MultiChoice Africa / DSTV
reviews and complaints

31 January 2018
Client number: OA-[protected]
I have been receiving numerous calls and have even received a letter from your lawyers stating that I owe R149 on the DSTV explorer from June 2016. The first time I heard about this was receiving a lawyers letter in December 2017. As you can see from my account history I pay over R1000 a month for DSTV and my account is clear. When I requested a write off after a year and a half of not claiming your R149 I was told NO in no uncertain terms by Shakira. I am still requesting a write off of the amount failing which I will be cancelling my entire package. I feel that this was a failure of your processes and now I am being held responsible and receiving lawyers letters.

Date of incident: 5 February 2018.

ID [protected]

I enquired about double subscription fees I discovered at the beginning of this month. The representative alerted me to the fact that I was being billed for two decoders while I had only one. It emerged that when I bought an Explora decoder from a registered dealer, who also installed the decoder three years ago, a new contract was initiated, but the contract on the old decoder was never cancelled. I was never informed that I have to hand the old decoder back, in fact the installer suggested I sell the older decoder. Consequently I have been paying for two contracts whereas I have only one tv. I was never informed that I have to cancel the a contract.

What can I do to recover three years of subscriptions?

Last night, one of the biggest sport events on the world sports calendar occurred in the United States of America.
The 52 Super Bowl Final, the 48th in the modern era, was played between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles. According to overseas press reports, it was one of the most exciting finals in recent history.
But what did we get last night on DSTV Sports Channels?
Repeat after repeat after repeat of junk, rubbish and other garbage.
Come on DSTV?
Please!
Ken Richardson.

Am using Extra view, and decided to buy an explora. The explora become the Primary decorder and the other decoder which was the primary decoder become the secondary decoder.

Since the installation of the Explora I've been struggling to get the secondary decoder to play. It keeps on saying " Extra View Alert, waiting to connect with Primary decoder" I wasted a lot of money on airtime calling the call centre who up to know can't help me. Apparently the technicians from Extra View will call me, am still waiting since Wednesday for a call.

Ever since from November 2017 I've been treated terribly by DSTV SA. Each month they always find a way to shut my services and then I am billed for reconnection, when I follow up I only get an apology and then services back on. A week or 2 later the same thing happens and then I am told long stories and I am told that's what system says.

Multichoice South Africa rips people off and I am truly tired of them playing with my accounts like this and getting incompetent consultants to promise me that everything is fine and not do what I ask.

I have had a price lock account (Premium) with Multichoice from December 2015-December 2017, upon the contract ending I had requested that my account is not renewd until further notice, when I got back from my holiday on 8 January 2018 my DSTV was still active, I called Multichoice on the 11 January 2018 to advise that it is stil active and that I will not be paying for any charges until then, I actually requested that the Compact Package be activated, I was given assurance that this was done, and I will not be paying prior to the 11th and a Manager will call me back, I will only pay for the compact package from the 11th of January, I still have not received any feedback regarding the amount due, I called back on the 25th to confirm the amount outstanding, I was told that it was R550, on Friday 26th January 2018 I received a notification that my DSTV is disconnected (atatched) I need to pay 1400.., I called back and was told the Supervisor will call me back, my amount due was 752 and my DSTV was activated, on 31 January my DSTV was disconnected again and I received another notification (attached), I am fed up and all I want is decent service as my kids enjoy DSTV or else I would have cancelled - My Customer number is : [protected]

I went on holiday during December, suspended my PVR functionality and activate my holiday viewing. When I came back, I reactivate the service again, just to experience that about every forth day, the PVR functionality is suspended, because of an "arrear amount" of R31-42 that I owe DSTV. I don't even owe them the amount.Martha, a very arrogant lady, with no understanding of customer service even have the audacity today; "Pay the amount in, and we shall re-instate the service. Several calls were made, spent 31min and 18 min on the phone to get the problem solved. Lindiwe promised on 24 January 2018, ref number ********** i234 apologies for the problem and promise that it wouldn't happen again. Just to get them suspended again on 30 January 2018. Called again and spoke to Thokozile, ref no. ********** i238. Problem still there and not resolve. In the meantime, I pay for a service that I cannot even use!

I called on 31 December 2017 to upgrade my DSTV. I was informed by the agent I spoke to that there will be prorata of R118 which will be debited with my next installment, which will be on 28 January 2018. On 23 January my services were disconnected. I called the same day at 19:32 and spoke to Karabo who said i needed to pay that R118 to get my services back. I paid it back and asked her to log a complaint about why the previous agent told me that the R118 will be debited end of January. She promised to get her Supervisor to call me back. Up to today ( 30 January) no call back has been made. My services were downgraded again without my request on 28 January and again I called. The agent I spoke to said she will upgrade it back and i will be charged R442 with my next debit order, but i should call the next day so that the prorata of R130 can be debited. The next day (29 January)i called and spoke to Bongani to arrange for the debit order of R130, he said i need to pay it cash which i said is fine. I asked him when my next debit will be and the amount, he said it will be R235 on 28 February. Today( 30 January) a debit order of R442 just went off my account. This is the worst service I have ever experienced from any organisation.

