Just when you thought it safe...

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Rustum

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Any surprises that an iBurst saga returns to your screens to amuse you?

The story in short: Late 2006*, my antenna is stolen. Because my reseller takes too long to get me an antenna and I figure it will just be stolen again, I cancel my month-to-month contract (I bought my modem directly from a reseller), switch to Telkom ADSL, and expect to pay for my months notice period (even though, unconnected, I obviously am using no bandwidth from iBurst). My account gets debited for R5000 odd. I call iBurst and, while I can't remember the details of their story of why that particular figure, I get a refund of about R2 500. That is, someone at iBurst with the power to reverse payments, agreed to a refund and gave me the refund.

During early to mid 2007, I continue getting bills for around that amount. I email, I call, I get the telephone runaround. Whomever I speak to is either incompetent, stupid, ignorant, or refuses to make the effort to check the history of my account. I have the paperwork, and so should they. They should see that someone in the company gave me a refund, etc. So, from mid-2007 I don't hear again from iBurst; meanwhile, all is bliss on the ADSL front. Telkom installed within 5 days of ordering. On the one occasion I had a problem, a technician was at my house within 2-3 hours of me lodging a complaint. In other words, despite all I've heard about telkom service, call-centre peeps have always been helpful, friendly and knowledgeable (no, I don't own Telkom shares).

Today I get a call from Select Online, a debt collecting agency. The onus is now on me to run around and fax account papers to prove my story, while the f--king iBurst MD or CEO or whatever basks in the glory of his 'Don't Panic' f--king project. IBurst should be doing the accounting because they in the first place refused to listen to my complaint. I will be writing to ICASA.

Phew!
*[original date , 2007, was wrong]
 
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Firstly, don't admit you ever owed them money - don't fax them anything.

Tell them to prove to you first that you owe iBurst money, tell them to send everything by post, as you don't have email.

Thats what I do
 
Good advice Rapid, but it's now with a debt collector (I've just asked them to do so). I.e. it's now treated as a fait accompli that I owe them money. That is what pisses me off: the assumption that I am now a defaulter and if I don't respond to the debt collector, I end up on a credit blacklist. I have to go to all the trouble to avoid that, while it's their f--ked up accounting that caused the mess.

Thanks for the sympathy Tim. I've searched these forums for contact numbers but can't seem to find the sticky...
 
Rustum said:
Good advice Rapid, but it's now with a debt collector (I've just asked them to do so). I.e. it's now treated as a fait accompli that I owe them money. That is what pisses me off: the assumption that I am now a defaulter and if I don't respond to the debt collector, I end up on a credit blacklist. I have to go to all the trouble to avoid that, while it's their f--ked up accounting that caused the mess.

Thanks for the sympathy Tim. I've searched these forums for contact numbers but can't seem to find the sticky...
Click to expand...

There is someone who is supposed to patrol this forum; however, I know not who that is.
 
Rustum said:
Good advice Rapid, but it's now with a debt collector (I've just asked them to do so). I.e. it's now treated as a fait accompli that I owe them money. That is what pisses me off: the assumption that I am now a defaulter and if I don't respond to the debt collector, I end up on a credit blacklist. I have to go to all the trouble to avoid that, while it's their f--ked up accounting that caused the mess.

Thanks for the sympathy Tim. I've searched these forums for contact numbers but can't seem to find the sticky...
Click to expand...

The debit collector still has to prove to you that you owe them money. I make it a VERY difficult and a slow process for them, so it costs them money and time... then I just send them my prove long after.
 
Rustum said:
I hear you Rapid; I'm on that course.
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Its worth it - they can't register you on ITC or anything like that without proving you owe them money.

It costs you five minutes to tell them to send it by post..

This is what I would do:
1.) Ask them to mail you proof.
2.) On receipt, throw it away and say you never got it when they call, they should send it again.
3.) Do this a few times, then ask them to send it registered.
4.) Finally tell them you got it (registered), and you will respond with proof of cancellation/payment via email/fax :p If they want it posted to them as well, ask them to arrange collection, or mail you a prepaid envelope :)
 
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xrapidx said:
Its worth it - they can't register you on ITC or anything like that without proving you owe them money.

It costs you five minutes to tell them to send it by post..

