Afrihost, hopefully you'll answer me here.

[antiadevilliers]

We have been with Afrihost for a couple of months now and have an LTE-A package with 110 GB per month.

On Sunday, 07 October, we were connected to our WiFi the whole day, but could not access the internet. I sent a support email at about 19h01 after my husband discovered that our data was depleted. In my query I asked why I did not receive a text notification about our usage status as my setting on the mobile app is set to a text message notification at 80% usage. There were no data logs or IP & Access Logs available for our account on the mobile app. I immediately received a response with a ticket ID (ARK-649-62300).

I sent a follow up email on the above on Wednesday, 10/10 @ 09h23 and then decided to try out the WhatsApp support system.
The person sent me the data logs for the period of 02/10 - 10/10 and out of this it seemed our data was indeed depleted. I explained to the gentleman that this is impossible as we rarely deplete our data in a MONTH, let alone a WEEK!
I requested that he send me the logs of which devices are connected to the router and also asked why I was not notified of the data usage as per my settings - even sent screen shots.
He responded by saying that a Mobile Data agent would be in contact with me.

The Mobile Data Agent phoned me at 14h05 and said that he would investigate the matter with urgency and would send me an email. The email came through at 14h13 with suggestions and tips on what is using data.

I mean seriously - do you honestly think this is helpful? It aggravated me even more as I still had no answers and no one would answer my queries.
I responded to this very irritating email stating that we only have 3 devices connected to our router and that our devices are set to use minimal data, updates only when we decide to update and that we do not have viruses on our devices.

On Thursday, 11 Oct at 07h24 another person sent me data logs again for the period of 01/10 - 10/10.
These data logs did not correspond with the data logs sent via the WhatsApp chat on Wednesday.

I responded again by saying that this is impossible and asked why I did not receive any notifications that my data was nearing depletion:
ClientZone Website settings:
Email notifications set to: 50%, 80%, 95% and 100% usage
SMS notifications set to: 50% and 80% usage
Asked for detailed access and IP logs and data logs for August and September.

Received a response at 09h56 with data logs of 01/08 - 10/10.
Again these data logs for the period of 01/10 - 10/10 differed from the WhatsApp chat and the data logs received early that morning.
I pulled these data logs into an excel spreadsheet:
01 - 25 August 2018 Usage: 147.19 GB
01 - 30 September 2018 Usage: 98.46 GB
01 - 10 October 2018 Usage: 121.52 GB - HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE??????
We also noticed that the usage for the 7th of October was 26.41 GB - HOW??? We could not access our internet on this day!!!

I responded again asking for a response to the rest of my queries; ie access logs and why I did not receive email / text notifications.

I received a response to my original query (ARK-649-62300) on Saturday, 13 Oct @ 15h17. So much for marking my query as High Priority.

By Monday, 15/10 I had not received a response from Afrihost and sent an email demanding that they respond to my queries and to date - still nothing.

I have 2 main questions that I need answered, failing which I will have no other choice but to take this matter to the Ombudsman and cancel my contract with Afrihost.

Question 1: I need to know on which devices the extreme amount of data went off between 01 October and 07 October.

Question 2: I want to know how it is possible that on your data log you show that we used 26 GB of data on 7 October when we were actually not able to connect to the internet on that day specifically - as this was the day we picked up that we had no internet connectivity.

When you review our previous monthly data usage you will see that in no month did we use such a large amount of data, and it stands to reason that there is a problem either on your side or that there is some mistake on our account.

As we have been with Afrihost for some time now we would not want to terminate our current contract, but this issue and the way your support staff has handled it to date leaves a very sour taste and we are truly disappointed with this situation.

I hope that this matter can be resolved properly and with clear explanations from Afrihost's side, but failing this I would be forced to look at further action which will entail using my consumer rights to its full extend.

 

[ArtyLoop]

Dear OP... don't bargain on a response, or a solution to your problems.
If you do a search here you'll realise you need to jump that ship and save yourself further trouble.

 

[antiadevilliers]

Dear OP... don't bargain on a response, or a solution to your problems.
If you do a search here you'll realise you need to jump that ship and save yourself further trouble.

What other provider would you suggest?

