I got flamed yesterday by a few users, and many people seemed to not understand or got information all mixed up. I would like to straighten the record with facts from my perspective, and also how this all has effected me.
I purchased a uncapped 4mb connection from openweb end of june, it went live on the 27th.
I did not fill in forms or anything, i did the EFT transaction while the sales rep was on the phone,I told him i run a non profit forum and my telkom was going off soon, i need to make a plan for a new connection and their uncapped looks interesting, he said soon as i pay they can connect me immediately. I did the EFT while he was on the phone and told him to check his mail. I did not know of any terms and conditions, i was not told that my connection is only valid for 3 days.
the sales guy told me he would forward my email to the apropeiate guy who needs to activate my account, said the guy was not currently in the office.
I waited and waited, nothing happened, i tried to call back but got an engaged tone all day. so i posted on myBB, i was told by users to be patient, mr beep is sure to come along and see the post. however he didnt, instead i think kollby is his nick, he came along and asked for my details, which i sent to him via PM. he PM'd me back a username and password, said he couldnt get hold of MR. BEEP or whoever was suppose to activate my account so he did it quick himself.
I did not need to click anywhere to activate my account, it was done for me, no red or green writting came up, i was given a username and password via PM on mybb which i entered into my router.
I recieved an email stating that it was a reminder for all clients who have not already paid to pay, if you paid ignore email, it also said if you are on debit order please ignore.
Knowing that i paid i did not worry, but the fact i got activate without going through proper channels bothered me, so i sent an email back saying i paid and they must not double debit me.
Everything worked fine until they cut me off.
At first i assumed it might be telkom, mainly because i had major issues with telkom when the line was first put in and the adsl light was flashing, it is not suppose to.
I checked my mailbox, nothing there, so i call telkom, they say everything is working fine, i dont believe them, but in order to prove them wrong i must first establish that it is in fact them and not isp. so i try and call openweb. can't get through, i tried for 2 hours without success, i sent a few emails too.
2 hours after i got cut off an email came through saying i had been disconnected, that is first time anything made sense to me.
I emailed them back demanding to know why they disconnected me knowing i paid the full ammount and knowing i had reciepts. no reply. i tried to phone, engaged tone... I came onto mybb and some users tried to call as well, also couldnt get through.
I tried for the rest of the day, no success. in meantime my forum had been down most of the day. I have a day job and am stuck at work, i cannot just drop everything and run off to sort things out, best i can do is climb on the phone and post on the net. so here i sit like an idiot and cant do anything except wait for replies that never come.
eventualy friday night, i am not sure of the time, i get reconnected with an email saying that they are still waiting for payment, no sorry's or anything. I sent one back wanting to know why they are claiming double payment. i recieve another email the next day saying they work on calender month and not 30 days.
that is the first time i had ever heard anything about the calender month thing.
anyway, a few more emails go up and down and i am starting to get angry, i tried to reason with them, i explained i honestly didnt know about it, cant they make an axception, i paid alot of money and cannot just afford to fork out a whole months payment just like that, i run a non profit organisation.
they tell me the terms are the terms etc ... and rub me off on the legal department.
I did the only thing i could do, i came here and posted about my bad experience here.
The monday morning i call them, took half the morning to get through, i got through just before lunch i think it was. i was ready to cancel my account, i had already made a topic on mybb which i think was already a few pages big. they suddenly offer me half price discount. i tell them i am sorry, but the service has been poor and i already bought prepaid bandwidth from axxess. please cancel my account before you send me another false bill. they dont argue, dont try and change my mind or anything, just said ok and put the phone down, i was not very happy about that.
that is pretty much it.
now what this has cost me so far.
R1299 + R419 for line rental. the very same month i was also billed by telkom for installation costs and pro rata as well as the previous months line rental and internet fees total : R2038. I paid out a hell of alot of money in one month for a non profit forum to be online. i saw it as a long term investment so i bit the bullet and just did it. but openweb offer me reconnection if i pay them a further R649 ?? and after the bad service i recieved ?? i dont think so. They did not even offer me a refund, no sorry or anything. just pointed me to their legal department ( which btw can only be reached via email. )
Now openweb has screwd me over, R1299 loss that i have to recover from somewhere. i am now having to use prepaid bandwidth till month end as i refuse to sign up with anyone before the last day of the month ( yes they made me paranoid as well. )
My forum had to suffer downtime of 7 hours due to poor service, and now i am forced to move it seperate from patch server due to not having the uncapped connection, downtime estimation : 2 days.
What do i tell my users ? i try and explain to them that our Ex isp was full of crap, but no matter how or what i say, i looked and still look unprofessional due this incedent, as well as all the crap i have to go through this week moving forums around etc ...
I still have recieved no apology and no valid reason ( other than terms are terms and i paid for 3 days access, which they cannot prove to me that they provided the terms in any way ).
This is where i am. i have nothing to hide. I am simply a very unhappy client who got taken for a ride at the worst possible time in the worst possible way. and the isp was not willing to comprosmise in any way shape or form, unless i was willing to pay more money to them.
I recieved poor service, false invoices, and on top of that they tried to debit the bank account of the forum after i told them not to in my reply emails, so i have to cover the costs of that unsucessfull transaction out my pocket as well.
that is my story, no more no less, just the truth.
I never was told about the calendar month thing until after i paid and i got disconnected i got the email a day later. i dont see how they can try and throw that in my face.
o) and my account was suspended. Was sorted out quick at the late hours of the night by a support staff member and not Keoma.
