2 weeks (and counting) without internet - MWEB

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_Maximus_

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Ive been an avid supporter of MWEB and the superior technical support I used to receive. This latest incident however, leaves me wondering if its time to move on.

In short nothing has been done about my ADSL line. MWEB blames Telkom, and now, Telkom say nothing is wrong with the line.
Regardless of where the fault is, MWEB make promises they do not fulfill. They say that theyll call me back, theyll follow up, and the best yet - 'the line will be fixed within 7 working days', all of which have not come true.

Its been two weeks now, and nothing has happened.

On Wednesday, 5th December, at about 8AM I was disconnected. No internet whatsoever. My line was syncing correctly, but failed to authenticate. This still is the only problem.
I then called MWEB. The operator said that the Steenberg(about 5 min drive away) exchange wasnt working - and this was the problem. Even though I dont live in Steenberg, I took their word for it, and waited until the exchange was fixed.
Once it was, still no internet.

I then called back on the 6th, to notify MWEB that the line wasnt working. They then said that they will log a fault with Telkom, and the line would be fixed within 7 working days.
I phoned again on the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th, to check something was being done. Each call I was assured that it had been logged and that Telkom was working on it.

The best part of all this is when I called on Tuesday 18th, I was informed by the operator that the last log on their system was when I phoned the previous Wednesday (the 12th), and that Telkom had said the line was working on that same day.
Simply put - nothing had been done for a week - even though I had phoned on the 13th!

So as of yesterday, Ive been taking down operators names, times, and other information from the calls. Clearly phoning is getting me nowhere.
I have deliberately not mentioned names or my phone number here.

Ill be updating this thread every day I dont have internet. Consider this a diary of frustration.
Each day I use my phone as a modem is additional cost to me.

If MWEB have forgotten about the guy that runs a small business from home, theyll have lost what they stand for.
I pay them a premium for good service. This is NOT what I pay for.
 
_Maximus_ said:
Ive been an avid supporter of MWEB and the superior technical support I used to receive. This latest incident however, leaves me wondering if its time to move on.

In short nothing has been done about my ADSL line. MWEB blames Telkom, and now, Telkom say nothing is wrong with the line.
Regardless of where the fault is, MWEB make promises they do not fulfill. They say that theyll call me back, theyll follow up, and the best yet - 'the line will be fixed within 7 working days', all of which have not come true.

Its been two weeks now, and nothing has happened.

On Wednesday, 5th December, at about 8AM I was disconnected. No internet whatsoever. My line was syncing correctly, but failed to authenticate. This still is the only problem.
I then called MWEB. The operator said that the Steenberg(about 5 min drive away) exchange wasnt working - and this was the problem. Even though I dont live in Steenberg, I took their word for it, and waited until the exchange was fixed.
Once it was, still no internet.

I then called back on the 6th, to notify MWEB that the line wasnt working. They then said that they will log a fault with Telkom, and the line would be fixed within 7 working days.
I phoned again on the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th, to check something was being done. Each call I was assured that it had been logged and that Telkom was working on it.

The best part of all this is when I called on Tuesday 18th, I was informed by the operator that the last log on their system was when I phoned the previous Wednesday (the 12th), and that Telkom had said the line was working on that same day.
Simply put - nothing had been done for a week - even though I had phoned on the 13th!

So as of yesterday, Ive been taking down operators names, times, and other information from the calls. Clearly phoning is getting me nowhere.
I have deliberately not mentioned names or my phone number here.

Ill be updating this thread every day I dont have internet. Consider this a diary of frustration.
Each day I use my phone as a modem is additional cost to me.

If MWEB have forgotten about the guy that runs a small business from home, theyll have lost what they stand for.
I pay them a premium for good service. This is NOT what I pay for.
Click to expand...

Good day _Maximus_

Thank you for the in depth information you provided to the current issue you are experiencing. Please allow me the opportunity to look into this from our side and provide you with information once I get feedback.

Please PM me the MWEB email address or username so that I can follow up on the query.
 
_Maximus_ said:
Ive been an avid supporter of MWEB and the superior technical support I used to receive. This latest incident however, leaves me wondering if its time to move on.

In short nothing has been done about my ADSL line. MWEB blames Telkom, and now, Telkom say nothing is wrong with the line.
Regardless of where the fault is, MWEB make promises they do not fulfill. They say that theyll call me back, theyll follow up, and the best yet - 'the line will be fixed within 7 working days', all of which have not come true.

Its been two weeks now, and nothing has happened.

