DSTV DISGUSTING, INEFICIENT

[MISS MUZUNGU]

Dear Zambia,
I AM WRITTING THIS HERE, BECAUSE I KNOW SOME MANAGERS READ THIS FORUM AND TRY TO DEFEND DSTV, INSTEAD OF MAKING THEIR SERVICES MORE EFFICIENT.
AT KABULONGA BRUNCH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE A MANAGER IN ORDER TO COMPLAIN OVER SOMETHING. AND HOW WILL THEY KNOW WHAT PROBLEMS ARE THERE IF THEY REFUSE TO SEE CUSTOMERS.
DSTV IS USELESS, INEFFICIENT HERE IN ZAMBIA.
1. I COULD NOT ACSESS DSTV TO PAY MY ACCOUNT ON LINE, NO MATTER HOW I TRIED IN ORDER TO PAY MY ACCOUNT WITH CREDIT CARD.
2. AFTER I FAILED, I PHONED AND ASKED HOW MUCH IS MY BILL, FOR PVR AND I WAS TOLD K502 000.I SENT MY WORKER TO PAY. HE WAS TOLD THERE THAT IS NOT 502 000 BUT K400 000 HE HAS TO PAY.SO HE PAID WHAT HE WAS TOLD TO PAY, AFTER HE PHONED ME, AND BROUGHT THE CHANGE.
3. I WAS NOT CONNECTED. HAD TO START PHONING, FROM MY CELL IN ORDER FOR THEM TO CONNECT ME.
4. FOLLOWING MORNING, MY DSTV WAS DISCONNECTED, I PHONED AND I WAS ASSURED I'LL BE CONNECTED, AND I WAS NOT.THAT PROCEDURE WAS REPEATED 5 TIMES DURING THE DAY (AT A COST OF K100 000 ON CELL BILLS) UNTILL FINALY I WAS INFORMED THAT MY BILL WAS NOT PAID IN FULL: INSTEAD OF 410 IT WAS PAID 400 000.I WAS INFORMED THAT I NEED TO COME AND FULLY PAY MY BILL, OR THE SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE DISSCONNECTING ME.
IS THAT FAIR I ASKED. I PAID WHAT U TOLD US TO PAY, PLUS THAT I HAVE SPEND SO FAR K100 000, ON CALLS TO U, AND NOW U WANT ME TO SPEND ANOTHER K100 000 ON PETROL, SO THAT I COME AND PAY K10 000, IN ORDER TO RECTIFY YOUR MISTAKE
AND ARE U GOING TO CREDIT MY ACCOUNT FOR THE DAY I HAD NO SERVICE, DUE TO YOUR INNEFFICIENCY. NEVER. I KNOW. FOR U HAVE NO DECENCY OR FAIRNESS.
MY ACCOUNT IS 29831033
AGAIN, ANOTHER COMPLAINT: WHY IS IT THAT DURING ADVERTS TIME THE VOLUME IS DOUBLED, AND WE HAVE TO HOLD THE REMOTE IN OUR HANDS CONSTANTLY TO SWICH IT OFF. THAT IS TERRIBLY UNETHICAL, AND AMMOUNTS TO ASSOULT ON OUR SENCES I GET HEADACHES FROM THAT KIND OF VOLUME.OR MAYBE IT IS AN ADVERTISING TECHNIQUE TO DRILL IT IN OUR BRAINS BY FORCE.MANY PEOPLE ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT IT.
AGAIN: HOW COME HERE IN ZAMBIA WE CAN NOT TERMINATE OUR SERVICES TEMPORARILY, WHEN UNABLE TO WATCH DSTV, DEW TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES. HOW DO U EXPECT US TO PAY FOR A YEAR IF WE KNOW THAT WEATHER WE USE THE SERVICE OR WE DON'T WE STILL HAVE TO PAY.
I AM USING DSTV FOR OVER 15 YEARS NOW AND U HAVE NEVER TREATED US IN A CIVIL MANNER.
I AM DISGUSTED.