In December 2017 I ordered the DSTV Price Lock decoder online. To date 29-01-2018 I have not received the decoder yet my account is being debited for the monthly premiums. I have called the customer care on many occasions as well went to the Customer Care Center on the 29-01-2018 with no resolution.
Multi Choice says according to them the decoder was delivered.

I have requested for proof of delivery however I have not received anything.
I am told the matter has been escalated to the payment plan division and when I ask to be transferred to that department or for the contact details I am told they do not receive calls they only make out calls.

This is impacting on my credit scoring as well I am incurring bank charges for unpaid debit orders.

How will Multi Choice compensate me for all of this?
I am not getting any proper feedback from them.
All they say is the escalations department will contact me

Complaint and claim.

I bought a new 5U HD decoder. The decoder box says it works with a single unicable LNB. I bought one single LNB. I called an installer to install. It turns out that the single LNB isn't compatible but only Smart LNB or use of a diplexer. The information on the 5U decoder is misleading and false. Now I need my money back for the single LNB so I can buy the Smart LNB. One of DSTV's advisers/call agent also confirmed this installation compatibility.
I need a refund of R150 refund or a smart LNB discounted by R150, in the name of business fairness. It is only fair to agree that I was misled into buying a single LNB by the information on the 5U HD decoder box. Had I been given/shown correct information I'd have bought a Smart LNB straight away without wasting my R150 to buy a single LNB.

I took over a friends DSTV decoder and completed change of ownership forms. I HONESTLY thought that if I do not pay it ends at the end of the month you have paid for...the reason for this is that I had not paid at the end of one month and i received an sms saying they regretted to inform me but my services had been cut, but I paid for it during the day and when I got home my service was on. I completed the change of ownership form and clearly marked on there that I was NOT familiar with the terms and conditions. I have since been receiving non stop calls from collection agent and I HAVE TRIED FOR 2 months to resolve this issue with DSTV and they assure me that they will sort it out and come back to me and then I do not recieve any call back again. My latest call was with DONALD who PROMISED me he would call back and it has been one week and he has not called and I am again receiving calls from the collection agent. This is absolutely disgusting behaviour from such an enormous company using bullying tactics like this. It is so frustrating not being able to resolve the issue either as NO-ONE EVER comes back to me as promised. My reference number is #9538389. Initially i owed R122 which i will not pay as I did not even use the DSTV after the month i cut it and the fact that they left it running for a few days is not my problem at all! My name is Maxine Mullin. ID [protected]

Totally disgusted by the service provided to the elderly! Total rip off..!

My 80 year old grandmother whom has a dstv account since 2012. Paying an extra R20 for insurance since 2012 = R1440 current.

On the 15/01/2018, the decoder stopped working. She went to the nearest dstv in Mitchells plain and they had no stock on decoder to replace the old one. On the 17/01/2018 I called dstv Westgate branch and was advised that they now have stock. My grandmother then went again, and when she arrived they advised still no stock and that she needs to go to vangate mall. Already more than a R150 taxi fare wasted!

when she got to Vangate mall, they gave her just the decoder no plugs nothing, when she returned home and called in to the call centre she was advised to get out a intstaller. She did so paying a extra R250 call out fee, purchasing a hdmi cable and power plug, additional R300.

Now you tell me DSTV, is this how loyal, elderly customers who has never ever defaulted on premium or insurance is treated?!
R700 Later, is this best practice? why was she paying insurance? Would it not have been cheaper to just pruchase a entire new decoder from a shop for R350?
I need answers regarding this as I feel it is totally disgusting...! What was the insurance covering?...
Account number = ********** 3
ID = ********** 468083

Your customer services at multi choice upington is poor...you can't have 1 staff member helping 7 people, and worst of all she does not know her products...1 customer at 1 hour...that sucks...the branch manager run in and out of the building not even interact with the customers about why the service is so poor or why there is only 1 person at the counter...

I have been having endless problems with my Dstv account ever since I upgraded from Dstv Extra to Dstv Price Lock. I am sick and tired of calling the call centre and having to repeat myself on every call. Is it not stated on your system? Or are the call centre agents so incompetent that they cannot see what my query is on the system?!

