Telkom phone line down for five months

daveza

daveza

Honorary Master
Joined
Apr 5, 2004
Messages
49,812
Reaction score
21,546
Location
Durbanville, Cape Town
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20080211152822454C362773

A Telkom telephone line has been dead for five months, despite complaints having been logged with the telecoms company, Mitchell Krog, a West Rand resident said on Monday.

"The dead line is compromising my mother's safety. It is now almost five months since this fault has been logged yet nothing has been done to rectify the problem. This is totally unacceptable...this is a major security risk" said Krog

Krog's mother - who lives in Germiston - has had only a sporadic telephone connection to the Vodacom network.

Krog said his mother, Daveena Krog, had received text messages from Telkom, saying that the problem had been fixed, only to find that this was not true.

"We now have a situation for the last two days where my parents have no Vodacom service in their area and they have no working Telkom line. So they have no means of communication to the outside world and this is not safe and [is] unacceptable" he said.

Khulani Qoma, Telkom media spokesperson told Sapa it was not always immediately clear what caused problems.

"We would be commenting in darkness. We need to find out why they advised the customer wrongly," said Qoma.

"At Telkom what we do [now] is we take the reference number of the faulty line and the relevant department will be able to find a way of helping" he said.

Krog said he had reported the problem to several departments including Investor Relations, the Online Fault Reporting Centre, Telkom Corporate Communications, Telkom Media Relations and the Telkom company secretary.

Krog said he had received no responses to his emails. - Sapa
Click to expand...
 
First thing to note with Telkom is YOU CANNOT WIN, The best case scenario is you get out without pulling out too much of your hair. In order to minimize your stress levels follow these steps:

1. Never email Telkom. They do not repond to emails (I know, ironic, a telecoms company which doesn't make use of email to communicate with customers)

2. When reporting a fault, order, etc. Always Always keep your reference number. If you don't have a reference number you stand no chance.

3. Use a phone with a speakerphone when calling Telkom. Be prepared to spend at least 45 minutes holding. I've found the best time to call to report a fault is 9pm to 12pm.

4. Never ask the Telkom call centre agent to transfer you to another department or lodge a query, you're better off calling the department directly.

5. Never ask the Telkom call centre agent questions which are too difficult.

Guys feel free to add on
 
My adsl was down for 3 weeks once. Beginning of week 3, I called the accounts department and told them I refuse to pay for a service I am not receiving, here are the 20 reference numbers (Yes, I reported it every day) and if I get a bill, the woman (I took her name) can expect a lawyers letter addressed to telkom and her personally to cover the losses.

The next day at 8am, a telkom tech was at my door and an hour later my ADSL was working perfectly.
 
aadil said:
1. Never email Telkom. They do not repond to emails (I know, ironic, a telecoms company which doesn't make use of email to communicate with customers)

2. When reporting a fault, order, etc. Always Always keep your reference number. If you don't have a reference number you stand no chance.

3. Use a phone with a speakerphone when calling Telkom. Be prepared to spend at least 45 minutes holding. I've found the best time to call to report a fault is 9pm to 12pm.

4. Never ask the Telkom call centre agent to transfer you to another department or lodge a query, you're better off calling the department directly.

5. Never ask the Telkom call centre agent questions which are too difficult.
Click to expand...

6. Also never try to report two things at the same time, they cannot deal with it,either nothing or only one will be done.
 
7. Never, ever ask a question that can be answered with a Yes/No. They will just pick one randomly. Always ask a question that requires a full answer.
For example "Are you coming tomorrow?" NO!! "What time will the technician be there?" YES
Of course, they will still lie or make something up - but you stand a better chance.
 
"We would be commenting in darkness. We need to find out why they advised the customer wrongly," said Qoma.
Click to expand...

That would never have stopped Lulu... Come on man, pick up your game!!
 
Try waiting a year. My area has no telephone lines since February 2007.
 
I thought this article was a bit unfair, after all, look who he tried to report his line to - Investor Relations, the Online Fault Reporting Centre, Telkom Corporate Communications, Telkom Media Relations and the Telkom company secretary.

What did he expect? I mean, why not rock up at a Telkom building and ask the person sweeping the floors....... :confused:
 
thesuspect said:
I thought this article was a bit unfair, after all, look who he tried to report his line to - Investor Relations, the Online Fault Reporting Centre, Telkom Corporate Communications, Telkom Media Relations and the Telkom company secretary.