[MISS MUZUNGU]

GUESS WHAT?
I JUST RECEIVED A CALL FROM DSTV..... APPOLOGISING. NOT EVEN AN HOUR AFTER I POSTED HERE.
WAW!
THANKS DEAR ZAMBIA

[MISS MUZUNGU]

HERE IS THE NUMBER OF THE MANAGER IN CASE THEY BULLY U AND TELL U "JUST TELL ME WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT" AND DENY U ACCESS TO THE MANAGER IN ORDER TO COMPLAIN.
0966861031

[Guest]

It is good that your problem was sorted out and thats one of the reasons that we should have these forums. Infact I think DSTV did a good job that they could read your post here and call immediately, isn't that the kind of response we need? Just imagine if all the institutions we complain about could respond like DSTV, we would be developed.

[Pondamwendo]

Guest,
I couldn't agree with you more.

The power is always in the consumer's hands. Even if here in Zambia things sometimes, seem to contradict this universal law, but it is still true. The consumer has the power to hit these companies where it hurts. In the pocket book. Thwart their economic interests. Subvert their bottom-line. Even if they have the learning capacity of a baby chimpanzee, they will learn soon enough.

Miss Muzungu dearest, please accept my congratulations for using your big mouth to the greater good.

I can imagine the DSTV big-cheese coming here and seeing all them capital letters with his company's name printed all over the place. And he just sprinted to the nearest phone to save what's left of his tattered reputation. That's how you do it, Miss Muzungu. Good job, well done!

[Plofessor]

Miss Muzungu, Guest and Pondamwendo,

I can't believe that you guys are satisfied, happy and actually giving a big thumbs up to Multichoice that it had to take the aggrieved client (Muzungu) to post on this dearest website (in CAPS!) to get attended to. Don't you think your credit is misplaced here? Though they sorted out their mess and it does help as can be seen from the official responses from other companies, this website is not supposed to be Multichoice's (or any other company's or organisation's) OFFICIAL channel to receive and respond to complaints. For that, they're all SUPPOSED to have their internal structures (customer care centres & managers) in place to deal with such. The mere fact that they couldn't respond to her directly and had to trawl this website for negative publicity simply shows how far they're lagging behind in the customer service area.

So in my books, next time, DSTV you better give Miss Muzungu access to your manager and sort it out there and then. 4 out of 10 from me for responding to her via this channel.

[Pondamwendo]

Dear Plofessor,

Are we talking about Multichoice or DSTV? Or maybe the two are one and the same? Please educate me because I honestly don't know.

In any case, if you went back and re-read my post, you'd see that I was giving kudos to Miss Muzungu not the company, whatever the hell their name is.

[Cindy]

Peps dearie, DStv is Digital Satelite TeleVision, brought to us by Multichoice. I guess Muzungu faulted and everybody just inadvertently played along. They all mean Multichioce and their DStv service to us.

[Just a minute]

DSTV is a platform for various satelite channels (Digital Satelite Television) and Multichoice is the company facilitating this to us the consumers. GTV was another company which came on the scene temporarily. You need to have rights to these channels just like GTV at once upon time grabbed the rights to airing the Barclays Premier league from supersport. So the attack was on Multichoice (Zambia) and not DSTV but anyway it is like some people who call the Bed covers as sheet beds and other say bed sheets you neverless get the meaning and excuse the guy who calls them sheet beds because you will definitely know that he is from the part of Zambia I wont mention.

[Pondamwendo]

Cindy dear and Just-a-minute,

Thank you kindly, for the clarification. That's all I'm going to say. I tried a longer reply but was flagged as spam and denied. who knows... There was not a single profane word,, but let me stop here before I get canned again ;)

[Simon Bota GM MultiChoice]

Dear Plofessor,

We actually do have a complaints procedure posted in every branch that includes the cell numbers of the Operations Manager and myself if the customers are not happy with the service given. We also have a strategy, as part of the complaints process, to scan the social media (internet like facebook, twitter etc) for complaints and Dear Zambia is one of them. The complaints process is not just restricted to those lodged at the office so it is not by accident that this complaint was attended to.

We are trying to move with the trends and I would encourage you to do the same. We recognise that not all will have time/money to call or pass through the office.

For your information, we had a live radio show on Hot FM during drive time running for about 6 months where we tried to get customers to call in to present problems but the response was not that great. Those that called and had issued resolved apprecated this service however I guess people just want to visit our offices. We are looking at doing sometjhing like that on Radio 4 or 2 which has a wider audience so that w ecan reach more people. I would welcome any suggestions that you feel can work.

