(This is a Rant) Telkom Internet ADSL Top-Up Issue

Is there a Telkom Internet rep who monitors MyBB forums at all?

Downloading LA Noire via Steam over the w/end and ran out of bandwidth. Did the only available option and purchased an extra 10Gb using TK Internets' Top-Up service.

Transaction submission returned an error screen saying something along the lines of "A technical error has occurred, your transaction has been cancelled. Please try again later." Logged off thinking I'd give it 30 mins before trying again.

Happened to check my cell in the interim and found SMS notification from credit card company of charge being processed and payment of R490 made to Telkom SA. Sadly, no bandwidth allocated to my account though. Daily mailed ADSL Usage Summary report indicates: C. Total TopUp Purchased - 0.00GB

Tried calling them this AM using number on their site: 10215. Message says number no longer valid, call 10210. Called that number, no options for Internet Top-Up queries, so take the option for General Inquiry.

20-odd minutes later eventually get to tell my story to lovely lady (Tanya/Yolanda??) only to be told she cant help because I've come through to the billing department and I should be talking to Internet Services. She'll put me through (but doesn't tell me the number for future ref...)

After another 30-odd minutes of listening to the voice telling me that my call will be attended to and to stay on the line, I lost all remaining patience and hung-up.

Deciding to send them an email, I find 4 addresses on their Contact Us by Email page ('[email protected]'; '[email protected]'; '[email protected]'; '[email protected]') and message them all simultaneously. That was about an hour ago.

I did get an immediate response to my email from 2 of the addresses. Both adslsupport@ and creditcontrol@ politely told me that "I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not be delivered".

So after about 2 hours of time-wasting effort I have managed to get to speak to a real human being for all of 1 minute and received 2 automated error emails. And I still don't have my bandwidth allocated.

/Rant ends/

1. "Telkom" and "Customer Service" are mutually exclusive terms. When used together they constitute a oxymoron.
2. Telkom Internets' web site is an embarrassment to any Internet service provider. Out of date, badly designed, poor functionality, terrible UI and experience. ("Our new(??!) website has been designed to function with IE6 & 7, Netscape 7 & 8, Firefox 1.5") Netscape??, IE6??, FF1??
3. Telkoms' call centre number (10210) needs to include options to speak to people about all services avaialble, including Telkom Internet.
4. Telkom Intenet need to seriously sort their contact email accounts, and actually respond to emails that they get sent via accounts that actually do still exist,
5. I want 2 hours of my life back please. Oh, and if you could maybe let me have the 10Gb of data bandwidth that you have my money for already that would be nice too.

BlaBlaGreg said:

Is there a Telkom Internet rep who monitors MyBB forums at all?

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I work for Telkom, and support some service-related aspects of TelkomInternet, but I am not a rep, "just" a "techie".

Downloading LA Noire via Steam over the w/end and ran out of bandwidth. Did the only available option and purchased an extra 10Gb using TK Internets' Top-Up service.

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There are 2 options, credit-card top-up, and 'Cap Management' (post-billed on your Telkom account, if your internet account is on your Telkom account).

Transaction submission returned an error screen saying something along the lines of "A technical error has occurred, your transaction has been cancelled. Please try again later." Logged off thinking I'd give it 30 mins before trying again.

Happened to check my cell in the interim and found SMS notification from credit card company of charge being processed and payment of R490 made to Telkom SA. Sadly, no bandwidth allocated to my account though. Daily mailed ADSL Usage Summary report indicates: C. Total TopUp Purchased - 0.00GB

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If the transaction failed on the bandwidth allocation side, AFAIK either the bandwidth allocation should have been re-tried, or the credit card transaction reversed.

Tried calling them this AM using number on their site: 10215. Message says number no longer valid, call 10210. Called that number, no options for Internet Top-Up queries, so take the option for General Inquiry.

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I know there have been changes to the support numbers, and I am not sure if the call center notified everyone so that all communication regarding support numbers. I will follow up ... but the ownership of the telkomsa.net website is also moving very soon ...

