MultiChoice Africa / DSTV
Reviews and Complaints

Hi my name is Howard Lichaba and I am a Multichoice customer. I've been having serious problems with my account recently, with my services constantly being disconnected. On the 24th of March 2016 I made a payment of R460.00 for two accounts (Dstv easy view and Dstv compact). Multichoice has credited the whole amount to my EasyWiew account, creating numerous advance payment to the account and leaving the Compact account in arrears. Hence the disconection of the Compact account. I have call them several times to fix this but the problem still remains. Every time i call they would acknowledge their mistake, reconnect my services and then tell me that the issue would be resolved within 48hour, but in just a few days my account would be disconnected again. This is very frustrating and causing serius emotional strain to me and i just cant bear the costs of calling them anymore. Please help...

My details are as Follows:
Name: T.H Lichaba
Customer No: [protected]
Cell: [protected]
Address: 529 Mandela Str
Ratanang
Jacobsdal
8710

I hereby wish to bring to your attention that through Multi Choice doing a double debit order last month on my account has offsets my

budget and I end up with debit orders not being paid as stated below.

I now have to wait 30 days for an error on your behalf which is unacceptable.

I will be informing my bank to cancel all debit orders for Multi Choice in the near future because you have incompetent people working for you’ll.

I phoned the call centre and no one can answer why this was done accept tell be to go to the banks and have it reversed.

Why should I have to do the dirty work for someone elses stupidity.

Disgusted

29/03/2016 Acb Debit:External Settlement 1 060.00 2 348.61
M-Choice M-Choice14314862
29/03/2016 Acb Debit:External Settlement 305.50 2 043.11
Telkommobi50065848401018710389
31/03/2016 POS Purchase Settlement 227.00 1 816.11
Card No. 4071 C*save Wholesales Cash & Piete
(Effective 28/03/2016)
31/03/2016 Acb Debit:External Settlement 1 366.09 450.02
Vodacom [protected] I0635768
31/03/2016 Acb Debit:External Settlement 758.00 307.98-
Sbsaretail895F [protected]
1/04/2016 Unpaid Debit Headoffice 758.00 450.02
Sbsaretail895F [protected]
(Effective 31/03/2016)
1/04/2016 Int Debit Order To Settlement 13.00 437.02

During March 2016 I opted for the price lock deal of R899, 00/ month for a DSTV Explora. My explora decoder was suppose to be delivered the following week. On 23 March 2016 I receive a call from On the Dot Couriers' driver enquiring how to get to my physical address. After a while I realised that this driver was in Mapumalanga while I reside in the Western Cape. The next day 24 March a lady called me from the courier services apologising for the mistake and assured me that the decoder will be delivered to me after the Easter weekend. After having heard nothing after the long weekend I started enquiring about where my decoder was. After numerous phone calls it still have not being delivered to me. Surprisingly, I received a sms on 5 April 2016 stating that my new smart card has been activated successfully. I immediately contacted Multichoice and all they could tell me was that they will escalate it to a higher authority as I have not received any decoder. It just does not make sense that a decoder which I have not received has now being activated against my name meaning that I will be billed for something which I don't have.

I then contacted the local On the Dot couriers who informed me that they delivered the decoder to me on 5 April 2016. As much I told them that I have not received any decoder the lady by the name of Sukena told me that she will escalate the matter. (Typical answer now these days)To date my problem has not been resolved and am opting to go public with this poor service from Multichoice.

I have send numerous emails, statements to them since november and not a single person responded. see below this will help to clarify my issue.

_

Hi

I did not receive any correspondence from anyone regarding this issue and it’s been months now with no feedback, it leaves me with no choice to take this further.

My account has never been consistent, its unprofessional for a so called leading company as yourself.

Regards

Hennie

From: hennie minnaar [mailto:[protected]@gmail.com]
Sent: 07 march 2016 02:09 pm
To: [protected]@multichoice.co. za; [protected]@multichoice.co. za; minnaar, hendrik
Subject: fwd: account problem [#7165669]

Uid09duf63i2bd
Afternoon

I am still waiting for a response?

