Crystal Web and Telkom what the f do I do?

Hi

I hope someone can point me in the right direction as I have no idea what to do now. First the background.

About a month ago I requested crystal web migrates my line back to Telkom.

When complaining to them about slow ADSL speeds, a week later, I asked how the process was going of the migration. I'm told nothings been done they need it in an email.

So I emailed CW support. Get a response blahblahblah, my line will be migrated to Telkom. Following up about 3 days ago. Again I find out jack ****s been done about the migration. Weird thing is it seems the line was migrated back to CW and had probably actually been with Telkom. I firstly got an email from CW saying congratulations my line is now with them. Secondly Telkom confirmed this today. The next day I have no internet. I go on websupport guy says its probably in soft suspension from being migrated. I also asked for a fault to be logged.

Call telkom. Hold for an hour only for the agent to tell me to go to another department. Then get transfered another 30mins no they can't help me the lines still with the ISP.

Email CW, they "promise" the line is not with them anymore. And it is with telkom. And that they didn't log the fault because it was with Telkom.

Call Telkom yesterday. They say I need to speak to the billings department. Call billings department. Billings department sends me to sales department. Sales department says the line is still with crystal web. What the actual F***.

What do I do. Surely CW should make sure the line is back with Telkom. And that the line is operational. I'm highly pissed off and don't know what my next move should be. Anyone got any suggestions.

I am moving house on the 14th which is why I need my line with Telkom. I thought 5 weeks would be enough but unfortunately due to incompetence at CW. It seems it may not have been.

Furthermore to add to my rant. I can't seem to call crystal web and their web support is down.

They have reps online in the ADSL subsection, where their feedback thread is. PM one of them to assist?

I must admit I've seen absolutely nothing about this on our support desk here. Typically this sort of thing would be escalated and I'd be copied in.

There are a few reasons why a line migration would be delayed, some ours, some Telkom. Note that the line going down is not something we control - those are Telkom's new policies.

Happy to fix this for you - just PM me your details and I'll get it fixed up.

OK, so I've ascertained what happened here for you:

On 21 July 2015 you requested a migration back to Telkom
At the end of last month Crystal Web processed this for you as per your request and Telkom actioned the soft-suspend on the 3rd.
At no point did we "re-migrate" the line to ourselves - it simply did not happen, and we wouldn't in any case - we'd then be paying for your line pro-bono
The line has subsequently gone down into soft-suspend mode due to Telkom's new rules on line migrations, which your new ISP should have informed you about.
You need to contact whoever will be managing the line in future and request that they migrate the line to them - that's all.

All of this was communicated to you as well by our support staff and our support manager confirmed this with you yesterday afternoon as well.

Unfortunately what's happened here is you've been lied to by a Telkom representative, or you've been the victim of their ridiculous system which appears to occasionally take days on end to update for their own staff.

However from Crystal Web's perspective, we have processed everything correctly and in the correct timeframes, and have communicated the relevant information from our support desks to you as well. Telkom have however muddied the waters with their nonsense communication they have relayed to you and it seems to have caused some serious confusion on your end, and that's very unfortunate.

For confirmation: your DSL line is no longer with Crystal Web and we have zero management or control of the line whatsoever, and it seems both Telkom and whoever the new line management ISP will be, have dropped the ball considerably in their communication with you.

Yep this whole OP smelled like a typical Telkom scenario!

Actually on the 9th July 06:51 PM, request number 38538, I had requested the migration to take place. Not at the end of the month. Then and there I wanted it done asap. As I was told by Shaun that it would be best to cancel mid July so the line would be able to go back to Telkom and then Telkom could move it to my new premise.

On the 20th I enquired about the progress of the migration, request number 39652. I was told:

****** Support: Okay may you please send an email to [email protected] so that the process can start officially for you, i will send you some confirmation emails as soon as you send the email

Basically the process hadn't started. Like I had asked 11 days ago.

On the 31st I received this email:

"Hi Alex
You recently requested to migrate your DSL line to Crystal Web. In order to do so, it requires a quick call on your side to your current ISP who manages your line. If your line is with Telkom, you'll still need to contact them and request that they move your DSL Line into the Telkom Holding Pool for migrations. If your line is managed by another ISP, you'll need to request the same thing from them.
Once that's done, simply log in to this system and leave a comment that it's been completed, and we'll process the migration for you. This is by far the most efficient method with which to process migrations given Telkom's new migration rules, and it also allows you to see the line migration status at any time, as well as keep you updated on any changes.
To sum up:
Step 1: Contact Telkom or your current ISP if they manage your line, and request that the line be moved to the Telkom Holding Pool for migrations.
Step 2: Leave a comment in this application that this has been completed, and we'll process the migration for you.
Simple as that. We'll only start billing you for the line once it has been migrated to Crystal Web to prevent any double billing."

Strange as I want my line with Telkom not CW.

I then received these two emails on the 31st.

