Another 'GREAT' Telkom experience...

C

chopsky

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So, my ADSL line stopped working on Friday morning. I immediately called the ADSL support line to lay a fault.
The rest of Friday, no technician shows up - to be expected.
Saturday, no technician shows up - I'm getting very annoyed.

Finally, even after being assured on several occasions that the assigned technician (whomever it may be) would definitely call before showing up at the premises, a technician decides to rock up unannounced on Sunday morning. Now, naturally because the technician failed to notify anyone that he would be pitching, I was not home. My mother - who was home alone in pyjamas - did not feel safe letting anyone in.

Here's how the conversation between her and the Telkom technician went:

Mom: "Hello?"
Tech: (In an apparently angry/irritated tone) "Yes, it's Telkom."
Mom: "Oh...sherbet."
Tech: "What you saying sherbet for?!"
Mom: "No, it's just that I'm home alone in pyjamas and can't let anyone in right now."
Tech: "Well **** that! I'm going then."

Not even a joke. That's exactly what he said to her. She called me in complete shock and disbelief.

I immediately came home, got on the line with a Telkom supervisor and in quite a controlled manner, lost it. He guarenteed me that the matter would be taken further (I got the tech's name) and that a (different) technician would be here first thing in the morning.

Well, Monday has come and gone and I've gone another day without Internet. Called them a few times today to find out what the hell was going on and got a whole bunch of people telling assuring me it would be sorted out, but in the end, nothing came of it.

Four days of no internet (apart from my cellphone) and truly awful customer service.
I hate Telkom. So much.
 
My rule for dealing with any service dept is this.
Get their name, tell them you are making a note of their name, Ask is this phone call being recorded (you know it is, but you reminding them).
The ask them what time you expect to get feedback and also what time the person you speaking to leaves work. Then say, okay so you will give me a call by xx:xx time. They will say yes. Then say if you dont get the call you will be calling back. thank you, g`bye.
These few things get me through any conversation with customer services...
And believe me, you, it gets results....
 
Dude... 4 days is a bit of an ask don't you think??

It's freaking Telkom... you're lucky someone pitched on Sunday even!
 
I have to be honest. If a Telkom techie said "**** that, I'm leaving", I would really jam a refrigerator up his ass... a big one.

Then again. I SERIOUSLY doubt that a techie will do that. At least, I would expect him/her not to.

Sometimes you just have to reconsider someone's posts if he admittedly still lives with his mother.
 
GodModeInc said:
I have to be honest. If a Telkom techie said "**** that, I'm leaving", I would really jam a refrigerator up his ass... a big one.

Then again. I SERIOUSLY doubt that a techie will do that. At least, I would expect him/her not to.

Sometimes you just have to reconsider someone's posts if he admittedly still lives with his mother.
Click to expand...

Firstly, I was ready to take a baseball bat to his head. Why the hell would my mother (who was almost in tears) lie about that? If he'd left in a civilised manner, she'd have been perfectly fine about it.

Secondly, I'm a student at UCT. It pays me to live at home, when home is 5 minutes away from where I study.

Thirdly, you're an idiot.
 
Last edited:
a-person said:
Dude... 4 days is a bit of an ask don't you think??

It's freaking Telkom... you're lucky someone pitched on Sunday even!
Click to expand...

No, I actually don't think 4 days is a bit of an ask. I don't care who the company is. I don't expect to be without service for 4 days, especially when we're paying the sort of fees we pay for a 'premium' service.

To be honest, I would have actually been perfectly happy if someone had fixed the problem on Sunday. My beef is that he pitched up unannounced and was EXTREMELY rude to my mother on the intercom when she was unable to let him in.
 
I've had limited experience with Telkom techies but they've generally been friendly. Never waited more than 48 hours for one to arrive.

Sounds like you had a baaaad experience!
 
chopsky said:
Firstly, I was ready to take a baseball bat to his head. Why the hell would my mother (who was almost in tears) lie about that? If he'd left in a civilised manner, she'd have been perfectly fine about it.