What did he expect? I mean, why not rock up at a Telkom building and ask the person sweeping the floors....... :confused:
Click to expand...

I don't really think you understand the lengths some people have to go to to get any response from Telkom.

In all honesty you need to contact absolutely everyone in Telkom to get any form of response. I have now been waiting since the 6th of March 2006 for ADSL. Calling the call centers, sending email, complaining on HelloPeter(while Telkom was still active) got me absolutely nowhere.

During January I just reached my end when they missed another install date without even bothering to call me. I took a day gathering every email and postal addresses for every individual I could find in Telkom that had any form of responsibility. CEO, COO, Company Secretary, Head of Customer Care, Regional Managers, Area Managers, Store Managers. I then sent registered letters explaining my situation to said postal addresses as well as copies via email.

Since doing this Telkom has not stopped calling me to keep me up to date with what is going on. I even received an sms this morning that my line will now finally be installed on the 20th.
 
Arzy said:
I don't really think you understand the lengths some people have to go to to get any response from Telkom.

In all honesty you need to contact absolutely everyone in Telkom to get any form of response. I have now been waiting since the 6th of March 2006 for ADSL. Calling the call centers, sending email, complaining on HelloPeter(while Telkom was still active) got me absolutely nowhere.

During January I just reached my end when they missed another install date without even bothering to call me. I took a day gathering every email and postal addresses for every individual I could find in Telkom that had any form of responsibility. CEO, COO, Company Secretary, Head of Customer Care, Regional Managers, Area Managers, Store Managers. I then sent registered letters explaining my situation to said postal addresses as well as copies via email.

Since doing this Telkom has not stopped calling me to keep me up to date with what is going on. I even received an sms this morning that my line will now finally be installed on the 20th.
Click to expand...

You would be foolish to hold your breath....:D
 
What I would give for a faulty line! I ordered an ISDN line in 1999, and I've heard nothing from Telkom since. I'm looking forward to posting a copy of the order on the 10th anniversary...
 
ads said:
What I would give for a faulty line! I ordered an ISDN line in 1999, and I've heard nothing from Telkom since. I'm looking forward to posting a copy of the order on the 10th anniversary...
Click to expand...
:D This must be a record of sorts...or maybe not :eek:
 
Oh hell, I wouldn't post that copy through.....

For all you know, it will be just the spark for Telscum to start advertising their latest and greatest service called ISDN and then install the line for you :D
 
TheShogun said:
Try waiting a year. My area has no telephone lines since February 2007.
Click to expand...

About a year or so back, I was organising a vacation to a lodge near Hazyview, and had been getting annoyed due to problems getting them to fax me anything or getting through to their landline ... well, as it transpires, it wasn't their fault: They'd been out for months, and Telkom simply no longer wanted to repair the lines anymore, because every time they do fix them, the copper lines are stolen again in no time.

No wonder our tourism industry is in the crapper. I mean how do you even explain this to foreigners, they'll just not come (and now it's electricity too). It's mindboggling to think how many jobs have been destroyed by this kind of thing - countrywide, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a million or so.
 
Arzy said:
I don't really think you understand the lengths some people have to go to to get any response from Telkom.

In all honesty you need to contact absolutely everyone in Telkom to get any form of response. I have now been waiting since the 6th of March 2006 for ADSL. Calling the call centers, sending email, complaining on HelloPeter(while Telkom was still active) got me absolutely nowhere.

During January I just reached my end when they missed another install date without even bothering to call me. I took a day gathering every email and postal addresses for every individual I could find in Telkom that had any form of responsibility. CEO, COO, Company Secretary, Head of Customer Care, Regional Managers, Area Managers, Store Managers. I then sent registered letters explaining my situation to said postal addresses as well as copies via email.

Since doing this Telkom has not stopped calling me to keep me up to date with what is going on. I even received an sms this morning that my line will now finally be installed on the 20th.
Click to expand...


please share those addresses :rolleyes:
 
Not very reassuring, I've just moved only for the line to have a fault and it's 'undergoing investigation'... as to comment on 45 mins max wait by one poster, I waited 1 hr and 12 mins to 0800 375 375 only to hang up due to neck spasms, hunger and migraines. In fact, in the 5 times I've phoned this number in the last 2 weeks, I've NEVER got through. Spent over an hour on one weekend - all calls have been terminated from my end. Enough to actually wreck your headspace in what (could be) a wonderful day. Anyway, I hope these people see light at the end of the tunnel. And it's not a Telkom-logo'ed van approaching with EC plates.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X