Good day
my email is [email protected]
Hope you can assist on this matter.

My Mother is a 70 year old pensioner. She was asked to enlist on an insurance option with Multichoice by phone conversation. The result of this is when she now need service on her broken unit, this is the response from Multichoice. Their excuse is that they do not have “new” stock to replace old stock. She never received any documentation and the policy was confirmed with only the phone conversation.

My questions on this matter
1 - Why was she not informed during the phone conversation that they would only replace it with a secondhand unit? She would not otherwise have accepted the policy since she already have theft and household insurance cover.
2- If after 3 years they cannot replace it with a new unit, why still receive the insurance fee?
3 – since when does insurance replace a faulty unit with a secondhand unit? If it is only the supplier doing the replacement, ok. But this is an insurance policy claim. Who is getting the benefit of the insurance fee?

Multichoice I believe made a misrepresentation of their services to my mother. Included on this my mother was not receiving the privilege to be informed on the policy agreement.


Below is the mail representing their answer on this matter.


Regards

Dear Mr Smit

Our telephone conversation on 29 November 2010 refers,

The decoder that Mrs JE Smit has is currently insured since 2 June 2008, this decoder, if found faulty will be replaced with a refurbished decoder of the same make and model.

Please find attached a Subscriber Agreement form, if you scroll down you will find the terms and condition of the Decoder Care contract.

Kind regards


Liselle Daniels
Contact Centre- Customer Liaison
Website: www.multichoice.co.za
“MultiChoice Africa (Pty) Ltd is an authorized financial services provider. FSP license number 11514.” THINK GREEN - CONSIDER THE ENVIRONMENT BEFORE PRINTING THIS EMAIL.

I have been waiting in an automated queue for 20 minutes, after being guided at the beginning of the call that the estimate reponse time would be 5 mins (caller number 154). Eventually I had to hang up, as there are no updates to the estimated waiting time.

It is completely unacceptable. the number SHOULD be toll free, if clients are expected to wait for such outrageous times. I would rate this as the WORST call center in South Africa.

I called the call centre requesting to have my account blocked as my daughter is busy with exams. I was informed by your agent that it is not possible as the terms and conditions were changed. I then said that I did not receive any written notification of this. My call was then terminated. I called again and spoke to another agent. I was not rude to him however I requested to speak to a team leader where I was put on hold for over 5 minutes and then my call was released again. I do not expect this kind of service for a simple query where I could have been assisted on my first call and I am now extremely unhappy with the service I received.

Why is money spent on making a commercial explaining to Multi Choice viewers about the repeating programs and that we must accept it, yet nearly one year later i am seeing repeats of repeats of repeats. If i switch on tv now there is nothing new, Top Gear is a fine example, Split Ends, American Chopper, American Hot Rod, Overhauling. Its a utter joke i have to be honest the money that was maybe spent on the commercial should of been put into use of securing new programs for its viewers. I have been a subscriber since Mnet first started and cant even stand Mnet now either because its a second Series channel there is nothing of interest on it anymore.

I am not sure who runs the programming for some of these channels but planning ahead for the future is crucial you cant show repeats for the next 10 years. Put me into that programming position and i will start with Discovery and work my way down through all the channels, you will have more compliments than complaints thats for sure and heck might even end up with a higher turnover of new clients per year.

Multichoice decided to stop charging credit cards for monthly subscriptions without informing me about it. A couple of months later I got a rude letter of demand and phone calls re the account that is in arrears. I wanted to speak to a manager and have made in excess of 30 calls to Multichoice already, to speak to a person capable of dealing with my complaint. I have yet to receive a response or be put through to a manager. I have now received my new statement, the first in many months and my account is still in arrears.