MultiChoice Africa / DSTV
reviews and complaints

I'm so dissatisfied with the service and the manner things are dealt with as a customer. I applied for this deal 3 October 2016 today is the 10 December and still no explorer being installed. I called customer service several times they say everything is in order. Why do you say in the advert it take days to be installed but I'm waiting months now. The advert is a total fraud if you ask me . Let me know what I must do because I'm fed up for multi choice and the customer service that don't resolve my issue

Smart card number [protected]
ID Number [protected]
Please read this e mail carefully as it details the evidence I will be presenting to the Consumer Complaints Commission and the remedy I will be seeking. It also details the steps you can take to avoid a complaint being made to the Commission.
1) You have disconnected my DSTV service at least three times in the last six weeks. This is breach of contract, as my account is paid up.
2) I pay my account annually.
3) When I began paying annually I was told that the benefit of paying an annual lump sum was that the subscriber received one month free and that any annual increase was only implemented from the following year.
4) I have received no communication from you to show that this condition has changed, therefore in terms of our contract a lump sum payment entitles me to one year connection, irrespective of any increase occurring during the year.
5) Early in November 2015 you disconnected my DSTV service. By email I explained that I pay annually and therefore was not due to pay again until early December 2015. You reconnected the service, credited my account with the number of days the service had been off and attempted to charge me a reconnection fee. When I explained that the disconnection was your error you agreed to refund the reconnection fee.
6) In November 2015 I asked for an invoice stating the amount due for the following year.
You stated by email that the amount I must pay to maintain the service until 6 December 2016 was R8569. A copy of this e mail is attached.
7) I paid the amount of R8569 on 7 December 2015 by EFT transfer. (Copy attached)
8) I had paid the amount requested and therefore we had a contract, your part of the contract was to provide a DSTV connection until 6 December 2016.
9) I received no further invoice or statement or other communication from you during the year in respect of my account.
10) During October 2016 you disconnected my DSTV service. (I did not make a note of the date however I am confident all the dates are in your records.)
11) I emailed Multichoice three times during October, explaining that I was paid up until December 2016, and including the evidence. The three emails were ignored.
12) I phoned the Multichoice call centre. I explained the situation. Your call centre employee referred the matter to her supervisor who agreed you had made an error and reconnected the service. I stated that I would not pay a reconnection fee, and in addition I wanted to be credited with the number of days I had been without a service. (Approximately two weeks, but again you can provide this detail from your records.)
Please preserve a copy of this recording as you will be required to submit it as evidence.
13) Early in November 2016 you disconnected my service again, without any notice or communication.
14) This time on 02 November I used an enquiry form on the DSTV web site to submit a complaint. I did not receive a reply until more than a week later (see below).
15) On 7 November I received an e mail requesting that I provide feedback on the “service” I had received from Multichoice. Needless to say I was scathing in my response.
16) On 8 November I received two e mails, the first saying that I owed R169.37. This is not possible (see above and your email stating that I am paid up until 6 December 2016.) There is no statement or invoice attached and no explanation of how this amount could have arisen.
The second e mail stated that my service had been reconnected. I presumed that you had identified your error in the first email.
17) On 8 November my service was reconnected after a further week off.
18) On 12 November my service was disconnected again and once again without any communication from you.
19) I contacted Multichoice again on 14 November; once again I have not had a response.
20) As at 16 November the service, which I have paid for in full, remains suspended.
In summary I have paid in full for a DSTV service from 7 December 2015 to 6 December 2016 (evidence attached). You have disconnected me for more than three weeks during this period, therefore you are in breach of contract.
Your remedy: Reconnect the service immediately and extend the contract by the number of days you have denied me – say to the end of January 2017. Note also that I will not pay a reconnection fee, that will be for your account.
If my service is not restored by 17:00 on 17 November 2016 I will take the matter up with the Consumer Ombudsman. I will motivate that I be awarded damages as envisaged by Section 62(2)(b)(ii) of the Consumer Protection Act – which, if successful will result in me being awarded a payment of double the amount I have paid.
Here is the relevant excerpt from the Act:
62 (2) If a supplier is unable to deliver any goods contemplated in subsection (1) when the consumer has paid the full price for those goods, the supplier must either, at the option of the consumer—

