Afrihost DSL line migration woes

[TamerSA]

As I had promised Afrihost, I am taking to any platform available to me to complain about this issue until they take it seriously.

I started the process of moving my DSL line from Telkom to Afrihost on the 13th of August. Before this, my line was operating at 20 Mbps without any problems and everything was good. However I figured moving to Afrihost would give me a faster response times on any issues since waiting time on Telkom's call centre has gotten worse (mistake number 1 in hindsight).

Upon starting the moving process, my line was downgraded to 2 Mbps. When I enquired about this with Afrihost I was told this is normal since Telkom "soft suspends" lines until the move is complete.

Only on the 27th had my line finally been activated on Afrihost's side. But my line speed was still at 2 Mbps. This time when I phoned, the representative told me that the soft suspension info made no sense and that I have to apply for my line to be upgraded! This made no sense since it was on 20 Mbps before the move. This sounds like an Afrihost screw up, but let's continue...

It is now the 31st of August. The upgrade was supposed to take 48 hours. I am still on a 2 Mbps line, and Afrihost representatives give me nothing but the same excuses and pushed back ETAs. At this point I already regret moving my line because Afrihost seems to be worse than Telkom. The only thing stopping me at this point is the thought of waiting another X days to move my line back to Telkom, plus I would almost definitely have a fight with Afrihost regarding the billing and notice periods etc. They've even already had the nerve to send me an invoice for the 20 Mbps line pro-rata...

That being said, if this does not get resolved very soon I will be forced to move it back.

 

[AfriMan]

As I had promised Afrihost, I am taking to any platform available to me to complain about this issue until they take it seriously.

I started the process of moving my DSL line from Telkom to Afrihost on the 13th of August. Before this, my line was operating at 20 Mbps without any problems and everything was good. However I figured moving to Afrihost would give me a faster response times on any issues since waiting time on Telkom's call centre has gotten worse (mistake number 1 in hindsight).

Upon starting the moving process, my line was downgraded to 2 Mbps. When I enquired about this with Afrihost I was told this is normal since Telkom "soft suspends" lines until the move is complete.

Only on the 27th had my line finally been activated on Afrihost's side. But my line speed was still at 2 Mbps. This time when I phoned, the representative told me that the soft suspension info made no sense and that I have to apply for my line to be upgraded! This made no sense since it was on 20 Mbps before the move. This sounds like an Afrihost screw up, but let's continue...

It is now the 31st of August. The upgrade was supposed to take 48 hours. I am still on a 2 Mbps line, and Afrihost representatives give me nothing but the same excuses and pushed back ETAs. At this point I already regret moving my line because Afrihost seems to be worse than Telkom. The only thing stopping me at this point is the thought of waiting another X days to move my line back to Telkom, plus I would almost definitely have a fight with Afrihost regarding the billing and notice periods etc. They've even already had the nerve to send me an invoice for the 20 Mbps line pro-rata...

That being said, if this does not get resolved very soon I will be forced to move it back.

Hey there

It looks like you've posted on our Facebook ad Twitter pages, and we've also received an email from you with the same message. We are definitely willing to help, but using a shotgun method may end up in confusion in the end, so I'd like to ask that you stick with one channel so that one of our teams can focus on sorting this for you.

If you'd like to resolve this on this channel, please feel free to PM me so we can try and get this resolved.

 

[TamerSA]

Hey there

It looks like you've posted on our Facebook ad Twitter pages, and we've also received an email from you with the same message. We are definitely willing to help, but using a shotgun method may end up in confusion in the end, so I'd like to ask that you stick with one channel so that one of our teams can focus on sorting this for you.

If you'd like to resolve this on this channel, please feel free to PM me so we can try and get this resolved.

I am using a "shotgun method" as you put it, because I am slowly getting fed up with waiting for Afrihost to resolve this.
I am reasonably patient, but the problems encountered during this line move have been frustrating at best...

You cannot advertise that moving the DSL line is quick and easy, and that you will "take care of everything" on your website, and then at the first step tell me that my line cannot be moved because I need to request a transfer from Telkom to get my line out of the holding pool.

At the next step, I had to phone Afrihost to get an update on the progress of my line transfer only to find out from the representative that the line was already active but that the previous representative did not follow the proper procedure. This person continued to correctly update everything (I'd assume) and I got the notification that my line was active with Afrihost.

This whole mess reeks of Afrihost not handling the request correctly and subsequently migrating me on a 2 Mbps line instead of a 20 Mbps as requested.

