why iBurst is lousy

naeem

naeem

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tick one more name to the list of "never will i use or recommend iBurst to anyone"

So about 2 years ago we sign up on a 9gig iburst month2month contract whereby THEY DEBIT our account each month. Everyones happy, they automatically debit, we got internet.

Speedwise, its wireless so my expectations arent really high, i was right. Download & browsing is fine, voip (skype) and remote desktop connections is poor. But it did the job, poorly but did it nontheless.

Finally about an 18month wait, telkom arrives with our 4meg adsl line. We'r all happy now, blitz fast internet, 10gig cap for 2/3's the price of iBurst.

We decide we dont need iBurst, i say, agh lets just downgrade it to a Novice package (400mb a month)
My reasoning was: iBurst claim to 'carry over' bandwidth. So from the 9gig contract & this 400mb one, we had about 7 gigs and each month adding a new 400mb.

We planned to only use this 2 or 3 days every month when a staff of ours is away from the stores, or for events & motorshows.

Bandwidth carries over for 1month only. Then falls away. Webafrica should really give them a lesson on bandwidth rollovers.

That said, i'v no longer a need for this, call accounts and cancel. The reply with a 3grand bill. Apparently we have not paid for last year august, sept & oct. Yet my bank statement proves otherwise.
They apologise and manually (handwrite) the change on the statement! So much for computerised, and still nobody can explain why their did not debit us in august (sept & oct we debited but they didnt pick it up)


So finally from a 3k bill it comes down to a 1k bill. Somewhat frustrated i send a complaint through their site.
1 week later their reply is "Thank you for your email, heres your statement" (the incorrect one for 3grand)"
No apology, no effort to retain the customer, no telephone call, and this was 5 days after i complain.

Quick summary:
Callcentre agent Candice - slammed the phone down after i demanded to speak to a superviser.
Call center agent Vickie - is the one who stuffed up with the 3grand mixup
Call 'superviser' Bani - helpful lady who resolved most of it, even though it was near 5pm on a weekday. Kudos to her.
Credit Conroller Emailer Gerald - sends an incorrect statement, 5 days after i complain, without an apology.



Now everythings all said and done, my accounts lady has resolved it. I might be on customer but make decisions on IT stuff on 2 stores, 5 households & all our staff look to me for their broadband solutions (over 45 peeps)

I can now, from experience, give a glorious middle finger to iBurst and vow to NEVER use them or recommend them.
 
naeem, I assume you've read some of my recent posts, if you have then your case seems to follow the pattern that I was talking about and they try their luck at extracting as much money from just about anyone that wants to cancel.

This is one of the companies we do not need in SA or that matter anywhere and they should be taken out.:mad:
 
I hope you submit your complaint to hellopeter. That's ridiculous!
 
Yup, i'v read the others but hey - the more voices & the more exposure the better!

We were content to just pay the outstanding month to avoid running to to the bank to get a month statement over 13months ago. Now i'm thinking, screw that. I'll go the extra effort to expose them!



One think that bothers me. Such a huge company, i would think their debit orders are computerised and automated. How do they pull wrong amounts and miss a month, double a month.

Yes i know software has glitches, but these guys arent exactly SMME, they have the finances to improve and debug!
 
They've been exposed here in this forum and I'm sure anyone who was thinking about getting iburst will now think twice before taking the plunge.

Just a pity such a few people ever read these posts until they have become victims of that incompetent company.
Somehow we need to find a way to expose them to the wider public to put an end to their foul deeds.
It's all very well posting on HelloPeter but there again not everyone reads those posts either.

We can all start by spreading the word or telling anyone interested in the system to read these forums.
 
The fact that iBurst stole R456.00 from my bank account back in July 2005 - that was the thanks I got for cancelling & switching to ADSL, and iBurst SA never returned that stolen R456.00, is the reason I decided to pay my ADSL-ISP via EFT.

iBurst SA's billing department & system is a horrible example of pure undiluted incompetence.

