This is the Telkom Direct shop at our local Cresta shopping centre. If you walk inside the first notice you will see is the one that says "We are offline". How ironic. Telkom is the telecomms company that has exploited and ripped off the South African public for years, first as a monopoly, and now as the smug major player in the (declining) landline telephone market and the growing "broadband" internet market.
They tout the "success" of their Telkom Business product, and proudly proclaim how much fibre they are putting in to cope with the 2010 Soccer World Cup tournament. Now all they have to do is get the stuff to work. Reliably. All the time. I guess that includes their own outlets, like the one in Cresta. Of course there is no backup plan, or connection using a 3G mobile data card from one of the mobile carriers, or even their own WiMax service. That would require initiative and planning, something they don't seem to have.They didn't have any forms I could fill in, and of course they just said "Come back on Monday" rather than offer to call me once they were back online. Telkom was never known for their customer service, or their data speed. The post office is faster.Update 11 Jan: I called 10219 and ordered the line extension. Got a reference number 29340/43 and a scheduled date of 15th Jan. I said they must call before coming.
Update 15 Jan: They didn't arrive, and left a message to say they would be coming tomorrow. No contact number or name. Duh.
Update 16 Jan: Arrived without calling. I wasn't at home. Will have to reschedule.
Update 18 Jan: I called 10219 and they said that the job would be done on Thursday 21 January.
Update 21 Jan: Installation completed.
Gosh you sound surprised!
ReplyDeleteI've been into that Telkom store in Cresta on two occasions and neither time have they been able to help me.
Next month I am finally making my much-promised leap to Neotel for home line product. Will it be any better? Who knows - its the principle of not supporting Telkom