MultiChoice Africa / DSTV
Reviews and Complaints

Dear Dstv
This morning I visited the dstv branch at 5th avenue in springs, I went to the Enquires Line, I was met by the most unfriendly women vie met in recent times, I asked her to reconnect, I told her I have seen I have an outstanding balance and inquired as to why this is because I'm sure I cancelled the dstv the last time, Her response was that sometimes dstv does not cancel same time, which means dstv has charged me after I disconnected ? I THEN asked her to downgrade me to compact, she said that will only be possible on the 26th .She gave me a total of R724, 00 which i paid at the dstv store at 10:28am (customers number [protected], , , , receipt number [protected]) I went home and checked the dstv it was not connected, I went back to the store, I again meet the same lady I told her the situation, she told me to bring in the decoder because it has and installation issue or a technical problem . I went back home collected the decoder and proceeded back to the store, I then waited more then 1 hour in the line, when I arrived to the counter I was attended by a friendly gentlemen who said to me my dish has properly move the decoder is fine, so he has to send out a Guy to check the signal, he asked me were I stay, I told him not to from the store I gave him my details, that was around 13H00 at around 14H15 I went back I spoke to the same gentlemen as before he said that the tech guy is in selcourt springs and will call me, I explained to him that if there a problem I would t know early because I would have to buy a new dish, I come back to the store, to book a fitting, It is now 15H05 no tech guy has even called to tell me his on his way or will be coming, , the service offered to me today spoiled my day, I was not expecting it especially during the festive season and certainly not from a service provider like Multi choice if the staff does not want to be at work, you rather close the store, , , , , , so iv basically paid dstv for a day service's that has not been offered to me, I feel disgusted to even buy a new dstv and go to that store again, it was a utter waste of my day and time and time is the most precious and Dstv has totally wasted mine, , , , , The staff member's name on my receipt is Mamosebetsi Eka ...Im not to sure if that is lady's true name

The agent told me that because I already have an Explora decoder, I don't qualify for the package that includes installation as well as that I must have a smart LNB otherwise my current Explora would not work. This was sold to me under false pretences.

I was also told that all the decoders are on my name, as per the system, she said, after I asked how to transfer decoders from my dad's name onto mine.

As it turns out, i do not have a smart LNB and hence this package is absolutely useless to me, needless to say neither were any decoders on my name, which resulted in a more than double charge for my DSTV subscription last month.

I have reported this numerous times and have had no joy.

Multi choice has yet to contact me to try to sort the problem out - breach of contract springs to mind

To whom it may concern,

The service at this branch is awful. I went to change ownership of a decoder and get a new smart card. I spent nearly an hour in a que, only to be told I needed an affidavit to change ownership of a decoder. I duly left and got the affidavit, spending another hour in a que a the police station. On my return, the lady, that assisted me previously, was on lunch. After waiting another 30 min, I was assisted by someone else, only to be told that there were no smart cards in stock. When I asked to speak to a manager, I was told, I can't, the manager won't help.

If there were no smart cards, why send me to the police station in the first place to get an affidavit.

The staff members I dealt with clearly need more training, as their customer service is extremely poor and product knowledge limited.

In general, after observing the staff for nearly two hours today, I can only describe the work ethic as slack.

Regards
Janet Blom
[protected]@gmail.com

I have made numerous calls to Dstv to sort the problem out cause I am unable to view certain Chanels. I also changed from compact to premium now the Message advised me the account is in arrears. The call centre agent request that I make a payment due to some other negligent agent who when requested to upgrade did not do the necessary instructions for the debit order I request this to be sorted out as I am paying for service not rendered Smart card number [protected] Mr Junaid Rassool

As a dstv subscriber I am very unhappy about the same movies being repeated over and over. There are thousands of movies that have never been aired on dstv, but no, we have to watch fast and furious, hulk, fast five and... The list goes on and on... It is being played everyday!
There are some great movies out there that has never been aired! I will write a few.