I like the idea of iBurst SA being audited - I think a visit from SARS is the only thing that will knock them into shape.
 
They also overcharged me but with all the phone calls I made to them never got it resolved so I decided to just write it off to get rid of them.
Still would not surprise me if they try to deduct more in the months to come but when/if that happens I'll deal with it as I do not intend giving them one more cent.

As IC says it would be a good idea for them to be audited as I'm sure that'll open a big can of worms.:eek:
 
brilliant

ONE WEEK LATER, another accounts person sends me an 'updated' statement with the same incorrect amounts from last week. Seems all the running around on thurs,fri, sat & monday was for nothing as we are now back to square 1.

Bottom line:
I cant cancel my contract unless i pay them in full. I cant pay them in full because their amount is incorrect.....
 
naeem said:
brilliant

ONE WEEK LATER, another accounts person sends me an 'updated' statement with the same incorrect amounts from last week. Seems all the running around on thurs,fri, sat & monday was for nothing as we are now back to square 1.

Bottom line:
I cant cancel my contract unless i pay them in full. I cant pay them in full because their amount is incorrect.....
Click to expand...

As I mentioned before this is one of their tricks to keep you paying them for another month until you clear your account with them, it also happened to me and I decided to rather just pay what they asked since it was starting to cost me a lot in phone calls besides all the stress of having to deal with idiots.:mad:

If your "outstanding" amount is not too big rather just give it to them to get rid of them as it's not worth the stress of dealing with that company.:eek:
 
Just call the bank and cancel the debit order.

Then you'll have plenty of time to argue over the exact amount you owe them later
(when their lawyer's letter arrives).
 
Glad Axxess started their prepaid thing - it's so convenient to go to your nearest Engen or Pick 'n Pay, and buy a prepaid voucher...

...no hassle, no stress, and once it's used up you can either top it up or buy a new voucher. Plus, unused bandwidth is rolled over for a maximum of 3 years.... :D

No debit orders or other funny stuff either :D
 
naeem, the problem is that you will never get it resolved with them and will end up paying the "2grand" as well as the stress and extra money you wasted on phone calls.

Your other option is to make copies of all your payments from your bank statements and send it to them.

This is one experience with a company that I'll never forget, and I intend spreading the word around as no advertising gets attention more than bad advertising.
I'm surprised that this has not been exposed before, and even more surprised that they are still pushing their luck.
Surly there is a legal person(customer) that has also been pushed to the limit by this company, and if so why has he/she not done anything to expose them.?
 
naeem said:
Bottom line:
I cant cancel my contract unless i pay them in full. I cant pay them in full because their amount is incorrect.....
Click to expand...

MrH said:
As I mentioned before this is one of their tricks to keep you paying them for another month until you clear your account with them
Click to expand...

MrH is right... Companies usually push that extra month...:mad:

TiredOfWaiting said:
Just call the bank and cancel the debit order..
Click to expand...

This could buy you time, in a manner of speaking....:rolleyes:
 
Be careful about blocking or reversing the debit order, ONLY do that if you are 100% SURE that you have all payments up to date.

If you are not up to date with payments and you reverse the order then you are defaulting on the "contract" you made with iburst, rather let them be at fault before taking such action.

This is another reason why I just paid to make sure I was in the clear, and it then gives me time to trace all the deductions and if I find iburst at fault they going to get their butts kicked from here right into hell where that company deserves to be.
 
another iburst story.... >:(

I will just paste my emails to Iburst here, they explain everything, I cant type it all out again. Just thought I would add another voice to the growing group of ppl who know Iburst is full of 5h!t!!! (I signed up for ADSL with Cybersmart today, they have excellent prices and products with lots of options and Im already impressed with their service.)
__________________________

My name is Daniel Browne and my Iburst username is [email protected].

My Iburst account was suspended yesterday for lack of payments which
is a false and ridiculous charge. Please read the following email and
get back to me within the week or I will be moving to another ISP. My
bank account is in the process of being changed and I have a stop
order against you on my current account.

