TELKOM - What to do?

[unwired]

I just don't know what to make of Telkom right now.

We have been having issues left right and centre for the 3 weeks.

The problems started on the 20 February, Saturday afternoon - my VDSL line @ 40 mb/s stops synchronising.

Log a call with Telkom, and get an SMS that Thursday saying that the problem is resolved. Get home, test it, no dice.

Phone 10210 again, they open a new fault. A technician came on Saturday (27 Feb), tested internal connections, went out to the box and came back an hour later, saying its sorted.

Test it, and sure enough its up, but at 2mb/s ADSL. Techie can't be bothered (he says I am his 1st stop and he has other calls). Log a call again.

Then the problem started, getting calls asking for someone I don't know.
Test the line and realise the 'technician' has crossed the lines.

Log another call - agents say they cannot re-open the earlier faults - have to log another one - which goes through the whole waiting and assigning process.

To date, still not resolved.

Where do I turn to?

 

[User52]

I would PM TelkomZA on the forum and link this thread to your message.

 

[unwired]

I would PM TelkomZA on the forum and link this thread to your message.

I did on the 29th February.
Got a reply on the 6 March, saying one of the (many) faults had been closed, and another one had been escalated.

I then asked for another update earlier on this week, only got a response yesterday (Friday).
Doesn't seem to be going anywhere. No concrete date or commitment that a technician is going to be on site on so and so date.

Pretty pathetic isn't it.

Called 10210 again today and after many "I'm going to check on the status of your call" messages by one Thulani, I was eventually shunted to the start of the 10210 routine.

 

[unwired]

Where is the accountability of this company?
How do they measure a technician's performance (hold on they are subcontractors) and assess their efficiencies, if they are allowed to close (without resolving) faults willy nilly? A fault once closed CANNOT be reopened - and you have to log a new fault.

 

[unwired]

Rant over (for now)

 

[unwired]

Rant over (for now)

Thanks TelkomZA

All is sorted.
I'm getting my own calls and 40mb/s VDSL is back up. Woo hoo.

 

[MickeyD]

Where is the accountability of this company?
How do they measure a technician's performance (hold on they are subcontractors) and assess their efficiencies, if they are allowed to close (without resolving) faults willy nilly? A fault once closed CANNOT be reopened - and you have to log a new fault.

To reply on the assessment...

If a similar fault is reported on a closed fault within 14 days of that first fault being closed, the techie (or contractor) gets penalised.


PS. It was 14 days, could be less now.

 

[lilggg]

To reply on the assessment...

If a similar fault is reported on a closed fault within 14 days of that first fault being closed, the techie (or contractor) gets penalised.


PS. It was 14 days, could be less now.

And what if they just leave it open? I would love to log a new fault and get a new techie to do a proper job but can't now cos they just leave the call open and do ****all.

 

[xodosman123]

If you are on 40 That is VDSL ISAM there is not interconnecting dslam do a 101999 on the line to make sure your number is correct.

 

[MickeyD]

And what if they just leave it open? I would love to log a new fault and get a new techie to do a proper job but can't now cos they just leave the call open and do ****all.

Open faults get escalated after a certain number of days as well. Used to be 7 but that was a year or two ago...

The problem comes down to the techie assigned to your fault. Certain ones close faults for no reason at all but will indicate on the fault report that "customer not home", "cannot gain access to pole", etc. Until they get a nice easy fault that they are capable of resolving. Some of them are really that useless.

 

[ghostR]

Open faults get escalated after a certain number of days as well. Used to be 7 but that was a year or two ago...

The problem comes down to the techie assigned to your fault. Certain ones close faults for no reason at all but will indicate on the fault report that "customer not home", "cannot gain access to pole", etc. Until they get a nice easy fault that they are capable of resolving. Some of them are really that useless.

I heard it was 50 hours these days...

 

[MickeyD]

I heard it was 50 hours these days...

Maybe on Business lines but there is no way they can meet that on residential lines. As it is they are so badly staffed that they are using contractors all over the country to do fitting and faults.

 

[Johnatan56]

Maybe on Business lines but there is no way they can meet that on residential lines. As it is they are so badly staffed that they are using contractors all over the country to do fitting and faults.

It takes about 2/3 days just to get assigned to a techie, was like that for me about a year ago (last line fault); a friend is currently having the same issue (he is on the other side of Cape Town).
So 2/3 days for techie to be assigned, another 2/3 days for him to show up, he closes fault for no reason/without doing checks, repeat process 2-4 times, and you'll have a competent techie maybe show up (if you're lucky).

 

[unwired]

If you are on 40 That is VDSL ISAM there is not interconnecting dslam do a 101999 on the line to make sure your number is correct.

What is a 101999?

My line worked perfectly fine till the 20th Feb when it stopped syncing.
When the techie 'sorted' it out, he crossed my line with another, and I ended up with a 2 mbps connection.

Not sure how he managed that.

 

[unwired]

It takes about 2/3 days just to get assigned to a techie, was like that for me about a year ago (last line fault); a friend is currently having the same issue (he is on the other side of Cape Town).
So 2/3 days for techie to be assigned, another 2/3 days for him to show up, he closes fault for no reason/without doing checks, repeat process 2-4 times, and you'll have a competent techie maybe show up (if you're lucky).

That is what i went through....

 

[MickeyD]

Dial 101999 from your home Telkom phone and your number will be read back to you.

 

[unwired]

To reply on the assessment...

If a similar fault is reported on a closed fault within 14 days of that first fault being closed, the techie (or contractor) gets penalised.


PS. It was 14 days, could be less now.

Whilst that may be a good measure, it doesn't help the customer in any way.
The new fault still goes to the bottom of the pile, and goes through the assignment process again.

Case in point, the fault was resolved today (Sunday), but was logged on the 8 March.
There should be a quicker process in place for a repeat fault.

The next step for me is to phone accounts and billing and make sure they give me a credit for the period I didn't have service.
I don't see why the technical and billing aspects cannot be linked?

 

[atomcrusher]

Dial 101999 from your home Telkom phone and your number will be read back to you.

At my age, with a fading memory, that could be a useful feature
Problem is, I need to memorise that number :twisted:

 

[Johnatan56]

At my age, with a fading memory, that could be a useful feature
Problem is, I need to memorise that number :twisted:

Write it on a page and stick it on to the home phone?