WebAfrica/Openserve Complaint

[capie]

I'm based in Camps Bay. Months ago, while our house was being renovated, we signed up for fibre through WebAfrica. Openserve is the provider. A few months before the house was ready, we were told that the installation would be done and an installer came, but left half way through the job.

It turns out that when Openserve installed the fibre cable to our street, they somehow failed to see that there was another house beyond ours (the house in question is a 3-storey 700m2 mansion!). So they installed one fibre too few to our street. On the same day they were supposed to install our fibre, our neighbour's fibre was also being installed and the Openserve technician decided to give our strand to the neighbour. They ran the fibre cable along our sidewalk in a trench a whole 2cm deep!

We followed up endlessly with WebAfrica. The guy in charge of installations was always either on a break or on the line. He didn't reply to emails. We eventually got the name of the person at Openserve in charge of the area ourselves and sent his details to WebAfrica. Months later, after mentioning the Openserve guy's name numerous times, WebAfrica had not made contact with the area coordinator and claims that they are being told that we will have to wait until the end of August to be connected. Of course they aren't offering us any other solution in the interim. When we do manage to get hold of the Openserve guy, he says that it will be installed shortly but he won't give us a time, never calls back when he has promised to and now appears to be screening our calls.

Months after we tried to get fibre installed in an area that is supposed to have a 100MBps fibre connection, and after spending hours and hours sending emails and on phone calls, we still have no idea when we might be connected. With a house whose security system relies on this connection, this is a major issue. We have built this house from scratch with all kinds of complicated systems in place but the fibre connection is by far the worst service we have had during the entire house build.

If anyone has any ideas on how to deal with this, please let me know.

 

[ponder]

Have you tried applying directly to openserve?

Click on the fibre button, apply at 10213 https://secure.telkom.co.za/today/shop/home/plan/fibre-uncapped-internet/ Promo deal until end of july. Can always bump up the speed afterwards.

 

[WebAfrica Helper]

I'm based in Camps Bay. Months ago, while our house was being renovated, we signed up for fibre through WebAfrica. Openserve is the provider. A few months before the house was ready, we were told that the installation would be done and an installer came, but left half way through the job.

It turns out that when Openserve installed the fibre cable to our street, they somehow failed to see that there was another house beyond ours (the house in question is a 3-storey 700m2 mansion!). So they installed one fibre too few to our street. On the same day they were supposed to install our fibre, our neighbour's fibre was also being installed and the Openserve technician decided to give our strand to the neighbour. They ran the fibre cable along our sidewalk in a trench a whole 2cm deep!

We followed up endlessly with WebAfrica. The guy in charge of installations was always either on a break or on the line. He didn't reply to emails. We eventually got the name of the person at Openserve in charge of the area ourselves and sent his details to WebAfrica. Months later, after mentioning the Openserve guy's name numerous times, WebAfrica had not made contact with the area coordinator and claims that they are being told that we will have to wait until the end of August to be connected. Of course they aren't offering us any other solution in the interim. When we do manage to get hold of the Openserve guy, he says that it will be installed shortly but he won't give us a time, never calls back when he has promised to and now appears to be screening our calls.

Months after we tried to get fibre installed in an area that is supposed to have a 100MBps fibre connection, and after spending hours and hours sending emails and on phone calls, we still have no idea when we might be connected. With a house whose security system relies on this connection, this is a major issue. We have built this house from scratch with all kinds of complicated systems in place but the fibre connection is by far the worst service we have had during the entire house build.

If anyone has any ideas on how to deal with this, please let me know.

Hi

Gosh ! apologies to see how things have unfolded - please DM your details / order number , so we may get our fibre team investigating and call you with confirmation of the best way forward as soon as humanly possible.

We will do all we can to ensure your support - thank you so much for your most valued patience and efforts. Confirm your details via PM and we will take it from there

Looking forward to your PM

Web Africa Support

 

[capie]

Openserve still haven't replied to our calls or emails. Although they admit that this was their mistake in failing to properly count the number of houses in the road, and despite the fact that their technician says it is an easy thing to fix, no one responds to calls or emails. The Telkom culture is strong within Openserve!