Hennie

— forwarded message —
From: hennie minnaar
Date: fri, feb 19, 2016 at 3:21 pm
Subject: re: account problem [#7165669]
To: [protected]@multichoice.co. za, [protected]@multichoice.co. za

Morning

I will have to take this problem I encounter with you guys further as nothing is happening and im losing a lot of money. it is all promises and nothing gets resolved. I need a accounts manager to contact me urgently.

Again the debit orders keep going of and goes higher and higher.

Debit orders that went of my account is as follows

15 sept r942, 50 which is fine
05 oct r849, 00 which is fine (took this package for 24 months no increase)
15 oct r1137, 50 (please explain and rectify)
16 oct r879 (please explain and rectify)

This is unacceptable, so for october I paid r2865, 50

Nov 2015 r879
Dec 2015 r241.83
Jan 2016 r968.50
15 feb 2016 r218.50
15 feb 2016 r750
15 mar 2106 r907.50

Should be r5094 for 6 months (r849p/m contract)

Paid r6865.83 for the last 6 months since the new 24month contract.

Regards

Hennie
[protected]@gmail.com
Hennie. [protected]@gauteng.gov. za
[protected]

— original message —
From: [protected]@gmail.com
Date: 2015/11/17 2:58:12 pm
To: [protected]@multichoice.co. za
Subject: account problem
Hi

Need assistance with my account, there is way too much money being deducted for my dstv this last two months, and I wont even talk about the question youre gonna ask me - if I did phone in to rectify this, - the answer is 10 times, because 8 of the 10 times ive been cut off or they cant help me or say it will be rectified next month and I wont be paying anything etc etc.

Account number [protected]

Debit orders that went of my account is as follows

15 sept r942, 50 which is fine
05 oct r849, 00 which is fine (took this package for 24 months no increase)
15 oct r1137, 50 (please explain and rectify)
16 oct r879 (please explain and rectify)

This is unacceptable, so for october I paid r2865, 50.

Hennie minnaar
Henique maintenance
Cell: [protected]
Fax: [protected]
[protected]@gmail.com or
Hennie. [protected]@gauteng.gov. za

On wed, nov 18, 2015 at 7:56 am, multichoiceenquirie wrote:

Enquiry reference number:
7165669

— original message —
From: [protected]@gmail.com
Date: 2015/11/17 2:58:12 pm
To: [protected]@multichoice.co. za
Subject: account problem
Hi

Need assistance with my account, there is way too much money being deducted for my dstv this last two months, and I wont even talk about the question youre gonna ask me - if I did phone in to rectify this, - the answer is 10 times, because 8 of the 10 times ive been cut off or they cant help me or says its rectified next month I wont be paying anything etc etc.

Account number [protected]

Debit orders that went of my account is as follows

15 sept r942, 50 which is fine
05 oct r849, 00 which is fine (took this package for 24 months no increase)
15 oct r1137, 50 (please explain and rectify)
16 oct r879 (please explain and rectify)

This is unacceptable, so for october I paid r2865, 50.

Hennie minnaar
Henique maintenance
Cell: [protected]
Fax: [protected]
[protected]@gmail.com or
Hennie. [protected]@gauteng.gov. za

