MultiChoice Africa / DSTV
Reviews and Complaints

I have received very bad service from multichoice I called in on the 20/12/2016 to cancell my subscription with multichoice I also request a refundcon the credit left and the explaind to me that they will switch it off on the 27/12/2016 on the 30/12/2016 I called in to tell them that my dstv is still on and they told me that they have no record of that and I requested that they switch it of and I want a refund the ladie still asked me if they must refund it back to my nedbank account and I said yes. On the 03/01/2017 I called in to check if all is in order and they said yes. On the 12/01/2017 I called in to find out when the money will be in my account and I spoke to a guy he said he will send the request through for the money to be paid back into my account it will take 4 to 7 days I told him I requested this on the 30th again impossible so I asked for a supervisor to call me back I waited and waited than I called in again I spoke to a different person she told me she will send request through to be paid back to my bank account.13/01/2017 I called in to find out when will the money be in then they told me the money is paid back to my dstv account I told them who requested that after a huge fight they told me they will forward it to finance departmertment to refund my told them I want the money in my account today. As I have been waiting 12days now if you have to take it from the 28/12/2017 and 9days from the 30/12/2016. At 14h00 I called them asking for answers they said they will call me back again I called them they promised to call me so they had no answers at 16h00 they call me to say finance department said I must email them my id copy and bank statement so went to the bank and they are closed why did they not tell me I need to send them this in the first place when I requested the refund no I must wait untill monday is this the way to treat your clients. The service is shocking and I am going to take this to hellopeter, bad service sa.com, twitter and ombidsman. I am sure if this is the service I am receiving from multichoice their must be more clients and multichoice can not get away with this. I am actually feeling sick of the stress I had and the way I am treated. I will never ever think of putting my dstv on.

I received a large debit order which I queries after which I was given a strangers surname and told I pay his account too. Because this individual gave up my banking details they are simply deducting his costs from my account! I alerted them to the fact that I did not authorize this and do not even know the person, but they just stated that his payment is going off of my account in reply. I am incredibly upset

When I joined pricelock
It was advertised as R519 per month for 24 months
Now all of the sudden it have move up to R539 without any communication. Why did my premium go up where they were supposed go be locked for 24 months?

Secondly the catch up takes forever before adding episodes on catch up
What's the meaning of catch up if I need to wait more that 2 weeks for an episode which was aired 2 weeks ago
E.g "it's complicated" it ended two weeks ago but the final episode still not added on catch up
Why?
What are we paying for

Still not reconnected, since the 13th October 2016 as per message on my DSTV screen, stating It will be connected the next day.I had two visits at the Randburg office, customer complaint division, paid the outstanding R458-00 plus R50-00 reconection fee, having spoken to the consultant, the team leader and the area manger, promised reconnection the next day, I am still without the signal.
I was asked to pay R3300-00 or sign an acknowledgement of debt with an arrangement for monthly extra payments for such debt. I could not get a satisfactory explanation about the origins and accumulation of such an ammount. I am stiil without my DSTV, on requested explanation, no reconnection following the reconnection message. I cant tell what to do next.

