AFRIHOST: 35min Support Line Wait

Electronaut

Electronaut

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Location
Cape Town, SA
While Im sure this is not everyone's experience, but I just wanted to share my latest run in with Afrihost for those interested. I used to be quite the fan and have always promoted them above others. Until now. I believe Afrihost have slowly become very arrogant in their way of doing business. Just my personal opinion.

I've been having intermittent connection issues for a few weeks and since 1 October have sent Afrihost messages through their 'callback' facility. They have yet to reply to any of the four messages sent.

Tonight I decided to give them a call as my connection is now completely dead, something I've been trying to avoid as the only support line Afrihost provide is is JHB. I'm in Cape Town, which would mean a long distance support call. An issue on its own that they don't have a toll free /sharecall or even local number.

I'm writing this while having been holding on for someone at Afrihost for the past 25 min to answer a support call.

UPDATE! I ended up waiting on hold on the Afrihost support line for 35min!! The longest, by far, I've EVER waited on a phone for ANYONE!! Even Telkom answers sooner!

If anyone considering joining Afrihost and want remotely good service look somewhere else! I've been trying to use there 'callback' option for a week now, but no one responds. PATHETIC!!

I sent a complaint to their twitter profile relating my unhappyness, that I am looking at an alternative ISP, and received the following reply:

Cool that's your choice, and we must respect that. All the best with your new ISP :)
 
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Bad idea to try and reach support after hours.

You will find out this is the case with most SA ISP's - even the ones who claim to have 24hr support, like Afrihost.
 
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Electronaut said:
While Im sure this is not everyone's experience, but I just wanted to share my latest run in with Afrihost for those interested. I used to be quite the fan and have always promoted them above others. Until now. I believe Afrihost have slowly become very arrogant in their way of doing business. Just my personal opinion.

I've been having intermittent connection issues for a few weeks and since 1 October have sent Afrihost messages through their 'callback' facility. They have yet to reply to any of the four messages sent.

Tonight I decided to give them a call as my connection is now completely dead, something I've been trying to avoid as the only support line Afrihost provide is is JHB. I'm in Cape Town, which would mean a long distance support call. An issue on its own that they don't have a toll free /sharecall or even local number.

I'm writing this while having been holding on for someone at Afrihost for the past 25 min to answer a support call.

UPDATE! I ended up waiting on hold on the Afrihost support line for 35min!! The longest, by far, I've EVER waited on a phone for ANYONE!! Even Telkom answers sooner!

If anyone considering joining Afrihost and want remotely good service look somewhere else! I've been trying to use there 'callback' option for a week now, but no one responds. PATHETIC!!

I sent a complaint to their twitter profile relating my unhappyness, that I am looking at an alternative ISP, and received the following reply:

Cool that's your choice, and we must respect that. All the best with your new ISP :)
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We do our best to offer solutions and alternatives to clients who are experiencing issues. However when a client expressly states that they want to leave us when we offer to help, surely it makes sense to respect their wishes rather than harass them to stay. If it was not your intention to leave, but you were indeed asking for assistance, then please PM me. But as was stated, we genuinely do wish you the best should you choose to leave us, as our client's happiness (or ex-clients) is always our top priority.
 
"We do our best to offer solutions and alternatives to clients who are experiencing issues."

So you're saying the best you can do is:

- not reply to four requests for assistance from an official support channel
- then make a client fully pay for a long distance support call
- then make a client wait 35 min before taking their call??

Seriously? That really the best you have to offer?
I was wished well on my way faster than being offered any support!
 
Electronaut said:
"We do our best to offer solutions and alternatives to clients who are experiencing issues."

So you're saying the best you can do is:

- not reply to four requests for assistance from an official support channel
- then make a client fully pay for a long distance support call
- then make a client wait 35 min before taking their call??

Seriously? That really the best you have to offer?
I was wished well on my way faster than being offered any support!
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As I said before, if it was not your intention to leave, then I am willing to help and offer assistance.

I have also noticed that you have made the same post on several media, so I am not clear on what you feel is the way forward here. But regardless, if you need some help, you're welcome to send me a PM.
 
So you initiated the call after 8pm? I didn't even know I could phone my ISP after hours. I'm with Mweb and I've never waited more than a few moments to be helped, but I've only ever phoned during working hours.
 
Bryn26 said:
So you initiated the call after 8pm? I didn't even know I could phone my ISP after hours. I'm with Mweb and I've never waited more than a few moments to be helped, but I've only ever phoned during working hours.
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http://www.afrihost.com/site/page/contact_details?src=nav

Please feel free to contact the Afrihost customer care team - Just call 011 612 7200 if you need any information whatsoever regarding any of our packages, pricing, technical support or if you just want to chat!

(Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays - 7AM to 12PM).
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You say that you have intermittent connection issues. Are you sure its from your ISP? Did you perhaps tried other accounts? I also had some problems a few weeks back, and it was actually my Telkom exchange that had the problem. I did also phone Afrihost, at about 19h40 or something like that, and they did answer quite quickly. Maybe it was just busy when you called?
 