20-odd minutes later eventually get to tell my story to lovely lady (Tanya/Yolanda??) only to be told she cant help because I've come through to the billing department and I should be talking to Internet Services. She'll put me through (but doesn't tell me the number for future ref...)

After another 30-odd minutes of listening to the voice telling me that my call will be attended to and to stay on the line, I lost all remaining patience and hung-up.

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I can't see a Tania or Tanya or Yolanda or Yolande working in a call centre, please ask the agent to spell their name if you think you aren't getting adequate service, otherwise it is difficult to have staff escalated. When, where, what info would also be good.

Deciding to send them an email, I find 4 addresses on their Contact Us by Email page ('[email protected]'; '[email protected]'; '[email protected]'; '[email protected]') and message them all simultaneously. That was about an hour ago.

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Why did you mail them all? I know *you* want service, but many people do this, and this just creates more work for already over-worked staff. Please try and select *one* appropriate destination. Remember, staff are not dealing with your query, because they are handling duplicates, escalations which shouldn't be escalations, etc. from other customers ...

I did get an immediate response to my email from 2 of the addresses.

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So, now there are two tickets for one issue ... and it actually takes up someones time merging the two tickets ...

And see, we are doing something to try and improve customer service.

Both adslsupport@ and creditcontrol@ politely told me that "I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not be delivered".

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I will clarify what the status should be of these addresses, and either arrange for their removal from the website, or ensure they are hooked up to the ticketing system. They were not in scope for the project that covered support@ and idirect@.

However, having seen some of the mails are received on those addresses, and you can see why the support staff can't keep up. While we provide tools for customers to see their exact usage, everyone seems to think we should do individual audits for someone who thinks they couldn't have used X bandwidth this month ... but thy don't even provide a list of the sessions which they don't think are theirs, and haven't done port locking to prevent abuse ...

So after about 2 hours of time-wasting effort I have managed to get to speak to a real human being for all of 1 minute and received 2 automated error emails. And I still don't have my bandwidth allocated.

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And I have taken more than 10 minutes of my lunch time (but really, when do I ever get the time to take lunch??) to reply to this post, but you didn't even provide *any* details I could use to ensure you get service, such as the ticket number(s) you received as a result of your mails to support@ and idirect@.

1. "Telkom" and "Customer Service" are mutually exclusive terms. When used together they constitute a oxymoron.
2. Telkom Internets' web site is an embarrassment to any Internet service provider. Out of date, badly designed, poor functionality, terrible UI and
   experience. ("Our new(??!) website has been designed to function with IE6 & 7, Netscape 7 & 8, Firefox 1.5") Netscape??, IE6??, FF1??

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1. 
   
   The website is changing platforms, one of the reasons being that the ("new") web developers complained that the existing platform is too difficult to update ... and some of the staff who could update it aren't allowed to etc. AFAIK, the new site is supposed to go live within less than a month (aligning with the new telkom.co.za site).
   
   

   [*]Telkoms' call centre number (10210) needs to include options to speak to people about all services avaialble, including Telkom Internet.

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   AFAIK, it is supposed to, but I will verify with the technical support team.
   
   

   [*]Telkom Intenet need to seriously sort their contact email accounts, and actually respond to emails that they get sent via accounts that actually do still exist,

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   This is something I became aware of last week when working on projects related to some of the support-related email addresses. I will ensure this is resolved.
   
   

   [*]I want 2 hours of my life back please. Oh, and if you could maybe let me have the 10Gb of data bandwidth that you have my money for already that would be nice too.
   [*]

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We obviously can't give you two hours of your life, but if you PM me the reference numbers you have, I will ensure your bandwidth is allocated, or the credit card transaction reversed.

Ranger, thank you for the reply, it is sincerely appreciated.

To be honest, I wasn't really expecting one, and was simply blowing off a little steam. And for that I apologise if I came across a little impolitely. Frustration is an evil mistress to me.

Quick points to clarify:

> I used the credit card topup option, having decided to not utilise the Cap Management service. This is on my "AllAccess Advance 10GB" TI account.