I have been a dtsv subscriber since 2000. I have been an annual subscriber for the past 5 years (Payable oct).In jan-16 I purchased a dstv explora decoder. I phoned the call center on 29 jan in order to activate the decoder. I was told that I needed to pay r3, 315.50 in order to activate the decoder, which I did. With this I assumed that my annual renewal would move from oct to jan.
On 28 nov I received an sms stating that I need to pay r1800 or my account will be suspended. After a 30+ minute call I was told that my account was changed from annual to monthly subscription. This was supposedly corrected and I had to pay r315. Less that 2 weeks later I received another sms stating that I need to pay another amount or my account will be suspended. I phoned again and after yet another 30+ minute call everything was sorted. My problem was to be escalated to someone somewhere for approval and I would receive feedback on the same day.
December came and I went on leave. As luck would have it, upon my return, my service was suspended. On 4 january I spoke to sifiso at the call center (Another 30+ minute call) who told me that they did not credit me for the one month which I was supposed to get for free, as I am an annual subscriber and my subscription was paid up until the end of january. He corrected the error (Ref [protected]). Two days later my service was suspended again. I phoned yet again and was told that I have a zero account balance and the error was cleared.
Yesterday (9 jan) when I got home, my services were suspended yet again. After speaking to tsepiso (Another 48+ minute call) I was told that now I need to pay r3650 as my annual subscription was due. After trying to explain to him that my annual subscription cannot be r3, 650 (R759x12=r9, 108) I gave up and asked to speak to his supervisor. After another 10 minutes on hold I spoke to refilwe nkashua (I am not sure about the spelling of the surname). I was told that my annual subscription was only up to december (Which is different from what all the other consultants told me). The r3, 650 owed would only be for january to april. As I am an annual subscriber I do not understand how I am then supposed to pay twice a year. I asked her to give me one amount for the whole year in order to make payment. I was assures that she would phone me back and activate my account. I am still waiting for the call.
I am very disappointed, frustrated and irritated with the pathetic service that I have received from multichoice. Every time I phone I get a different answer. I cannot understand how nobody can assist me to correct my account, which I will also close today.
Account number [protected]
Smartcard number [protected]
Explora serial number waaaabj542512920
Cobus pienaar.

I am so pissed off this morning. I made payment on Friday the 6/01/2017 but dstv was only open on Saturday afternoon. I am not using extra view for the past more than 3 years why pay for it. Why shut down dstv why not cancelled the extra view. This morning dstv is off again why? We pay so much and service is very bad. Movies and every other program is playing over and over. The sad thing is you pay so much and then you have to pay again to phone them and hold on for hours before someone help you.

Hi, firstly may I please have my debit order cancelled! Secondly please remove the additional r50 (Reconnection fee) added onto my account. I went into the durban smith street branch to set up a debit order for my account and advised the gentleman to register the 30th as the deduction date, he said all was in order and so I left. My service was cancelled on the 10th of december 2016 and my brother whatsapps asking why and I being puzzled I went back to the service centre. Spoke to another lady who said i'm registered on debit order but wasn't sure why it didn't take off. I kept quite made payment there and asked her to set it up for the 29th of the month... She too said it's all set up and I left. I checked on the self service site on the 4th of january 2017 and it said my account is paid up however my standard bank app says it's been deducted and returned on the 4th. Who instructed the 4th? I did not! Why am I billed reconnection fees twice already for multichoices technical errors? Why? I called in to the contact centre wasting my airtime to query this and boitumelo said once again I am on debit order but seemingly the deduction date was not registered. She kept on saying she'd escalate this to 'edhock' or whatever and everything will be sorted and when I asked about the service being stopped she said I won't pay for any reconnection fees as the service is not cancelled. Yes it wasn't cancelled at the time but I knew this day would come. I thought debit order we're supposed to make one's life easier not so? I'll make a payment of the amount that was supposed to be deducted (R330) via atm as I usually paid before and i'll rather stick to that son I won't have to waste my work time and my airtime calling in which I did again this morning. It's not my fault your company deducted on the 4th, by this time all my funds are transferred to my savings account.. Need a bank statement to confirm I had funds on the 29th, 30th, 31st 2016 and 1st-3rd of 2017? Let me know i'll gladly provide evidence. Please cancel the debit order and remove the r50 fee of my account! You should be removing the december one as well.. It's your company's fault after all.

