| |
|
Dear Henry,
Trust this email finds you well. As speaker at Customer Management
World Africa, Contact Centres World Africa and other high profile
events, I am assured of your dedication to quality service, it
would seem.
THUS:
Upon conditions of my contract renewal and subsequent interactions
with iBurst today, I would like to invoke sections 14 and 54-56
of the Consumer Protection Act (whichever your review deems most
relevant) in order to cancel the contract and arrange for the return
of your modem pack at your earliest convenience.
Having been a contented iBurst customer for two and a half years
now, I allowed for the continuation of this service post the original
contract date up until now. With that said, I have not had to deal
with iBurst call centre staff before and found the service today
rude and ineffective.
Nevertheless, I decided to visit your web site yesterday afternoon
to see what was being offered in your new product range – I liked
the smaller, more convenient USB modem on offer and called your
sales department for advice. After various options were discussed,
your saleslady sold me the USB modem (Ser.No. 0811GC00380) now
in my possession.
This was delivered to me this morning, but not after your couriers
first refused to hand it over – because my business name and birth
names on my ID differ (this even though iBurst has all these details).
I had to duly arrange for his return before receiving the modem
– time-consuming during work hours.
I followed the very simple instruction booklet to install the modem
– something I attempted to do 3 times without getting as much as
a blink out of the modem. Another two hours wasted. I called you
Technical department and tried to explain to a consultant that
I had studiously followed the instruction process to install the
modem on my 32-bit Windows 7-operated laptop. She instructed me
to follow a procedure not in the booklet or on the CD Firefox Installation
Guide (i.e. install a driver from another folder), which I did
– however grudgingly – and still, no result.
I suggested to her again that the modem may be faulty, at which
point she sighed and dropped the line and did not call me back
– even though she had my contact details, but I did not have hers!
Upon reflection, I decided to rather opt for another service provider
with a more reliable and courteous offering, so I called your 0877
202020 number to cancel, upon which the operator transferred me
to your Retentions Department, of which I presume you are the Manager.
I had to wait another 12 minutes to be helped. The lady (once again,
no name, just “Retentions, hello”) would not assist me and said
she would get you to call me – an hour passed and… well, nothing.
So called again twice and spoke to Velisa (not sure of correct
spelling), leaving you another two messages and obtaining your
email address.
In the meantime, I consulted with expert CPA attorneys, Cape Town-based
Michalsons, and verified my options for best course of action,
which are to notify iBurst (via you, now) that I am giving my 20-dy
notice to cancel account, upon which you are legally liable to
charge me a maximum of 10% of the two-year contract fee or one
month’s fee, whichever your policy dictates. However, due to the
faulty modem you sold negating any service during this time, I
demand a refund of the funds you will be taking from my account.
Secondly, I invoke the Warranty linked to the modem you supplied
me, which is not in an operational state when following the exact
procedures as indicated in your manual. Thus, you cannot charge
me for it and are most welcome to pick it up from the address where
it was delivered to me in disrepair – not less than 4 hours ago
today!
I have verified that you are indeed in the office this afternoon
and will be physically in a position to view this email. I thus
encourage you to contact me soonest, so that this may be finalised,
and I may find a suitable service provider for my personal taste
and personal mantra of what service delivery constitutes (being
in the service industry myself).
Best wishes,
Lani Botha
Thu, 08/25/2011 - 12:51 by Longane Bhebhe
In response to the refusal of cellphone operators in South Africa
to change current customer contracts keeping customer benefit
in mind, the National Consumer Commission has issued compliance
notices on Wednesday to the operators.
It has been reported that MTN, Vodacom, Cell C and 8ta have been
given an ultimatum of September to sign the contracts and henceforth,
to give nod to their contracts’ terms and conditions. It has been
claimed that the new contracts would allow the customers legitimate
right to terminate the service by giving 20 days’ notice.
It has been claimed that the commission had been miffed with the
sector after it received a litany of complaints from the unsatisfied
customers. As of now, no penalties have been imposed on operators.
But this time, the commission has made it clear that if the companies
refuse to sign the agreement after September, penalty of as much
as 10% of annual revenue would be imposed.
Amid all this, Graham Mackinnon, Cell C’s group General Counsel
said, “We don’t believe there is any merit in the compliance notice
and will oppose it”, while Robert Madzonga, MTN SA Chief Corporate
Services Officer, said MTN’s contracts complied with the act.
With the commission adamant at its stance of making the operators
bend down to comply with the Consumer Protection Act, it would
be seen who after Neotel will agree with the demands.
http://newspoint.co.za/story/411/998-national-consumer-commission-loggerhead-cell-operators
Lani Botha (email on file)
Do let us know how that goes, Lani …
WEBMASTER |
|
|