I have been an Iburst subscriber since the official opening of the
company. I had a two year contract at R699pm. This included the modem.
My two year contract ended in February this year. You did not stop
billing me at the original contract price although I emailed and
called you continuously for 5 months (I have forwarded you the emails
I have kept separately - check your helpdesk calls which you say are
recorded). My request was that you change my account to a
month-to-month. I was promised that this would be done over and over
again but nothing ever happened. I only found out about a form I
needed to get to change my account on the 26/06/2007, but it was never
sent to me although I requested it. It is ridiculous that you do not
have a system in place to alter a contract in which a piece of
hardware is being purchased once the contract comes to an end. As I
see it, this is basically stealing from your clients. I created a stop
order against Iburst with my bank last week and I am in the process of
changing my bank account completely. You apparently tried to remove
money from my account again last night. I assume that because it was
halted by the stop order, my account was suspended. The reason that
this is incredible is because you owe me money due to the incompetence
of your company as a whole. Please read the following for proof.

I am aware of some back payments that I owed due to a lack of funds in
my bank account on some months during my contract. If you look at my
account, you will see that I began to pay these off as I was able to
in good faith that my contract was over. According to a statement sent
to me (see attached), I owed you R1298 on 03/04/2007. In February, had
I been able to, I would have chosen to go onto the Intro Pro package
which costs R469pm without modem costs according to your website. If I
have received any service beyond this package since then it is due
entirely to your incompetence and not to my lack of action to alter my
contract. I should have been billed at this cost since 23/02/2007 (you
appear to bill for the month in advance) which would have cost in
total R2345 (5 debit orders which would cover service up to July). You
have in fact billed me 7 times at R699 in this period with a total of
R4893. Since I own the modem as of February this clearly unacceptable
as is your removing R699 from my account 3 times in March. The
difference is R2548 to which I will add another R63 in bank charges
for when I did not have sufficient funds in my account after my
contract ended (R2611). The removal of my back fees results in R1313
that you owe me. Considering the amount of time and effort I have had
to put into trying to sort out your mess, I feel I would be justified
in asking for further compensation but I will not do this.

I want you to credit my account with the money that you owe me. I want
a month-to-month Intro Pro account which I will pay manually each
month as there is not a snowballs chance in hell that you will be
given permission to remove money from my bank account again. I want
all this done by 02/08/2007. If these steps are not taken by this date
I will move to a reliable ISP and get ADSL. I will not pay you another
cent and I will not put any more effort into resolving this situation.
It is up to you to decide to keep a loyal customer or to lose income
due to incompetence.

Daniel Browne
___________________

Herewith follows the eloquent reply from Mr BEE-special (copy-pasted from his email):
_____________________

Dear Mr D.Browne

Thanks for your e/mails,I 'm busy looking at your query will give feed
back.

Regards,
Medupi
_____________________

And my last email to this bunch of incompetent fools:
______________________

What the hell is the meaning of this??!! As soon as I have informed
you that I have a stop order against you and that I am changing my
bank account, you try to take R1398 from my current account! That
would have conveniently bypassed the stop order if there had been
enough money in my account. It look as though you are trying to get as
much cash out of me as possible because you think I'm going to stop
using Iburst. The most charitable interpretation of your actions is
that you are incompetent, but as I don't feel especially charitable, I
think you are thieves! I have included my original email of 25/07/2007
below.

By the way, replying with 2 grammatically incorrect sentences
(including typos) to an email that took me 2 hours to draft is not
only unprofessional but could be considered an insult.

Give me the money you owe me and I will consider continuing to use
Ibursts "service".

Daniel Browne
________________________________
 
Your experience is very similar to what many others have experienced from that company.

Best you get out and away from iburst, you've already made the first move anyway and it's certainly not worth the stress putting up with their incompetence.

Just make 100% sure you are up to date with payments and then block or reverse any debit orders as they arrive.
 
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