We applied for the price lock option of 529.00 per month, however, this was explained insufficiently. First we had an endless struggle with finding an installer, after several call, dstv assigned an installer. Then we realized that the package information was communicated incorrectly, we then logged this on the 24th, delivery was done 22nd. This within the time period a consumer has to rightfully change or cancel a contract. After logging this the 24th it was explained that i can just downgrade to the 149.00 per month option and go back to our package, which was the extra. It was said due to the long weekend, someone will call me back the coming Tuesday, which never happened. I then called again. After calls up and down, on the 29th, got through to a department, saying this is impossible, i then said i want this cancelled immediately. on the 29th at 10.46 a lady called me back, stating this is no problem to downgrade as they don't want to loose the sale it will take 2-3 working days. I said in that case it is in order to process to downgrade. Two days passed, now already the 31st nothing has changed. I do call again, my phone bills now being excessively high, it was then noted on the system that a downgrade cannot be done, no communication to me as a client at all, after it was said this will be done. I then said i want this cancelled and that the service is the worst i have ever seen, absolutely disgusted. Then a gentleman by the name of Absolon, calls me, they will now do the downgrade. I said no thank you, i want this cancelled. He then said he will make the arrangements, which i have yet again had no no no no feedback on.
I find this ridiculous and very disturbing as this seems to be some form of playing on time scam to get clients stuck with this contract.
I want this cancelled and removed from my premises. I will stop this payment at the bank as i was in my rightful time period of 5 business days to have this matter resolved.
Due to your utter poor, shocking client service, this matter was not resolved to date, the 1st of April.
I will also appreciate it, if a person that knows what they are doing to get this resolved can contact me as soon as possible.
I am a very disgusted client, as seems one of thousands lately.

I am a new subscriber of Dstv, started subscription on the 28/02/2016. Which we paid on the 28/02/2016.
Then on the 11/03/2016 they disconnected my subscription, because no payment was received?
After a telephone conversation with Dstv, they reconnected my subscription and allocated the payment on the system, which they received.

Then on the following dates the same story, disconnection and reconnection and allocating the payment to the account - really!
13/03/2016
18/03/2016
23/03/2016
28/03/2016
Everytime this disconnection and reconnection happens we have to pay for the charges, which they have promised with every phone call that these charges will be reversed, which is still showing on my account.

The account is now over a thousand rand, and i only joined in February 2016. I mean really no one at Dstv seems to be able to solve this issue.

I had enough of keep phoning and emailing them and explain the problem to them.
Is there somebody who can actually help solving this ongoing problem.
If i look on the internet Dstv's accounts department is having a huge problem with more that just my account.
If it is their system please do something about it!

This is beyond a joke at this stage we all have to pay for a service from them, and what do we get a ridiculous bill.

Another concern is this actually showing against your name at ITC? as a slow payer?

I subscribed for the Explora deal and the installation was done. On the day of the installation (9 February) the installer contacted the call centre to activate the smart card and deactivate my PVR account. At the end of February my account was debited with more than R1700, double billed obviously. When I complained the agent said that the supervisor would call me the next day at 2 which did not happen, and I then queried the account with thebinstaller seeing that they spoke to the call centre. The feedback which I then received was that my account would be credited with the amoint of R400, which I was not happy with but still better than nothing. To my surprise my account was debitted with the full subscription amount last night. I need this to be resolved immediately and for someone in your company to take accountability! Netflix is starting to sound like a good option!

No words can xplain how I feel. Visited 3 times multichoice N1 city cape town, just to purchase a dstv walka. First time consultant told me I need tv licence. Went home to collect the nr. Returned 2nd time another consultant tells me my father need to fill in a form, left came back . Third consultant tells me my father need to sign multi places and I need my mother's I'D because tv licence in her name. I don't even know if I should go back in further, maybe I need another document. Why didn't one of these multiple people knew I need all these standard documents. I wasted an entire Saturday for nothing and still I don't have a dstv walka.