I am using the social media platforms at my disposal because this is the only way to warn others about the quality of service, and the only way to get the attention of service providers in South Africa. If I show my dissatisfaction by simply leaving as a customer, I am still left with the inconvenience of turnaround time to get back to Telkom. I will also suffer the inconvenience of fighting both Afrihost and Telkom about the billing since this process has taken so long to implement.

I will maintain contact with one representative to not confuse you guys if you insist.
The initial exercise was to voice my dissatisfaction.

Please get this sorted out.

 

[aggressiveGrey]

Tip: keep your line with telkom - use ISP for data only.

But provide them details, dont complain and expect change with no info.

 

[AfriMan]

I am using a "shotgun method" as you put it, because I am slowly getting fed up with waiting for Afrihost to resolve this.
I am reasonably patient, but the problems encountered during this line move have been frustrating at best...

You cannot advertise that moving the DSL line is quick and easy, and that you will "take care of everything" on your website, and then at the first step tell me that my line cannot be moved because I need to request a transfer from Telkom to get my line out of the holding pool.

At the next step, I had to phone Afrihost to get an update on the progress of my line transfer only to find out from the representative that the line was already active but that the previous representative did not follow the proper procedure. This person continued to correctly update everything (I'd assume) and I got the notification that my line was active with Afrihost.

This whole mess reeks of Afrihost not handling the request correctly and subsequently migrating me on a 2 Mbps line instead of a 20 Mbps as requested.

I am using the social media platforms at my disposal because this is the only way to warn others about the quality of service, and the only way to get the attention of service providers in South Africa. If I show my dissatisfaction by simply leaving as a customer, I am still left with the inconvenience of turnaround time to get back to Telkom. I will also suffer the inconvenience of fighting both Afrihost and Telkom about the billing since this process has taken so long to implement.

I will maintain contact with one representative to not confuse you guys if you insist.
The initial exercise was to voice my dissatisfaction.

Please get this sorted out.

As I mentioned, we're here to help, and the only objective of our social media presence is to offer assistance and engage with our clients.

I can't really say much about what happened here without getting all of the details from you, in terms of your personal and account info. If we have messed this up, I do apologise. I think let's try and get this fixed first, and then we can look at whether you want to stay with us or move elsewhere.

Please drop me a PM when you can and I'll jump on this for you.

 

[TamerSA]

Tip: keep your line with telkom - use ISP for data only.

But provide them details, dont complain and expect change with no info.

I agree with your tip. And FYI I've provided Afrihost with plenty of information using the proper support channels for days now before resorting to complaining on social platforms. I would not be here if the normal structures were working.

And once again, as with most things in SA, once I was forced to make a scene my issue got the attention it needed. It's unfortunate that this is how things work here...

 

[AfriGenie]

I agree with your tip. And FYI I've provided Afrihost with plenty of information using the proper support channels for days now before resorting to complaining on social platforms. I would not be here if the normal structures were working.

And once again, as with most things in SA, once I was forced to make a scene my issue got the attention it needed. It's unfortunate that this is how things work here...

As AfriMan pointed out, we are here to help you resolve your query, but posting on Facebook, Twitter, and MyBroadband simultaneously isn't going to help us resolve this issue any quicker. We do need your details however, and those we have requested on all the posts that you have made so far.

 

[TamerSA]

Update: What took almost 20 days to get done following standard procedure, was sorted out in less than 24 hours after I used the "shotgun method" by posting on all media platforms.

I can understand that you were upset about it, but so was I about the quality of service I was getting.

Unfortunately this is the way things get done in South Africa. Regardless, thank you for your assistance and for resolving the matter quickly. Very happy to report I am now syncing at about 15 Mbps downstream and 800 Kbps up.

 

[AfriGuy]

Update: What took almost 20 days to get done following standard procedure, was sorted out in less than 24 hours after I used the "shotgun method" by posting on all media platforms.

I can understand that you were upset about it, but so was I about the quality of service I was getting.

Unfortunately this is the way things get done in South Africa. Regardless, thank you for your assistance and for resolving the matter quickly. Very happy to report I am now syncing at about 15 Mbps downstream and 800 Kbps up.

I don't think that's been the case.
You only PM'ed me - and my shift only starts at 12, when I started looking at the line status you then posted this thread. Nothing was expedited because you posted across multiple platforms.

Either way, I'm glad things are sorted.