 

[mister]

I hope that this matter can be resolved properly and with clear explanations from Afrihost's side, but failing this I would be forced to look at further action which will entail using my consumer rights to its full extend.

It won't be resolved without you going mental... Save your sanity and just jump ship now... or if you really want to fight then just go to ICASA after 14 days have elapsed: https://www.icasa.org.za/pages/consumer-complaints-procedure

 

[antiadevilliers]

It won't be resolved without you going mental... Save your sanity and just jump ship now... or if you really want to fight then just go to ICASA after 14 days have elapsed: https://www.icasa.org.za/pages/consumer-complaints-procedure

They really don't have a good track record, do they?
Thanks. What other provider do you suggest? Unfortunately we do not have fiber in our area.

 

[ArtyLoop]

What other provider would you suggest?

I will let others answer that... for me personally Telkom Uncapped LTE has been a lifesaver as I am stuck in an area with no landlines or FTTH, until the end of this month when I shall be dumping it for FTTH

 

[OCP]

This should have been investigated and resolved on Monday the 8th.
The fact that 10 days later you are still waiting for them to investigate properly let alone get back to you with a proper response should tell you everything you need to know about AH integrity and willingness to resolve issues.
Like many others I had to report them to the ISPA twice to force them to comply - had i not done so i would, like you right now, still be frustrated and waiting.
AH only cares about taking your money; nothing more.

You have 0% change of getting this resolved amicably and even less chance of getting a refund of any kind so give them the finger, vote with your wallet and let everyone know how horribly bad and unethical AH is.

 

[Deetz]

Yeah dont hold your breath, I have logged 3 support requests, 2 Requests for call back from a manager, 2 Whatsapp support chats, 1 online support chat and Finally posted a complaint on HP (And sent the link to the complaint to all parties involved in my issue) with Not so much as a response from them.

As someone mentioned earlier, they care about the money and thats that, if you have a problem its YOUR own problem and you must sort yourself out... Thats the Afrihost mentality.

Support is arrogant and condescending too.

Afrihost was a great company when I started, I am very surprised at how far backwards they have gone. They went from my Top recommended ISP to the top op my **** list of ISPs.

For the 1st time EVER, I can say that I received better service from SAPO or Telkom than Im getting from Afrihost now.

 

[ArtyLoop]

Any word or idea on where Gian is hiding? Bet he's not even resident in SA anymore.

 

[OCP]

Any word or idea on where Gian is hiding? Bet he's not even resident in SA anymore.

Any company owner with a shred of integrity would have been all over these complaints to save and restore his companies image.
His complete lack of response and involvement is a stark contrast compared to other ISP's (eg. CISP) which clearly indicates how much he cares about his customers.

 

[ArtyLoop]

Any company owner with a shred of integrity would have been all over these complaints to save and restore his companies image.
His complete lack of response and involvement is a stark contrast compared to other ISP's (eg. CISP) which clearly indicates how much he cares about his customers.

Hence why I suspect he has either:
A) Very quietly, left the company because he saw something coming
B) Left because of a personal reason
C) Skipped the country

If you look at his social media it appears he has abandoned all his accounts.. Hmmm.. Maybe he is dead

 

[Ho3n3r]

Hence why I suspect he has either:
A) Very quietly, left the company because he saw something coming
B) Left because of a personal reason
C) Skipped the country

If you look at his social media it appears he has abandoned all his accounts.. Hmmm.. Maybe he is dead

D) Took up a job as SARS head of IT, as he obviously fits the requirements

 

[OCP]

Hence why I suspect he has either:
A) Very quietly, left the company because he saw something coming
B) Left because of a personal reason
C) Skipped the country

If you look at his social media it appears he has abandoned all his accounts.. Hmmm.. Maybe he is dead

I would not wish him dead, bus suspect option D) He has cached in and is living comfortably counting his millions not bothered about insignificant people with their silly little connectivity issues

 

[ArtyLoop]

I would not wish him dead, bus suspect option D) He has cached in and is living comfortably counting his millions not bothered about insignificant people with their silly little connectivity issues

You might be right.. he likely did cash in but made sure it remained confidential. Somehow I cannot shake the feeling he is sitting in some tropical paradise, reading this and laughing at us, and especially the OP

 

[AfriGenie]

We have been with Afrihost for a couple of months now and have an LTE-A package with 110 GB per month.

