Do you think Telkom is truly consumer centric?

J

Juice

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About our poll today: it seems that a lot of people (98% at last count) think that Telkom is not truly consumer centric.

The thing is, contrary to popular opinion, they probably are. Or they are increasingly becoming more so. My last few experiences with Telkom have been vastly different from the lackadaisical norm we have all come to expect.

Just around the time Telkom released their results and Papi made his speech in which he highlighted customer centricity as a key pillar, I had some issues with my ADSL line. I went through the normal pillar-to-post exercise to get my service restored. Phones at the call centre would ring through to disconnect, unanswered. Hold-music would play for 15 minutes at a time. It took 72 hours to restore my service. We’d all been there. You guys know how it goes.

Enter the new era. A couple of weeks ago, I had another disconnect on my line. Every time, without fail, that I called Telkom the phone was answered within 5 rings. I hardly ever got to hear the hold-music that I am ever so fond of. People who said they’d call me back actually did so.

While still not perfect, I think that Telkom is making a sincere effort to improve their customer service and their image.

And it p*sses me off like you cannot imagine.

Why?

Because if they could do it now with the spectre of the SNO hovering on the horizon, why couldn’t they do it before?

Because if it is true that people have short memories then by the time the SNO rolls out people will have forgotten just how much Telkom has screwed them over at every turn on the past and uptake of the SNO will be slow and the SNO will be forced into some kind of partnership with Telkom just to make ends meet and we, the consumers, will see no benefit in the so-called competition. Telkom will get redemption and forgiveness without actually ever having asked for it.

Because Telkom still refuses to acknowledge that they have indeed been enjoying the benefits of their privileged, protected position as a monopoly and will now have even more license to claim that their success is due to good business practice.

Because there will be no justice for the South African people. Telkom will never get its come-uppance. It’s like the end of the movie where the indomitable and abominable bad-guy gets away and not only that: he manages to secure immortality!

Doesn’t it make you angry? Doesn’t it make you sick to your stomach?

There should be some sort of Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Telkom. And Telkom and the Government should be made to answer for their crimes against the South African people:

Government
- Allowing a monopoly to list
- Keeping a 30% share in the monopoly
- Dragging its feet in deregulating telecommunications. For EIGHT Effing years!!!
- Extending the monopoly because Telkom failed to deliver on its mandate
- Maintaining a conflict of interest
- Gross stupidity
- Gross inefficiency

Telkom
- Betraying the South African people by failing to deliver on its mandate to provide (affordable) telecommunications to the poor, even after the extension
- Keeping the country’s economy hostage
- High prices and terrible service
- Uncompetitive behaviour

And Telkom should be chopped up and sold off, one tiny piece at a time.

And perhaps then I will feel a little better.

Juice
 
I've had good an bad experiences with telkom... worst is saying they will be there - and then they're not - no but we phoned - oh right. :confused:

Great having them as ISP - cause buck stops there... can't turn around and say - Gee, phone your ISP, or not our problem.

And generally I get politeness and good service... including every month when I bitch at the counter about paying my excessive bill - and laugh - with the account guy - he has to pay his bill as well. (do telkom employees get a discount?)

I feel sorry for these guys - they are in the front lines - while management sit and gloat over their sick gains. :mad:

Doesn't matter how good their service is: their prices suck - and through this the whole company sucks... and they are not delivering on their mandate - in terms of all this it equals = no service, crap service - Wish they would just disappear in a puff of smoke :rolleyes: and we could all wake up to a better day. :mad:
 
Good post, however - after having to deal with their moronic call centre yesterday, I stand by my vote - they are NOT customer centric.

My ADSL line was not authenticating, not because of invalid password etc but because the remote server could not be reached.
After Telkom blaming my ISP, router, software etc, they FINALLY logged a fault report.

Oh, and if you want to mess with them, when they ask which version of Windows you use, tell them you use Linux! (in my case, I do, but tell them that anyway - prevents them from spending 1/2 hour going through settings you KNOW are not at fault).
 
