BJ
Bryan J
Active since May 2009
35
Reviews
0
Industries
Reviews
35 reviews1 month ago
Another Dept of Home Affairs foul up
Concerning RSA passport and ID renewal for some of my family currently in the UK I needed to speak telephonically to someone at Home Affairs in Caledon concerning the collection from there of these now ready documents by my daughter who lives the closest in Herm****. The listed phone number on line for Caledon 082 470 4347 rings once, then immediately goes to engaged. So I try the next nearest branch at Bredasdorp tel no: 028 050 0319. That number doesn't even ring - nothing, dead. But it's listed on line by Home Affairs. Then I try Maynard Mall branch in Wynberg, Cape Town tel no: 021 763 6400. This just rings for ever. Again a listed number, but no one there will apparently pick up a ringing phone. Next, in massive frustration, I try phoning DHA at their Pretoria HEAD OFFICE tel no: 012 406 2500. It rings for a few seconds then goes to engaged. To cap it all the listed number for the Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber 012 432 6605 which I tried many times is permanently engaged! And this is supposed to be a new, slicker, more user friendly government department since Schreiber took over the reins. Really? The problem is that like so many disinterested, sloppily run and poorly managed organizations they all have forgotten that a phone call is or should be, if responded to responsibly, an INSTANT/IMMEDIATE means for person to person communication. Yes, faster than email, sms messaging AND LIGHT YEARS AHEAD OF SITTING IN A QUEUE at a DHA office. But manning phone lines and having enough lines or putting more in to keep pace with demand is like asking these outfits to do what for them is seemingly so difficult, namely to provide the tax payers of this country who fund these operations a decent level of public service. Or is simply a case of "we couldn't care less about your being unable to communicate with us. Go away"? Words fail me. This sort of rotten service is a perfect example of why many here in RSA are so fed up with this country and why so many who can afford to do so want to get out. The tragedy is that the poor people here cannot afford to jump ship to somewhere where they will get looked after way better than here. Come on DHA - get your skates on and sort out this mess!
0 replies
13 months ago
Rotten customer service, Vodacom
After getting a signal booster installed by Vodacom at my home which improved our reception for a short time the reception is so bad again it is now almost impossible to make or receive calls here using any cell phone connected to Vodacom. To try and get hold of the right personnel for this at Vodacom is impossible. In the event that they choose to answer their landline number or respond to a Whatsapp message their local store doesn't help and gives one a number to phone which puts one through to their automated Tobi chat bot which is useless and a complete waste of time. Phoning their head office in Cape Town to try and get someone to pick up this issue and run with it is also a total non starter. This from the cell phone network here that would like to project an image of being better than the rest yet they cannot handle such a simple customer service request. No, they are right down there with all the other rats and mice that cannot do the basics right. No wonder standards here are sliding into the abyss...... Let's see if they monitor HelloPeter reviews like this and respond with meaningful and effective action. I'm ready to be surprised.
53 replies
17 months ago
OLD FASHIONED STANDARDS OF SERVICE
Bought seat covers from Escape Gear for my Ranger back in 2014. 11 years later after extensive overland trips in Africa the driver's seat had a small section of seat cover fabric that had frayed. Took the vehicle to Escape Gear where they removed all the covers for me so I could wash the ones in good condition, and then did a beautiful job sewing in a new colour matched piece on the driver's seat at zero cost. How/why the others posting bad reports here about this company is beyond me. What I saw and received was TOP CLASS OLD FASHIONED SERVICE. Well done, guys!
0 replies
22 months ago
OTP authentication stuff up
Whilst travelling outside RSA for an extended period I needed to request a copy of our medical aid contributions tax certificate from Discovery. As is so often the case nowadays where businesses want you to jump through the hoops with so called security checks they want to send you an OTP to view the document requested. So how do they send the OTP? To one's SA cell phone number which unless one is roaming is useless if outside the country. Come on Discovery, use your heads before introducing such dumb ideas. Why not use the customer's email address for this. And what makes you think the cell phone is in the owner's hands and not some *****???? One wonders where these IT guys went to school.......
106 replies
24 months ago
Telkom incoming mail server failures - again
Why is it that Telkom seems unable to provide an ongoing, stable, fault free email service whereby its customers can reliably receive their incoming emails without such frequent server failures. And when this happens the time it takes to get through to them to enquire what the problem is is unacceptable. For Pete's sake Telkom, sort this issue out once and for all; it's been going on for years! And while you're at it, and since you have every Telkom customer's email and cell phone number, wouldn't it be appropriate and customer orientated to institute mass text or email messaging to your clients telling them about system faults and when we can expect them to be fixed? Well???