1. Assault on precinct 13
2. Apocalypto (Mel gibson)
3. Suicide squad
4. Civil war
5. Mom (The movie)
6. Rambo 1 - 3 (we get to see only rambo 4)

Thank you for my free DSTV subscribtion each month this is actually the best service I have ever received! I have phoned on 2 occassions to inform you that you are not debitting my account, each time the operator promises that someone will phone me back but no one ever bothers. I will not waste another cent on phone calls to beg you to take your money. I am just going to enjoy the free dstv. Thank you so much...your pathetic service is making me rich😀

I have had endless problems with my Holiday Card for almost a year now. They keep messing up my account and it takes me hours and hours of my airtime to try and resolve the problem! Every time I phone in, I get my account "fixed" but it ends up worse than ever!

I was told by Nhlanhla Khoza that there was a problem on the Holiday Platform and that they had to de-link my Holiday card. I must now phone in every time (from my cell at premium rate) every time I am out at my Holiday Home.

Nhlanhla told me to email him with any problems or to schedule a connection. After numerous emails, he phoned me once but I was up a ladder fixing a light and he promised to phone back in 10 mins...sent 2 more emails still waiting.
Now the best is still to come ! on Friday night at 17H07, I phoned in from my Cell: [protected] to have my service enabled on my Holiday card. The decoder did not come on and after 23 mins (cell call) I was told the DSTV had a "technical problem" Now I only wanted to watch the T20 cricket final and when I came back from fishing at 20H49 the decoder was still not on. I phoned in and told them to cancel as It was no use to me as I only wanted to watch the cricket that night. The lady refused and said it had to be on for 24 hours?well is was NOT ON so cancel! She put me through to a Gary Jacobs (Manager?) Who promised to phone me on Sunday at 3PM . I told him to schedule a immediate dis-connection . I got home on Sunday and went onto the website only to find that the service is still active!I Had phone in again to have it disconnected. CAN you please arrange for a refund and get someone to call me to fix my account.l

I was watching tv earlier on then the electricity went off unexpectedly. It came back after an hour or so. Suddenly my dstv decoder won't load. I tried calling customer care to get help resolving this problem and was told that the problem is my tv... How is the problem suddenly my tv if when connecting the DVD it works perfectly? Not only is my problem not resolved by dstv, I also have to deal with the inconvenience of City Power JHB which may have caused the problem to begin with. 😤😤 how disappointing !

I am trying to take out a pricelock package at dstv. I am waiting for them for 2.5 weeks.

after 9 calls to the call centre no one has still come back to me as a new customer. This morning a customer care consultant contact me back to inform me they did try to call me and I am not interested in the deal anymore. Dont they want customers or are they too lazy to call for new customers.

According to Onairtv you went into an agreement with them to contact your customers with old decoders for upgrading. I placed an order with them and are still waiting on delivery since 2016/12/02. They advised me that delivery will take between 3-5 business days. Every time I phoned them to follow up on my order I'm being advised that there systems are off-line. Is this the type of company that Dstv would like to be associated with? There service really sucks and I'm sorry that I've agreed to upgrade my decoders with them and will never refer anyone to them. They also dragging your reputable name through the mud or is that the new route Dstv intend to take?Don't you check the credentials of the companies first before going into business with them?

I am in the process of selling my and I called multi choice to ask them to put my account on hold. The house could not be sold last month and my wolf called to request an extension for another Month. Instead of just extending the agent changed my subscription from Extra to Premium. I was only made aware of this when I called today to request the account to be split so my wife can activate hers in another house.

The agent ( Nontlantla Ligela ) not sure about the spelling, she completely completely failed to assist and became irritated and refused to give me info about the call made on the 1st. I requested to speak to her Manager Kagiso Moloto who was apparently on another call, so I requested a call back from him which never happened.

This is very bad service as I have been a client of your for more than 6 years. This has resulted in me paying the DSTV agent that came to assist me for nothing, I was also clear to Nontlatla why I wanted the call from manager.

Can someone please take this up and get someone to call me

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