Afrihost ISPA ruling upheld

MagicDude4Eva

MagicDude4Eva

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For transparency and as promised, I will post a follow-up on my ISPA complaint against Afrihost and have attached the full ruling of the adjudicator. I am impressed with ISPA's follow-through and professional detailed response.

The summary ruling is below (ruling upheld against one complaint, namely "Clause 8, in that it offers services beyond their technical and practical abilities;")

Sanctions
Having found a breach of Clause 8, I must consider an appropriate sanction. It is obvious to me that the ISP cannot be asked to stop marketing its services at all. However, it is within my powers to order appropriate remedial action, and in this regard I order that the ISP make it patently clear on initial perusal of its websites that it is experiencing technical difficulties and that service it may not meet the offered service levels at this time. This information should be communicated upfront on the website, and pro-actively to each existing and potential customer until such time as these issues are resolved.

To ensure compliance, I am also imposing a suspended sanction of R50 000 that will be enforced should the ISP be found in breach of this clause again in the next 24 months.
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The full ruling is here: View attachment coc.875.adjudication.upheld.pdf

I hope this post does and ruling does not get censored, as it is a fair representation of valid consumer complaints. Also bear in mind that my complaint was lodged on 8th July 2015 for issues experience since August 2014 and as far as I can tell, still the majority of Afrihost users experience very similar issues.

Update: Many people asked about the complaints process - here some info
- Read and understand the Code of Conduct (CoC) - http://ispa.org.za/code-of-conduct/
- Understand the complaints process and turn-around-times - http://ispa.org.za/code-of-conduct/procedure/
- Lodge the complaint - http://ispa.org.za/code-of-conduct/complaints-form/

- You will notice that the complaints form does not allow you to attach documents. So when you get the COC confirmation and reference, reply to it and attach all supplemental information.
- In my case I had each COC violation backed up by facts (tickets, charts, outages and feedback)
- ISPA forwarded my complaint to AH and then forwarded me their response. In my case Afrihost responded to ISPA "We've made contact with the client and believe the complaint to be resolved. "
- The response was untrue, as I explained to Afrihost that a refund is one aspect but not the cornerstone of the complaint.
- I then asked ISPA to escalate to an independent adjudicator for review - this step is important if you believe that your issues are not resolved.
- Timelines:
-- 8th July: ISPA complaint lodged
-- 13th July: ISPA confirmed that they forwarded the complaint to AH
-- 23rd July: I sent follow-up mail to ISPA as AH should have responded within 5 business days
-- 24th July: ISPA confirmed that they sent a reminder to AH and that they will adjudicate if no response is received COB
-- 24th July: AH phones and said that they will refund 2 x R 997 for business uncapped - initially they wanted to give me credit, but I insisted on a refund on my card
-- 27th July: ISPA sends response from AH: "We've reached out to the client and believe the complaint to be resoled."
-- 27th July: I contested the response to ISPA with further detail
-- 28th July: ISPA forwards my email to AH
-- 3rd Aug: ISPA forwards response from AH "I believe we've been fair, open and transparent and have offered to resolve the complaint. As per the client's mail below, the client's expectation is that ISPA investigate further. We're eager and keen to resolve the complaint and would like to get ISPA's advice."
-- 4th Aug: Provided ISPA with additional information and escalation for independent review
-- 6th Aug: Received feedback from ISPA that adjudicator will be appointed
-- 14th Oct: Received ruling
 
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Wow, I'm surprised... Nice MagicDude4Eva!
 
Good job.

However AH will be around soon to say that this was just on their test network and the real network will be available soon without any issues.
 
Necropolis said:
That's a bit of a toothless response from the ISPA.
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If more ISP users actually bothered to submit a complaint to ISPA, I would think they would have more to go by. In my complaint I submitted "reams" of data and links of evidence. It took a bit of effort, but I am satisfied with the ruling as Clause 8 really defines that they do not offer the service. It will be interesting to see if the remedial action (i.e. the "make it patently clear on initial perusal of its websites that it is experiencing technical difficulties and that service it may not meet the offered service levels at this time."-part) will be implemented.

BTW: Afrihost has 10 days to appeal the decision and if they do it goes back to step 7 as part of ISPA's complaints procedure (http://ispa.org.za/code-of-conduct/procedure/).

