Online onslaught

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 19 April 2007

Telkom is facing what can only be described as an online onslaught of consumer dissatisfaction. This is especially true if the flood of complaints about Telkom’s ADSL service on the Hellopeter consumer website is taken into account.
 
It’s no secret that Telkom turned ‘hero’ overnight when they initially joined the Hellopeter.com website as a paid-up subscriber because of the rules applied by Hellopeter. While we have no intention to revisit past indifferences about the rules applied we’re happy to point out that the picture on Hellopeter now reflects the true state of affairs where Telkom is of a concern.
 
‘Telkom has received a massive 1643 complaints and 199 compliments over the last 12 months, translating into a 12% compliments-complaints ratio’ (ADSL complaints flood in online, MyADSL, 12 April 2007).
 
In other words, Telkom must surely regret joining Hellopeter because for every compliment received there are at least 8 complaints to counter it.
 
‘An overwhelming number of these complaints are about Telkom’s ADSL service, with consumers voicing their frustration about long installation times, incorrect billing and poor support’ (ADSL complaints flood in online, MyADSL, 12 April 2007).
 
In other words, the trio of ‘long installation times, incorrect billing and poor support’ is still too a great extent responsible for crushing any support Telkom might get from ADSL users.
 
With Papi Molotsane, Telkom’s ex-CEO, out of the way and Telkom failing to comment it’s unclear ‘…whether Papi’s customer centricity drive will continue in his absence’ (ADSL complaints flood in online, MyADSL, 12 April 2007). It’s no secret that he failed to a great extent to impress consumers during his 18 months at Telkom.
 
For how much longer will Telkom be able to get away with poor customer service?
 
Not for much longer.
 
‘And with Neotel’s residential offerings lurking on the horizon Telkom may not have the luxury of getting away with poor customer service for much longer’ (ADSL complaints flood in online, MyADSL, 12 April 2007).
 
In other words, if we assume that Neotel’s customer service is going to be great then Telkom won’t stand a chance when Neotel launches their residential services later this year. 
 
ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa) is happy that Telkom is getting the attention it deserves.