0 replies
29 months ago
Another business that can't answer an incoming phone call promptly
Yet another company in South Africa that seems to think because it's big it can mess its paying members around by keeping them waiting in a infuriatingly long incoming phone call queue, on a premium tariff rate phone call, listening to inane recorded messages. 10 minutes for anyone to wait for customer service is unacceptable when we are paying through the nose for that "service". This is NOT Home Affairs, or does Discovery really want to be equated with the likes of this shambles of an organization? Come on Discovery, when the phone queue starts to lengthen DON'T just assume it's OK and rely on your irritating recorded messages to keep the client waiting at his expense. It is NOT! Get to it Discovery, put more people on the phones your end when needed. Or we'll vote with our feet and take our business elsewhere.
146 replies
35 months ago
Leave Lancet Labs alone
Yet another SA business that excels in demonstrating how NOT to answer incoming phone calls. As usual one sits, in my case for over three minutes trying to phone Lancet listening to inane recordings about their business and their fantastic systems, being told one is in a queue, "we are experiencing high call volumes" and all the rest of the recorded **** that we all have to put up with instead of answering the call promptly. Do these third rate outfits really think this sort of customer service is acceptable, wasting clients' money on a charged call and wasting their valuable time? Apparently not. Their disinterest and arrogance is mind boggling. As of today I will ensure that my pathology business goes only to Lancet's competition. Good riddance!
53 replies
35 months ago
Well done Vodacom!
Having experienced a terrible cell phone signal for some time at and around our home in the southern suburbs of Cape Town I contacted Vodacom to see if they could improve the situation. Their technical chap Daiyaan got onto it and advised they were putting up a new mast nearby that should improve the situation. Unfortunately in our case it didn't seem to make any detectible difference. So Daiyaan straight off went to plan B and offered to install a signal amplifier and antenna at our home all for no cost. This he has since arranged and our signal is now as it should be. Unlike the staff from so many service companies here in SA Daiyaan kept me regularly informed about progress in getting this organized, arranging suitable dates and times to do the job etc. Well dome to him and his crew! It really does make such a good impression amongst all the doom and gloom and rotten service delivery that permeates this country every day.
53 replies
41 months ago
Give this dealership a medal
Having twice taken my vehicle to this Ford dealership I am now convinced this particular branch has to rate at the top, or very near the top, of the "Best Customer Service" award. Suffice it to say the vehicle was taken to them out of warranty with an unusual electrical problem. From the moment of booking the vehicle in followed by my arrival at their premises to explaining the issue it very quickly became apparent that unlike the sorry standard of service that is dished out by so many car dealerships Motus Ford Paarden Eiland shone in all departments. Excellent welcome from reception staff, polite and efficient booking system, excellent courtesy coffee and lift back to my home. On top of which the service staff listened carefully to what I was reporting with the vehicle, and then very thoroughly and methodically ran a series of tests on the vehicle fully and clearly reporting what they found all the while communicating regularly with me with progress reports. Their service manager, service advisor and reception staff all showed they were prepared to go the extra mile and did just that. It should be noted that this dealership is not the closest to my home by a long shot but because of this level of great service I am more than happy to drive further to experience such refreshingly high standards. Other dealerships irrespective of brand should take a leaf out of this outstandingly well run operation. Well done guys, keep it up! You have my full loyalty as long as I own a Ford vehicle.
0 replies
42 months ago
Yet another organization that cannot answer the phone.....
I have been a Nedbank client for 46 years and over that time I have noted a continual degradation in the service that Nedbank provided to its customers, notably how badly it communicates with the people who bank with them - and who by the way indirectly pay their salaries. Since the advent of the digital revolution Nedbank's ability to answer an incoming telephone call to many of its publicly listed phone numbers has diminished every year at an astonishing rate. This behaviour is not only irritating to the customer but also sends a loud message to him or her that "we are not interested in you or your reason for calling us, please go away and stop bothering us" - contrary to the impersonal and unconvincing recorded messages one hears when listening to an unanswered ringing tone which so many businesses think is an acceptable reason for keeping you waiting. Come on Nedbank managers and directors, get off your butts, pick up a phone and try phoning ANY of the phone numbers your bank lists on its documentation, its advertising material or its websites and note what (if anything) happens. You might be surprised by the outcome. In which case you should be ashamed to be calling your bank customer-centric. And if you also call yourselves professionals you need to collectively go back to the drawing board and train your staff how to operate a phone and why it is important to your company's image. Right now your service delivery in this regard is on a par with most government departments who of course seem to think that they have the God given right to mess the public around in this way. You do not. And if you are mindful of your bottom line you will fix this issue - permanently. Now get cracking please. I for one am sick of wasting MY time listening to ringing, unanswered calls to your various departments.
0 replies
Review Distribution
5 Star
6 (17.142857142857142%)
4 Star
0 (0%)
3 Star
1 (2.857142857142857%)
2 Star
10 (28.571428571428573%)
1 Star
18 (51.42857142857143%)