On Wednesday, 5th December, at about 8AM I was disconnected. No internet whatsoever. My line was syncing correctly, but failed to authenticate. This still is the only problem.
I then called MWEB. The operator said that the Steenberg(about 5 min drive away) exchange wasnt working - and this was the problem. Even though I dont live in Steenberg, I took their word for it, and waited until the exchange was fixed.
Once it was, still no internet.

I then called back on the 6th, to notify MWEB that the line wasnt working. They then said that they will log a fault with Telkom, and the line would be fixed within 7 working days.
I phoned again on the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th, to check something was being done. Each call I was assured that it had been logged and that Telkom was working on it.

The best part of all this is when I called on Tuesday 18th, I was informed by the operator that the last log on their system was when I phoned the previous Wednesday (the 12th), and that Telkom had said the line was working on that same day.
Simply put - nothing had been done for a week - even though I had phoned on the 13th!

So as of yesterday, Ive been taking down operators names, times, and other information from the calls. Clearly phoning is getting me nowhere.
I have deliberately not mentioned names or my phone number here.

Ill be updating this thread every day I dont have internet. Consider this a diary of frustration.
Each day I use my phone as a modem is additional cost to me.

If MWEB have forgotten about the guy that runs a small business from home, theyll have lost what they stand for.
I pay them a premium for good service. This is NOT what I pay for.
Click to expand...

Hi _Maximus_

Thank you for your account details.

I had a look into it and see that we have been trying our best to get this matter resolved with Telkom and will continue to do so for you until resolved.

I will make a note of your latest feedback on your open fault and ask that the relevant department remain in contact with you.
 
MWEB Guy said:
Hi _Maximus_

Thank you for your account details.

I had a look into it and see that we have been trying our best to get this matter resolved with Telkom and will continue to do so for you until resolved.

I will make a note of your latest feedback on your open fault and ask that the relevant department remain in contact with you.
Click to expand...

Thanks for getting back to me. Excuse me if Im a bit pessimistic though - Ive heard many MWEB operators saying its going to be resolved. I will continue to post here daily.

@Scooby_Doo and @DrJohnZoidberg - Ive tried with different accounts and no luck. Considering I pay MWEB however, the solace is on them to get my line working.
A lack of communication is what Im frustrated with.
 
First off - the line is now fixed. On the 29th of December I was finally able to access the internet!

I was promised a refund for the time the internet wasnt working by MWEBs operators.

From the 6th to the 29th, is 23 days.
On a 1MB uncapped account, including line rental, I pay MWEB R488.
So for the time I had no internet access, I should be refunded 23/31 x 488 = R362.

MWEB however, feel that R106 is a just refund. Yes, R106!!

Lets ignore the fact that I had to hassle Telkom on their part to speed up the technicians (something I deliberately pay MWEB for) , AND the fact that MWEB wasnt even aware the line was fixed when I phoned them to query the payment - where do they get R106 from? Its so far off the actual amount its just an insult.
The best part is when I phoned and asked the operator how they got to R106, she couldnt explain to me.

This has now been raised with the 'complaint' department within MWEB - and theyll decide if I get the full refund or not.
Ill post back once I hear from MWEB (or once I contact them again).
 
Hi _Maximus_

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention, I see that your query is currently with our complaints department.
I have also escalated this matter for you from my side and requested that they contact you as soon as possible.
 
Besides flaming here I sent an e-mail to MWEB yesterday as well.

Theyve sorted the issue out, and have promised to refund me the full amount next month (as calculated above).

Its been a rough couple of weeks, but glad everything is finally sorted. Consider this matter closed.
 
Alot of guys come here and complain about ISP's not being able to resolve issues with Telkom. Having worked at an ISP I can tell you that Mweb and all the others can only do about the same as what you would be able to do calling the Telkom test center. There is no ways for an ISP to really get things sped up much more than the normal working person can. There is still an escalation process at Telkom that everybody has to follow including ISP's and you cant just bypass it. Imagine 200 000 people tried to bypass the escalation process what kind of mess the company would be in, not to mention how would all the staff be able to handle all those requests at once. Sure its not the clients problem but a little bit of common sense goes a long way.