(b) refund to the consumer—
(ii) double the amount paid by the consumer, as compensation for breach of
contract in any circumstances not contemplated in subparagraph (i).
I will also ask the commissioner to award costs and damages to me.
I also reserve the option to communicate the above with the various consumer forums available to me.
You should note the following:
I do not watch sport, as a result, everything that I do watch on DSTV is available elsewhere and a lot cheaper. However my 94-year old mother, who lives with us, does enjoy watching some sport. She has been deprived of this due to your heavy handed action. My wife enjoys watching the news. You have deprived her of the coverage of two momentous events during the year, namely the state capture report and the American presidential elections. Your action has caused considerable irreversible damage.
The inadequate and ineffectual response from your “customer care” department and your repeated suspensions of a service, which has been paid for in full, are arrogant and contemptuous and demonstrate a complete lack of regard for your customers.

Copy sent by post to:
The Company Secretary
PO Box 1502
Randburg
2125

I'm absolutely dissatisfied with dstv they remove channels and replace them with crap. I have the compact package that included ed and I'm absolutely angry that this channel has been removed and replaced with an irrelevant channel called SPICE that is not educational at all. Quiet a few of my other channels were removed and replaced with nonsense that I would never watch. Also I have about 4 channels that do not work at all which are Vuzu, the food channel, mfamily and mnetstar. When I called the call centre they said I must take my decoder in which I think is nonsense as these channels just stopped playing on their own. Your service is crap and really not up to standards. I'm a very unhappy dstv customer.

I disconnected my DSTV in June 2016 and decided to put it back on in September. I then made a payment into the incorrect account on the 26th September 2016, when I called to reactivate my DSTV, I was informed the payment wasn't reflecting and I would need to pay before it can be reactivated. I then got all the necessary documentation to have the funds transferred. This was eventually done on the 2nd October 2016.
At the end of October and last week I paid my monthly subscription and then received an sms to advise that if I don’t pay R 125 by the 2nd December my service will be disconnected.
I then called the contact centre and spoke to Sindisiwe Shezi who advised me I was billed from the 26/9 to the 2/10 as I called in and it is valid. This is a conversation which lasted 20 minutes, eventually I asked to speak to a manager. A “supervisor/team leader” Lerato Sebatane came on. This left me highly irate and annoyed as I requested a manager and Sindisiwe was also annoyed at me for even questioning my account. Eventually I got the “manager's” Lerato Chamane's email address and sent an email, my reply is as follows :
“Afternoon Bianca
Please kindly note that I have gone through your account intensively and noticed your account will need you to make an additional payment R 125.80 for the period of(02-12-2016 to 01-01-2017) reason being that IP date from the 26- 2nd was adjusted as requested and you did not pay for your adjustment (R 151.80)charged from [protected]-2016) please note as per below and for any further questioning don’t hesitate to drop me an email or I can call you back if you don’t mind mam.
Regards
Lerato”
Is this how a manager replies to a customer. Explains why the staff is so arrogant.
How do I pay for no service rendered as I was advised it would only be reconnected once payment is made. What justification does Multichoice have in trying to steal from their customers. If I was still connected and watching I would freely pay but to demand I pay for nothing is unacceptable. I replied to the apparent manager and have yet to received another "slap in the face"
Bianca Pillay

I have submitted this problem via HelloPeter and direct to Multichoice but absolutely no resolution after almost eight months. The original complaint to Multichoice was allocated number 7976176 but nothing since June. The latest complaint by email to [protected]@multichoice on 17 November received a reference 59790c-1 with a promise to respond within 24 hours. As at 29 November I am still waiting ! I have been overcharged since April and require a refund to be made withoiut further delay !

Our DSTV account was suspended on 17 November 2016. I received an sms that I need to pay R1426.17 to stay connected.

I sent an email to Multichoice with the following queries

1. How come I don’t receive a statement from Multi Choice DSTV?

2. I received the following sms messages which are confusing. Please clarify them for me:

28 October 2016 I received this sms message (which I suspect might relate to the payment I made in February 2016 – see attachment):

“Dear DStv customer. We mistakenly credited you with an amount of R777. We’ll fix the mistake but please pay R777 by 31s Oct to stay connected.”