AfriMan said:
We do our best to offer solutions and alternatives to clients who are experiencing issues. However when a client expressly states that they want to leave us when we offer to help, surely it makes sense to respect their wishes rather than harass them to stay.
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I thought that if you pay for a month in advance you should get a service whatever your plans are for the next month :confused:
 
Afriman,

A customer who complains and threatens to leave is a customer who still wishes to give you a chance to rectify things and make them. It's customers who say nothing and leave without warning that you should say 'bon voyage' to. Complaining customers is our biggest source of learning and the root of improvement areas.

Sounds to me like there is an opportunity to retain this customer. Maybe change your approach to one showing that you really don't want to lose him/her as a customer? The number of social media they complained in is irrelevant - it's still the same complaint. By noting the various complaints, it sounds as though you are more focussed on where the complaints were made rather than the actual complaint?

Of course, if you try and assist and the customer is unreasonable, then you wish them well on their journey to the next service provider.

Anyways, just a few thoughts. Use it ..... or not!
 
sSslik said:
Afriman,

A customer who complains and threatens to leave is a customer who still wishes to give you a chance to rectify things and make them. It's customers who say nothing and leave without warning that you should say 'bon voyage' to. Complaining customers is our biggest source of learning and the root of improvement areas.

Sounds to me like there is an opportunity to retain this customer. Maybe change your approach to one showing that you really don't want to lose him/her as a customer? The number of social media they complained in is irrelevant - it's still the same complaint. By noting the various complaints, it sounds as though you are more focussed on where the complaints were made rather than the actual complaint?

Of course, if you try and assist and the customer is unreasonable, then you wish them well on their journey to the next service provider.

Anyways, just a few thoughts. Use it ..... or not!
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A good point. As I said, I am willing to help, I just need a PM with some details, as I still am not aware of what the original problem was (is).
 
With my long distance support call to Afrihost (eventually 45min), I did eventually end up speaking to a support person who said that the issue layed on the side of Telkom - a port error that needs to be reset. There is not much Afrihost can do from their side as the next action needs to come from Telkom.

The purpose of this initial post however was to highlight the drop in service levels at Afrihost, not the port error. Also, the reasoning behind me posting my experience on many platforms is to make those looking for a new ISP aware of the potential issues that may arise when joining - info that I personally would be looking for when looking for a new ISP.

@sSslik - point well articulated

The only loser in this senario is me, as I now sit with a bill for a 45min long distance support call that took less than 5min to resolve. Its actually the principal of having my time wasted, and having such a cost attached to Afrihost support than the actual cost of the call.
 
Electronaut said:
With my long distance support call to Afrihost (eventually 45min), I did eventually end up speaking to a support person who said that the issue layed on the side of Telkom - a port error that needs to be reset. There is not much Afrihost can do from their side as the next action needs to come from Telkom.

The purpose of this initial post however was to highlight the drop in service levels at Afrihost, not the port error. Also, the reasoning behind me posting my experience on many platforms is to make those looking for a new ISP aware of the potential issues that may arise when joining - info that I personally would be looking for when looking for a new ISP.

@sSslik - point well articulated

The only loser in this senario is me, as I now sit with a bill for a 45min long distance support call that took less than 5min to resolve. Its actually the principal of having my time wasted, and having such a cost attached to Afrihost support than the actual cost of the call.
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I understand your frustration, and I do apologise that you had such a poor experience in this instance. I must make you aware though that our public pages are designed as a means of engagement between ourselves and clients. There are plenty of other forums, like hellopeter, where one can post negative comments about companies and brands. We will always reserve the right to moderate content on our public pages that we do not feel is intended to engage.

That said, I am sorry that your experience has been a poor one, and that your feelings towards us have turned towards the negative. We are always willing to engage you, via SMS, Email, Twitter, Facebook or even Hellopeter - as well as telephonically, and I think much frustration and negativity could have been avoided.
 
UPDATE! I ended up waiting on hold on the Afrihost support line for 35min!! The longest, by far, I've EVER waited on a phone for ANYONE!! Even Telkom answers sooner!
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I once watched an entire movie while holding on the line for Telkom.

I've never phoned AH for support so am not sure if this is in place, but if you are number xxx in the queue you should maybe let the client leave a voicemail and then you can return the call. I think FNB do this.

Every few mins while holding a prompt comes up and says press # and you can leave a message and we will get back to you.
 
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gregmcc said:
I once watched an entire movie while holding on the line for Telkom.

I've never phoned AH for support so am not sure if this is in place, but if you are number xxx in the queue you should maybe let the client leave a voicemail and then you can return the call. I think FNB do this.

Every few mins while holding a prompt comes up and says press # and you can leave a message and we will get back to you.
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That's actually quite cool concept, I don't think our current PABX system can do that, but we'll most likely be looking at bigger, more robust systems soon at the rate we are growing :)
 
I actually phoned Afrihost once while having a problem, was sitting in the queue and found the problem and put the phone down.

5 minutes later an engineer from afrihost phoned me asking if I still needed assistance. Such a system might already be in place?
 
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