Billed by Telkom for non-existent service

Elfriede Christiansen of Auckland Park has been paying for a service from Telkom that she hasn't had for two months.

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Cape Town - Imagine paying for a service that you haven’t had for two months. You’re elderly, feeling vulnerable because you can’t call anyone in an emergency or even socially, and no one is listening.

I’m talking Telkom this week and I hope someone’s listening. Because Elfriede Christiansen of Auckland Park, Joburg had been without her telephone line since July, having spent an inordinate amount of time (and money) using cellphones (which she’s not comfortable using) to log her complaint, sit in the Rosebank Telkom office for almost an hour at a time while a staff member tried to resolve the issue - and she still doesn’t have a phone. This, despite the fact she’s been a loyal customer for more than 50 years, and maintained her original number. Some might think she deserves a medal for her perseverance.

Christiansen was informed there was a general problem with Telkom phone lines in her area, “which was being attended to”. Yet, by the beginning of this month, she was still without her landline. I promised to intervene so I googled a few numbers. Not having a Telkom line myself, I called the various numbers which appeared on the internet, including on the Hellkom site. These were all faulty, which doesn’t instil any confidence in their service. Then I went onto Telkom’s website to log a complaint, which I couldn’t because a query had already been logged during one of Christiansen’s many dealings with Telkom. I counted at least three different reference numbers in total.

Finally, out of sheer frustration, I tried social media. Within the hour, I had a response from Telkom. The matter would be attended to by the end of the week and a technician would be sent to her home. Very well, I responded, but will she be reimbursed for paying for a service which she couldn’t use? No response. However, a few days later I was informed a technician had indeed attended to the matter but didn’t have the right spares. Surely a residential fault cannot be such a challenge? Again, I reiterated: she deserved a credit, at the least, for her inconvenience. Still no response, not even from their spokesman.

A couple of days after my Facebook posting, Christiansen contacted me to say she finally had a line and is exceedingly grateful for it. She had been promised someone would also come out to inspect her telephone pole but, at the time of writing, no one had done so. I guess it’s a case of pure relief, but it doesn’t detract from the fact that she had been paying for a service which wasn’t being provided - plus, the unnecessary stress and inconvenience.

How to report a fault

Telkom’s customer care number is 10210 from your Telkom line. These calls are free, but you might have to wait a while. Take down names and reference numbers because you will need these.

Better yet - log onto Telkom’s website Telkom.co.za or SMS your 10-digit telephone number to 30591.

You should receive a reference number. If this does not yield any results, it’s best to go into a Telkom store.

Use social media:

Not everyone’s confident about using social media but if you use Facebook, or Twitter, escalate your query yourself by calling them out for poor service.

On a number of occasions, I tried to contact a spokesman for Telkom, but they didn’t get back to me. One was on maternity leave, the other didn’t respond to mails, SMSes and voice mail.

Often companies employ people more equipped and motivated to deal with complaints through their social media presence.

Be clear:

Have the facts at hand. If you have reference numbers, use them. Call centres love punting the fact that their calls “may be recorded”.

They’re not necessarily, but if you’ve kept a record of when you called them, your reference number, dates, times and other details, you’ll have a stronger case when you’re calling them out for a lack of service.

If having a reference number - or three, as was Christiansen’s issue - proves unhelpful, escalate the matter by personally going into a store andlogging a query with the technical manager. It’s more difficult to fob off a customer if you’ve dealt with them face-to-face.

Be nice:

I recently took my faulty Telkom router into the Cresta store. The staff, clearly overwhelmed and possibly demoralised about talk of retrenchments, were doing their best under some challenging circumstances. But there’s always one person who loses it inappropriately with employees, such as the man who accused them of theft. It’s unnecessarily personal and not helpful. It’s a cliché, but you really do catch more flies with honey thanvinegar.

Icasa:

Contact the Independent Communications Authority (Icasa) for issues relating to broadcasting, telecommunications, internet or postal services. Tel: 011 566 3000 or e-mail consumer@icasa.org.za

*Georgina Crouth is a consumer watchdog with a serious bite. Write to her at consumer@star.co.za and follow her on Twitter @Consumerstar.

Cape Argus