2 November 2016 I received an sms indicating the I must pay R599.17

15 November 2016 I received this sms message which confused me further:

“It seems we’ve still not received payment for your DStv payment plan. To avoid your payment profile being negatively reflected on the credit bureau, please pay R1097.27”

16 November 2016 I received an sms indicating that I must pay R599.17

17 November 2016 I received this sms yesterday:

“DStv: We’ve suspended your services as we’ve not received a payment. Please pay R1426.17”

It was indicated to me that the R777 amount went to some "suspense account" and it will be allocated correctly. The consultant also told me that I do not owe any money and that he will contact me on 1 December 2016 to advise me of the amount I might need to pay. Yesterday (27 November 2016) to my surprise my account was suspended again and I had to pay R1172 and I have not received any explanation for this amount.

Dear multi choice

My id number is [protected]. I applied for the explora on the price lock deal that was advertised on dstv, I am frustrated with the service and need some intervention from a supervisory level. Below is the timeline of events:
The application sms was send on 5 november 2016 (10:20am). I was contacted by your call center the application was successful and an order number was send to me (361288). The sms also read that the decoder will be dispatched in the next 2 to 3 days. Hence I was expecting delivery by no later than 10 november 2016.

I waited another week till 19 november 2016 and followed up on the delivery, the contact center could not help me and escalated the complained and issued me a ref number ([protected] ref 1). The complained was handled by petunia. [protected]@multichoice.Co. Za, and she replied that I will not be able to talk to someone more senior.

A customer survey was send to me and I rated the service with a 2. Customer complaints then phoned me and followed up on the issue. They promised me that the incident will be resolved in the next 2 to 3 days.

It's now 28 november 2016 and I received an e-mail that that my case has been resolved? Read below

Dear customer
Case number: [protected]-c2
We are pleased to inform you that your case logged on 24-11-2016 has been resolved by the dstv care team.

Please share your views on our service in the upcoming survey. We really appreciate you letting us know about your experience as this will help us improve.
If we can help you with anything else, please don't hesitate to email us.

Best wishes
Dstv care team

1. How is this possible?
2. I still did not receive an explora
3. The promise was for delivery 2 to 3 days later, it is now 23 days later?
4. Nothing changed after the incident was escalate?
5. What more must I do from my side to speed up delivery?

Regards
Japie visser (A previously satisfied customer)
+27 [protected]

On 01 October 2016 whilst checking my savings account statement I discovered a debit of R 709.43 against my account by mchoice25039876. On 03 October 2016 I visited their centre in Centurion to lay a complaint. I was told by a consultant that the debit was in respect of a "Drifta" or "Walka". I disputed this because I never had such an item. The consultant told me that the charges will be waived, but only after 4 weeks. I insisted that I wish to be refunded immediately since I am a Pensioner and need the credit for my accounts to be settled. She refused upon which I went to my bank and have the amount reversed for being an unauthorised debit.
Then I was issued with an invoice for an amount of R 110.00 being an increase for 2015 which was not debited against my account at the time. The following correspondence were exchanged by me and (a) Refilwe Motimele on 12 October 2016 Subjoined please find the document requested by you at the time of our telephonic conversation earlier this morning.
As explained my DSTV decoder was purchased from Pick n Pay Hyper, Centurion at a special for R 499.00 on 22/06/2013. The package only consisted of the decoder, smartcard and remote plus a voucher for a technician to do the installation.
The installation was done on 28/09/2013 where after Multi Choice was contacted and provided with my bank account details for a debit order for a years fees and to activate the system.
The next year my bank account was again debited for the 2014 year.
On 26/02/2015 I received notification of a fee increase for 2015. In terms of the second last paragraph on page 2 of said notification, a payment was made at
your Centurion branch on 21/03/2015 per credit card.
Please advise urgently how this problem will be resolved.
Kind regards
PJC Wagner

(b) Refilwe Motimele on 12 October 2016 I was contacted by Irene who said you have referred my complaint to her. I do not understand why you yourself did not revert back to me. Furthermore Irene stated that she does not understand the second last paragraph, since she is not conversant in Afrikaans. I therefor now request a detailed summary of my account since the date of inception where I was billed on a monthly basis per debit order against my savings account. Thereafter I reverted to a yearly subscription. It serves no purpose to contact me telephonicaly. I need a written explanation as well as what credit will be due to me if I cancel my subscription with effect from 1 November 2016.
My client number is [protected].
Kind regards
PJC Wagner
e-mail toney.[protected]@gmail.com