I have a very serious complain regarding dstv.my services are currently disconnected because dstv say i owe them a R1000, which dates back from 5 months ago and their system only picked this up last month in February . Dstv disconnected my services without even letting me know i had to call them to actually know what was happening. I was later contacted by a Supervisor who told me that i owe them that money and i will need to pay tge full amount of about R1800 in order for my services to be reconnected. I went to Hello Peter and laid a complainabout what had happened. Last week friday on the 11th a guy by the Name of Rupert from the Social Media department called me and told me that i can only make arrangements to pay the amount this month and the other half next month, as that is the only arrangement their system will take. I told him i can not agree on that arrangement as it is their system that put me in this situation to begin with. He told me he will take it up with management and will contact me back within 30 minutes and the matter should be resolved by the end of the day if all goes well...its a week later and i have not heard from Rupert ever since. I went on to Hello Peter again and laid a complaint hoping someone would contact me but nothing. I have even resorted to contacting the Consumer Protection Board regarding this matter because of the silent treatment i am getting from multichoice

I do understand that programs will be repeated, it is inevitable! But really? Take the 2 crime channels as an example. On the Crime and Investigation channel/170, there is a program called "On the case with Paula Zahn". If you Google this program, it has 9 seasons and over 100 episodes! Why do we have to watch the same episodes week after week? And exactly the same on ID extra/171, we have "True crime with Aphrodite Jones", with 4 seasons and more than 40 episodes, but every week you show exactly the same episodes as last week! Please explain this to me!

On 02 Feb 2015 I paid R320 for a Easy view service for the first use of the decoder and smart card. I made use of the service for a year until the service period expired. On 08 Jan 2016 I paid R429 for another annual service. On 04 March 2016 the service was terminated. On 06 March I submitted a request for an explaination. On 07 March I received a response that I was billed for a premium service which was the reason why the service was terminated as the funds were depleted.

I DID NOT REQUEST A PREMIUM SERVICE AT ANY STAGE!

Multichoice have not explained why they incorrectly billed me.

I have no DSTV since 04 March 2016 and every day that multichoice delays in resolving my problem is a day lost. I unfortunately have to state the obvious as multichoice appears to be run by bunch of inconsiderate individuals.

Please assist via your channels.

On Sunday 21 March I did my application to upgrade my decoder to an Explora. The application went well and I did advice the consultant who was doing my application that I stay in a complex and the dish is a communal dish. The Explora got delivered on Tuesday and I was told that the installation is free. So when i call the accredited installers I was that i would need a multi switch in order for my Explora to work and with the delivery i only got a smart LNB which will not work at the place I’m staying. So my installer advised me to go back to Dstv and ask them to swop the smart LNB to a multi switch. I called the call centre and I sill have not yet received any feedback with regards to this. And now is becoming very frustration because I have basically have an Explora that doesn’t work because DSTV delivered the wrong installation. So im just wondering now when this will be sorted out and now im basically paying for nothing.

It has been a month I have been trying to obtain the explorer, finally after three missed calls albeit I call back each time only to be escalated and a day or two later I get the call back (Three weeks ongoing) and a visit to randburg offices. Just when we get somewhere, they advise that they will call me before delivering the explorer is incorrect because they pitched up at my home without informing me, luckily my helper was at home that day. Then we sort the accounts paperwork, it was merely a switching over, and they even managed to screw that up to because I have been double debited r1708.00 despite me calling in advising them the switch over as per their instruction. The flippancy of it all in order for me to get my money back, I must either cancel my debit order this month and go to bank and do a cash payment, or send three months bank statement as well my id. Dstv inconvenienced me by not doing their jobs properly and it was almost a month of frustration and now I am expected to run around and use u my fuel and calls to sort their incompetence out what is happening? Please wake up, in a stressful and pressured environment we are no placed in we do not need you guys to make us more frustrated especially if you messed up. Not on dstv. I am beyond gutted with your shocking level of service. Looking at all the complaints below I am wondering if you guys even care at all. Its just another complaint you read and throw away. Change something and get it right... Dealing with rude staff at home affairs is better than dealing with you guys at this stage, having said that you can only imagine the frustration dealing with your staff!

Although all international and local tv channels operate smoothly, rt (channel 407) a favorite channel to view, does not:
Problems experienced:

1) no signal — only message display: "searching for signal. please do not switch off your decoder..." etc

2) rt display comes on, but sound breaks up so badly, that it is almost impossible to hear and becomes completely unintelligible. remaining on the channel hoping that the signal may improve, it does not and only gets worse, finally fading altogether and "searching for signal etc" message, is again displayed, to no avail.