Unfortunately Telkom DO NOT CARE about the ISP's. You have to remember Telkom is the competition to these ISP's and if they can delay the time it takes to repair the lines then they will do that if it makes people come and post and say how crap mweb or xyz is. This is unfortunately life and NO ISP at this point can fix the lines themselves. Hell even Telkom can barely fix the lines right. Another thing Telkom do is not provide feedback to ISP's decently. Even when i worked at the ISP i battled every single day on the phone to Telkom to get new updates. Not to mention, a faulty line can be so many different reasons. Unfortunately in SA we have the guys at Telkom that are not as skilled as some of the overseas guys and it takes them 2 weeks + to resolve a few more technical faults. The average normal fault takes them a day or 2 but when it gets even a little tricky it can takes weeks if not months to resolve.

As for The discount side of things. Everyone knows there are 3 portions to a line. The physical Telkom line, The ADSL portion and the ADSL account. As far as im aware or atleast it used to be this way, Uncapped ADSL accounts get paid for upfront by the ISP's. You cant say, oh i never had internet for 20 days so I want my money back there. It unfortunately doesnt work like that. You pay your R199 upfront and whatever you use cool, whatever you dont use sorry. Same as if you open an uncapped account on the 25th of the month, you will pay for the full month. Just the way uncapped accounts work. If it has changed then someone with more knowledge can gladly correct this.

The Physical telephone line portion will never be refunded unless your telephone line was completely dead (this part is your own responsibility to try claim from Telkom, no ISP can manage this portion of your line). The last portion is the ADSL line rental, 1mb line is R159 a month or something. Mweb should be able to get you a refund on the time your line was down as long as they did report the fault when it occured and Telkom will also check connection dates on their side to see when it came back up. Id say you are looking at about a R120 refund here. If you get refunded a portion of the uncapped account then thats nice that mweb actually would do something like that. I know the ISP I was at would never refund that.

Im not flaming you here but perhaps you are lacking a bit of knowledge when working with Telkom and the Telkom network. Also not to mention Telkom has setup a bunch of new MSAN's that the techs actually dont know how they work at the moment.

Anyway glad your line is sorted out bud but i wouldnt put majority of the blame with Mweb. And PS i've never worked for Mweb.

EDIT: I do fully agree with you though that 2 weeks to sort out a line issue is absolutely pathetic! but again, I would put the blame on Hellkom.
 
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grrr. browser glitched and posted twice.
 
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_Maximus_ said:
I was promised a refund for the time the internet wasnt working by MWEBs operators.

From the 6th to the 29th, is 23 days.
On a 1MB uncapped account, including line rental, I pay MWEB R488.
So for the time I had no internet access, I should be refunded 23/31 x 488 = R362.

MWEB however, feel that R106 is a just refund. Yes, R106!!
Click to expand...

Consider yourself lucky, I had two months of unusably bad service, over R1000 and MWEB refused to refund one cent of it, in spite of having had 6 weeks to "look into" the problem, which they never solved.
 
MWEB still look after me quite well.
However, in recent months Telkom have sunk to new lows.
They installed a new landline at the new house I bought. The line went dead exactly 5 days later, delaying the new ADSL installation by weeks. It took Telkom nearly a week to resolve the problem, and in the end they had to reinstall the line because the original copper pair was short. At my previous address that copper pair was also short but they refused to replace in that case I have taken Telkom to court and they are delaying it as much as they can, we're almost a year down the line my attorney tells me I need to just close the thing off and get closure as they will delay until we all die of old age.

Telkom really don't care, all they do is float on clouds from day to day. They still haven't figured how to install MSAMs properly my parent's phone line sounds like nails on a green chalkboard, and when they remove the ADSL provisioning, hey presto, the line is nice and clear.
 
Koosi said:
MWEB still look after me quite well.
However, in recent months Telkom have sunk to new lows.
They installed a new landline at the new house I bought. The line went dead exactly 5 days later, delaying the new ADSL installation by weeks. It took Telkom nearly a week to resolve the problem, and in the end they had to reinstall the line because the original copper pair was short. At my previous address that copper pair was also short but they refused to replace in that case I have taken Telkom to court and they are delaying it as much as they can, we're almost a year down the line my attorney tells me I need to just close the thing off and get closure as they will delay until we all die of old age.

Telkom really don't care, all they do is float on clouds from day to day. They still haven't figured how to install MSAMs properly my parent's phone line sounds like nails on a green chalkboard, and when they remove the ADSL provisioning, hey presto, the line is nice and clear.
Click to expand...

Telkom always fixes my line problems in under 3 days after being reported even when the phone line is completely dead. They only help the people who rent the Adsl line from them and ISP and not the others since they aren't a priority compared to their own customers.

Like any other business they help their own customers first before any others, cause they actually are paying Telkom for the serice not an ISP.
 
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