(c) [protected]@multichoice.co.za 15 October 2016 Please be advised that I had a lengthy discussion with the Manager, mr. Sipho Mavuso of your Centurion branch at his office. I provided him with all hard copies of my correspondence. I explained my frustration with the way my account was handled and that I am getting nowhere to have the matter resolved.
He made copies of all the relevant documents and undertook to to prepare a summary of all and every entry on my account since inception and e-mail it to me. I also stated that I now want to terminate my MultiChoice account. He contacted me on my cellphone on 13 October 2016 at 17h35 and informed me that should I wish to cancel my subscription with effect from 1 November 2016 an amount of R 290.00 will be refunded to me.
I hereby wish to confirm that I am cancelling my subscription as from 1 November 2016. Please arrange to have my ABSA Savings Account credited with R 290.00.
Thanking you in anticipation.
MultiChoice Client number: [protected]
Kind regards
PJC Wagner

(d) sipho.[protected]@multichoice.co.za 28 October 2016 Good morning mr. Mavuso
Subsequent to our telephonic conversation on 13 October 2016 at 17h35 I wish to confirm that I am cancelling my subscription as from 1 November 2016. My DSTV service must be terminated on Monday 31 October 2016. Please arrange to have my ABSA Savings Account credited with the amount of R 290.00. Subjoined please find a copy of my bank statement as requested by you in order to expedite the process of the refund.

Thanking you in anticipation.
MultiChoice Client number: [protected]
Kind regards
PJC Wagner
Cellphone: [protected]

Up to date no refund reflects in my Savings Account.

On 13 October 2016, me and my wife SMS to get the Explora as advertised. To date we have not yet received the explora. After more than 10 phone calls made and a number of e-mails we still did not received any feedback from multi choice or Dstv. At no point in time the staff of Multi Choice or Dstv came back to us. We every time had to initiate the enquiry. If this is the standard that Multi Choice and Dstv provide administrative services to customers, my days of make use of Multi Choice and Dstv came to an end. We were customers since 2004. If this complaint deliver no solution, I will formally take the case to the ombudsman. My name is André de Jager. My wife's name is Susan De Jager. My telephone contact details are +[protected] and E-Mail: [protected]@gmail.com. My wife's telephone number is [protected] and E-mail [protected]@gmail.com

I am a current Dstv subscriber who recently moved my account over to my husbands name on the 18th of November 16. All I have requested for is a confirmation letter stating that my account has been closed or moved over to my husbands name. I have been to Dstv MultiChoice for 6 consecutives days now spending a hour each day at the umhlanga office with still no joy after being told by Siyabonga Mabani that it will take 2 to 48 hours and I should be patient. This has been escalated on the 18th however there has been no feedback nor follow up being done. I urgently require this information and did not realise that this is the kind of business I actually contributed to. Joseph Zibani has still yet to communicate feedback for my request as well and the service received over the counter by Siyabonga a supervisor is appalling. Dstv you have simply inconvenienced me throughout this ordeal with pathetic service being rendered from both the call center and multichoice office and it's sad that this is the quality you offer for such a brand with such incompetent staff. Your service really does not hold up to its name.

Dissatisfied Completely

Multichoice deducted money off my account via debit order without my consent. Secondly they deducted more than 20 times my monthly installment for the package I am on in one go.

I phoned them, explained the problem and requested they refund the money back into my account as soon as possible. The agent assured me the money would be paid back within 5 to 7 working days. Two weeks past without any feedback or refund. Again I had to phone multichoice to follow up. The agent could not provide me with much insight and advised me that the agent who worked on the case would have to phone me back as they would have more information. This was not sufficient and a requested to speak to a team leader or manager where after I was advised by the agent that no one is available which is clearly why the service is so poor. After being kept on hold numerous times the agent assured me that a manager or team leader would phone me back with more information that same day. Needless to say this never happened. I am seriously disgusted with this poor service.

If this is not resolved within 24hours I will take the matter further and make it a priority to complain on any forum available.

My customer number - [protected]

Good day,

Re: formal complaint against mikes dtsv in cape town

In re of the above, kindly be advised that we act on behalf of our client mr. Clayton herein.

