An open letter to Afrihost:
Just some background context:
Initially I was in the clouds with Afrihost's quick, friendly and efficient support. I wanted to put this here to warn anyone considering them to stay away. Their support has gone down the drain. I moved to Afrihost from OpenWeb, because the same had happened with their stellar support. I guess getting decent service of any kind in this country today is a thing of the past and a pipe dream.
This all below is in response to support thread WKL-650-69840 on Afrihost.
I have been struggling since December to get a crossed-line sorted out on my side. From 6th Feb to about 13th Feb basically the whole Faerie Glen was without lines (cable-theft confirmed with Telkom, plus my next door neighbour plus a friend two blocks from me, also with Afrihost). After service came back my line (which was still crossed) went down again. Router shows it starts trying to sync, then the line goes down again. No idea what's going on, when I pick up the receiver line is totally dead. Long story short, I struggled and struggled and struggled and struggled to get any form of support from Afrihost. (No to mention Telkom, but that goes without saying.) The only person who finally helped me (what little he could) was AfriGuy on here. Aside from him, the entire Afrihost support team should be fired in my opinion.
Now, in March after FINALLY getting phone line sorted, my lines uncrossed and finally able to use my Internet again (having sat without it for almost two thirds of Feb), I requested that I be refunded for at least SOME of the time I had no internet. After waiting firstly again for weeks for a response from Afrihost, I basically get the response: There was data usage on the line, and a fault at Telkom, so no dice.
This despite the fact that said friend who lives two blocks from me got refunded for the week it was down in the beginning of the month. Also, this after they told me if there was a fault logged with telkom, they can claim it back from them and I can get a refund. So now I'm getting the opposite answer.
Anyway, herewith my response to Afrihost:
[I do not accept this at all. Firstly, how can there have been data usage between the 6th and the 13th? The ENTIRE Faerie Glen was down basically. Cables were stolen. NO ONE had service. My next door neighbour's lines were also completely dead during that time. One of my friends, [Name removed for privacy], who is also a client of yours lives literally 2 blocks from me. His lines were also dead, yet you refunded him credit?
So why am I being punished? Why am I getting the finger?
Secondly, you at first told me that if there was a Telkom fault logged, you could claim it from Telkom and therefore I would receive credit. Now you're telling me the exact opposite?
Thirdly. Keep in mind that my lines have been crossed since December. My number has been [Number removed] for months. I only got it back to [Number removed] a few weeks ago. A fault which I logged with YOU and which NO ONE from your side EVER bothered to get back to me about, I might add.
Lastly, the Telkom technicians had to physically come to my house to fix the line. They tried phoning me over and over and my phone couldn't even ring. I don't care what "data usage" you think there might have been. Nothing of mine updated, nothing downloaded, nothing worked for over a week. I struggled and struggled. I tried reaching you on Live Chat. Live Chat kept giving me errors. I tried HelloPeter, you ignore that I was later told. I logged calls on this support thread, no response. I had to resort to mybroadband forums to get any form of support out of you. The ONLY person from Afrihost who seems to care about anything is AfriGuy on those forums.
Your support has honestly gone down the drain the last year. You takes weeks to reply (if you reply at all) and when you do I get these half-assed, half-baked, half-researched answers. You don't give a toss about HelloPeter anymore, your call centre takes close to an hour to get through and even then your consultants are curt and unenthusiastic. Your live chat doesn't work at all.
Do you realise that over February with my many issues on my line Telkom has been quicker to respond and has been more helpful than you have? Telkom! You people are useless and you don't care about your clients at all anymore.
If it weren't for the fact that I was moving to Australia at the end of the year, I would cancel my subscription right now with you. And if I thought it might actually be worth the admin and time wasted, I would take you to the Customer Protection Act.
Rest assured, however that I will make a point of telling every single family member and friend, as well as all my co-workers at my multi-national tech company to avoid Afrihost at all costs. I will also make a point of letting everyone I know on all my social media how little you care.
I will pay my bills and use my internet until I emigrate, but other than that, you and I are done. Take your credit and shove it.]
I might have overreacted, but I am sick and tired of paying and paying and paying for so-called support that I do not get. The reason I let Afrihost handle my DSL line is so that I don't have to sit with these issues with Telkom, but at present Telkom seems to actually offer better support than Afrihost, which is well and truly scary. So if any of you out there are considering them. Stay away. Go to Web Africa, go to Voxx. Wherever you go, don't go to them.