This thread did get WebAfrica to give us a call but they just repeated what they told us before - that Openserve says that fibre will only arrive end of August. Openserve has specifically denied this when we spoke to them saying this is a maintenance issue that will be fixed long before the end of August (without committing to a date). Closing the loop between these two providers is an impossible task though. You have to call each of them five times before you actually get someone on the line and then those people follow the path of least resistance. They are both more interested in closing a sale than providing a service.

WebAfrica promised to call back to see if they could offer us a temporary Internet service, but of course that call never came.

 

[Anthro]

Ever considered going to their offices in person ?
You are in an affluent area, so maybe some of your friends can come with to protest, a fun day out id say
Do it for Mandela ! 67minutes !

 

[capie]

Imagine only having to spend 67 mins to get an Internet connection! If only the protesting had the slightest chance of succeeding.

Openserve have now responded saying that they "cannot assist" me but the service manager at the ISP will be able to assist.

So, Webafrica says that Openserve is responsible and Openserve says Webafrica is responsible. The result is that Openserve is not accountable for their mistakes because they hide behind Webafrica. Webafrica has a long-term relationship with Openserve that they don't want to compromise by getting Openserve to do something about their incompetence (not being able to count to three). We, as the end users, suffer because Openserve has a monopoly on the service.

I moved to South Africa from France where, 7 years ago already, we had a 100MBps fibre line right into our apartment. We got the Internet connection, 80 channels of TV free and a la carte channels you could buy, plus free international phone calls to landlines - all for 30 Euros a month. And the installer came ONCE because his bosses know that incompetence and lack of preparedness costs money. There is a culture in SA I call the "Ag Shame Sorry" complex that tolerates incompetence and cannot be broken because of all of the monopolies that exist.

 

[ponder]

I sent you a PM

 

[coop]

Imagine only having to spend 67 mins to get an Internet connection! If only the protesting had the slightest chance of succeeding.

Openserve have now responded saying that they "cannot assist" me but the service manager at the ISP will be able to assist.

So, Webafrica says that Openserve is responsible and Openserve says Webafrica is responsible. The result is that Openserve is not accountable for their mistakes because they hide behind Webafrica. Webafrica has a long-term relationship with Openserve that they don't want to compromise by getting Openserve to do something about their incompetence (not being able to count to three). We, as the end users, suffer because Openserve has a monopoly on the service.

I moved to South Africa from France where, 7 years ago already, we had a 100MBps fibre line right into our apartment. We got the Internet connection, 80 channels of TV free and a la carte channels you could buy, plus free international phone calls to landlines - all for 30 Euros a month. And the installer came ONCE because his bosses know that incompetence and lack of preparedness costs money. There is a culture in SA I call the "Ag Shame Sorry" complex that tolerates incompetence and cannot be broken because of all of the monopolies that exist.

Actually, in this instance, OpenServe is correct. Even though the issue is there fault, the service provider is responsible for dealing with the customer and following up. Consider this, if yopu get your fiber and you have a break in it, you are likely to have this same issue using web africa.

A number of people in your situation have had luck by using ISPAfrika for the installation, see https://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/899348-ISPAfrika-brilliant-service! So maybe give them a try and cancel the Web Africa order.

 

[rawoke]

I had somewhat similar experience with OpenServe and WebAfrica !! They took months and when push came to shove they told me my complex has no fibre ! Even though my neighbours had lekker fibre !!

I phoned ISPAfrika - in less than a week he(Garth) sorted out everything and I got fibre !! I can't recommend ISPAfrika enough !

 

[zerocool2009]

Total shocked how bad WebAfrica is operating ! They think my account is an endless pit just to do debit orders !

Stay away from WebAfrica (seriously), they dont have any support (backend). I now waited to get feedback a week after they double took a debit order, for fault on their side) !