MultiChoice Africa / DSTV
Reviews and Complaints

I have a compact account with an xtra view with multichoice. On monday 31/08/2020 I called multichoice to ask them to clear an error code e148 on my secondary decoder, it was cleared and all my 3 decoders where playing. To my suprise on tuesday when I try to watch catchup my primary decoder gave me an error code e102 talking about pvr. I thought it will clear itself but nothing happened.

On wednesday 02/09/2020 the nightmare of my life started with this multichoice company and their incompetent technicians.
On the 02//09/2020 I called multichoice south africa to ask them to clear the error code e102 on my primary explora decoder. The technician struggle for quite a long time to try to get it right which he never get it right. He said to me did I ask my xtra view to be disconnected and I told him I never ask for my xtra view to be disconnected and how can I pay for it and then ask for it to be diconnected. At that moment my account was showing that I owe r806 which is due on the 28/09/2020. While I am waiting for him to try sort their mess out the call just ended and I don't know why. I lost him like that and my account was not fixed.

Same day afternoon I called multichoice again to clear e102. My account was showing I owe them r289 which was due the same day 02/09/2020. I was surprised and the lady who helped me said I requested the xtra view to be added on my account and the amount is due at that moment. I was surprised and got furious with multichoice and their technician to mess with my time and costly calls. How can I request to add the service that I already had for years and up to date. The error was cleared for few minutes after I ended the call with the lady technician.

Same evening I took my time and my airtime to try and ask them to fix their errors because they where caused by them. This time was showing I am owing r904 due 28/09/2020 which I never got explanation for it. This 3rd time now I had error code e48 on the other secondary decoder and same e102 on primary explora decoder the other secondary decoder was working perfect. The other lady technician who picked my call I told her what happened with the previous calls and this time I am very angry and I asked her I want to talk to her superior and she insisted to help me. She took long time and finally she came with the story that my account is blank she can't read anything, she will escalate the matter and she will hand my details to her manager to call me. I told her she must make sure that the manager calls me, and my service was still not fixed.

On thursday 03/09/2020 I called again and I was assited by the gentleman technician called langa something. Me and my husband we spend more than an hour with this guy on the call. At that moment the error code on both secondary decoders was e16 and the other e48 and the primary decoder was fine with all pvr function working. I asked the guy to assist me to clear e16 and e48, so he made me to switch off the decoders and removing the lnb cables and him sending signal and putting everything back together. He tried other methods as well which they never resolved the problems, when he see that he cant clear the errors he said to us e16 it appears on the screen because maybe the account is in arrears or it is a technical error which we disagreed with him because the problem was caused by his fellow 4 colleagues. Before he can help me to try to clear the error codes I asked him to speak with the manager because i've been waiting for the call and I saw he/she is not calling. He went to call the manager and she told him that he must take our details and she will call us after the meeting. Me and my husband we insisted to talk to her and the guy told us that she said she is in the meeting. The technician indicated to us the manager's name who failed to attend to us when we insisted to talk to her is lucretia. We further insisted to call her and he left us on the call for almost 20 minutes without coming back and we decided to end the call because we could see he is taking more time than before when he went to call her.

Why multichoice disconnected our extra view services which was already paid for? We are very much dissapointed by the multichoice service. As I am writting this letter my secondary decoders are showing new error code e148 both of them and my primary decoder is working and I don't know for how long is going to last. Since your system has recording facility, it is our expectation that you will retrieve all information related to this complaint and take appropriate actions which include, firstly restoring all services we have paid and compensate us back for the time lost on this services due to your incompetency. Secondly, we have spend more that three hours of airtime due to your incompetence, we want you to tell us how are you going to compensate us. Lastly, we want to know what action are you going to take to all your incompetent technicians who has created this unnecessary mess to our system. We want to make it clear that we are not going to accept that we should take our decoder to multichoice offices as suggested by your last technician. Your members have messed up our system online and in same way, they should restore it. How is the mess on payment discrepancy happened, you need to fix this. The current showing payment of r904 where does it come from, we are not accepting it. It is our expectation that you'll fix all these. Bill us correctly, why should we pay all mess done by your own people. Please take note, should you fail to resolve this within 24 hours, we'll take it further including exposing your poor services.
Our contact : tahlita dithuge email [protected]@yahoo.com ; [protected]
Abram dithuge : email abram. [protected]@ymail.com

I made a huge mistake and accidentally paid my rent money into my DSTV account via Internet banking by clicking on the incorrect beneficiary. I contacted the call center immediately and mailed all the proof to [protected]@dstv.com and I have called and mailed them everyday since. Today is the 3rd of September and i still have no refund in my account and my rent has still not been paid. I actually feel so depressed at this stage because my electricity is going to be cut off. I am a loyal customer and all I am asking for is my refund to be approved urgently but I am really getting nowhere.
Ref: [protected]

Since march 2020 we have been having issues with dstv, we returned 2 of the new decoders that were not suitable for our in stallion, then all different amounts of moneys were taken off our bank accounts, numerous phone calls to have this sorted out proved fruitless until august when finally they got us a credit, but 02 september 2020 they deducted r1804-00 from our bank account, this is unacceptable due to us being inconvenienced for other debit orders that have been returned due to insufficient funds. After 25 years with them this is the kind of service we get which is pathetic.

