What does Telkom do well, and where can it improve?

They have good value mobile offers and a good network. They need to sort out their stores and customer service in a big way - their staff are rude, the online services are abysmal.
 
They have great products.
Their customer service is horrible.
 
Telkom have been doing ok the past couple of years. They can improve on the following:

1. Naked DSL
2. Faster Fibre roll out
3. Ditching the compulsory telephone line with DSL.
 
Great mobile deals

Bad stock availability of the hardware on products they put on sale, and then the specs of the products on the website and what you actually get is often different
 
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We need LTE uncapped R599, and if the wifi hotspot doesn't work you should not tell customers about it. I have router and monthly data for more than 3years but I never got myself connected with 1Telkom Connect. It is a long story even their call center can't help you with that.
 
Initially it took forever to get the technicians to come out and see if a line that was already installed is still active. Surely they should be able to do that remotely? Seemed like such a waste of time! Efficiency is not their strong suit. Also, the 24 month contract prevented me from using them as an ISP, so I went with an ISP that provides a month to month service.

After that I have had no issues. Everything works fine, billing is done fine, so I haven't had unpleasant experiences after becoming a customer.
 
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ADSL has been stable for years now.
Their website feels like it was built by a preschooler and is useless if you're actually looking for information.
Ordered LTE they just dumped it in a box yesterday , no pre test for reception (only get 3G), no offer for aerial; taking it back today.
 
Quicker response times to address issues. With regard to ongoing line issues, instead of assigning multiple technicians to resolve the issues, assign the same Technician if he hasn't fixed to problem the first time, otherwise each technician starts troubleshooting from scratch. Its a very painful exercise, for the customer, time consuming and causes too much downtime.
 
I must say - i have had no issues with telkom at work and at home. If there has been a problem with my adsl - it was generally resolved within 24 hours..maybe living in a small town helps. What I do have an issue with is monopoly (although that is slowly decreasing) - and their cost....so for me

service - good
call centre - bad
cost - Terrible
 
Website is terribly un-userfriendly - a nightmare to navigate.
Staff in shops are generally unhelpful and uninformed.
Have found, however, that the staff in the call centres have improved dramatically over the years.
Now, if they'd just connect the fibre that has been laid in my neighbourhood about 3 months ago.......
 
I'm afraid this question comes at a bad time.

Telkom takes the cake, the plate and the table cloth when it comes to bad service and then they set the room on fire when they leave with all of it in their arms.

I have mobile contracts and ADSL with them and perhaps it is just my unfortunate run of bad luck but in the last two years I have not had a single good interaction with Telkom. As I type this I am again locked in a Twitter war with them just to try and get basic stuff sorted out.

It has literally reached the stage where I have not had one single service request actioned without at least a week or two's fighting with them. It's not just a certain area of the company, I've had to deal with Sales/Customer Service/Technicians... Call Centre and In Store... Mobile and Fixed line... and not one single time have they actually assisted me without a fight. Consistent lies, promises, mistakes, lack of communication, rudeness and missing appointments to just plainly not doing anything.

I am reasonable and always wait out their promised timelines, always follow up a few times but inevitably have to resort to HelloPeter, Twitter and MyBB forums to get the simplest of queries attended to. It has become part of the process for me. Speak to Telkom, wait the time they promise, follow up, wait the time they promise, follow up, blow my lid, complain, complain, complain, complain, then MAYBE get what I pay them for.

In the last two years I have interacted with them 8 times and all 8 times resorted in numerous week- to month long complaints being logged like a crazy person everywhere. I am at the point of cancelling all my services, but I am not even sure if that is possible judging by some of the posts on this forum. It feels like they now have me hostage and I am pretty sure that is exactly what every company strives for, is to make their customers feel like helpless hostages.

I can say, with certainty, that there is absolutely no other company on earth that I despise more than Telkom and I want to congratulate them on instilling that sentiment on their loyal, paying customers. You have failed on every level. And to think that I referred people to you left right and centre just a couple of years ago. Sad to say, but my opinion of Telkom is that they are a terrible, hair raising, disgraceful, embarrassing disappointment.

I don't think they have the capacity to improve. This isn't the first thread like this and it won't be the last. You cannot improve arrogance and indifference.

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Maybe two good things are:

1. @TelkomZA on this forum, they have actually managed to sort out a select few of my queries in the past.

2. Products. They actually have very good product offerings across the board. It's their inability to Sell/Install/Activate/Support/Troubleshoot their product offerings that is the single biggest problem.
 
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Ha, their billing happens like clockwork. Service however, dismal. I've called the call centre 6 times since my LTE sign on, not one response. They've called my LTE number 4 times though, not once my actual phone number! And I've had to re-open my case 2.

Also, 6 weeks on, no technician to install my antenna, or even setup appointment.

And don't think for once a technician can email you. Oh no no no, you have to call 081 180 and leave a message with the service agent. It's a massive ironic game of 'broken telephone'. Madness when you realise they're a communications company.
 
Not sure that they do anything well really. Mediocre at best. Their dealing with customers is far too slow. Whether one has a business line or not, most entrepreneurs work from a 'home' line anyway, one needs any problems fixed yesterday, not to wait days, weeks, months, and to say they will bill you if a technician decides there is a fault on your side! Most peeps are not technical and would not know until a technician told them that the problem is them. Customer service and the Telkom shops are always small and there are queues - with no seating provided for those waiting for hours to be attended to.
 
Strangely as it sounds, I have had relatively good service from Telkom. Yes, not what the masses on this site want to hear. Yes, my line gets disrupted a couple of times a year. I think they could improve by actually giving me access to the many lines of fibre that I know is on my street or just up the road.
 
Good : Billing and taking your money on time
Bad : no customer service
no accountability
slow fibre rollout
expensive dsl service
Automated social media bots (atleast get the bots to do some work)
 
Telkom's billing and customer service is terrible. When you cancel a service with them, they WILL bill you for a few extra months and you'll struggle to recover that money if you don't have any other products with them. Whenever I call the call centre it takes a mininum of 30 mins for them to answer calls. When you do get through to the call centre, they're not very clued up. Sometimes you contradicting answers to your questions, depending on who you speak to.

Thing is though, their products are GREAT! I love the uncapped LTE and the sales process was fairly good. From ordering to being online took less than a week, that's impressive for Telkom standards.

Telkom prepaid is the best cellphone product in SA right now. I will NEVER go back to cellphone contracts again, the call and data rates are the best by far. I get 4G almost everywhere I go and the call quality is decent.
 
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