ISDN to ADSL192 - Application Progress

L

louisp

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Hi,

If you folks don't mind, I would like to use this post to log my experience with Telkom as I try to get adsl192 installed.

******************************************************

2005/02/25 - Friday noon
Placed my order @ 10219
Convert ISDN to normal line and add ADSL192. No bundle, no modem, no contract, just monthly.

They informed me that there is no "lines" (guess they mean ports?) available but its being send through to technical to test... Impossible to get any real information but these things take time.

2005/02/28 - Monday morning
Phoned 10219
No one has worked on my order yet. No news yet.

2005/03/02 - Wednesday Morning
Phoned 10219
Advised that they can't help me, systems are down.
I asked how long they have been down: It's been on and off the whole day.
I was told to phone them back in 30 minutes time.

2005/03/02
11:08
Systems down, told to phone 0800456786 (ADSL Department)

:)

2005/03/03 14h54
spoke to a Lady @ 0800456786

Was told that the order still needs to be validated
I then phoned a lady in Durban who does the validation, and she did it in a flash!!
Now my order is off to planning, to get an installation date.

So far so good

2005/03/08

Telkom phoned (Yup, broke my back as I fell over!!)
Confirmed the order details and scheduled an installation date.
Installation scheduled for 2005/03/16 in tha morning.

2005/03/15

Telkom Techhie phones and asks if they can do the installation one day early!
I agree to meet him 16h00 at my home.

by 17h00 the line was working and the folks at SAGATEWAY got my username activated.

Thus Line installed by 2005/03/15

BUT come 19h00 our exchange dies, and I had no conection until 11h00 teh folowing day!!


****************************************

Planning on buying a billion modem and still ISP shopping.

:)
 
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Interesting, fearie glen is like 1km from here, and I got my adsl within a week and a half, though that was december.
 
Tinuva said:
Interesting, fearie glen is like 1km from here, and I got my adsl within a week and a half, though that was december.
Click to expand...

Is that pronounced "Fairy glen"? If yes, you have all my sympathy. Best you call Peter Pan for help :p (sorry, couldn't help myself).

Back to your normally scheduled programming...
 
Any updates? I just ordered.. also in Pretoria. Any tips to speed things along?

Are you still going with the Billion modem?
 
Yeah,

Call as much as possible,

Take names, and try to get people's direct number. Stay friendly. Flirt, compliment!!

If you phone and you struglle, demand to speak to someone who can speak Afrikaans. It often helps.

I should b egetting my installation date Monday!!

:)

I might be getting the marconi router for really cheap from a friend, if not, then I'm onto the Billion 5100S for R 479

:)
 
Marconi Router

How cheap???? Is he paying you to take it - I personally hate this thing... I have tried marconi and netgear - netgear is FARRRRRR better - try getting reverse NAT working on a Marconi - just doesn't work, also, had to upgrade firmware to stop it dropping the line....
 
ok, the Marconi router is doing fine for now.

Busy getting IPCOP up and running. Hopefully I will get the web cache working!!

BTW.

Line is now installed I had my first downtime within 2 hours from installation.

Reliable?? my temper seems to think differently.
 
Telkom Problems

Telkom Problems
[2005/04/12]