My details
[protected]
Ms bm ngqolowa

My name is Rosemary in November 2015 I agreed to top up my plan by adding explore deal which was a contract for 24 months. So all was arranged papers signed and debit order was arranged all was wonderful everyone was happy until last December (2016) When I didn't make payment for the December month and Dstv was cut off. Payment was meant to go through on the 15 of every month, so I called in around 20 something to arrange payment only to find out disappointing news. I advise the consultant of my situation and tell her that I want to make payment immediately. To my surprise the consultant tells me that I owe R5900 and something haaaaa I ask her if she has got the correct account as I only owe one months payments, She reply and say it is the correct account and also again confirm details. I ask to explain to me how on earth did this happen as I have arranged for a debit order so I won't deal with payment issue's. She explains that the account has not been getting paid for 9 months now and it was changed to be a cash payment. I Ask THE LADY HOW EARTH DID IT CHANGE AS I DIDN'T ARRANGE THAT! AND SINCE WHEN DOES A CONTRACT FROM DSTV MULTI CHOICE FROM DEBIT TO CASH WITHOUT MY CONSENT? AND SINCE WHEN HAS DSTV MULTICHOICE BE SO KIND AND LET YOU WATCH YOUR CONTENT WITHOUT PAYING? CAUSE I SURE KNOW CLEARLY THAT ITS ONLY A COUPLE OF DAYS AND THEN ITS OFF? NO answer from consultant cause she was clearly confused as I was! After minutes of waiting she comes back (she had to put me on hold to find out what happening) she then said she will arrange for someone to call me. Apparently if it's a contract you are only switched off after 3 months but I asked why was means not switched off then? No answer from agent she also didn't know what was happening. I then agree to arrange the call back. No body call after 2 days on the 3rd I call again very upset as I am calling with my airtime to explain the story again and have to be put on hold Again! Poor service A VERY BIG INCONVENIENCE! I spoke to this lady called Palesa Moloto who also shocked of what happened and also said she will arrange someone to call me from payment department. Lucky someone calls in and advise that she is aware of the situation but also say I must make payment, Everyone has been saying they understand my situation but they clearly Don't! I have told them both I don't have that kind of money, Why on earth did I arrange a debit order if something like this is going. To happen? No. Answer from agent. At the moment my kid have NOTHING to WATCH and Dstv multi-choice is having me call them again and again the issue is still NOT RESLOVED VERY VERY DISAPPOINTED BY THIS. I DONT EVER WANT. TO. CONTINUE WITH DSTV IF THIS THE SERVICE I GET.

I bought a decoder from a branch in kempton park on the 23rd of december and was promised that the dish was going to be delivered the same day. Well nothing came. My wife kept calling them for over a week and a half but still noone came. And today my wife phoned them and they started saying nasty words and i took the phone and asked why the guys were so mean to my wife and he quickly droped the call. After a couple of minutes they phoned back and asked my wife who was talking on the phone and she told them it was her husband and they apologised and promised to bring the dish in an hour. At 18:30 today(07/01/17) they phoned and asked my wife to come and meet at the garage to collect the dish and she told them to come to the entrebce of our flat not at the garage and the guys refused so she told them to go back with it if they cant deliver to the correct adress. Worse the weather is very wet out there. Finally they decided to come to the entrence and i went to meet them with my wife. OMG what a very unproffessional contractor i met. He said here is yo dish am rushing somewhere. Immediately asked him what about the cable and the other stuff for connection and he went back to collect from his car. Another shock ... he brought a 2or 3 mitre cable and i asked him if thats all and he said yes. While i was still talking he threw it on the ground and ran back in the car. I followed him and stood in front of his car now because he couldnt move his car he then decided to open his window. I told him to take his things with him because i was not happy with everything he said he wont take them back and if its lost he does not care because i paid already. I took out my phone and took photos of his car thats when he came out and took his things. These guys were so rude. The way they spoke to us can get them in danger.

Complaint regarding extremely poor customer service.
Smart card no [protected]

I have a complaint with the Multichoice service and customer care. I called on the 26 December 2016 to report that the box office service via the decoder was not working for me. After spending 30 minutes on the line the agent informed me that my query would be handed over to escalation service for resolution. To date I have had no response at all about this query. This is unacceptable service!

I called the customer care again on the 07 January 2017 again to co plain about the total lack of service. I was told by the agent that the SMS service will not work for me as my phone account is not a pre paid one. This is a totally unacceptable explanation.