So here's my story:
On the 1st of December 2017 I officially moved over from Dstv Extra (with extra view) to the Dstv Price Lock package (R550per month). My debit orders go off on the 20th of every month. On the 20th of November, R574 was debited from my account. Bear in mind that this is a payment for December. As far as I am aware, I've always been paying in advance. I called Dstv on the 1st of December and advised that my explorer has now been installed so may I please be moved to the new package so that my previous package could be cancelled. (ref. for call * 5-i76) The agent Monwabisi told me that on the 20th of December an amount of R624.60 will be deducted as it is calculated pro-rata seeing that I've already paid for December. I was cool with that and assumed everything was sorted. However, on the 20th of December, an amount of R994.60 was debited from my account. Why?! Due to this unexpected debit, I had to suffer the consequences of unpaid debit order charges for my other debits that rejected. Is Dstv now going to pay for my bank charges?
So I called the call centre on the in January 2018 to query why was this amount deducted in December. Having spoken to the many different call centre agents who told me that it was a fault on their side, they do apologise and will correct this on the system. Some of the agents apparently even escalated it to the supervisor. I wonder. I spoke to Sifiso on the 12th of January (ref: i80), he advised that the amount of R370.50 will be refunded back into my account within 4 working days. This never happened. I then get an sms on the 17th of January stating that an amount of R1038 with deducted on the 20th January. I panicked. I called the call centre immediately again to find out why I received this sms. (ref: i87) I spoke to Taahira Pennekin who was kind and promised that this problem will be resolved once and for all. She said that an amount of R489 was owing to me and not R370.50 which Sifiso had advised previously. She advised there was no progress on the refund so she was going to instead credit my account with the R489 and I would have to pay a difference of R60 which will be deducted on the 23rd January. She confirmed that the amount of R1038 will not be deducted from account.
On the 20th of January Dstv deducts the amount of R1038 from my account! After numerous phone calls and confirmation that the matter was resolved, this had still happened.
I am fed up! Honestly, I am tired of being nice! Why can't this problem just be rectified? And please I want my monies back! Please go back and re-calculate exactly what I should be charged. Please can somebody do their job properly! I do not what my account in credit. I want to be refunded!
I want this resolved today! Or I will gladly reverse every debit order for the last 3 months and I will cancel my subscription with dstv!
The customer service sucks! The call centre agents need more training on their products and also on how to calculate.
I expect a response and a solution.

Good day

In November 2017 our debit order for our dstv did not go off I contacted dstv on the 28/11/2017 to advise we have not been debited and the consultant advise we do not have to pay for November 2017 as our package has changed from price lock to we over paid our next payment date will be on the 25/12/2017,

on the 07/12/2017 our service got disconnected when I called wad advised payment for Nov 2017 was not received when I advised it was not fault on our side we were reconnected and was advised will be contacted by the manager that never phoned than we got disconnected the following week again I called in again and spoke to a teamleader Lela who eventually made an arrangement with to pay the arrears over 2 months of R1161.00 in Dec 2017 for the subscription fee for Dec and half of the arrears and the balance of R251 in Jan 2018 she advised we will not get disconnected and she will stop the debit order and we must pay cash for Dec she will call me in Jan 2018 to reinstate the debit order,

since the arrangement we have been disconnected almost every week and I must call in they reconnect the dstv but no arrangement are being loaded

Today the 19/01/2018 iam calling dstv for the amount the arrears now Iam advised to R1717.18 of which is more than the arrangement I made in Dec and the teamleader Lela no one knows her,

Iam not going to pay the arrears for Nov 2017 as the error was on dstv consultant side please listen to call for the 28/11/2017

My account was mysteriously upgraded to premium from compact without my knowledge. I had left in my account enough money to cover for the debit that I knew of but multichoice debited more than that which resulted in the payment to be reversed due to insufficient funds. My services were disconnected. I phoned multichoice several times (with my own money) to solve the issue but I was told it's my fault that they did not find money in my account. I tried to explain that there was money it's just that multichoice debited more that the agreed amount, in fact, double that. Now I am supposed to pay reconnection fees that were none of my fault. I tried to tell them to debit the money but they said I must go and pay personally. This service sucks.

