, i say, whats the issue?
we can see the modem, but we cant connect. we have folowed out instructions.
let me see the instructions i say.
as im reading the instructions, telkom truck number 3 arrives.
instructions are confiscated as i now have telkom server logons and root and admin passwords.
check the hardware i say.
i go upstairs and sort out kids.
i come downstairs again about an hour later.
hows it going?
same problem they say.
okay, move over i say.
sit down at pc.
open system devices.
check network devices.
see driver is not installed
install driver - disk already in d drive all this time.
reboot
grab instructions back from techie.
follow instructions
reboot
VOILA - 10 minutes later i have 10Mbps on ADSL and i am over the moon.
Always check the hardware i tell them.
then spend an hour training them for XP installations.

they leave.

ADSL works for 3 hours.

Dies.

Call techies back the next morning.

Same techie arrives.

Sends 4 hours f-ing about with cabling. Seems he didnt set the ADSL filter on the primary installation. There are like 4 extensions before the ADSL point on the line.

Genius disconnects all my phones.
Much chastened after barrage from me, he reconnects all my lines.
Just bring the f-ing primary straight to the ADSL point. Leave the other lines alone.

3 hours later, he brings the primary directly to the ADSL point. He leaves my other lines alone.

I still have 10Mbps over ADSL. Oh joy.

and heres the rub....it took ONE YEAR, ONE WEEK AND ONE DAY EXACTLY from the start of my campaign to get ADSL for our area. Viva Viva Viva.[xx(]

and here i am.

All the best
Peapod

Hi Peapod,

Welcome back, we missed you.
Congrats on the ADSL, I hope Telkom will pay you the difference between their instillation charge and the bill you send them for training the technicians.[]

Cheers
Chris

Yep... Pretty much the standard.

Took me four months longer than my original install date to have my ADSL installed. This in an area that was covered for six months already, after I applied for the service a year earlier. I know that there aren't many ADSL users in my area, so the exchange probably stood 'dormant' for six months.

IOW, it took me ten months to have my ADSL installed from when it became available in my are, where as it took you only about eight months.

See... Telkom service is improving []. Morons

Your case seems to be the norm, not the exception.

<font color="blue">TRUTH does <u>not</u> <i>lie</i> in <font color="green">opinions</font id="green"> and <font color="green">perception</font id="green">... but in that which <i>conforms</i> to <font color="red">Fact</font id="red"> and <font color="red">Reality</font id="red"></font id="blue">

Just a question, why would anyone still WANT ADSL?! in SA!? LOL

Fantasy is what people want, reality is what they need.