Poor Service Delivery from Afrihost

[Bubhesi]

Hi Guys

Thought you might be interested in my recent dealing with Afrihost. Below is a mail I sent to them this morning.

"What a joke. your own technical department told me that accounts were heavily shaped due to some blah blah or the other and that you were working on getting more bandwidth, yet your website says your network is fully operational. You fail to deliver what we are paying for and you don't even inform us. Account cancelled and I'll be posting on mybroadband.co.za and hello peter. Your technical online support is online but never available and your telephone technical support goes unanswered. I recommended you to all of my friends. Now I wish I hadn't."

See below for your response to my previous query:

Afrihost Live Chat <support@afrihost.com> 2 October 2013 21:17
Reply-To: support@afrihost.com
To: bubhesi@gmail.com
Reply | Reply to all | Forward | Print | Delete | Show original
Hi Marc,

Thanks for the email and I apologise for the issues.

Unfortunately shapping is harsher then normal at the moment so this is most likely why you are having issues. We are working on securing more bandwidth with MTN and Telkom to help alleviate this congestion.

Have a great day.

Regards,



Ticket Details
Ticket ID: GPX-355-29682
Department: Afrihost - Live Chat
Priority: High

Support Center: https://support.afrihost.com/?/Default

 

[zizebra]

I take it shaping is not part of the package. If so, then you have every right to be irate. You have been taken for a ride

 

[Archer]

With an email like that, nobody cares about your dealings. You can easily vent your frustration and make your dissatisfaction with a service known in more civil ways

Thanks for your email address though Marc

To: bubhesi@gmail.com

 

[wez1007]

Rants don't really get anyone anywhere. :/ yes there are a few issues atm but my afrihost account only dips down every now and then.

One less customer with afrihost means more bandwidth for the rest of us

 

[Mr.Jax]

"Unfortunately shapping is harsher then normal at the moment so this is most likely why you are having issues. We are working on securing more bandwidth with MTN and Telkom to help alleviate this congestion."

So, there's a capacity problem on the network and they are working on it. How is this poor service delivery ?

I honestly think you are overreacting just a tad.

 

[pjjdp]

"Unfortunately shapping is harsher then normal at the moment so this is most likely why you are having issues. We are working on securing more bandwidth with MTN and Telkom to help alleviate this congestion."

So, there's a capacity problem on the network and they are working on it. How is this poor service delivery ?

I honestly think you are overreacting just a tad.

But that contradicts with what Afriman and Afriguy has been saying for over 2 weeks now. According to them, there is enough capacity and there is no problem.

 

[5plus2equals9]

Are you on a capped account or business uncapped ? If not, I don't see what you're complaining about. Home uncapped accounts are shaped and when the network is under strain (ios 7 updates) they will shape more aggressively.

Also, it doesn't hurt to be polite, especially when you're the one in need of help.

 

[Mr.Jax]

Things just don't run smoothly 100% of the time, in any business! Things go wrong...you know...**** happens.
Especially if you're dependent on other parties (e.g. MTN and Telkom). For all we know the OP's problem is localised to a specific area/exchange etc.

Irrespective of the above, the OP should take a breather, relax, give the guys time to work on the problem and then decide whether they are junk or not. Fixing problems like this doesn't happen instantly son.

 

[AfriMan]

Hi Guys

Thought you might be interested in my recent dealing with Afrihost. Below is a mail I sent to them this morning.

"What a joke. your own technical department told me that accounts were heavily shaped due to some blah blah or the other and that you were working on getting more bandwidth, yet your website says your network is fully operational. You fail to deliver what we are paying for and you don't even inform us. Account cancelled and I'll be posting on mybroadband.co.za and hello peter. Your technical online support is online but never available and your telephone technical support goes unanswered. I recommended you to all of my friends. Now I wish I hadn't."

See below for your response to my previous query:

Afrihost Live Chat <support@afrihost.com> 2 October 2013 21:17
Reply-To: support@afrihost.com
To: bubhesi@gmail.com
Reply | Reply to all | Forward | Print | Delete | Show original
Hi Marc,

Thanks for the email and I apologise for the issues.