In June this year I downgraded from premium to compact after many years and I also made sure with the multichoice consultant that the showmax (that was part of the premium package) was also cancelled, for the next two months my billing was correct ar R434-00 per month then this months payment was R483-00 for some unknown reason, I received an sms on Saturday stating that my 1/10/20 payment would be this R483-00 so I contacted multichoice that same Saturday to complain and the consultant assured me that it was a mistake and I would be billed the correct amount, unfortunately this was not the case and today I have been billed the incorrect amount of R483-00, Please sort this out for me, I have been a customer for over 30 years. My ID [protected].

On the 3rd of August I asked to change my DSTV package to a lower package. I was informed that I have to phone the day before my payment is due (2nd September) which I did and was informed that I still have to pay R279.00

Please advise what this payment is for if I notified them in time.

PN Malebye.

ID: [protected]

My decoder number [protected] was corrupt and needed to be replaced. The replacement decoder number is [protected] and I got the error message 107. Both my DSTV installer as well as myself tried in vein to resolve the issue.

I got through to a Call Centre Operator by the name of Andiswa who put me on hold for more than an hour. She did not even once check to see if I was still comfortable waiting so long. This lack of basic service level will not be acceptable to anyone. We have now waited for 5 hours and I am no closer to resolving my issue.

Each time I got through, I asked to speak to a Supervisor but was told that no one was available

I eventually got through to a lady who was very professional and friendly and she has promised to assist. The ref number is INC167795.

I have been a Premium member for many years and will definitely be looking at Netflix as I seem to have problems every time I call in to DSTV

Good day
My customer number is [protected] and my reason for lodging this complain is that i'm not getting any joy with your dstv after reinstating my services which I asked to pause it for some time. I resumed my services in july the 19th and I was required to pay r93 and I did there was a message again saying I must pay r183, aroud the 25 the my service was erminated and was prompted to make another payment of r283 I went to pay it, again on 1st august there was another amount I was made to pay r583 and I on the 25th august my service was interupted again message saying I must pay r272 I did and there is another message that says I have to pay r499 on the 30th august. And what I know y package is r409 and and the amounts I have paid to date are just a day light robbery. I have requested that my pay date be the 27th day of each month.
Can you please provide me with proof of all the payments I have made to date. Medge all the payments made to fit my subscription and set the payment date as requested, the charge per day is r15 per day and I have paid more than that please rectify your mistake or terminate my services I plead.

It's been 3 months complaining about the same thing, and I am using my airtime for the incompetence of dstv staff with attitude and promising to assist and not doing so. I have spent almost r300.00 phoning your customer service without any joy. I would like to escalate my complaint to the most senior person. I'm being billed wrongly every month. Please assist. My contact number [protected] id no [protected]. A lady by the name lydia mokoena promised to phone me back and never did so and many of them in this 3 months I am so unhappy with the service

One of your installers visited my flat in Kalk Bay today.

As I could not pay immediately because of load shedding and no internet access, the installer threatened my girl friend who was at that time alone, stole a HDMI cable and damaged the LNB card as well as the satellite dish.

This behaviour is completely unacceptable and if you will not compensate me for the additional costs I had t endure, I will lay charge with SAP for theft and wilful damage to property.

I demand an apology for the threatening behaviour of your installer towards my girlfriend as well.

I am utterly disgusted by the service i have been receiving from the billing department. From the 2nd of July 2020 to date i have been dealing with the same issue and to date it still has been resolved. The customer service is really pure. One needs to yell until she can be heard. Firstly i was told that i reversed a cash payment in July. I am then requested to send proof of payment which i did and mind you i pay through my bank FNB. Then i am told that the payment that was reversed is from November 2019(How obscured). I am then told that no dstv removed that premium from my account and and allocated it to the rightful owner. But its funny how when i pay through my bank i use the correct reference which i linked to my dstv account. What irritates me the most is that i keep on calling and send mail only to find that different billing consultants respond and they do not say one thing. I am flipping irritated on how people can be so incompetent with an error from their side.I will not be surprised waking up tomorrow only to find that i am disconnected

Hello multichoice am here to complain about the channel tonami my son really loves that channel so we actually need the channel back on dstv compact package or any package you put it on but I usually pay for the compact package

A credited insaller called Kendrick from Zimbabwe, came to do a extra view cable run and put in a splitter diplexar on Saturday the 15/08/2020 at 11 am. he completely overcharged me on cable and the splitter ridiculous over like 1000% no invoice and never did what he said he did with the connector he just did a join in cable without connector which came loose 12 hours later. He stole 500 rand and then refused to come back and do a decent job.
this guy needs to be struck off your accredited list! in fact any dstv repair list, hes a disgrace.
his numbers are [protected] and on his simonstown dstv installer advert [protected].
if you need any affidavits? i will be willing,
regards Mr D Aenmey