Although not always affected, the above faults seem to be worse when there is a change in the weather, not lightning per se, but rain or drizzle. however, puzzled that the problem occurs only on channel 407.

For a a few days the rt channel would operate relatively smoothly, but suddenly without notice, it would lose signal and not able to enjoy it, it is not worth watching. this is a great disappointment.

Since middle of february 2016, it again became very erratic and over the last week (18 th february, 2016 to date) it has been completely off on our dstv bouquet — the searching for signal display also goes off after a few minutes — so only a pitch black screen for channel 407 displays.

It would be greatly appreciated if multichoice would please investigate or provide a satisfactory explanation for the problem.

i recently requested a DSTV customer consultant to change the date on which to debit my account for the Months Subscription, of February from the 25th of every month to the 15th of every month i had not been made aware that my they debit my account with with R200 extra, i called a consultant in Durban on the number [protected], she was not willing to explain to me what had happened she is eminent that i was made aware of the money that was going to be deducted from my account and that she does not see the reason why i called the customer, she made me wait for long periods waiting for her response...the customer consultant is Nompumelelo Madida

I have to ask every month for my statement or invoice, after months multichoice send my statements from september until november 2015.
The same happens this month, I have to ask again for the latest statement, multichoice forward me my statement, period 21 december 2015 until 20 january 2016. My account shows a credit amount of - r934.00, witch covers period 21 january 2016 - 20 february 2016. I received an sms on the 18th of february 2016, reference number [protected] to pay an amount of r624.00 before or on the 21st of february 2016. Payment has been done today the 19th of february 2016.
According to my husband our dstv has been switch/cut off by multichoice.
This is unacceptable as the account has been paid before the 21st of february 2016. Multichoice left me with no other option but to take this matter further. My account has been paid in full and in time. My money is good enough but every month.

I subscribed to the DSTV premium package close to the end of November '15. The consultant I spoke to explained to me that Decembers' premium had to be paid upfront and for that last days of November in order to activate my account. my subscription agreement is for payment to be made on the 26th of every month. I specifically asked the consultant when my next payment must be and if any in December again. He said, No ma'am your payments will run correctly from January. I confirmed again with him about any payment in December and again he said no. the evening I called the centre again as my service wasn't activated yet. the consultant I spoke to assisted and again I asked her about my payments and she confirmed what the previous consultant said. Twice now in January my service was disconnected requiring payment with no notification given. both times was weeks before 26th. no one could assist me when I called. 10th Feb again suspended and the consultant I just spoke to told me I was given the wrong information. and that is that.

DSTV catchup service on explorer and online is erratic & dysfunctional. Now you see a series and tomorrow its gone even though it still has 8 more episodes to come, whats up with that DSTV?
On explorer a show would have aired 3 days ago, yet it only has the previous week's episode available.
If you are lucky to find it online, it plays for 30 minutes then cuts out, try watching it again and it cuts out exactly same place.
Most of the catch up shows are rubbish, the good shows don't feature. DSTV please assess your service, its not working properly!

This is my customer nr: [protected]
Multichoice is delivering the most appalling service for the following reasons:
1.) spend 3 hours in queue in your durban branch to just swap out a faulty decoder. I got eventually given the decoder without the smartcard paired to it.
2.) I spend the next x2 days and r200 of airtime to get the decoder paired.
3.) when the decoder finally was paired, I had to get your technician in to fix an installation issue - he never came, fixed it myself.
4.) yesterday my decoder got stuck on the dmx radio channels, it took x4 calls and r50 airtime to try and solve the issue, I solved it myself.
5.) last night we try to rent one movie for r30, it took us x8 calls, spoken to 3 supervisors and 5 agents, spend another r120 airtime, just to hear that I have to wait so that box office people can call me back

What utter bs is this?