"Status changed to Migration Successful"

"Migration Successful Date changed to 07/31/2015"

Receiving these emails I went to web support, request number 40774, 31st July.

(03:36:58 PM) Alex: I also just received an email from you guy about migrating my line to you. I requested it be migrated to Telkom
(03:37:00 PM) Support Sergeant: could you check your emails please?
(03:37:07 PM) Support Sergeant: Yes yes, it's automated
(03:37:07 PM) Alex: Could you check up on that
(03:37:08 PM) Support Sergeant: do not worry
(03:37:14 PM) Support Sergeant: wait
(03:37:20 PM) Support Sergeant: do you want it to be migrated back?
(03:37:28 PM) Alex: I need it with telkom
(03:37:34 PM) Alex: Because I'm moving house
(03:38:54 PM) Support Sergeant: Hmmm
(03:38:59 PM) Support Sergeant: One moment
(03:39:38 PM) Alex: Thanks
(03:41:12 PM) Alex: I spoke to Mikey via email
(03:41:21 PM) Alex: Not sure of you're him
(03:42:03 PM) Alex: Between the 20th and 21st july
(03:42:49 PM) Support Sergeant: No I'm not Mikey
(03:42:50 PM) Support Sergeant: I'm Ryno
(03:42:56 PM) Support Sergeant: I'm reading the conversation now yes
(03:43:16 PM) Support Sergeant: seems like he never submitted the confirmation, mistake on our side, will get it sorted
(03:45:12 PM) Support Sergeant: Ok I've asked for the line to be migrated back

So you told me it actually went through on the 20th, here in told it didn't? Strange hey...

On the 3rd my ADSL went dead. I was informed that it might be a soft suspension by Ryno.

Not was once I told prior to this that it would get suspended. And Telkom is going to be handling the line.

So basically youve fixed nothing just tried to cover CWs ass.

So I just got an email from Telkom.

"Good afternoon



Your line is in the Telkom holding pool available for your preferred ISP to apply for the line, without delay. The ISP knows what needs to be done. You need to inform Telkom who your new ISP will be.



If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to call us."

It was a Telkom wholesale department. Luckily there was a direct number to the lady who sent it. Spoke to her. She told me how frustrated she gets for the customer over the incompetence at 10210. Anyway seems we're getting somewhere.

The various updates you received were all part of us moving you on to our new system so you could see the updates on the line directly yourself. Issue there was the agent in question didn't update it correctly (he's a new bloke so apologies about that).

The bottom line here is lines and accounts are paid for the month in advance, so processing immediately means you'd be double-billed. We cannot be processing credits each time (Telkom found out the hard way why this is a terrible policy) so the line migrates at month's end by default.

In reading your messages, the issues you seemed to be upset about was that we'd migrated the line back to us which you say Telkom confirmed (which is not true, and they lied to you if that's the case as you only received a notice from our new system - it did not process anything on your line as the existing checkbox was selected when the agent captured the details and I can confirm as such), and that we still had your line and were responsible for the extended downtime. Neither of these are the case, and we processed accordingly on our end.

Basically the process hadn't started. Like I had asked 11 days ago.

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It had, and was in a queue to process for month end. The agent manually processed it for you thereafter.

From our side we did communicate with you on the date you requested that this will take place. When you requested another confirmation the agent in question manually did this for you. When you enquired thereafter (this month) about the line going down, we informed you accordingly as well and again confirmed the line was not with us. I apologise if this seems as if we're somehow in the wrong but we've processed the migration in accordance with our policies, communicated the info to you, and the waters getting muddied were as a result of someone from Telkom not being very honest with you, which we also did update you about yesterday as well.

AlexCT said:

... She told me how frustrated she gets for the customer over the incompetence at 10210. Anyway seems we're getting somewhere.

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Telkoms perpetual Achilles Heel, I was hoping that the recent outsourcing would improve things but it seems Telkom can't even enforce SLA's (I assume a SLA is in place).

Well Ive been billed by CW anyway for the ADSL line. So, so much for no double billing.

My frustration is. I requested the line be migrated on the 9th. The request was not processed. Following up on the 20th, finding out the process hadn't started. and 31st and the agent giving me misinformation and the process had actually started on the 20th. Further more infuriated by holding on for telkom for well over 5 hours. Been bounced around from dept to dept only to be told no the lines still with your ISP. Confirming with CW its with Telkom and ping ponging back and forth between Telkom and CW.

AlexCT said:

Well Ive been billed by CW anyway for the ADSL line. So, so much for no double billing.

My frustration is. I requested the line be migrated on the 9th. The request was not processed. Following up on the 20th, finding out the process hadn't started. and 31st and the agent giving me misinformation and the process had actually started on the 20th. Further more infuriated by holding on for telkom for well over 5 hours. Been bounced around from dept to dept only to be told no the lines still with your ISP. Confirming with CW its with Telkom and ping ponging back and forth between Telkom and CW.