The problem is, 99.9% of people only really use landlines, which for the most part is a fairly reliable service and even if you have bad service when the line is down, the time between one error and the next is usually quite long, so the average person doesn't really notice the difference (if they thought there were any problemsin the first place). The average person also doesn't really give a sh*t about ADSL or even know what ADSL is, so again it seems we are a real minority fighting the "Beast". Even if a few hundred thousand people sign a petition against Telkom, in the bigger scheme of things, they can report that it is only a minority of 4%-5% who have issues which they will say is really low ("Although we will endeavour to resolve that minorities issues as quickly as we can... Blah Blah Blah). Kinda feel like you're fighting a losing battle, against the big corp, hmmmm, anyone got Erin Brockovich's number?
 
I think Telkom has milked and ignored the South Africa public for a long time, and even though they are trying to bring about this new image... the damage has already been done. Most people will not remember a Telkom consultant picking up the phone after 5 rings but rather the time that they had to wait on the phone for half and hour.

There is that saying... Deliver a good service to that person, he will tell one other person.... deliver a bad service, he will let another 30 people know about it.
 
Before you go thinking Telkom is changing for the better:

2 days ago I call to try yet again to get an installation date out of them. I was surprised to find the order had actually been processed albeit they said it was for a 512 line when I ordered a 384-no matter, ill cross that bridge when I come to it. Dont want to do anything to delay this delicate process.

I was told that I would be contacted to confirm installtion date BY Thursday (today). Needless to say I havent been contacted and will have to wait till Tuesday now before I can call them.

I placed my order on 30/11. If I was in the UK for eg, I would now be happily connected for a reasonable price.
 
I have had dsl now for almost a year. I had some good and some bad experiences in dealing with Telkom. At first I had dsl 192 and upgraded later to 384. Even though my speed stayed exactly the same after upgrading to 384 and complaining to Telkom that there were no speed increase they persisted in that the vault was on my side and kept on charging me for dsl384 for three months of still getting 19kb/s.

For the past 4 months now I have been getting 54kb/s on my dsl384. My limit on my phone bill was set to a limit of R900. My bill ussually per month is around R550. I applied for telkominternet last month which pushed my bill past R900. The excact amount was R900.68. So I was 68 cents over my limit and without calling me or emailing me Telkom decided to suspend my service for non payment. The outstanding amount was 68 cents. I went into Telkom direct and payed the outstanding amount. They reconnected me and now I am getting 38kb/s.

Telkom truly is customer centric.
 
Sorry I can't get excited about Telkom offering a minimal service. When I see then taking a greater interest in their clients rather than their shareholders and management, I will get excited.

As long as they have a de facto monopoly, all income in excess of expenditure needs to be returned to country. They also need to back pay the money 'stolen' during their monopoly period.
 
I agree... Telkoms service is certianly improving as the SNO looms... however I don't think that you can call thier new behaviour customer centric... that would elude to them actually caring for their clients, which they don't.

Their actions are simply a move to sustian thier hold on the market... the money grabbing vutures that they are.

However, I still have no luck with their installation or faults department on 0800 375 375. I have to call it at least a few times a week on behalf of my clients, it's a painfull part of my job.
 
However, I still have no luck with their installation or faults department on 0800 375 375. I have to call it at least a few times a week on behalf of my clients, it's a painfull part of my job.
Click to expand...

When I was dealing with hosting issues with them - I used to wonder if they didn't keep a black list of complaining customers... the more you complain the further down the answer list you get :(
 
I know Vodacom does that... They disconnected my company cell phones, because thier debit order hadn't run off our accounts yet (their accounting department put the wrong date in).

After years of perfect payment history they dissed us on the 7th with no prior warning... I phoned them up and cr@ped all over thier heads... so the woman in accounts told me I'm too rude and they're not reconnecting my phones.

It took us 2 days to get re-connected... AFTER we paid manually.

Everytime I call vodacom accounts now from my cell I never get though... just disconnected. I call from a friends cell, and hey, it goes though in 5 or 6 mins.
 
Hell no

Are telkom getting better! Hell no, I'm still waiting after two months for my ADSL line to be connected. I still get the usual excuses! I.e. no ports, someone will call back but doesn't etc. etc. etc.
 
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