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Friggs

Senior Member
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Location
Pretoria
Web Africa has been giving me 1GB of bandwidth for free per month for about 6 months (it states 1GB shaped less 100% discount on my monthly invoice).
Today I cancel my service as I am moving and won't have ADSL for a while and suddenly get a statement indicating that I owe them R972, due today!!! They have decided that there was a mistake and they shouldn't have given me free bandwidth every month so now they'll just charge me for it. This is ridiculous, how is it my problem that they gave me a free GB every month when "they weren't supposed to?" I called the call centre and after holding for 15min was told no one was available in the billing department to sort it out. This is really below par and not the service I thought I'd get from WA. I was going to do my dsl through them again once telkom has installed my new line but now I'll be going to someone else, not that WA would care I'm sure.

So if you have anything on your invoice that says "Less 100% discount" I suggest you query it before they decide to bill you for it later.
 
Well if you were honest with yourself Im sure you would say that deep down inside you knew that it was an error and that you were hoping they wouldnt notice. Now they did and you are left owing a largish amount instead of smaller monthly payments.

I would have just sorted it out with them ages ago to be sure especially since I consider them the best ISP in SA. Just because they make a mistake on their billing doesnt make them bad in my book.
 
Honesty is always the best policy. When someone messes up, I always tell them, even if it is in my favour. Your post just confirms for me why that is a good policy. :) Thanks.
 
No, I didn't. When I signed up for the dsl complete they gave me a big discount on something (think it was on the data), when I upgraded to the 4mb line they added a line with "shaped 1GB less 100% discount". Why would that be strange when I used to get a discount on a lower entry level package? If it was billed I would have paid for it, no questions but to suddenly want to back charge me the day I cancel my service sucks.
 
How exactly do you expect them to make money with open ended 100% discounts? They are a business afterall and not a charity? Im not sure I understand exactly what you were getting but it sounded like you had a 1Gig account per month and they were 'giving' it to you for 'free'?

Look I know it sucks but I would just pay it and feel right about myself. Lessons learned and all that jazz.
 
Garyvdh said:
Honesty is always the best policy. When someone messes up, I always tell them, even if it is in my favour. Your post just confirms for me why that is a good policy. :) Thanks.
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So if I get something for free I should be suspicious? MTN gives me free minutes but they'll probably charge me later I 'spose. Why would I question something that was stated as being free? It didn't have 1GB with an amount but the amount wasn't included in the total. It was stated as free. I was used to seeing "Less xx% discount" on my statement every month, I was in no way dishonest. Dishonest is using 5GB on your 3GB account and knowing you're getting away with it. Being told something is free and accepting it is not being dishonest.
 
Freshy-ZN said:
How exactly do you expect them to make money with open ended 100% discounts? They are a business afterall and not a charity? Im not sure I understand exactly what you were getting but it sounded like you had a 1Gig account per month and they were 'giving' it to you for 'free'?

Look I know it sucks but I would just pay it and feel right about myself. Lessons learned and all that jazz.
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Look, don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem paying for something I use. My main concern is that the day I cancel I get whacked with this via an e-mail.
If they had called me (bit of customer service) and let me know that they picked up a mistake and explained what happened then I probably wouldn't be pissed but to get this via an e-mail that states it's DUE TODAY with no explanation of why they are now charging me kinda pisses me off.
 
Freshy-ZN said:
Well if you were honest with yourself Im sure you would say that deep down inside you knew that it was an error and that you were hoping they wouldnt notice. Now they did and you are left owing a largish amount instead of smaller monthly payments.

I would have just sorted it out with them ages ago to be sure especially since I consider them the best ISP in SA. Just because they make a mistake on their billing doesnt make them bad in my book.
Click to expand...

Have a look at the Axxess website, a 4mb ADSL line is R359 pm vat inclusive so add an extra 1GB and you're around what I was paying. So yes, for R413 I'd expect something to be included with the line rental. Even SAOL seems cheaper at R519 for 3GB with the 4mb line, take away 2GB (at WA's R70p/GB) and the price is R379, that's still including the 1GB.

So, how was I not being honest with myself?
 
Not to blow my own horn.

I've had 2 or 3 accounts when I used my prepaid data and it never "counted down", only to realise it after a short while. I always reported it and they thanked me for it, but never added the amount I used. Which is pretty cool in my books.

I'm not saying they didn't fix it, they did. But being honest made me know that I paid for what I used and I know I didn't intentionally use the data without paying for it.

I think it's fair that WA asked you to pay the amount, although I agree it could have been handled better.

You need to know by now, if you have had any other accounts with them. Most invoices are payable on the date you receive it. It's just how they work.

Just this month I couldn't afford to load a GB international. I thought, let's ask if I can pay it on pay day. Sent off an email and without hesitation they credited my account with the 1GB I needed.

I'll pay it on the exact day when money reflects in my account I can use.

They are a great company, no doubts about it. So if I were you, I'd be less inclined to move to Axxess or snales pace SAOL (check this forum subsection for details).
 
Hi Friggs,

I have now looked into your account and found why this has occurred to begin with. When you had signed up with us in Feb 2008, you purchased the DSL Bronze package @ R199 monthly which included 1gb Shaped in the pricing (therefor the 1gb shaped invoicing were 100% discounted).
In Apr 2008 you had changed over from the DSL Bronze package to a 4mb Line only, moving away from the complete packaging. At this time our agents were to change the 1gb Shaped billing to run as per normal, however this was not done. Thus causing for the system to continue supplying the 100% discounted 1gb shaped service to you.
Upon your cancelation, the DSL Complete team picked this up and thus your account was backbilled, period Apr 08 - Mar 09. As the error could have been avoided in Apr 08 already, we had then added a 20% discount to your account calculated on the back-billed amount.

I completely understand where you're coming from and do agree that it could definitely have been handled differently. I'm certain that supplying additional discount to your account will not entirely act soothingly, however I have as a show of good faith applied a further 15% discount to the account.

I shall also give you a call shortly to discuss the matter. May you have any questions, queries, you're most welcome to take the time and go over them with me :)

Have a wonderful day ahead
 
Web Africa seeming more and more appealing. Might be moving over soon.
 
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