I then spoke to a supervisor who said that there is nothing they can to to help me. I was told by the supervisor (Portia) that the terms and conditions excluded SMS's from contract phones. Well nowhere in the terms and conditions is this mentioned. What kind of a service is this? I need this resolved asap and I need an apology for the pathetic service I have received.

Below your t&c's for box office!
http://go.dstv.com/multichoice/documents/MultiChoice_BoxOffice_T_and_Cs.pdf

Good Day

I would like to lodge a official complaint against multichoice for incorrect billing against my multichoice account, I am being billed for a PVR Decoprder which i do not own, I have called multichoice numerous times, and every time I call in my query is supposedly being escalated, but I have never received a call back, this has now resulted in my bank taking strain, as some debits return unpaid

Good day,

DSTV Premium is an expensive product and with competitive streaming solutions with an array of choice its beciming increasingly harder to justify subscription.

The most irritating thing is all the adverts at 5 minute intervals. This is obviously how you make more money which makes me question why you make your customers pay such an excessive amount for mostly adds during their favorite shows when trying to unwind.

Hi yesterday 4 Jan 2016 I called in to get a clarity on my account for having outstanding balances all the time, the lady who first help me had an attitude as if she's doing me a favour she couldn't help me as I got pissed for her poor customer service I asked for her supervisor she said okay and she just put my call on hold, I literally hold for 58 min its obvious she just let me hold until my airtime get finished.I dropped the call and called again a lady by a name of Fesile answered she was professional I told her I need to speak to her supervisor and I ask how long will i hold she said it won't take more than 5min and indeed I didn't hold that long a supervisor by the name Nomsa she attended my call and I explained everything to her she was so willing to help me and I was so happy the way she handled my complaint she told me to drop the call and she will call me back and she did call back I must say she was really helpful and she treated me well as a customer and I felt I'm getting the service I deserve at the end I was satisfied with her service my complain is for the first lady who wasted my time and my money and let me hold for almost 58min I have the call log history to prove it, im also a paying multi choice customer and I don't appreciate to be made a fool instead of being helped I asked Nomsa the supervisor to please investigate what happen and listen to our conversation with the lady who gave me an attitude and found out why I was made a fool instead of her calling the supervisor for me she just made me hold for an hour this is totally unacceptable, she promised that she will look at the call and hand it over to the relevant person they will contact me after they have investigated I'm still waiting.. I need answers I can't be made a fool I mean holding for an hour this is seriously not on.

I cant see dstv from December 2016. You suspence my services and account. On this moment two of my dstv smartcards no pvr [protected] and smartcard no [protected] is inactive

I sent you many emails and was by the office in Pretoria lynwood Road. Nobody can help me Nobody answer the emails

Two case no 4806140I120 and 4806140I117

I am so cross is a active account since 1986 (mnet) You give no service. I will not pay this month, I am going to cancel my debetorder by the bank.

No service or DSTV no payments

My account no 4806410 M C Van Zyl

Being a Loyal customer for 15 years +, I can say that we've had long hours of fun and entertainment. I've upgraded over the years and were very excited about Box office as well. I'm sorry to say that channel surfing is all we do recently. Disappointed in all the Animated movies on Box Office. Who wants to rent all six Barbie Movies, needles to say something about all the old movies. Currently I cant even remember when was the last time I've enjoyed watching something on television. With everything costing more these days, I would like to feel that this is my money worth. Please do something about this urgently.

Subsrcibed to DSTV explora price lock on compact services. The guy who took all my details initially for the subscribtion said i can upgrade anytime i like. 3 days ago i upgraded to the DStv extra package to no avail, services have been suspended and i have been sitting without any viewing for the last 40hours. Everytime i talk to a consultant it takes more than 20min to explain to them what the story is, making out as if its my fault that everything has been cancelled.

DStv you are pathetic, your services are pathetic, its unfortunate this is the only thing in SA we can subribe to, to watch relevant material.

