Top worst or top best call centers in South Africa

[beans100]

So I've put this in "Off topic", because this can be any Companies call center. IT, medical industy, automotive industry, etc.

I would like to start with Dell:

They got a fairly good call center with good response time (at times).
The problem is after hours and weekends, when you get transferred to their Ireland call centers.
"Not a problem " you would say. Well, my english and their English....2 different things.

A 5 min conversation, usually takes up to 45 minutes with them.

At least I get helped.

Who do you guys and gals find to be the best or worst Call Centers in South Sfrica?
Maybe we can have a show down/poll later on.

[Jola]

Best

Have not found anyone that is any good yet.

Worst

Johannesburg City Council

They are bad in all respects, and have never solved an issue that I had.

[Billy]

Best: FNB's Platinum Credit Card call centre. Quick responses and know what they are doing.

Ties with: Allan Gray Call Centre. Staff are empowered to handle most queries.

Worst: Tshwane

[DigitalSoldier]

Best:

Softline Pastel call center.

They are quick to answer their phones, the people know what they talk about and I can understand what they are saying.

Worst:

Telkom

They never know who to forward your call to.

[Redeemed]

Best: Microsoft. Knowledgeable about queries and quick.
Worst: ABSA. Passes the buck, slow to respond unless pushed by complaints.

[binkybozo]

I really have not had any good experiences with call centers

Worst...Telkom, need I say more? I cringe when I know I have to call them.
GEMS, one person tells you one thing, then another tells you something totally different. I've learned with them if you really want to get the right information about your medical aid talk to a call center manager. I often get the feeling that the other person on the phone really does not want to deal with the call and will just give a standard answer instead of listening and then searching for a correct answer to your question.

Actually I am at the point where I just really do not and I mean REALLY do not want to call a call center. To me it is becoming just a waste of time.

[MickeyD]

All call centres suck.

[Skywalker786]

Worst

Telkom
Afrihost (staff helpful but its really frustarting holding on for 10 min or more.)
Jhb city call centre (0113755555)

Best

Cannot really think of any now

[McT]

Discovery Insure: although friendly, a 45 minute call to get insurance (and was only supposed to be 10) was painful. It put me off them for a very long time.

[McT]

Worst

Telkom
Afrihost (staff helpful but its really frustarting holding on for 10 min or more.)
Jhb city call centre (0113755555)

Best

Cannot really think of any now

That's the problem, isn't it. None of them are really pleasant to deal with, More like pulling teeth, they are.

[R13...]

Worst: FNB card collections. Only a complaint could get a resolution after months of ignoring calls and pillar to post. Totally ****.

[chrisc4290]

Best: Cape Town City Council. You get a sensible person within 1-2 mins. No transferring you to someone else. Speak proper English

Worst: Tie between Telkom (who seem to be trying) and the general enquiries of Multichoice. MC's Xtraview section is superb, the rest disinterested and useless, if you dare to complain you get cut off

[Tman*]

BEST: none - all SUCK

WORST: as a Discovery health member I can vouch for the worst of the worst. overall experience -10

[Barilak]

Multichoice has an alright call centre. We've never had a problem that wasn't solved by calling them and they seem pretty knowledgeable. But you can sometimes wait quite a long time for service.

[recre8]

Best: Cape Town City Council. You get a sensible person within 1-2 mins. No transferring you to someone else. Speak proper English

Best:
Definitely City of Cape Town, I phoned them to ask how much drivers license renewal is, what to take, and where to go. Took me all of 2 minutes (1 call transfer from IVR system) to find out exactly what I wanted to know. They even checked if I have any speeding fines. All in Afrikaans btw.

Webafrica also isn't bad, and Standard Bank Prestige call center is also pretty good.

Worst:
Telkom agents really can't give you any more information than what would you would find on their website. And telling me to go a Telkom Shop really doesn't inspire confidence when you are dealing with a telecommunications company.
2nd Worst: South African Post Office - Being (probably) the only country in the world to have the retarded policy to assign a local tracking number to foreign parcels, you have to call the call center to get the local tracking number, and they answer the phone: "Ello?"