On Sunday, 07 October, we were connected to our WiFi the whole day, but could not access the internet. I sent a support email at about 19h01 after my husband discovered that our data was depleted. In my query I asked why I did not receive a text notification about our usage status as my setting on the mobile app is set to a text message notification at 80% usage. There were no data logs or IP & Access Logs available for our account on the mobile app. I immediately received a response with a ticket ID (ARK-649-62300).

I sent a follow up email on the above on Wednesday, 10/10 @ 09h23 and then decided to try out the WhatsApp support system.
The person sent me the data logs for the period of 02/10 - 10/10 and out of this it seemed our data was indeed depleted. I explained to the gentleman that this is impossible as we rarely deplete our data in a MONTH, let alone a WEEK!
I requested that he send me the logs of which devices are connected to the router and also asked why I was not notified of the data usage as per my settings - even sent screen shots.
He responded by saying that a Mobile Data agent would be in contact with me.

The Mobile Data Agent phoned me at 14h05 and said that he would investigate the matter with urgency and would send me an email. The email came through at 14h13 with suggestions and tips on what is using data.

I mean seriously - do you honestly think this is helpful? It aggravated me even more as I still had no answers and no one would answer my queries.
I responded to this very irritating email stating that we only have 3 devices connected to our router and that our devices are set to use minimal data, updates only when we decide to update and that we do not have viruses on our devices.

On Thursday, 11 Oct at 07h24 another person sent me data logs again for the period of 01/10 - 10/10.
These data logs did not correspond with the data logs sent via the WhatsApp chat on Wednesday.

I responded again by saying that this is impossible and asked why I did not receive any notifications that my data was nearing depletion:
ClientZone Website settings:
Email notifications set to: 50%, 80%, 95% and 100% usage
SMS notifications set to: 50% and 80% usage
Asked for detailed access and IP logs and data logs for August and September.

Received a response at 09h56 with data logs of 01/08 - 10/10.
Again these data logs for the period of 01/10 - 10/10 differed from the WhatsApp chat and the data logs received early that morning.
I pulled these data logs into an excel spreadsheet:
01 - 25 August 2018 Usage: 147.19 GB
01 - 30 September 2018 Usage: 98.46 GB
01 - 10 October 2018 Usage: 121.52 GB - HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE??????
We also noticed that the usage for the 7th of October was 26.41 GB - HOW??? We could not access our internet on this day!!!

I responded again asking for a response to the rest of my queries; ie access logs and why I did not receive email / text notifications.

I received a response to my original query (ARK-649-62300) on Saturday, 13 Oct @ 15h17. So much for marking my query as High Priority.

By Monday, 15/10 I had not received a response from Afrihost and sent an email demanding that they respond to my queries and to date - still nothing.

I have 2 main questions that I need answered, failing which I will have no other choice but to take this matter to the Ombudsman and cancel my contract with Afrihost.

Question 1: I need to know on which devices the extreme amount of data went off between 01 October and 07 October.

Question 2: I want to know how it is possible that on your data log you show that we used 26 GB of data on 7 October when we were actually not able to connect to the internet on that day specifically - as this was the day we picked up that we had no internet connectivity.

When you review our previous monthly data usage you will see that in no month did we use such a large amount of data, and it stands to reason that there is a problem either on your side or that there is some mistake on our account.

As we have been with Afrihost for some time now we would not want to terminate our current contract, but this issue and the way your support staff has handled it to date leaves a very sour taste and we are truly disappointed with this situation.

I hope that this matter can be resolved properly and with clear explanations from Afrihost's side, but failing this I would be forced to look at further action which will entail using my consumer rights to its full extend.

This is really a disappointing experience for you to have had with us, I'm really sorry about that. We should definitely have been able to get this resolved a great deal sooner.

Our Team on Facebook has received your message, and they are in the process of escalating this to our Critical Care Team.

Our Critical Care Team will investigate this from their side and update you as quickly as possible.

I really do appreciate you choosing us to be your internet service provider, and I want to make sure that you have the best experience possible.