Please be advised that on or about 7 november 2016, on the dot delivered the dstv explorer to my clients household in kraaifontein. On 17 november 2016 dstv contracted the company mikes dstv to install the explorer and move the hd decoder. Mikes dtsv's contact details are as follows, contact number [protected].

Kindly note the hd decoder was not installed correctly and the two televisions in our clients household does not receive dstv signal as before.

Please be advised that that since 17 november 2016 my client has contacted the [protected] and to date has not been assisted and proof of time complaining but yet received unprofessional assistance.

My client further instructs us that he contacted mike on 19/11/2016 and mike advised he will come but failed to do so and again on 21/11/2016.

My client has been disappointed and let down that no one has assisted him and thus he had to come to us as attorneys to intervene.

We trust that you will attend to this matter as urgency failing which we will be forced to lodge a complaint with the ncc and be forced to take further legal action.

Thank you.

Kind regards
Cameron
Admitted attorney
[protected]@lipco.Co. Za

I spoke to one of your agents by the name of Nolitha Nogcinisa who help me arrange for a debit order to go off on the 25th November 2016. I made payment on the 25th October 2016 and she said the debit order will be R1219.47 on the 25th. Now you guys tell me she gave me a wrong advice, now my DSTV is disconnected. How is it that the incompetence of your agents becomes my problem?
Acc No [protected]

On 1 April 2016 I paid R759 at the kiosk at RF Technologies on my DStv account. On 7 April I went to them with bank statements because I have not paid - according to them. I also paid an extra R200 so in total I paid R959 for April. On 17 April my service was switched off (due to non-payment). I submitted my bank statement and my service was restored. On 7 October the R759 was transferred to another account holder (one Smith) after bank statements of that person showing he/she paid R800+ during that month and it was never allocated (difference: I paid R759 and that person more than R800). This month (November) my service was cut off 3 time already (the reason is I am R759 in arrears). I have provided proof in the form of bank statements on three different occasions up to now - the last time being Saturday, 12 November and I phoned them again yesterday at 13:22). My service has been scrambled again this morning. What can I do? I have provided them with proof that my account is paid up until December 2016 but they keep on cutting off my service. Please help!

Poor service from Multichoice and their partners. I am constantly been given the wrong information by consultants and customer care agents. I have been disconnected twice because I receive the wrong information and mistakes made by Multichoice employees. At the end of the day the subscriber suffers as I cannot view or get disconnected. Please can you address the issue with me, I need to speak to a knowledgeable and professional individual.
Prudence is the agent who dealt with my issue. I am Paid the amount she said for reconnection on the 15th. No DSTV.

Vusi Gumede
ID:[protected]
[protected] (no. At back of card)
Tel: [protected]

Guys,

This is the last time I am sending an email. There is 2 accounts active on my name even though I only have one service at one residential address which is XtraView and decoder care. Monthly I am being billed various accounts and when paying money to Multichoice it goes into the default account which means the amount on the other account keeps climbing. Every month you threaten me via sms that you will blacklist me since I did not make payments even though the main account is in credit! This is having a negative impact on my credit rating.

I have spent >R1500 on call centre calls still nothing has been done. I have cancelled my debit order still nothing has been done. I asked to speak to your complaints department until now more than a year later and 100+ callcentre logs still no one has contacted me. I had to cancel the debit order since you are just deducting money as you see fit, which gets me into trouble due to insufficient funds.

So this is where we stand – either you fix this or you cancel all my accounts. And don’t give me the “you have an explorer 24 months payment plan contract you cannot stop the accounts” comment or feedback. That contract is only valid if you provide the correct service, bill me correctly. So if you don’t obey the rules of the contract then surely I don’t have to.

Attached is all emails, correspondence and proof of the double accounts. I suggest someone calls me on [protected] to discuss this and to have this resolved.

