WebAfrica Rant

B

BT6LW

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Mar 30, 2005
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In 2006 I created a 1Gb prepaid account, decided against it, cancelled the account and opened another account for myself, since then... I have spent just shy of R9000 with webafrica on bandwidth.

Last night I get an email that says I owe them R70 and they will be instituting legal action against me. When I queried this, it turns out it is for the account I closed back then, apparantly they have changed their billing system, and these things are "popping up".

So trying to call them, was numerous calls, on hold, promised to phone back never did, phone again, on hold, eventually managed to get through.

They checked through their records and fixed their mistake. Cost me a fortune in airtime....


Suppose their service levels are not what they used to be....

/rant
 
BT6LW said:
In 2006 I created a 1Gb prepaid account, decided against it, cancelled the account and opened another account for myself, since then... I have spent just shy of R9000 with webafrica on bandwidth.

Last night I get an email that says I owe them R70 and they will be instituting legal action against me. When I queried this, it turns out it is for the account I closed back then, apparantly they have changed their billing system, and these things are "popping up".

So trying to call them, was numerous calls, on hold, promised to phone back never did, phone again, on hold, eventually managed to get through.

They checked through their records and fixed their mistake. Cost me a fortune in airtime....


Suppose their service levels are not what they used to be....

/rant
Click to expand...

you should speak to Mariet Visser, I would suggest that you contact and ask for Mariet or at least Rupert.

Web Africa
Support Center: 0861 555 222 (24 hours, 7 days a week)
+27 (21) 409 7850 (International)

Email: [email protected]
Fax: 021 413 1111 (Fax)
http://www.webafrica.co.za/contact/
http://www.webafrica.co.za/support/
__________________
Rupert - General Manager
Telephone (frontdesk): 0861 555 222
Web Africa - Smart Made Simple.
http://www.webafrica.co.za
Click to expand...
 
I spoke to Mariet, and I admit I went off at her,

"her response was, i've apologised, it won't happen again, theres no need to vent"
 
BT6LW said:
I spoke to Mariet, and I admit I went off at her,

"her response was, i've apologised, it won't happen again, theres no need to vent"
Click to expand...
Pretty reasonable response if you ask me. It really pisses me off when people don't have any manners or common decency.
 
common decency?

BWAHAHAHAHA

thank you I needed that,

They threaten me with legal action as step 1.
In the threat they tell me they have made attempts to talk to me about this.

Their ineptitude should not be made my problem.
 
KALSTER said:
Pretty reasonable response if you ask me. It really pisses me off when people don't have any manners or common decency.
Click to expand...

Stupid reply MR!

You cancel something / dont use it, but you're expected to pay for it, wait, no - you get threatened to pay it and what... you don't find anything wrong with that?

BT6LW said:
common decency?

BWAHAHAHAHA

thank you I needed that,

They threaten me with legal action as step 1.
In the threat they tell me they have made attempts to talk to me about this.

Their ineptitude should not be made my problem.
Click to expand...

Ignore him!

Igorance is bliss in his case.
 
BT6LW said:
common decency?

BWAHAHAHAHA

thank you I needed that,

They threaten me with legal action as step 1.
In the threat they tell me they have made attempts to talk to me about this.

Their ineptitude should not be made my problem.
Click to expand...

They fixed the problem, which is what you wanted. What else do you want them to do, commit seppuku just to show how sorry they are?

If they fixed the problem and assured you it won't happen again, I don't see the reason to still vent. That's just being a dick.
 
Armizael said:
What else do you want them to do, commit seppuku just to show how sorry they are?
Click to expand...
:D

if need be i can provide a choice of two tanto's....

...bamboo mat, clothing and kaishakunin not included
 
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I wanted to know how the problem occured, telling me it is fixed now, is the same as they told me 2 odd years ago.

Back then it was also, it won't happen again.

I basically needed to know if I have to keep slips / proof of payment for x many years. Just now they tell me that I owe them some obscene amount, then I have to prove I dont.
 
BT6LW said:
I wanted to know how the problem occured, telling me it is fixed now, is the same as they told me 2 odd years ago.

Back then it was also, it won't happen again.

I basically needed to know if I have to keep slips / proof of payment for x many years. Just now they tell me that I owe them some obscene amount, then I have to prove I dont.
Click to expand...

which obviously is a reasonable request.
 
<my opinion on>

No, sadly their service levels are not what they used to be.