 

[Deetz]

Yeah dont hold your breath, I have logged 3 support requests, 2 Requests for call back from a manager, 2 Whatsapp support chats, 1 online support chat and Finally posted a complaint on HP (And sent the link to the complaint to all parties involved in my issue) with Not so much as a response from them.

As someone mentioned earlier, they care about the money and thats that, if you have a problem its YOUR own problem and you must sort yourself out... Thats the Afrihost mentality.

Support is arrogant and condescending too.

Afrihost was a great company when I started, I am very surprised at how far backwards they have gone. They went from my Top recommended ISP to the top op my **** list of ISPs.

For the 1st time EVER, I can say that I received better service from SAPO or Telkom than Im getting from Afrihost now.

So I FINALLY managed to get through to a manager after 4 Calls... Turns out My SIM is Buggered because Cell C sent out a bad batch of SIM cards to AH (Afrihost has been aware of this since Friday).
They will now send me a new SIM on Monday, and also give me the data for the week that I was without internet.

SO, If you are on Cell C Fixed Wireless, and getting constant disconnections..... Its very likely that you also have a faulty SIM and need to get in contact with Afrihost to replace it.

Hopefully this helps someone...

 

[antiadevilliers]

This is really a disappointing experience for you to have had with us, I'm really sorry about that. We should definitely have been able to get this resolved a great deal sooner.

Our Team on Facebook has received your message, and they are in the process of escalating this to our Critical Care Team.

Our Critical Care Team will investigate this from their side and update you as quickly as possible.

I really do appreciate you choosing us to be your internet service provider, and I want to make sure that you have the best experience possible.

Why is it that I must first make a huge scene on social media before you can escalate me to a "Critical Care Team"?

It has been a week and a half since my query.

Your "sorry" means absolutely nothing to me as you do not understand the frustration that goes with this and time it takes out of my very busy work day to attend to this.

This is unacceptable.

I have cancelled my contract with Afrihost and will NEVER make use of you again. Your service is pathetic. I will not recommend you to ANYONE.

Update me as quickly as possible? Sure, you marked my initial query as High Priority but it took 6 days to get a simple:
"Kindly please long into your clientzone> Connectivity > 55GB fixed wireless > Latest sessions there you will be able to see all your data usages daily.", instead of responding to my query in full.

I expect answers, and I expect them within the next 24 hours. I will report this to ICASA as well.

 

[ArtyLoop]

Why is it that I must first make a huge scene on social media before you can escalate me to a "Critical Care Team"?

It has been a week and a half since my query.

Your "sorry" means absolutely nothing to me as you do not understand the frustration that goes with this and time it takes out of my very busy work day to attend to this.

This is unacceptable.

I have cancelled my contract with Afrihost and will NEVER make use of you again. Your service is pathetic. I will not recommend you to ANYONE.

Update me as quickly as possible? Sure, you marked my initial query as High Priority but it took 6 days to get a simple:
"Kindly please long into your clientzone> Connectivity > 55GB fixed wireless > Latest sessions there you will be able to see all your data usages daily.", instead of responding to my query in full.

I expect answers, and I expect them within the next 24 hours. I will report this to ICASA as well.

Not to pacify you but ICASA will do nothing for you. ISPA will do something, but if there's money involved, i.e. a refund, forget about it.

 

[TheMightyQuin]

Hence why I suspect he has either:
A) Very quietly, left the company because he saw something coming
B) Left because of a personal reason
C) Skipped the country

If you look at his social media it appears he has abandoned all his accounts.. Hmmm.. Maybe he is dead

Maybe his data also disappeared...

 

[antiadevilliers]

Not to pacify you but ICASA will do nothing for you. ISPA will do something, but if there's money involved, i.e. a refund, forget about it.

Someone else mentioned ICASA so I jumped on the bandwagon; but if ISPA is the correct authority then I will report it to them.
It is not about a refund - it is about a lack of service and integrity and to make sure that no one else receives the poor service that I have, to make people aware of how Afrihost likes to take your money every month but can't deal with a simple support query or give you answers on a service you're paying for.

We as South Africans have kept quiet far too long about poor service delivery and companies who take our very hard earned money for granted; without us fools, they would not exist.