A recent experience with Afrihost has basically guaranteed that they will not have me as a client again. All names are withheld.
I ordered fibre several months ago after confirming that I was covered on their and Openserve's coverage map. Several weeks later I enquired about where I can check the progress of the order. After receiving nothing besides the automated response after I week, I sent a follow-up, merely asking if the ticket is still being looked at. The first human response I got was over a week after that, and all it said the the query would be escalated to the their fibre department. No word again for about 1.5 weeks.
Eventually
[email protected] responds that Openserve claims that I am not on their fibre footprint. After doing my own investigation (Openserve helpfully responded to my query about this with instructions about how to read the coverage map...) I responded that if they cannot install then I do not want the service.
After waiting two weeks again, I get a response saying I need to cancel the service myself in the Clientzone. After doing so, I get slapped with a R999 cancellation fee which of course is immediately debited from my credit card account. I mailed Afrihost saying there's no way I'm paying for cancelling a service which -
by their own admission - they are not in a position to provide, especially since the only reason I even ordered it was because their own site said I'm covered.
Someone at the accounts department called me and ensured me that it was a
support mistake, and that as soon as I sent the email about cancellation, the details should have been sent to the accounts department instead of allowing it to flow through the automated system. He says that after the router is returned they "can
refund [...] the cancellation cost" (I have this in an email). Immediately after the phonecall I'm charged with a R100 delivery fee which I don't complain about...
Here's the thing -
I did not get a refund. Instead, I got a
credit note. This means that
it cost me more to try to get my money back from Afrihost than if I had just left things as they were. And on top of that, I could have sold the router to recoup more of the cancellation fee.
Instead, I'm stuck with an inflated credit card bill and a useless credit note.
As far as I'm concerned, Afrihost can keep the R1000. Maybe they can use that to hire some better support staff.
By the way, I did get Openserve fibre via another provider, and it literally took them 3 business days to install after placing the order.
Which fibre provider are you on?
)