How exactly do automatically recurring bundles work on contract?

[ShogunV2]

So I bought a Once-Off 500gb bundle with R50 airtime when word got out and then decided to buy it as a recurring bundle for the following months. I did this via the Telkom portal and got a message that my purchase was successful and got an SMS that my subscription has been updated. As I understand it recurring data is allocated the 1st of every month, and as I am on a contract the R50 will be added to my monthly bill and does not require airtime. However, There is absolutely no indication whatsoever on the Telkom portal that any bundle has been added to my account. I have checked absolutely everywhere, balances, bill, products subscription etc. and it only shows my contract and the 500gb once-off with zero mention of a recurring bundle. I thought it would probably appear on the 1st of this month but nothing has shown up so far. I only got allocated my usual contract data.

I tried to purchase the recurring bundle a second time via a different route (I used login direct with sim first time) and it said (your request to purchase has been logged.) Reset my connection, checked my services, still nothing.

How exactly is this supposed to work? Has the recurring bundle been added to my account and if so why isn't it appearing anywhere? Will it only go up when the once-off bundle reaches its expiration date? Do I acually need airtime even though it has been added to my monthly contract subscription bill?

I have absolutely no clue what the issue is here. Any clarity would be appreciated.

 

[ripclaw]

I also tried purchasing a recurring 500GB for R50 bundle from the Telkom Android app as well as via their portal. No joy. Nothing appeared in my account.

I had to go to a Telkom store and ask them to add the bundle on to my account. I verified via the Telkom portal that it had in fact been added, and was activated. However, looking closely at the data balances, I noticed that the description of the bundle was "Once-off" instead of "Recurring". On querying with the store as well as the Telkom call centre, I was told on both instances that Telkom's systems currently don't have a "Recurring" option for this bundle (which sucks! Why advertise this as recurring if your backoffice systems can't cater for it?!).

Apparently this method (from the comments section of the article from the front page) has worked (I haven't tried it):
- Dial *180#
- Change Tariff
- Select SmartBroadband
- Once tariff changed again *180#
- Data Purchase
- Smartbroadband Night Surfer

Boom R50 for 500GB!

 

[ripclaw]

This also raises the question: can I add multiples of this data bundle on to my existing contract?

More a rhetorical question: imagine if Telkom introduced a similar deal, but not restrict it to Night Surfer? This would be incredible, but would cannibalise their other product streams (think ADSL and Fibre).

 

[ShogunV2]

I also tried purchasing a recurring 500GB for R50 bundle from the Telkom Android app as well as via their portal. No joy. Nothing appeared in my account.

I had to go to a Telkom store and ask them to add the bundle on to my account. I verified via the Telkom portal that it had in fact been added, and was activated. However, looking closely at the data balances, I noticed that the description of the bundle was "Once-off" instead of "Recurring". On querying with the store as well as the Telkom call centre, I was told on both instances that Telkom's systems currently don't have a "Recurring" option for this bundle (which sucks! Why advertise this as recurring if your backoffice systems can't cater for it?!).

Apparently this method (from the comments section of the article from the front page) has worked (I haven't tried it):
- Dial *180#
- Change Tariff
- Select SmartBroadband
- Once tariff changed again *180#
- Data Purchase
- Smartbroadband Night Surfer

Boom R50 for 500GB!

Please let me know if it works for you mate.

I would try myself but as of right now I have 2 outstanding bundle pruchase attempts that seem to have gone off into space, even though I got two SMS confirming that "your subscription has been updated." So I want to wait a bit before trying it a third time just in case something miraculous happens and I suddenly get two bundles added to my account.

Just tried that and there is no option for recurring.

Oh well, looks like this is just a promotion after all. Was good while it lasted. Gonna miss finally living in 2017 in a place with no ADSL lol. Out of date Steam games here I come again