When it comes to organisations we love to hate, Telkom is right up there; along with cellphone providers, Eskom, the City of Jo’burg, the ANC Youth League, banks and insurance companies.<\/p>\n
Anyone who has ever had a telephone line, has a Telkom story to tell. This is mine.<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago, thanks to a falling branch in a neighbour’s garden, the phone line connecting me to the rest of the world was broken. No phone. No ADSL. When you work from home that is a blow.<\/p>\n
Thanks to extortionately expensive mobile broadband I still had limited access to the Internet, so I logged a fault on the Telkom website.<\/p>\n
Perhaps that was my first mistake. I now suspect that if you log a fault online it automatically gets sent to the back of the queue, someways behind local loop unbundling and affordable school Internet access.<\/p>\n
For the next two days I dutifully check the fault tracker on the Telkom site but after seeing no signs of progress I resort to phoning the call centre. The response from the lady on the other end of the line is something like: “Okay, I’ll note that you phoned and escalate this.” Perhaps it was me reading something that wasn’t there, or perhaps it was an unfortunate turn of phrase, but it sounded a lot like: “You’re lucky you phoned because if you hadn’t we would have completely ignored this.”<\/p>\n
Two more days. I phone again. This time I get told the problem has already been escalated (roughly translated as “you’re out of luck”) but that the fault would get escalated again. The agent disappears for a few minutes (I suspect to make coffee) and returns to announce the necessary escalation has been done. Feeling more emasculated than escalated I put the phone down and wait. <\/p>\n
The third phone call is met with good news: a technician has been assigned to my fault, at exactly 8.53 am. This is confidence-building stuff. They know exactly who was assigned and exactly when they were assigned. The lady on the phone is confident that I should expect a visit from the technician later that day. That was Thursday, 31 March 2011.<\/p>\n
On Friday I phone. Yes, technician has been assigned, his name is Nick and nobody knows why I haven’t heard from him – but they will investigate.<\/p>\n
Saturday passes. Sunday passes. I had said that the property was available after hours and over the weekends so naturally I assumed…<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Telkom’s online fault-tracking service is useless. It offers nothing but the date and time the fault was logged – a painful reminder of how long I had been waiting. It also confirms my suspicions that no-one is actually doing anything about my problem.<\/p>\n
Monday morning dawns and with almost two weeks without regular Internet access and online projects piling up, I was spoiling for a fight. I phone and clearly my voice betrays my intent. Either that or the unfortunate call centre agent notices how many times I have phoned about this same problem.<\/p>\n
I am put on hold for Tony, apparently someone who can help. Five minutes and a couple of apologies later and Tony is on the line promising to sort the problem out. With another apology, and confirming my contact details, he promises to phone back within 90 minutes.<\/p>\n
Not convinced, and with 90 minutes to kill, I use up the last few bytes of my mobile data and post this on Twitter and Facebook. Ah, how we all laughed. There were jokes about oxymorons and good chuckles all around.<\/p>\n
95 minutes later, Tony called. Apparently the errant technician has been found, his manager informed and wheels set in motion. By all accounts I should expect a Telkom visit later today (4 April 2011). For the first time in two weeks I feel like something may actually happen.<\/p>\n
I feel a lot more positive today than ever before, but why on earth does it take five phone calls and the best part of two weeks to get a response? Surely two or three follow-up calls from a customer is more than enough to flag an issue as in need of attention? Especially if the issue is close to two weeks old.<\/p>\n
Clearly Telkom can take problems like mine more seriously than it does, but you do have to fight hard for that attention.<\/p>\n
I’m not out of the woods yet but perhaps by the time you read this…<\/p>\n