Regards

ID: [protected]
Client Code: [protected]

In may 2016 I phoned mulichoice to swap over to the price lock explorer special they where running, the result of the call was that once I pay the r150.00 then they will deliver my explorer. I told them to deduct it that same friday as I will make sure there is funds available. That next day which was the thursday the debit order came back unpaid. Really? I left it in my mind the whole deal was off as they haven't received the r150.00! A week later I was traveling on a friday afternoon out of town already I received a phone call that i'm standing at your gate to deliver your explorer. I told the guy that he can leave with the explorer as I didn't pay for it. An hour later he phones me again saying his still standing at my gate. I felt really sorry for the poor guy and phoned my complex landlord to just except the delivery I will sort it out when I come back. That same afternoon I started getting sms on my phone your explorer is now successfully activated (really lying in a box at my landlord) ? The sms came pouring in I just left it for the monday. That day my nightmare started say about 50 phone calls later they told me that in the box I will find a paper with the installers name and number I checked that box inside out no paper the more I say to them no paper the more I get told there is a paper indeed. Eventually I got so frustrated that I left the box lying in the corner of my bedroom for how long ever. That end of the second month they phoned me saying my services will be cut as I owe them money? After another 20 phone call allot of promises that someone will phone me I had to phone again. I phoned the legal department and spoke to joel very helpful gentleman he got winsonia adams to deal with my problem and to resolve. She helped me until the end sorted everything out for me credited my account and she saved a client for multichoice.. Wait this is not the end today at 09:41 baphiwe hlongwane [protected] sent me an email your account is in arrears we would like to do a payment arrangement. I nearly died how in this world will it ever be possible for multichoice to sort this out? O before I forget my new ref number is 1156851/i49 3 phonecalls this morning now I have to wait for someone to phone me... Star sat I miss you - you will see me soon * (&^&* ( (^ & dstv)

My multichoice account number is [protected], for E.N Seager. On Monday, the 7th of Nov my husband and I phoned in DSTV to enquire about change of ownership from his account number [protected] under D.H Seager.

We have two decoders under the address 80 Dilkoosh Road. The main lounge decoder V602236043 with Smart card # [protected].
The second bedroom decoder is serial number U200386582 - smart card numbers [protected].

On speaking with Boitumelo on the phone, I asked her to send me the form via e-mail and confirmed with her the details I needed to input in the form. I submitted these via e-mail on Friday, the 11th. On Saturday morning the, 12th I realized that DSTV was no longer working. I phoned in and the agent told me that the change of ownership had been done on the decoder and that I needed to verify my personal and devises details so the service could be activated. Apparently, when the change of ownership is done, I am supposed to receive a phone call from the agents informing me, but none of that happened! When I enquired about the 2nd tv in the lounge he told me that he could not activate it because it's details were not on the change of ownership form. I told him, my husband and I had spoken with the agent about two decoders, the one in the lounge being the main decoder and the bedroom one is extra view. Yet, only extra view decoder was activated. He advised I needed to fill in the 2nd decoder details in the "additional device" section" on the same forms.

Whilst he was on the phone, I filled in the main decoder details to make sure I had done this correctly. I e-mailed this immediately. This was on Sat morning, the 12th.

I called in later on the same day to follow up and the lady who answered the call said the 2nd decoder has not been activated yet, and that to ensure I do no encounter any further problems, I pay the pro-rata fee to the amount of R379.60. ! This starting on Sat, the 12th until the next debit order run. I e-mailed the POP. This amount includes extra view which I still do not have! On e-mailing the POP plus the completed forms - where I clearly indicated the 2nd decoder details, the agent responded to my e-mail stating that I needed to fill in the change of ownership forms, as if he/she never bothered to open the attachment! This is infuriating. I told this person I will not complete the forms AGAIN because I have done so, where both decoder details were included.

The waiting period is 48 hours from time of submitting the forms, and this includes the week-end.

It is Monday evening and I still do not have my account activated. I called in during the day to follow up, and I was told it has not been done yet. I have sent several e-mails, and there is still no feedback.

I am going to demand a refund for these 3 days on which I have paid for extra view and yet I have my tv stuck on channel 100 for 3 days.

Dstv advertisement about the explorer decoder, is false they say on the explorer, the catch up will record some series n movies but those series are not up dated, only the south African ones are. Plus I think dstv making us south African pay for all they other countries African countries that they giving discount to. I am on dstv extra n in passed months 5 channel closed but I paying same amount

Mars, season 1, episode 1, on channel's 125, 181 and 182, and at the same time, 20h05.

How is it possable to have three channels, at the same time, broadcasting the exact same program?

Surely there must be better viewing material available for the other two channels, refering
To channel 181, and 182 at the same time?

Whats next?

Reruns ?

Five channels with the same thing at the same time?