This is what I would do:
1.) Ask them to mail you proof.
2.) On receipt, throw it away and say you never got it when they call, they should send it again.
3.) Do this a few times, then ask them to send it registered.
4.) Finally tell them you got it (registered), and you will respond with proof of cancellation/payment via email/fax :p If they want it posted to them as well, ask them to arrange collection, or mail you a prepaid envelope :)
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Just make sure that in this time you don't plan on buying a house, car, or even open an Edgars account.

Stupid fsckers blacklisted me for something that my parents paid twice (and finally a third time)! I was 17 years old and had Xrays done in hospital - they blacklisted me when I tried to get a home loan 6 years later :eek:. One the plus side, this business did declare bankruptcy - not fscking suprised.
 
xrapidx said:
The debit collector still has to prove to you that you owe them money. I make it a VERY difficult and a slow process for them, so it costs them money and time... then I just send them my prove long after.
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:D:D:D:D:D

Beautiful!

This should make them more wary of doing iBurps dirty work...
 
timgaul said:
Just make sure that in this time you don't plan on buying a house, car, or even open an Edgars account.

Stupid fsckers blacklisted me for something that my parents paid twice (and finally a third time)! I was 17 years old and had Xrays done in hospital - they blacklisted me when I tried to get a home loan 6 years later :eek:. One the plus side, this business did declare bankruptcy - not fscking suprised.
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Nah - can't do that so easy anymore with the new credit act, etc...
 
Nah - can't do that so easy anymore with the new credit act, etc...
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oh? really? in this country if they fork out money on a bribe ANYTHING is possible!
 
LOL... what are the chances of a company bribeing ITC, etc. to blacklist someone?
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like what are the chances that zuma become president?
 
Er, keep on message people.

Fishfly, I don't quite know how we get from blacklisting to bribes. Who is going to bribe whom? iBurst is going to bribe a debt collector so as to facilitate a blacklisting? Or bribe a credit bureau to accept a blacklisting? I.e. someone is going to bribe someone to have someone else blacklisted for the sake of R2 000.

We all have gripes about bad service in SA, etc etc., but, please, this is an absurd scenario.

Meanwhile, iBurst has now called after I posted on Hellopeter, and are 'investigating'. They apparently will call before the end of the day. I will follow Rapid's suggested modus operandus.

What galls me is that they are now prepared to investigate; if they had been more rigorous in their accounting, they would save both them and me time and aggravation.

Note: the date I gave in my original posting was wrong. This saga goes back to late 2006, and not 2007.
 
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Fishfly, I don't quite know how we get from blacklisting to bribes. Who is going to bribe whom? iBurst is going to bribe a debt collector so as to facilitate a blacklisting? Or bribe a credit bureau to accept a blacklisting? I.e. someone is going to bribe someone to have someone else blacklisted for the sake of R2 000.
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nah it's just my view on how things are being run in this Capitalist country... Everything is about money... fek the consumers they will PAY.

I also had an issue with iburst when my modem is deemed faulty 3 months down the line, it was replaced and I got charged R2300 for a modem that was suppose to be paid on a contract...

The way the Iburst accounts conducts accounting practices is comparable to a monkey running around looking for it's next meal...
 
Thread ressurection

I can't f--king believe this. Go to original post in this thread...

This saga has been resurrected, this now after I thought that in 2008 the issue had finally been laid to rest (for an account closed Dec 2006 - January 2007) after complaining at Hello Peter, after receiving phonecalls from a Shabeer Omar at iBurst, after an email line in which he said he will investigate ran dead - i.e. in my mind, no further communication = resolution (I had given him references for their debits that had run against me).

iBurst had, for the past year, been completely outside of my mind's horizon. It didn't exist anymore, blissfully, as a concept in my mind and in my life, but now it just pops up, just like that.

What the f--k is this company? A chimera that haunts the consumer? How can it still exist if it's accounting department is still so f--ked up. Pardon my Finnish, but I am seething at the unbelievable, surreal incompetence.

People, stop f--king using iBurst. Let them sink irrevocably. Tweet them out of existence.
 
Hi Rustum.


Please send me your contact detail so that I may be of assistance.

I can help.......
 
Thanks Shaun.

You got mail.

If I'm not mistaken, you may have been the person I dealt with way back in Dec 2006 or January 2007...
 
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