I have read a lot of the comments/complaints on my broadband with regards to the problems that Afrihost has been experiencing of late, be it latency, slow speeds, etc. and I have had a problem too albeit of a different nature. However, due to the extent of the problems and the lack of feedback and follow through coupled to a promise to Afrihost staff that if my problem is not sorted or/and I do not receive regular updates on the progress thereof I will share the issues I have experienced on this forum. So here goes:
Please note before I go into detail that when I make reference to me sending an email that all my emails mentioned below are via my phone, due to no connectivity, and that although my service provider is currently MWEB (due to horrible latency issues experienced with Afrihost which is a whole other story, my line is still administered by Afrihost on my behalf and herein lies the problem.
On 6th July, my internet connection shut down unexpectedly. I phoned my ISP (MWEB) and also Afrihost and they could not see where the problem was and could only tell me that my line was not syncing. I then did some trouble shooting myself and found out that the physical line was the issue.
Seeing as Afrihost is now the custodian of my line, I then contacted Afrihost and asked them to log the fault, which they did quite promptly and also gave me a reference number saying that they had logged the call with Telkom and that a technician would come to see me. All is good so far.
However, after two days, 48Hrs, as promised by Afrihost, I had received no word from Telkom and also no technician had contacted me. I decided to follow up with Afrihost and find out why. I received a response that there is a high workload in my area. Fair enough, I accept that. 2 or 3 more days passed and I had not yet heard from a Telkom technician and I again contacted Afrihost to find out what is happening and all feedback I got was that the job was assigned to a technician but there is no date of when I can expect a repair of my line to be made. I was assuming that due to the fact that at least, with a technician assigned to my call, that I would receive some sort of assistance within the next day or two……Nothing.
So after not hearing a peep from a technician, I contacted Afrihost again and I was promised that I would receive daily feedback until this problem is resolved. Basically, “I have taken a stand for you and will ensure that you get updates every day until this is resolved.” Was the reply I got. Ok, great news I thought. I have received emails similar to the promises above in writing (received vi email on my phone). Seeing as I did not get any progress reports or updates again as promised, I contacted Afrihost again and asked that they escalate this to the highest possible authority so that I can get some sort of assurance that action will be taken. Note my frustration already. When this failed to produce any results and also with me not receiving any updates I decided that I would send an email to
[email protected] (escalations) and also copy
[email protected]
This is where all communications ex Afrihost suddenly stopped. I have been sending emails religiously requesting an update but to no avail. Afrihost has basically stopped responding to my emails.
In the last week I have not received one single email from Afrihost providing me with an update or even a response to my daily emails to them. It’s like Afrihost no longer exists.
Now I could go into much more detail and add up and indicate all the money that I have lost due to no connectivity but I am of the opinion that would make no difference right now.. This has literally affected my livelihood in a big way and had I had some proper accurate feedback as to when the issue would be resolved I could have made alternative plans, which I have had to make very recently in order, to ensure business as usual. To date I have not heard a single peep from Telkom, and Afrihost has been ignoring me for the past week. My cellphone minutes (240 per month) are all used up on this already (I do not have a landline phone) not to mention my mobile data and sadly I have accomplished nothing.
The questions I have to ask are the following:
Why did Afrihost not do as promised?
Why have Afrihost not provide me with updates?
Why did Afrihost offer to take over my line from Telkom if they could not provide a better service albeit at a premium?
Why could Afrihost simply not have told me that they are no longer interested in my business and that I should contact Telkom on my own directly?
In conclusion, I have to say that I am definitely not the first person to experience bad service like this but have decided that enough is enough and I have to share this with all in the hopes that this gets resolved in a proper and professional manner. I am also, from now on, going to ensure that I make my voice heard when it comes to poor service delivery for good money paid. I will not sit idly by and be accepting of poor service, which seems to becoming the norm in South Africa. I want what I pay for and will constantly complain if I don't
I am also aware that Afrihost has had serious problems of late and that they have lost a boat load of customers due to this type of poor service or similar for which I do have a degree of sympathy, however, the road to Afrihosts recovery I can guarantee is in doing the right and honourable thing and ensuring that they do everything humanly possible to live up to their motto/slogan so that not only me, but all other customers can once again experience the JOY of the internet. I truly hope that Afrihost makes good on this and restores at least a modicum of faith in a once loyal customer.
I hereby challenge you, Afrihost, to sort out your problems and respond to me and provide me with updates as promised.