Just some background context:
Initially I was in the clouds with Afrihost's quick, friendly and efficient support. I wanted to put this here to warn anyone considering them to stay away. Their support has gone down the drain. I moved to Afrihost from OpenWeb, because the same had happened with their stellar support. I guess getting decent service of any kind in this country today is a thing of the past and a pipe dream.
This all below is in response to support thread WKL-650-69840 on Afrihost.
I have been struggling since December to get a crossed-line sorted out on my side. From 6th Feb to about 13th Feb basically the whole Faerie Glen was without lines (cable-theft confirmed with Telkom, plus my next door neighbour plus a friend two blocks from me, also with Afrihost). After service came back my line (which was still crossed) went down again. Router shows it starts trying to sync, then the line goes down again. No idea what's going on, when I pick up the receiver line is totally dead. Long story short, I struggled and struggled and struggled and struggled to get any form of support from Afrihost. (No to mention Telkom, but that goes without saying.) The only person who finally helped me (what little he could) was AfriGuy on here. Aside from him, the entire Afrihost support team should be fired in my opinion.
Now, in March after FINALLY getting phone line sorted, my lines uncrossed and finally able to use my Internet again (having sat without it for almost two thirds of Feb), I requested that I be refunded for at least SOME of the time I had no internet. After waiting firstly again for weeks for a response from Afrihost, I basically get the response: There was data usage on the line, and a fault at Telkom, so no dice.
This despite the fact that said friend who lives two blocks from me got refunded for the week it was down in the beginning of the month. Also, this after they told me if there was a fault logged with telkom, they can claim it back from them and I can get a refund. So now I'm getting the opposite answer.
Anyway, herewith my response to Afrihost:
[I do not accept this at all. Firstly, how can there have been data usage between the 6th and the 13th? The ENTIRE Faerie Glen was down basically. Cables were stolen. NO ONE had service. My next door neighbour's lines were also completely dead during that time. One of my friends, [Name removed for privacy], who is also a client of yours lives literally 2 blocks from me. His lines were also dead, yet you refunded him credit?
So why am I being punished? Why am I getting the finger?
Secondly, you at first told me that if there was a Telkom fault logged, you could claim it from Telkom and therefore I would receive credit. Now you're telling me the exact opposite?
Thirdly. Keep in mind that my lines have been crossed since December. My number has been [Number removed] for months. I only got it back to [Number removed] a few weeks ago. A fault which I logged with YOU and which NO ONE from your side EVER bothered to get back to me about, I might add.
Lastly, the Telkom technicians had to physically come to my house to fix the line. They tried phoning me over and over and my phone couldn't even ring. I don't care what "data usage" you think there might have been. Nothing of mine updated, nothing downloaded, nothing worked for over a week. I struggled and struggled. I tried reaching you on Live Chat. Live Chat kept giving me errors. I tried HelloPeter, you ignore that I was later told. I logged calls on this support thread, no response. I had to resort to mybroadband forums to get any form of support out of you. The ONLY person from Afrihost who seems to care about anything is AfriGuy on those forums.
Your support has honestly gone down the drain the last year. You takes weeks to reply (if you reply at all) and when you do I get these half-assed, half-baked, half-researched answers. You don't give a toss about HelloPeter anymore, your call centre takes close to an hour to get through and even then your consultants are curt and unenthusiastic. Your live chat doesn't work at all.
Do you realise that over February with my many issues on my line Telkom has been quicker to respond and has been more helpful than you have? Telkom! You people are useless and you don't care about your clients at all anymore.
If it weren't for the fact that I was moving to Australia at the end of the year, I would cancel my subscription right now with you. And if I thought it might actually be worth the admin and time wasted, I would take you to the Customer Protection Act.
Rest assured, however that I will make a point of telling every single family member and friend, as well as all my co-workers at my multi-national tech company to avoid Afrihost at all costs. I will also make a point of letting everyone I know on all my social media how little you care.
I will pay my bills and use my internet until I emigrate, but other than that, you and I are done. Take your credit and shove it.]
I might have overreacted, but I am sick and tired of paying and paying and paying for so-called support that I do not get. The reason I let Afrihost handle my DSL line is so that I don't have to sit with these issues with Telkom, but at present Telkom seems to actually offer better support than Afrihost, which is well and truly scary. So if any of you out there are considering them. Stay away. Go to Web Africa, go to Voxx. Wherever you go, don't go to them.