> I have successfully purchased topup bandwidth using the same system and same credit card for the same TI account numerous times in the past, without issue.

> I am hoping that together with the TI site move there will be a redesign to go with the updated info?

> The automated answer service on the 10210 number: Only 2 initial options = "Existing Customer" or "New Customer", then "Enter 10-digit number of your account" (despite not having an issue with my line, but with my internet account), followed by 3 choices "Report or Follow-up on Fault", "Modify Existing or Order New Services", and "Billing Enquiries". I opted for #3 as the most appropriate.

> I may well have got the name of the helpful lady (I meant that point sincerely btw - she was very patient and understanding of my woes) on billing enquiries wrong, but she never offered a reference number as she wasnt logging a ticket for my call, but was transferring me to the correct people to speak to.

> The reason I mailed all 4 addresses is because I was unsure of which would be best suited to my concern.

For Product Information or general queries email us on [email protected]
For Technical Support Queries email us at [email protected]
For general account related queries, contact us at [email protected]
For TelkomInternet powered by ADSL specific queries email us on [email protected] or [email protected]

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As you can see, it fits into all 4 of them. (In my defence, there are 2 others on the list that I didn't mail - the one for ADSL leased line info, and the TI webmaster.)

> I understand that support staff are frequently inundated with frivolous "problems" from customers, many of which turn out to be variations of the standard ID10T error. I have worked in customer service and in software support centre environments and have nothing by deep empathy for the staff in those roles. Theirs is a thankless job. But, my issue was not (at least to me) frivolous. And whilst extremely patient generally, after hearing that voice telling me to "stay on the line please" every minute for 30 minutes, even my limits were a little stretched.

> I would have loved to have leave call reference numbers, or support ticket numbers in my initial post. Sadly, I never got a telephonic reference number for obvious reasons. And despite receiving the 2 "Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender" error responses I have not received any form of automatic ticket generated from the Telkom support system for either of the other two addresses at all. (And no, before someone asks, there is nothing in my Junk Mail folder from either address.)

> As to the specific details of my account, card info, etc. I wasn't going to leave those in a public forum. I will however take you up on your offer to investigate further and send these to you in a PM shortly.

Once again, huge props for taking the time (during your lunch break nogal) to respond to my gripes.
Thank you.

Just a final follow up post to publicly record my huge appreciation for all of the effort and interest that Ranger has taken to me and my little issues.

Outside of his requirements, above-and-beyond any of my expectations, he has maintained a professionalism that speaks wonders for his organisation, and is a credit to it.

I have easily had my faith in Telkom Internet restored, and will continue to do so due entirely to Rangers interventions over the past few days.

Thank you Ranger. Much appreciated.


Edit - Just realised that I have assumed throughout that Ranger is male, without considering that there are many female rangers too. If I have slighted your sex Ranger, sorry

ranger said:

And see, we are doing something to try and improve customer service.

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Yeah right. I've currently been waiting 48 days for a DSL with zero progress from Telkom at all, is that improved customer service? A few months ago they randomly erroneously just cancelled one of my other lines while it was in use, is that improved customer service? Then they took an hour to answer the phone, is that improved customer service? Then they took another hour while I was forwarded and re-forwarded to literally about ten people until eventually I found someone willing to actually bother to re-instate my erroneously cancelled line, what excellent customer service. Shortly before that I spent about an hour in a Telkom store to unblock international calls on a line, with a nonsensical queue setup whereby they kept helping other people in front of me, eventually the person "helped" me and assured me that international calls were now unblocked ... get home, and guess what, it wasn't done. These are just some of my last few interactions with your "improved customer service". Every single interaction is awful and remains awful.

Stop blaming your customers because your customer service is so terrible. Customers email multiple addresses because they are desperate and frustrated, because they don't get their queries resolved at any contact point, be it email or phone. Sorry but you have a cheek to blame your customers. You don't even have the first clue what customer service IS. You have to first learn that before you can improve it.