Webafrica pulling a Telkom

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hjs

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We've been successfully dealing with Webafrica for about 3 years, till yesterday now thanks to a new billing system 2 of our retail branches got cut off because of an apparent R600 amount outstanding on our account.

A long story short we did pay, only allocation was not done correctly, yet trying to get 2 gig worth of cap today, was again denied because now R140 rand is outstanding. I get the bill of R38 but no cap what so ever.

I contacted Webafrica and told them about my predicament, they could not provide an answer for the problem except I must phone accounts dept and ask them to manually put the order through. Like I don't have enough work already!

My advice start looking for a new up coming ISP because Webafrica cannot or will not handle individual business needs anymore.
 
Hi hjs

I would like to thank you for taking the time to provide us with your feedback.


As per our conversation, the reason why the payment was not reflecting and the bandwidth not being added was a a result of the beneficiary reference that was not added when making payment.
In future you would need to add your client code in the beneficiary reference area to avoid payment not reflecting on your account.

This helps to identify the who the payment is coming from and how to allocate the payment, making it easier for both yourself and Web Africa.
Alternatively you may send us the proof of payment via email to [email protected].

I would like to apologize for the inconvenience and downtime this has caused.


Thank you.
 
So as far as I can see, it's the user's mess up...


"Lets make a sensationalist thread name comparing one of the few really good SA companies to SA's most hated company YAY LOL"
 
Dean said:
So as far as I can see, it's the user's mess up...


"Lets make a sensationalist thread name comparing one of the few really good SA companies to SA's most hated company YAY LOL"
Click to expand...

:D Lol, making your name tottie.

Htf are they supposed to know who the payment comes from if he does not use beneficiary references :rolleyes:
 
hjs didnt get it all this morning. Shouldve had that awesome breakfast cereal.
 
Love how everyone assumes that a reference wasn't used because one guy says so. The peanut gallery passes judgment without knowing facts, welcome to the internet.
 
Belial said:
Love how everyone assumes that a reference wasn't used because one guy says so. The peanut gallery passes judgment without knowing facts, welcome to the internet.
Click to expand...

The WebAfrica Representative made that statement therefore is credible.
 
The real question you people should ask is:

How did the OP get by for the last 3 years then? How did they allocate it in the past?

I assume the "new billing" system's quirks were/are not being communicated properly...especially if this is a different procedure than before.
 
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I think your misunderstanding my problem, I have certain responsibilities as IT manager for a large retail business. I have to make sure the lines are up and running 99% of the time. I have no control over Telkom as you all very well know. I do however have control over my bandwidth supply or should.

As IT Manager I do not have control over our payments and I do realize we made the mistake. I however spoke to Webafrica to try and find a way that this will not happen again, that is my job. I have instructed our payment department to charge the ref from our name to only our account number.

I still need some assurance from Webafrica that on there side they will not stop me from buying more bandwidth because of a few hundred rand outstanding, be it our fault or their fault.

As a business critical service I require such assurances otherwise I need to find a company that can provide such assurances to me.

I do realize they are providing gamers with free bandwidth etc. but we are a business with different requierments, we require up time.

If they want to focus more on the home market that is fine, but the large business market asp one that deals with December retail traffic, cannot come to a grinding holt because of R600. Doesn't matter who's mistake it is.

So I inquired from Webafrica what can be done to ensure we do not have the same problem again. I would also like to note we have used the same beneficiary reference for the last few years!

We are even willing to prepay for R5000 or anything to provide stable uptime. I cannot as they suggest, email prove of payment every time we make the R100 or R200 payment.

i can also not check up every time to see if the cap went through and follow up on the billing if it hasn't.

If that is the only solution we will have to move to another ISP that can provide me assurances. Its not me personally but the nature of our business and requirements.
 
Yeah. that is a good question no doubt
 
Exactly, a comment worth something.

diabolus said:
The real question you people should ask is:

How did the OP get by for the last 3 years then? How did they allocate it in the past?

I assume the "new billing" system's quirks in terms of how you would add a reference were not communicated properly...especially if this is a different procedure than before.
Click to expand...
 
hjs said:
If they want to focus more on the home market that is fine, but the large business market asp one that deals with December retail traffic, cannot come to a grinding holt because of R600. Doesn't matter who's mistake it is.

So I inquired from Webafrica what can be done to ensure we do not have the same problem again. I would also like to note we have used the same beneficiary reference for the last few years!
Click to expand...

Well that certainly puts in in a different light.
 
How come may i ask do i not have any of these problems with web africa when i can see some months i owe them money? I am on debit order but i can go add 4 new accounts totaling 2k if i wanted to and get billed via debit order. This is wonderful i think, why are there people buying from webafrica not on this system? Surely debit order is the way to go.

"As IT Manager I do not have control over our payments and I do realize we made the mistake. I however spoke to Webafrica to try and find a way that this will not happen again, that is my job. I have instructed our payment department to charge the ref from our name to only our account number"

So it was your mistake and yet you make a thread telling people not use them anymore. So you try and make them out to be the bad guys start a thread and then admit it was your fault. Get a debit order going, will make your life easier.

Noob
 
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Killaboob, you try and get a corporate business to just signup on a debit order. In the real world it doesn't work that way.

As a prepay customer it worked on the same principle, I could also keep buying sometimes to over 2K. But they have changed things, they have a new billing system.
 
hjs said:
Killaboob, you try and get a corporate business to just signup on a debit order. In the real world it doesn't work that way.
Click to expand...

+1
Most businesses that I have been with will not sign up on debit order.
The bean counters like to be in firm control of their little world.
 
In my business, if a customer (more so if they are a bigger customer) phones an employee with a reasonable problem, like: my business relies on me being online at all times, we need to make sure there is no down time. And that employee fobs this customer off to sort out his own problem (like referring him to another department to retell his story), that employee's future in my company, should I find this out, would be farked.

It is called SERVICE. I don't see it happening here (never mind who is right and who is wrong) Get your personnel to solve problems on the customer's behalf and return with solutions. Simple rule for success:rolleyes:.
 
Actually, if this had been Telkom, you would have received a courtesy call informing you of non-payment, and providing you with an opportunity to rectify your account well before any action was taken.
 
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