Secondly, I'm a student at UCT. It pays me to live at home, when home is 5 minutes away from where I study.

Thirdly, you're an idiot.
Click to expand...

You misunderstand me, I don't want to fight. I just find it hard to believe, thats all. I'm not in a position to judge anyone myself. I was just making an observation.

Please don't take my posts personally... besides... I'm rlly scurd of e-thugs, srsly.
 
Kaufies said:
I've had limited experience with Telkom techies but they've generally been friendly. Never waited more than 48 hours for one to arrive.

Sounds like you had a baaaad experience!
Click to expand...

I know! That's why I was even more shocked when this happened. They're actually usually reaaally nice guys, and it's never usually more than 2 days.
 
GodModeInc said:
You misunderstand me, I don't want to fight. I just find it hard to believe, thats all. I'm not in a position to judge anyone myself. I was just making an observation.

Please don't take my posts personally... besides... I'm rlly scurd of e-thugs, srsly.
Click to expand...

You clearly made it personal with your original post. Regardless, your observation served absolutely no purpose. It makes no difference whether I'm a student living with my parents or a 40 year old man (as sad as that would be). What the hell would I stand to gain from lying about this incident? As I said in a previous post, had he not been so rude, I wouldn't be so up in arms.

And that comment regarding "e-thugs"... a fine display of maturity right there. You managed to validate the third point in my previous post to you.
 
on saturday morning one of my kids pulled out the telephone socket from the wall....dont ask me how......and some of the wires were disconnected.
this left the adsl and phone line off.
called telkom around 10.....
a technician arrived just before lunch
sorted it out in about 15mins
tested the line and left
all in all......great service and a very pleasant experience.
 
Don't mean to comment here. I'm browsing using Opera on my E71, how do I post a new message/thread/discussion. I've been searching it all day long.
Thanks.
 
gopes said:
on saturday morning one of my kids pulled out the telephone socket from the wall....dont ask me how......and some of the wires were disconnected.
this left the adsl and phone line off.
called telkom around 10.....
a technician arrived just before lunch
sorted it out in about 15mins
tested the line and left
all in all......great service and a very pleasant experience.
Click to expand...

i had the same experience with a phone plug(whatever its called) phone telkoms around 12 and by 2pm it was fixed and i got a FREE plug...yip FREE!! i guess its about getting the wrong guy on the right day:D
 
Khanya said:
Don't mean to comment here. I'm browsing using Opera on my E71, how do I post a new message/thread/discussion. I've been searching it all day long.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

read the thread...What has telkom got to do with your E71? :confused:
 
Khanya said:
Don't mean to comment here. I'm browsing using Opera on my E71, how do I post a new message/thread/discussion. I've been searching it all day long.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

When you open a forum or sub-forum that lists all the threads you will see at the top a button called "New Thread" instead of 'new post'. That is how you create a new topic.

Try this http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=79 now look just above the "Threads in Forum : ADSL discussions" for the "New Threads" button.

Hope this helps.
 
chopsky said:
No, I actually don't think 4 days is a bit of an ask. I don't care who the company is. I don't expect to be without service for 4 days, especially when we're paying the sort of fees we pay for a 'premium' service.

To be honest, I would have actually been perfectly happy if someone had fixed the problem on Sunday. My beef is that he pitched up unannounced and was EXTREMELY rude to my mother on the intercom when she was unable to let him in.
Click to expand...

Are you going to do something about it?

Report the incident to 0800 124 000 and let them sort him out.
 
moggie said:
Are you going to do something about it?

Report the incident to 0800 124 000 and let them sort him out.
Click to expand...

Yeh, I reported the incident to a supervisor.

They finally came and fixed it this morning. According to the technician who was here, the story the guy from Sunday gave was VERY different to what actually happened. According to him, my mom told him to piss off. What a dolt. Why in the HELL would my mom tell a Telkom technician to piss off for no reason. Especially since she knows we need a technician and she's never told anyone to piss off in her entire life. Ah well, gotta expect him to try save his own ass.
 
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