I am not happy that my services got suspended and I am a very long time client. When asking for assistance you are told that they can't assist. It is Covid-19 and a lot of people has lost their jobs. This is my first month to run short on money due to I have lost my mother due to a severe stroke and I have a terminally ill son. Please help

I downgraded from premium to CompactPlus due to financial impact from covid-19. I was assured I'd get the sporting channel 201 as I watch golf & rugby. That didn't happen. They gave me all the soccer channels! A representative told me I'd have to pay to watch those golfing/rugby channels, which I can't.
The black people who have CompactPlus can watch all their sporting channels.
So, as I see this scenario, as racial discrimination in the highest form.
This company dictates to their paying consumers..they are not flexible especially at this point in time

My account is [protected]. I have called DSTV 6 times since Monday. Each time I am promised the error will cleared in a few minutes and it's now third day it is not resolved. I have given feedback and said my error is not being fixed but the level of customer service is just not there. Each time I hold for 15 to 20 minutes. Nothing is achieved. I still cannot pause, rewind nor watch catch up since Sunday morning. I am very frustrated and furious at the non service

I am really crossed, to start DSTV customer service suck you would swear the agents were never trained. I upgraded to compact in April and I didn and I had an amount outstanding in June to view and payed it off and downgraded to the R110, went to pay in store month end June and they said I was owing R90 something because in June I paid extra a bit. July the 27th I payed R110 again on my FNB app and ever since month end June channels that were playing on TV were for R110, today on the TV its disconnected but still plays on my DSTV now with channels of R110. They say it is closed on the TV because I owe R404, I contacted theLiveChat the worst spoke to Lisa M or something and she told me I am on Compact since April tilll this day but for 3 months I didn see the compact channels. I contacted them for clarity now they say I owe R80. I am not owing anything I am supposed to pay R110 month end August, the TV is not playing... no one is sorting this thing out... this is [censored]en ridiculous

On the 30th of June my mother called dstv to change her dstv package from Indian to the dstv family package as it was too expensive for just herself and my dad, that is the reason she called in so this could be done before the new month.

The consultant instead does an "upgrade" and does not explain that this means you will be adding the the new package without cancelling the previous one, apparently my my mum did not say the word 'remove' so it is now her fault and she needs to pay for both packages if she still wants her dstv connected.

My parents are not clued up with dstv terms so explain further and being in a covid 19 situation where my dad cannot work is not easy and they certainly will not pay dstv bills caused because of you consultants who telephonically do deals and cannot provide them with detailed information so that they do not end up paying for something you misunderstood so ask once, twice and thrice.

The lady who helped us today said she understands where we are coming from but unfortunately we have to pay which is garbage because if my mother you does not understand your term of upgrade meaning "add" then we also do not understand the reason why we should pay for the consultant not enquiring in detail further and we having to fit the bill I mean they didn't even know Indian was still running because they don't even know how to check!

Not done! And not worth paying it either. To protect your jobs we must fit the bill while we do not work. This is not wrong.

I had a dstv compact account with multichoice for over 10 years. In december 2019 I cancelled my account. When I was supposed to be refunded in january 2020 they said I must wait for sometime so as to ensure that there were no outstanding amounts. I then enquired in 26 april 2020 on my refund which had dropped to r 2043 from around r 2700. I told the agent assisting me at that I was not happy about that, she did not care about it. On 5 july 2020 I logged a new refund query (reference numbers: [protected], [protected]). I had engagements with thando moloi, noelan naidoo, happyness shabalala and nompumelelo buthelezi. They then requested proof payment. I sent the proof of payment and in that process I picked up that since 2017 dstv has been over charging me on my yearly subscriptions. They were making me to renew earlier every year without proper credits afterwards. I indicated this to dstv multichoice on 6, 7, 8 & 9 july 2020. I indicated my dissatisfaction with how my refund is being handled. I always speak to a different agent everyday. I also indicated this dissatisfaction on dstv customer survey. No one has ever called me to hear my side of the story. Dstv customer service is horrible

He wasn't helpful at all on Friday 24th July.
We had extra view decoder installed and needed his assistance. It took a long time to talk us through the process, so I asked him to call me back cause I'm running out of airtim.
He blatantly refused, so my airtime was up and the connection to him was cut.

I am a pensioner and do not always have enough airtime on my phone.
I spoke to another consultant yesterday and today, and they both didn't have a problem calling me, for which I'm very grateful.

Regards
Molly Collopen
[protected]
ID [protected] Eugene Collopen

Good day

I am a very upset subscriber, I have had dstv for the past 4 to 5 years, and all the movies that are shown are on repeat on a daily basis. What is even more upsetting is Starlife shows movies at 3pm everyday, as soon as the movie is finished they start advertising for when it's going to be shown again example Drishyam, hero, dabangg, traffic, kalank and many more. What is even worse that we all are facing a pandemic and we are paying alot, why can't dstv drop their prices a little cause they keep showing repeats. I'm sure that I am not the only one complaining about this and yes many people Including myself are very unhappy with the service we get from dstv.

Please get back to me asap