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Fin24 user Ike Jakson writes:
I HAVE been a Telkom [JSE:TKG] fixed-line customer and a
very happy one since I got my first phone in 1964 in a small basement room that
I was renting in lower Tamboerskloof almost right in the bend where Kloofnek turns
off upper Long Street in Cape Town.
There is a nice secure feeling of having an old line phone
as I abhor cellphones almost as much as I loathe television and the intrusions
they brought into our lives.
My present number has been mine for 10 years and I added
Telkom Internet to it soon after; it was complete happiness on my side.
However, I suspended my Telkom Internet about two years ago
when I spent most of my time away from home on family matters and travelled
with my laptop and a Voda modem stick, though I could hardly wait to settle
down again and reconnect my Telkom Internet.
During my absence I didn’t pay much attention to the Telkom
share price; all I wanted was my own Telkom Internet Connection again and live
happily ever after.
It was therefore, with great inner satisfaction that I called Telkom Internet a few months ago and found the usual friendly lady to arrange it for me, though I noticed that I had to press a few more buttons on the phone and once had to complete the entire circle twice because I found myself back to button number one every now and then.
No fear though, they got it right, the lady said, and I felt
the pulsating contentment in my heart that I have always felt for Telkom.
Perhaps I should now tell you that I previously had Telkom
Closer Option 2 at about R120 per month and free calls during call-more time;
my Internet Connection came at about R70 per month with free connectivity
during call-more.
My monthly bill was often under R300 and I happily paid for
calls I made and Internet Connection that I dialled up for during what they
call ‘Standard Time’.
What a shock it was to receive a bill for R881 at the end of
my first month of full Telkom service. The account showed double rentals and
what have you; when I queried it they promised to pass a credit for calls I
suddenly had to pay for though the account shows quite clearly that it was in
call-more time.
Let me cut this short. It just went on and on, and on
Thursday last week I called my bank to stop my debit-order.
And the reason for this unfortunate development? To my utter amazement I was forced to conclude that Telkom employs a large number of people that cannot read or write ordinary South African English; in fact, though I clearly point them to it, they cannot read the English in their own account that they email to me.
Some of you may have picked up from my previous posts on
Fin24 that I am somewhat weary about high tech when it loses the human touch.
Technology is fine but must remain human-driven; without the
human touch it becomes a disaster.
That is how Telkom failed the test; tech-driven Humanity
ceases to function where it counts most; right down at the most basic of all
human endeavours.
Animal Farm, here we come. Hi Orwell, you had this one right too.
- Fin24
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