Unfortunately shapping is harsher then normal at the moment so this is most likely why you are having issues. We are working on securing more bandwidth with MTN and Telkom to help alleviate this congestion.

Have a great day.

Regards,



Ticket Details
Ticket ID: GPX-355-29682
Department: Afrihost - Live Chat
Priority: High

Support Center: https://support.afrihost.com/?/Default

I'm very sad to read this. While we do regret the shaping on the network, it sounds like this issue was compacted by some poor experience with our client service. Our network is operational, in that there is nothing "broken". We are shaping more than we'd like, but the system is working as it's designed to - we do advertise Uncapped as a semi-shaped service and we do advise in our AUP exactly how we shape and match the demand for bandwidth with our network capacity.

We do provide each Uncapped client with free Turbocharge sessions to be unshaped when they need it, and we dynamically unshaped clients as soon as we see reductions in demand.

You've said you have already cancelled, so I do wish you the very best going forward. If there is anything further I can do to assist you, please drop me a PM

 

[wez1007]

But that contradicts with what Afriman and Afriguy has been saying for over 2 weeks now. According to them, there is enough capacity and there is no problem.

From what afriguy / afriman have been saying there should be enough capacity for the amount of users on the network and new users signing up. but they seem to be maxing out on capacity and this is probably why they are getting more.

I think they dont use the full capacity that they have, Rather they have a threshold. Say at 75% capacity they start shaping.

Just my thoughts on it...

 

[F1 Fan]

Oh well, an attitude like that will get you now where.

 

[AfriMan]

But that contradicts with what Afriman and Afriguy has been saying for over 2 weeks now. According to them, there is enough capacity and there is no problem.

It would be fair to say that we don't have enough capacity for the demand, what we have been saying was the sudden increase in demand was unprecedented and we cannot explain it from our trend analysis of new signups and bandwidth usage. It may be too early to say whether this demand will be permanent (in which case more capacity will be a possible solution). I think the consultant here spoke out of turn

 

[AfriMan]

From what afriguy / afriman have been saying there should be enough capacity for the amount of users on the network and new users signing up. but they seem to be maxing out on capacity and this is probably why they are getting more.

I think they dont use the full capacity that they have, Rather they have a threshold. Say at 75% capacity they start shaping.

Just my thoughts on it...

The only protection on the network is to avoid high latency to ensure real time services remain at premium levels. Otherwise clients have FULL use of the available capacity and none is held back, which is why up to now we've been able to do as little shaping as possible.

The spike in usage was impossible to have predicted

 

[wez1007]

The only protection on the network is to avoid high latency to ensure real time services remain at premium levels. Otherwise clients have FULL use of the available capacity and none is held back, which is why up to now we've been able to do as little shaping as possible.

The spike in usage was impossible to have predicted

Good to know theres no threshold Trends and predictions arnt the easiest things to predict so I dont blame you guys... ****e happens

 

[Defib]

Afrihost's support is disgusting

 

[jvk]

cant understand why people dont just PM afriman instead of cancelling and ranting, he usually sorts everything out in no time.
if no satisfaction then by all means rant but at least give afriman the chance to rectify the problem first.

right, can i get a rage ticket now afriman ? i'm too slow on those facebook question plus i'm blocked here at work

 

[wez1007]

Afrihost's support is disgusting

My experience with their support has been better than any other ISP i've dealt with :/

 

[Crowley]

It would be fair to say that we don't have enough capacity for the demand, what we have been saying was the sudden increase in demand was unprecedented and we cannot explain it from our trend analysis of new signups and bandwidth usage. It may be too early to say whether this demand will be permanent (in which case more capacity will be a possible solution). I think the consultant here spoke out of turn

I've paused my downloads so the network should return to normal soon

 

[AfriMan]

Afrihost's support is disgusting

There were several people trying to resolve your issue? Please PM me if you are still not getting the result you were after

 

[AfriMan]

Good to know theres no threshold Trends and predictions arnt the easiest things to predict so I dont blame you guys... ****e happens

It certainly does