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I can see how frustrating it must have been. But the process was initiated for migration back on the 9th. Was then manually forced on the 20th when you requested again. And you spoke to end of the month made an error when he forgot to inform you that you'd receive a dummy notification as he moved you over to the new system so you could stay informed and up to date. For that one we take full responsibility and I'm sorry he miscommunicated that to you. The billing is a clear error though - that I've already fixed up for you.

In terms of the ping-pong though, Telkom need to get their act together on this front. The times you queried with them they gave you complete nonsense information, so yes I can imagine this has been completely frustrating all in all and I can and do sympathise with that.

IN CW's defense, this ALWAYS happens when people want to migrate lines away from telkom and back to them. Issues ensue. First rule, keep your line with Telkom, pay them separately. You will never have this issue again, ever, even if you want to move the line.

Telkom reps dont have a clue and their system often doesnt reflect the update, still claiming the line is with a third party.

Surv0 said:

IN CW's defense, this ALWAYS happens when people want to migrate lines away from telkom and back to them. Issues ensue. First rule, keep your line with Telkom, pay them separately. You will never have this issue again, ever, even if you want to move the line.

Telkom reps dont have a clue and their system often doesnt reflect the update, still claiming the line is with a third party.

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We certainly have to take responsibility for some miscommunication on our side, without a shadow of a doubt, but yes we are often dealing with a system that is updated on wholesale to us as ISPs, but not updated on Telkom Retail, or vice versa. Creates complete confusion for everyone involved and is a mess.

Migrating from one ISP to another is these days actually a breeze. We get lines back up in a matter of minutes and complete the migration. However the moment Telkom enter the fray there are massive delays, and it's infuriating beyond belief.

Surv0 said:

IN CW's defense, this ALWAYS happens when people want to migrate lines away from telkom and back to them. Issues ensue. First rule, keep your line with Telkom, pay them separately. You will never have this issue again, ever, even if you want to move the line.

Telkom reps dont have a clue and their system often doesnt reflect the update, still claiming the line is with a third party.

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I have migrated my line about 4 times in the past. Before this new policy bs. And it was seemless for the customer. Quite frankly I don't care about double billing and the like as long as it gets sorted out at the end of the day.

I think most of us new when this policy was introduced that its just going to cause a lot of kak! just Telkoms way of wanting you to keep your line with them!

Ok so my internet is finally back online. I practically had to do telkoms job and call the different departments and tell them what to do.

After speaking to the lady who emailed me from Telkom wholesale. She said I needed to call sales department and tell them that I want an ADSL line with Telkom. That was done yesterday.

Today I called back and confirmed the line is with Telkom.

Ok now to call technical department as the line is still down.

The lady informs me there is a suspension on the line, calls billings (by the way this is the first consultant to call billings department on my behalf and not just put me through). Says there's an outstanding balance of R200 but that's not why the accounts suspended.

She lifted the suspension and recreated the ports. And I'm back online.

To CW you could provide your customers, who are in a similar situation, some direction. Instead of just throwing your hands in the air and saying the line is no longer with CW.

AlexCT said:

To CW you could provide your customers, who are in a similar situation, some direction.

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What would you suggest? Happy to accept some feedback on this.

For clarity on our side here: the responsibility lies with your new ISP who manages the line to walk you through the steps they follow, as it is probably different to ours, is certainly different for each ISP, and may also change at any time too.

DJ... said:

What would you suggest? Happy to accept some feedback on this.

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If you had told me what the lady from Telkom wholesale had said, to call sales and tell them I want an ADSL line with telkom, this would have been done 2 days ago.

I would assume you know telkoms process in handling line migrations since you work with Telkom wholesale.

AlexCT said:

To CW you could provide your customers, who are in a similar situation, some direction. Instead of just throwing your hands in the air and saying the line is no longer with CW.

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Don't you mean ex-customers? In which case lol. Or, am I missing something?

AlexCT said:

If you had told me what the lady from Telkom wholesale had said, to call sales and tell them I want an ADSL line with telkom, this would have been done 2 days ago.

I would assume you know telkoms process in handling line migrations since you work with Telkom wholesale.

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We're not privy to their procedures, no. And you should have dealt with Telkom Retail and not wholesale (wholesale is for ISPs and wholesale customers).

We cannot take responsibility for another company's processes, nor reasonably be expected to know them and guide our customers through the processes of another company. That's their responsibility. What if you were migrating your line to another ISP (i.e. not Telkom)? That would be a completely different procedure, with different departments, and processes that could change any time of any day. Lines no longer go back to Telkom to move to another ISP since Telkom's recent changes - they move into a holding pool and one ISP can take over from another without going back to Telkom.

Quite simply the processes followed by another company cannot be something we can reasonably be responsible for, nor be expected to have insight into, especially when someone at Telkom puts you through to Telkom Wholesale and not Telkom Retail where they were supposed to.

Sincere question: Is this reasonable or do you think we should be doing more to know the processes of all other ISPs and take responsibility for informing our ex-customers of them?