Telkom - how's this for ridiculous??

D

divv

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South Africa.
I live on a cottage on my property and have a Telkom line. I now want to move into the house on the same property so I called Telkom re moving the line. Answer - will cost over R400. BUT if I were moving to a completely new place the move would be FREE.
I asked to speak to someone more senior and was told it would make no difference because that's the policy. Said I would then cancel the line and was told sorry but that's still the policy.
WTF?????
 
Considering that but the people moving into the cottage want a line as well and I figure when Telkom comes to do that they will pick it up...
 
Hey divv

is the line used for adsl?

if so, get some wireless kit and connect wirelessly to your adsl router without having to string some wire up :D
 
Hi Librarian. Its not ADSL. The new people moving into the cottage want to have ADSL though?
Seriously thinking of just cancelling the line completely...
 
divv said:
Hi Librarian. Its not ADSL. The new people moving into the cottage want to have ADSL though?
Seriously thinking of just cancelling the line completely...
Click to expand...

Ja, it will be best to cancel it completely and let them do things from their side. Otherwise you'll get a sky-high telephone bill and they don't want to pay.

Stipulate in the rental contract that they will have to order and pay their own landline if they want one, and that you will not be held responsible for the costs of said line. ;)

IANAL - best go see a lawyer of you're not sure of the right wording though :)
 
Oh definitely, I'm not giving them MY line. Point is though, I was planning to hold onto it for my own use in the house, but if Telkom want to be ridiculous about it then I'll do without it. For the price of the line rental alone (R170) I can get say 72 mins of MTN airtime..? How to chase customers away!!!
 
divv said:
Oh definitely, I'm not giving them MY line. Point is though, I was planning to hold onto it for my own use in the house, but if Telkom want to be ridiculous about it then I'll do without it. For the price of the line rental alone (R170) I can get say 72 mins of MTN airtime..? How to chase customers away!!!
Click to expand...

Okay. Clearly Telkom are idiots. However. Why not play at their game?

You have a line @ your cottage. What address do you use?

Let's assume it's 135 Maple Street. And both the house & the cottage snail mail goes to that address.

(Here comes the deviously evil part that will **** with Telkom and get around their stupid policy)

Tell them you'd like to move the line to your new premises. When they ask you for the new address, give them 135A Maple Street.

Because, 135 Maple Street is OBVIOUSLY your cottage ;)

See what I did there? ;)
 
Oh crap, totally forgot to add. When they tell you over the phone "but that's the same premises" you tell them "of course it's not, not according to the municipal zoning laws, and it's their policies... I just live there"
 
Yip, was gonna suggest the A/B adress thing.

But I think the reason for the free telephone number change is when BOTH premises have a line installed, and all you need to do is change the number.(Unless if you do have seperate lines to both houses.)
 
X-gamer - there is a phone in the house (previous tenants put it in). BUT they are being difficult and won't even reply to my question as to what the number was so they are rather unlikely to sign any paperwork allowing a transfer..
The "joys" of (bad) tenants.. :-(
 
Change of transfer of rental, is cheaper (somtimes free) than outdoor transfer of your line.

The difference is in the wording. If the main house already has a line (and by this I mean exsisting working line) then a tranfer of number onto existing leads does not require any Telkom technicians to come out and the connection can be transferred by using existing lead data and simply programming the port (all done on computer).

If the the leads exist at the main house but the old owner has not released his leads (ie not applied to move to his new address) It will mean that Telkom will need to send out a technician to physically cross-connect to the new property therefore you would incur a tranfer cost. Telkom cannot use the old leads (circuit) (without u incurring cost) until a) the old client has applied for disconnection/transfer or b) in the case of a dead/dormant line, not knowing the old telephone number/lead that existed there.

Just a note: just because there are wires in the house does not mean that the line is linked to the exchange. Somtimes if a house has not had a telephone line for a while its leads will get diverted to other waiting applicants and this is especially true for farms and plots where rural carrier systems are employed.
 
Leftfoot said:
Just a note: just because there are wires in the house does not mean that the line is linked to the exchange.
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Hi Leftfoot. I plugged a phone into the line today and tried dialing my cell so I could pick up what the number was but got a message saying insufficient airtime so the line has not yet been diverted elsewhere. Since you seem to know how these things work, perhaps you can give some input as to how you think this scenario might then play out? ie if it is a prepaid, do they still have to "release" the line?
Thanks
divv
 
How about you cancel the line, then sign up for a Closer plan... comes with free installation :D
 
divv said:
Hi Leftfoot. I plugged a phone into the line today and tried dialing my cell so I could pick up what the number was but got a message saying insufficient airtime so the line has not yet been diverted elsewhere. Since you seem to know how these things work, perhaps you can give some input as to how you think this scenario might then play out? ie if it is a prepaid, do they still have to "release" the line?
Thanks
divv
Click to expand...

ToxicB has a point...worth a try.

That seems like a pre-paid line there....my tech knowledge on them might be a little outdated. By dialing 101999 from that prepaid line you should get the circuit number read out to you. In the olden days you could "take over" those leads (from a telkom perspective) by simply porting your number to that prepaid lines port. In your case, I still think they are going to want some kind of permission to disconnect the prepaid line.
 
Hi Leftfoot, 101999 worked a charm, got the number. Thanks!
Went to Telkom, they are still dithering about whether or not it will cost me; if it will I have told them that I will cancel the line and go for a new connection (or maybe NOT even go for a new connection). Or I may just do it myself and extend the existing cable from where it is to the new location..
Thanks to all that gave input...
divv
 
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