I've been using Web Africa for years. In general I've been very happy with them, but for the past few months they have been making too many mistakes and I've really had enough.

Their billing department is a disgrace. Yes, Mariet tries her best to sort out the problems, but I've really had enough of being messed around by Web Africa.

A few examples....

Sending out emails threatening to charge interest even though the money was not due yet. Sending out emails telling me my account was in arrears even though my balance was R0. Charging me interest on a balance which was not due. Promising me they would credit the interest and not charge me again. Charging me interest the next month again. Charging me for an account which had already been cancelled the month before. Sending me an account for 1GB bandwidth I purchased about a year before and it had already been paid for. And on and on it goes.

All the debits and credits on my account from all their mistakes is quite something. This is a total waste of my time and money.

The bigger they get, the worse their service gets. Enough is enough Web Africa. After all these years I'm very tempted to move on to another ISP.

<my opinion off>
 
BT6LW said:
So trying to call them, was numerous calls, on hold, promised to phone back never did, phone again, on hold, eventually managed to get through.

They checked through their records and fixed their mistake. Cost me a fortune in airtime....
Click to expand...

Armizael said:
They fixed the problem, which is what you wanted. What else do you want them to do
Click to expand...

I think you should charge them an administration fee, if it was their mistake originally then why should you as the customer be wasting time and money to call them and try to get it sorted out.

Lots of companies like to charge admin fees for who-knows-what, so why can't we as the customer do it as well?
 
Byte said:
A few examples....

Sending out emails threatening to charge interest even though the money was not due yet. Sending out emails telling me my account was in arrears even though my balance was R0. Charging me interest on a balance which was not due. Promising me they would credit the interest and not charge me again. Charging me interest the next month again. Charging me for an account which had already been cancelled the month before. Sending me an account for 1GB bandwidth I purchased about a year before and it had already been paid for. And on and on it goes.
Click to expand...

Hi There Byte,

Could you possibly send me your client code so I can investigate.

We are aware that billing is currently one of the area's that needs improvement at Web Africa, and we are pushing this aspect hard to improve upon it.
 
Hi BT6LW,

Again our humble apologies for the inconvenience caused. As per our discussion the matter has been resolved and I have ensured it does not re-occur again in future.

To elaborate on what happened:

We had run a script generating a list of clients whom were to receive Final Demand letters based on inactive accounts with a 30+ day arrears balance.
After having gone through this process we were left with quite a large list of clients. This list was prepped and sent off. Now admittedly we could have dodged this bullet by having our consultants first go through each account manually and double check to see whether or not the information currently on our system is correct. This process would however been a lengthy one and thus we had not done this.
I agree it would have been the better method to follow, and certainly will keep this in mind for future demands that require send off.
The days have been pretty busy around here as of late, so forgive me for having to ask, but kindly supply me with the current client code you are making use of at present as I would most certainly like the opportunity to supply you with a show of good faith from our end :)

It does not clear things up I understand, but it certainly is something that we're able to do and I'd sure like a shot at patching our professional relationship right back up!

Further to this:

Web Africa has indeed been growing, in fact we are continuously growing and hoping to keep doing so for a very long time to come.
With growth, one always experiences the slight problem here and there as you upgrade or tweak the systems to cater for such growth.

Now having said that, not only have we been hiring more staff to ensure we cope with the load, but we are currently very concentrated on jacking up our systems to ensure we can keep up with the good supply of support we have been giving our clients, I feel 99% of the time.

Our focus is now mainly drawn to our Billing System, which is in the process of going through a lot of major and necessary upgrades and general tweaks. With some time spent on it and lots of thought put into it, I assure you Web Africa is worth sticking with.

Thank you to every one of you for the feedback given, we appreciate every word of it!
 
:(


BT6LW said:
In 2006 I created a 1Gb prepaid account, decided against it, cancelled the account and opened another account for myself, since then... I have spent just shy of R9000 with webafrica on bandwidth.

Last night I get an email that says I owe them R70 and they will be instituting legal action against me. When I queried this, it turns out it is for the account I closed back then, apparantly they have changed their billing system, and these things are "popping up".

So trying to call them, was numerous calls, on hold, promised to phone back never did, phone again, on hold, eventually managed to get through.

They checked through their records and fixed their mistake. Cost me a fortune in airtime....


Suppose their service levels are not what they used to be....

/rant
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
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