Telkom rant

[Valerion]

We have one office in JHB with DSL, which is rarely used. Only one or two staff members there on a semi-regular basis. I've been noticing issues with the site, so I investigated after I returned from year-end leave. From the 16th of December my line has been disconnecting on the dot every 120.1 minutes (Linux is quite accurate about this). Clearly this is an ISP fault, I assumed. I phoned Axxess, only to get told to speak to Telkom. So I connected the Telkom Guest account for a while. Disconnects every 60 minutes. So clearly Axxess was correct.

I finally managed to log the fault on the 11th of January. A technician was assigned the 24th of January. He phoned after a few days, promised to be there in 15 minutes. We sent a staff member there, but no technician arrived. And, of course, the fault was closed on the 9th of February without the technician contacting us again.

On the 9th of February I opened another case (apparently you can't re-open them). Got a new fault reference number, got it linked to the previous case and sent to the escalations manager. Next day someone called me to enquire as to why I escalated the case, and I explained. Case was given to the technical team on the 23rd of February at 12:47. On the 23rd of February at 13:06 I got an SMS saying the fault has been resolved. No contact from the technician. And another one saying my case will be closed in 24 hours. Of course my line STILL disconnects reliably every 120.1 minutes. Not surprising, since he worked (?) 20 minutes on a fault that only manifests every 2 hours.

So I guess I get to phone tomorrow morning, reporting the case AGAIN. What can I do to ensure the case actually gets some attention?

 

[Raiders]

Seems like the standard IDC response from large companies. Espesially where they have the monopoly in the market. At time like these, I really do wish there was another ADSL provider. Might even make for cheaper line rentals.

 

[Peon]

Valerion, Im having same issues with telkom. They love their CRM system. They try and see who can click the fastest is closing your ticket. Maybe they think if they really close a ticket the problem will disappear. Added to that, I cant get them to acknowledge the problem is on their side. But they brilliant in closing tickets.

 

[Milano]

Telkom answers to nobody.

It is effectively an instrument of the state.

We accept this.

We pay for this.

We enable this.

 

[Albereth]

You are lucky that someone got back to you. I was told that if they escalate a problem a manager WILL contact me.

Yesterday I escalated a problem that was first reported 7 December and has been closed 4 times (and a new one opened each time). I got no response despite being told by the little web thingy that they would be in contact soon. So I escalated again today, and will continue to do so. A few moments of my time is well spent if it causes discomfort in some nameless drone's life. No performance bonus this year.

 

[Chicken Boo]

Also having a miserable time... our ADSL line at work has been dead since Friday. The service agents have confirmed this is an exchange problem affecting multiple users, but despite my calling every day it remains unresolved. I can't handle the flute any more so I've pretty much given up.

 

[kat06sa]

Also happened to me a couple of times. Get the SMS that the techie is working on the fault. 2 minutes later, get the SMS saying that the fault has been resolved. Pfft.

 

[Milano]

The same fault number procedure applies when you report your telkom adsl router as faulty. They issue a fault number and tell you to return it to your telkom store. Fifteen minutes later they close it and report the fault number as resolved even though you haven't moved from your chair yet.

This moves beyond incompetence. This behavior directly contravenes your fair legal right to the contractual warranty on the equipment. I would like a legal view on this but the truth is telkom answers to nobody.