I had the exploration with extra view installed on the 2nd November. The installer informed me the signal was not strong enough for the explora and I would experience problems. I removed trees as recommended in an attempt to improve signal - this made no difference. I have been in contact with Dstv and their field technician came out to try and resolve the issue to no avail. I suggested swopping the explora around with my PVR. I was informed the explora could not be a secondary decoder. I am now sitting with the situation that I can only watch TV if weather is absolutely perfect without a cloud in the sky. I often sit without signal for more than eight hours at a stretch. Not once was I informed of the requirement of having direct and clear line of sight with the satellite. Dstv's attitude is I can try various (expensive) options of installing high extension poles - which they advised may or may not work. I am extremely annoyed that I am paying so much extra a month for the explora yet the older PVR decoder gave far superior coverage and I hardly ever had a problem of no signal. I am now stuck with an expensive subscription for a decoder that in my opinion is not fully functional.

Areanas 13 industries cc t/a metrosat, this company is one of your installers that promised to come to install the explora at my house and I waited for them the whole day, whilst I kept on calling them asking if they still coming and the lady at the office (loren) confirmed to me that deon will definitely come to install the decoder today. I am writing this complaint now and they still have not even called me. This is one of the pathetic service I have ever received, how about calling me to apologize for delay or something ?I took a day off at work to get t his sorted and we had an appointment for today since the morning deon told me they will do the installation still in the morning. I am a very unhappy customer who sat at home the whole day with a black tv, couldn't even watched cricket, my kids are asking me when are these people arriving. Very unprofessional installers you have in your panel for a great company like multichoice. I don't even know what we are going to do tomorrow I regret getting this explora that I can't even experience thanks to people who don't give a damn about customers.

Customer: marius jansen
Customer no: [protected]
I. d no: [protected]

I was contacted by one of dstv’s telemarketers or sales person on the 12th dec 2016 with a promotion deal on the new explora2.
I was told that for r100.00 a month for x24 months I can get the new explora2 with smart lnb & dish installed.
The total value apparently came to r1999.00
On the 14th dec 2016 I received a sms that ram couriers has received a parcel from on air for delivery.
The parcel was delivered on 15 dec 2016 which consists of only the explora2.
Today is the 03 jan 2016 and the agreement was not honoured.
The explora2 decoder costs only r1500.00 but the promotion deal is r100.00 over 24 months which is r2400.00.
No installation happened at all, no smart lnb and no dish.
I was forced to purchase a smart lnb myself and fortunately my old 500mm dish works with the lnb.
I was also forced to install the decoder and smart lnb myself.
This is absolutely unacceptable and disappointing from dstc/multichoice.
I have been a dstv customer for about 15 years and I never expected this.

I would rather take that this is an isolated incident and that dstv will honour the customer agreement.

I am sixty-six years of age turning 67 years on 11 february 2016.

On 02 january 2017 I was served by a gentleman whose name I can no longer recall. One of the issues we discussesd was moving my debit order date to either the 2nd or the 3rd of each month as of january 2017. He advised me the system was slow and I accepted it because he spent time requesting me to be patient with him. Due to difficulties on dstv side he told me he had set set same for the 3rd monthly. He however advised me of his further difficlty of not getting a feedback on his side and he then advised me to call dstv at about 07hrs today to get a confirmation.

Unfortunately I was only able to make the call today, before 10hrs. I was served by a very unfriendly lady who confirmed my debti order was now going through on the 3rd of every month. She further advised that I will have to pay a reconnection fee of r700. She confirmed my services were disconnected this morning, on the very same day the debit order is supposed to go through. When I tried to voice my displeasure she totally ignored my displeasure even when I told her I was a pensioner.

I therefore wish to advise you I was not at all please by the way I was treated by this lady. This is the first time I have ever complined as a long standing customer of yours.

Secondly I do not believe it is fair for dstv to levy disconnection penalty when arrangements were already in place that the debit order will go through on the 3rd, the very same day the service is connected. I therefore expect to be reimbursed with the sum of r700.