Update
GEORGE NEWS - The CEO of Telkom, Sipho Maseko, is paid big bucks (he took home R27,2-million for the 2018 financial year), but the organisation he runs seems to struggle to execute simple transactions such as cancelling a client's service.
After an article in the George Herald about a frustrated client who had been struggling for months to get his Telkom services terminated, a similar complaint was received from someone who recently moved to George from Gauteng. Antonie Smith says he still receives monthly Telkom bills after cancelling his Telkom line in January.
"The service is non-existent. I do not even live in the same province any more, but I still receive the bills. It is ludicrous."
It is now starting to affect his otherwise spotless credit record, he says.
Smith cancelled his line in January by phoning one of the Telkom help lines, 10210. A consultant confirmed that she would cancel the line and would send a confirmation e-mail, which he never received. "When I received a bill in early February, I responded by completing a form with all my details and my ID. This e-mail I forwarded twice, but I got no feedback.
"Since then, I have been following up several times and have a reference number for each of these efforts. Every time I follow up, I am told that my query will be escalated, but they are just empty promises; or I get referred to a different contact number or e-mail address, but they are all a dead end. It seems as if there are scores of people in the same boat. In my office three people say they are going through the same thing.
A reader expressed his disdain with the Telkom CEO's remuneration on the George Herald Facebook page in the light of the "nauseating" service.
"One lady says they have been struggling for 18 months to terminate a contract. I know of someone whose bond was approved, but the bank would not pay it out because of an outstanding R1 000 for a Telkom account that had also been cancelled long before.
"All the poor applicant could do was to pay the amount - which he did not owe - to Telkom, because he urgently wanted to get his family settled here in George. What do I do? Where do I go? Will the well-paid Mr Maseko be able to assist?"
Yet another bill after cancellation
Mike Leggatt, the Wilderness resident whose story was told in the previous article, says he received yet another bill from Telkom after the company's media communications department had promised to solve his problem.
They also promised that he would be refunded the amounts he has paid after the cancellation of his contract four months ago, but he has not heard from them since.
'Will never use Telkom again'
Another Georgian, Kobus Nel, tells his story after he moved from Port Elizabeth to George. "I gave 21 days notice as per the formal Telkom online cancellation process. I kept proof and followed it up four or five times, month after month. Among others, I was told to first pay the 'arrears' so that they could process my 'new request' and then I had to lodge a 'payback' application to claim back the money that was 'in arrears'.
To date I have not received confirmation that the money was paid back. It is utterly unprofessional and highly frustrating. I am currently in the market for an internet connection, but I have vowed to never use Telkom ever again."
Read a previous article | Cancel a Telkom contract: Mission impossible
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