I think the whole thing worked very well and ISPA's response was very objective and above board.
 
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Shalin_ZN said:
I don't think they can do much more to be honest, ADSL is a "best effort" service.
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I define best effort as exactly that - BEST.

If sitting back quietly and hoping things get better is their BEST then they should fold.
 
AntiGanda said:
I define best effort as exactly that - BEST.

If sitting back quietly and hoping things get better is their BEST then they should fold.
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I left AH prior to their Afri{insert_color_here} network changes and my ISPA complaint was based on the services provided in the last 12 months (Aug 2014 - Jul 2015). Thankfully I had the option to move to another ISP, but if for whatever reason I did not have the option to move (maybe contract with Afrihost) and was stuck paying for a POC-/test-network without the option to cancel I would have challenged Clause 6 (ISP infringed AUP - as not even basic service could be delivered), Clause 7 (ISP acted fairly, if there was no option to cancel due to breach of contract) and Clause 9 (complaint to ASA).

Who knows, maybe someone curtails this ruling and goes with an ASA complaint seeing that ISPA supported my Clause8 complaint.
 
And their sister company, Axxess, owned by AH and using the same network got ADSL ISP of the year award today! The mind boggles.
 
Shalin_ZN said:
I don't think they can do much more to be honest, ADSL is a "best effort" service.
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I would like to have a "best effort" payment system. Full price is asked to use their services...they should then make SURE that the users get max service...or at least close to. So many times users show stats where their line is performing at less than 50%...and then the ISP start the blame game...
 
Well done MagicDude4Eva! I was also forced to leave, effective end of this month my account with them is totally cancelled. I have found a new partnership in Vox and have been enjoying benefit after benefit since. I think that your victory will encourage others to file complaints with ISPA in the future as it has showed competence as an association.
 
MagicDude4Eva said:
I left AH prior to their Afri{insert_color_here} network changes and my ISPA complaint was based on the services provided in the last 12 months (Aug 2014 - Jul 2015). Thankfully I had the option to move to another ISP, but if for whatever reason I did not have the option to move (maybe contract with Afrihost) and was stuck paying for a POC-/test-network without the option to cancel I would have challenged Clause 6 (ISP infringed AUP - as not even basic service could be delivered), Clause 7 (ISP acted fairly, if there was no option to cancel due to breach of contract) and Clause 9 (complaint to ASA).

Who knows, maybe someone curtails this ruling and goes with an ASA complaint seeing that ISPA supported my Clause8 complaint.
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It's good to hear that the process in place work.

When I first read that you were taking your complaint to the ISPA I thought you were barking up the wrong tree - glad to see I was wrong.
 
Nice work.

It is rare to see someone championing a cause these days and following through. Kudos for that.
 
While I'm 100% behind the complaint to the ISPA, as I'm one of those people who left AH for Vox during their bad period, it does worry me a bit that the ISPA investigation system looks to be based on the public communications of clients and the service provider. I wonder if AH had just not said anything about their network problems and just acted like MTN/Cell C ("no we don't see any problem on our side, it must be you"), if they would have escaped all punishment.

Basically just worried if a (industry) regulatory organisation indirectly punishes transparency more than it does poor service.
 
I often read of people recommending this or that ISP (Afrihost was one of them) and Mweb is always shot down for being crappy or slow! I have been with them for quite a number of years and they might not be the fastest, but their price is good and the staff is friendly and helpful.
 
AntiGanda said:
And their sister company, Axxess, owned by AH and using the same network got ADSL ISP of the year award today! The mind boggles.
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Totally agree with you...Those guys on the stage accepting the award should be ashamed of themselves. Cant imagine how a network where u constantly get 30% of line speed on a 20mb line on a "unshapped capped account" can be the best...but they are the cheapest. If only Afrihost/Axxess remembered to top up there IPC capacity...I think they delayed it to spend the money on the new network
 
Allegations that customers struggle to cancel or get refunds are unfounded.
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And that must be why 99.99% of subscribers has NOT received any refunds yes, not a single cent... -sigh-

SO happy about the outcome, but really not happy about the suspended fine... It's about time that the ISPA pulls finger and actually DO something.
 
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