My residential telephone line had an ISDN connection on it all of last year. In December 2004 decided to take the plunge to ADSL. On the 20th December 2004, I downloaded an application form from their website, filled it out and faxed it off to the number given on the form. By the end of December I had received no response, so I called the new services subscription number. The lady told me that they had received no application but she logged an order for me and gave me an order number and a reference number.
I did not hear from them again until the 18th of January. Someone from Telkom called me and told me they would come today to install the ADSL line. This person told me that because I was not using Telkom Internet as my ISP I would have to buy my own ADSL modem. I told him that I thought that was strange since the advert mentioned that a free modem would be provided to anyone taking out a 24 month ADSL contract. He reiterated that I would have to buy my own modem. I went to the computer store on my way home and bought an ADSL modem for R600.00.
Later a technician arrived from Telkom. He disconnected my ISDN box from the wall and prepared the line for the ADSL. After working there for less than an hour he told me that he had to go to the exchange to sort something out. He left the telephone lines as they were and I did not see him again that day. The telephone line was not working at all.
On Wednesday, I called him back and asked him what was happening and he said that he was having problems. He promised to return and connect an analog line for me until they could sort out the problems. He did return later that day and hooked up an analog line so that my phone line was working. The ISDN box was still lying on the floor disconnected.
By the Friday I called him again. He told me again that they were having problems and that he was waiting for his supervisor to help him out. I asked him if the ADSL would be installed soon and he said that it would be. I asked him if he could at least reconnect the ISDN line so that I could use the internet. He told me to call the ISDN service number.
On Monday 24 January, I began calling service numbers. I started with the ADSL orders number. They also told me that there was a problem and that they were working on it. I called the ISDN service number and they told me to call fault reporting. I called that number and logged a fault and was given the first of many different reference numbers.
In the meantime I also tried calling the technician back, but he now seemed to be ignoring me. He would either switch the phone off when he saw my number, or tell me that Vincent was not available (when I knew it was him).
I tried calling other service numbers - data services. I also called regional customer care and they said they would look into the problem.
By the end of that second week, Friday 28 January, I was really angry. I called the technician again and he pretended that he did not know what I was talking about. I yelled at him until finally he admitted that he could not solve the problem and that he was waiting for his supervisor to help him. He gave me his supervisors number, but I never got anywhere with that number.
I called customer care the following Monday again. Finally I got through to someone who took me seriously. She promised to get back to me. She did call back later that day (the only time in 3 months that someone from Telkom ever called me back - to this day). She told me that there was no space available on the exchange (no DSLAM ports) and that they were working on the problem. I asked her about reconnecting the ISDN line and she told me to call fault reporting back again.
I had also called billing to find out what was happening with my bill. They told me that I was being billed for an ISDN line. When I told them that I did not have an ISDN line any longer they told me to wait until I got my bill in the mail and then call them back. When I did receive my bill I was indeed being billed for an ISDN line that I did not have. I paid the bill deducting the portion that was allocated to ISDN line rental.
I did call fault reporting again and they told me that I did have an ISDN line. I told them that was strange since the ISDN box was physically disconnected from the wall and lying on the floor. They said they would send a technician.
After about another week a technician arrived and reconnected the ISDN box. I noticed that they way he reconnected the wires was not the same way that they had been connected before. But when I picked up the phone line I could hear dial tone, so he left. When I plugged in my ISDN modem and tried to dial out the call would not connect. I tried a different ISDN modem - same problem. I also noticed that if we were using one of the ISDN lines and someone called in on the second ISDN line that the first call would be dropped. I called fault reporting back and told them to send someone to fix the problem.
Another technician arrived a few days later and told me that he was going to try and find me a new ISDN box. He left and I have not seen him since.
In the meantime I have been calling service numbers, fault reporting, etc. several times a week. I have been given many different reference numbers. I have also been told that my situation was “a priority” and that my problem has been “escalated to the highest level.”
On Wednesday, 2 March, my analog line started giving problems. The line would disconnect by itself and would intermittently return a few minutes later. I called fault reporting again - was given a new reference number and told that a technician would come out. By Saturday no technician had arrived, I called again and reported it again using the same reference number.
On Monday 7 March I called fault reporting again using my cellphone, after waiting about ten minutes, I gave up. I had had enough. I decided to go to the Telkom service centre in Alberton City. I waited in the queue for about half an hour listening to the other customers complain. Finally I got to speak to one of the agents. She called up my number on her computer and read a few of the references that had been added to the log. She tried calling several of the people listed in the logs, but could not get hold of anyone. She looked at me and told me that they must be on lunch (at 11 in the morning).
I had been paying for a service for nearly two months that I did not have (ISDN), I had been waiting for a product that I had ordered for nearly three months (ADSL) and now to top it off the only telephone line I had was not working and it did not appear that it would be repaired any time soon. I decided my only recourse at this stage would be to cancel the line so that I was not being charged for anything further.
I told her to cancel everything. To cancel the repair orders, to cancel the ADSL order and to cancel my telephone line with Telkom. She asked me to write a letter for the cancellation order. I did that and she took a copy of my ID book. I left there angry and frustrated. I went home and removed all of the handsets from the line.
On Tuesday I tried to call billing to verify that the account had been closed. The first call got disconnected before I could speak to a representative. The second call went through and the rep looked up my number. She told me that there were no orders or complaints logged on my number. There was also no cancellation order. I asked how that could be, since I had been calling Telkom several times a week for two months. She asked me for my number again and told me that she had been looking at the wrong number. She called up my number, but just as she began to talk the line was disconnected again. She did not call me back.
On Friday, 11 March I tried again to call billing to verify if the account had been cancelled. After waiting several minutes the agent told me that the line had not been cancelled. I was told that I had to call “new services” to cancel the line.
I called 10219 and waited again. The first agent who came on the line listened to my story and said she would cancel the line. She asked me to hold. After holding for more than 10 minutes another agent came on the line and asked how she could help me. I asked what had happened to the previous agent and she apologised. I had to tell her the entire story again and she finally cancelled the line for me. I had been on the phone for more than 40 minutes.
On Thursday, 17 March I received another bill in the mail from Telkom. There was no indication that the line had been cancelled and there was no rectification of the previous inaccuracies. I was being charged in advance for another month’s rental of the ISDN service.
I calculated that I only owed about one third of what I was being billed for on this latest bill.
On Friday, 18 March I called 10219 again to enquire if the line had been cancelled. That number did not seem to be working. I tried it again. It just died after ringing for a while. I called 10212 and told them what the problem was. The agent told me she would connect me through. I waited about ten minutes and then hung up.
I decided to dial Customer Services again. After waiting about 15 minutes a rep came on the line and gave her name as “***.” She confirmed that the account had not yet been cancelled. I gave her my whole long sob story and all the reference numbers. She promised to send an e-mail to the ISDN services department that would be received on Tuesday, 22 March. I asked her if there was anyone higher up that I could speak to, but she said that the e-mail would handle it. I thanked her and hung up. I had been on the phone for more than 30 minutes.
 
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yup,

I've had similar experiences in the past.

Absolute soddy service with no respect for the customer.

They should be jailed!!

Man, I feel for you!!
:(
 
Your experiences are not unique, pellie - same kind of thing has happened to most of us on this forum, to a greater or lesser degree. That's why I refer to them as Telkrap, which is mild compared to some of the other names given to them by others, all of which are richly deserved. Welcome to the forum!
 
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