Ref:9550507

This is now terribly disappointing and irritating, we have requested for our account to be transferred. I wouldn't have asked for this if I knew of such a hassle for this to be done, I had to send numerous emails to get the transfer done of which it was eventually done. On the form itself I indicated that I would like for the credit in my account be transferred to the new account holder which is my wife but that was not done. I paid my account in early Dec 2017 for the month of December of which I was able to view the whole December, I paid my account as well on 05 January 2018. My account was disconnected last week Sunday because apparently I owe the same amount I asked for it to be transferred to the new account holder. I questioned this last week Sunday and my account was reconnected. NOW ITS DISCONNECTED AGAINBECAUSE OF THE SAME PROBLEM AND IM REQUESTED TO PROVIDE PROOF ACCORDING TO THABO THE CONSULTANT I SPOKE TO TODAY, PROOF THAT I HAVE PAID THE ACCOUNT IN DECEMEBR 2017. THIS IS A PROBLEM BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE THAT PROOF AND IF DSTN HAVE RECORDS OF ME PAYING MY ACCOUNT I DON'T SEE WHY MUST I PROVIDE THE PROOF OF SOMETHING THAT IS AVAILABLE OF DSTV ACCOUNT ELECTRONICALLY, I NEVER ASKED FOR A NEW ACCOUNT, I HAVE JUST ASKED FOR THE ACCOUNT TO BE TRANSAFERED TO THE NEW OWNER BECAUSE OF PERSONAL REASONS. THIS IS TOTAL NOT FAIR THAT I BE GIVEN INFORMATION WHAT I NEED IN ORDER TO CHANGE OWNWERSHIP AND IN NEXT GET A PROBLEM WITH THE SAME INFO I PROVIDED TO DSTV. FIRST I WAS TOLD THAT MY REQUEST TO GET THE CREDIT TRANSFERRED TO MY WIFE WAS AWAITING APROVAL AND TODAY, WITHOUT ANY RESPOND TO MY E-MAIL OF REQUEST, MY ACCOUNT IS DISCONNECTED SAYING MY REQUEST TO MOVE THE CREDIT HAS BEEN REJECTED. i don't know how to solve this as this is actually frustrating and needs to be resolved. DO I NEED TO PAY AGAIN TO GET THIS DONE AS THIS SEEMS TO BE MY PROBLEM NOW THAT I CAN'T PROVE I PAID I DECEMEBER?

After seeing the adverts. I decided to add on one the price lock options to my grandparents account. So I called in November (was trying to beat the December rush) but had to wait until mid December to be called back(on the 12th of December to be exact) I did the qualify questionnaire thing had everything verified and was told the decoder would be delivered and installed in 7-10 working days. IM STILL WAITING.'I called in again maybe 2 weeks ago to find out what's going on but was told that the agent I spoke to didn't process the application but that someone would get back to me. I just feel like if DSTV doesn't have to resources to deal with the traffic that come from processing products why advertise it in the 1st place

I am a DSTV Premium subscriber for many years. By the 1st week in Nov 2017 we could not view some of our channels. Error code E48-32 was displayed. By the 2nd week we realised it cannot still be a weather problem. We phoned the call centre help line on 18 Nov 2017. After several attempts they advised us to have our HD decoder tested. We had it tested by RF Technologies and no fault was found with the decoder. We contacted Apro Audio who replaced one of wires leading into the house. Still no working channels. Had the decoder tested again. It is in fine working order. In desperation I then bought an Explora and had it installed by RF Technologies. Still no restoration of the following 21 channels: 103, 104; 105; 106; 110; 115; 144; 147; 161; 194; 200; 201;203; 204; 205; 206; 207; 208; 211; 900; 901. The frequency of these channels are: 1155 4000V & 1154 000H respectively. Johannes (cell no. [protected]) of your so called field team could not assist. All his promises was of no avail. According to him the problem should be sorted out by Icasa. We are not Clients of Icasa! 9 phone calls and 8 emails later our problem is still not resolved. We have given Johannes until 20 Dec to fix the problem and again gave extension to 20 Jan. He does not give ANY feedback and the same with the Helpdesk. On 4 Jan Johannes informed us that Multichoice is willing to refund us our premiums for mid Nov and Dec. Only time will tell whether this was another empty promise. I have also sent an email to Icasa on 14 Dec, but have not received a response yet. Must we lodge a complaint and go on TV with Carte Blanche before you will pay attention? It would appear that as long as I pay my premiums you are happy to receive and under no obligation to deliver service. It also appeared that the help desk attendands read their replies from a text and they cannot assist if the problem is outside of the scope of their text. A Moolman

Good day

Our entire experience with DSTV has been terrible.
We were month to month DSTV premium subscribers with no issues.
We applied for the DSTV pricelock option in October 2017. It then then took almost a month to conclude the application and for the items to be couriered to us. This was due to what they say is a backlog and the consultants taking down our address and telephone numbers incorrectly. Once we received the items we then got an accredited dstv installer to put up the dish and do the installation in the middle of november. Our DSTV has not worked since the installation. We have tried to get the installer, company name SETTRONICS, to come back and and fix the problem but he says he has to charge us now, which is absolutely absurd. We have complained to DSTV call centre and no action has been taken as yet... so in conclusion we are paying for a service for 3 months for nothing.

There are a lot more details which I have not includes in this message as to why this experience is so unpleasant. We feel like we are upholding our end of the arrangement by paying for the monthly pricelock subscription.

If this is not resolved urgently I will take this up with whatever board needs to hear my case.

I await an urgent response and resolution.

Regards

Zain Marais
[protected]