Telkom sim swap nightmare
My elderly mother’s phone was stolen on 08/10/2022. This was reported to Telkom and a request made for a sim swap on 09 October 2022. The Telkom branch in Three Rivers indicated that this was a fixed line contract (postpaid) and the request had to be processed in Vaal Mall, Vanderbijlpark or Mall of the South. My mother and I went to Vanderbijlpark and were told that the request would be processed and the service would be available on Tuesday (11/10/2022), no reference number was given and no indication made that the stolen sim had been blocked. 

The Vanderbijlpark branch could not help to blacklist the phone and I was referred to customer care (10210) - a Telkom number, which was not useful as the Telkom sim card was stolen (We later went to the Three Rivers branch and the phone was blacklisted).

The sim card provided was inactive on Tuesday (11/10/2022). As there is no telephone number for the branch, we went to the Vanderbijlpark branch on Wednesday and were given the reference number ********** and told the service would be available on Thursday. I again indicated that this was a matter of urgency- the phone was stolen and my mother needed the phone as she is elderly and requires a phone, especially when she is alone or in the event of an emergency. 

The card was inactive on Thursday. We (again) went to the Telkom Vanderbijlpark store on Saturday. I was told the matter had not been escalated and could only be attended to on Monday (17/10/2022). I again reiterated that the phone had been stolen and that it was a matter of urgency that service be restored. I was again referred to 10210 to file a complaint. I was also told that the matter had then been escalated to Nono Zwane at Three Rivers.

I called Ms. Zwane on Tuesday (18/10/2022), who only then escalated the matter. I called her a number of times but the issue was not resolved and she could not give a time frame for when it would be resolved. 

I also logged a fault on 30591 but this was also closed without being resolved.

Despite informing staff a number of times that the card had been stolen I do not believe that Telkom blocked the stolen sim card. Given that the criminals had almost 2 weeks of free airtime and data, In addition to dealing with all the issues surrounding a robbery, I expect the next Telkom account to be another source of misery. 

Mom finally closed the account as there (1) seemed to be no prospect of the service being restored. (2) Telkom provided no feedback on the stolen sim; or the replacement sim. (3) There was no point in paying for a service that Telkom was not providing or making an effort to restore. 

Hopefully someone at Telkom will pick up this review and provide feedback.