Simon Bota

[MISS MUZUNGU]

MR BOTA,
HAVE U CHECKED MY COMPLAINT? HAVE U TAKEN ACTION?
I PERSONALLY SPEND 40 min THERE ASKING TO SEE THE MANAGER, AND NO ONE ATTENDED TO ME, NEITHER WAS I TOLD ABOUT THE CHANNELS OF COMPLAINT.
I POSTED MY ACCOUNT NUMBER. (FIRST POSTING)
I WAS TOLD BY UR SUPERVISOR A WOMAN THAT ONE DAY WILL BE CREDITED TO MY ACCOUNT, AND WHEN I PHONED THIS MONTH TO ASK WHY THEY DID NOT DO IT , I WAS TOLD SUPERVISOR IS OUT.
WHY LIE TO UR CUSTOMERS? WHAT ETHICS ARE THIS?
AND AT FIRST I WAS TOLD TO PAY K10 000 BUT WHEN I WENT TO PAY IT SUDDENLY BECAME 20 000 . WHY? I AM SURE I WAS CHARGED SOME PENALTIES THAT I DONT DESERVE TO BE CHARGED.
AND IF U ARE SO EFFICIENT, POST HERE THE NUMBER WE ARE TO COMPLAIN TO. DONT HIDE IT.

[Plofessor]

Simon Bota,

Thank you for your response to this particular topic. It is promising to hear that Multichoice keeps up with the trends and does actively rake the social networking scene. But perhaps the reason people 'just want to visit our offices' is because they have not been told of the other alternatives you just mentioned. I, for one, didn't know until now of using facebook/twitter as a medium where my queries could be answered. I mean, how could anyone fathom Multichoice taking progressive steps of using social media when the simplest of inefficiencies that have existed at your Lusaka for years, well, still exist? Had I known the alternatives, there is no way I would spend up to an hour in a queue.

How about a billboard with customer service contacts (phone/facebook/twitter/DZ) that will serve your existing clients?

Anyways, kudos for getting in touch here. It's a positive sign :)

[Simon Bota]

Dear Miss Muzungu,

please call me on 0211 368301 or 0969 287 240. I had provided the numbers before and we are in discussion with Zambia Online to display the numbers somehwere so that anyone that wishes to call can do so.

I was on leave and had travelled to the sticks! The internet speeds are not great neither is coverage in some areas.

I did not check your complaint because you indicated that it was resolved. I will check what happened but please call me.

[MISS MUZUNGU]

dear Mr BOTA,
attending to a complaint means that u should sensitize ur staff not to do that to other customers.
the inefficiency of ur staff caused me:
1 day without services
2, 8 calls x 20-30 min each.
3 fuel for k(hundred thousand) to come and pay k(ten thousand)
4 time wasted.
All this was due to the inefficiency, inflexibility and luck of understanding of ur staff.
i am one of ur oldest customers, and u tell me, was that fair.
ur manager apologized and assured me that i will be compensated, it never happened. all empty promises.

[marcus]

ms muzungu,

get a LIFE!

[MISS MUZUNGU]

do u work for multy choice?

[Kombwe]

Marcus, what do you mean? What's your tiff with Miss Muzungu? Please don't ruin it for us who are holding our breath waiting for the day Miss Muzungu will post another pic of those beautiful legs of hers covered in mud. All natural. How sexy! mm mm mmm!!

[MISS MUZUNGU]

kombwe, u knotty boy!
cant u see the guy is from multychoice or mumbai.
are u trying to bibe me into posting something else.
cant sleep tonight. came back from a party on a thersday of all days,so i am watching tv with one eye and dz with the other.
too much exitement for one night, and too much coka cola.

[Girl]

Marcus Marcus Marcus! I hope you are just playing with Miss Muzungu with that your 'get a life' statement. That list of her complaints is valid! If you've no experience as such with Multichoice do consider yourself 'lucky'.

Miss M, watching tv with one eye and dz with the other? Lol! That's what I do in the office when there is too much juicy stuffon DZ, one eye on my work, the other on DZ, it's called multi-tasking, lol! When darling Bozo is having it off with the likes of Muntublest and the others that had tiger balls for dinner? I enjoy that. But when you and Plofessor are shoving toilet paper in each other's mouths? That gets me worked up and I can't close DZ window.

Simon, please see to it that Miss Muzungu and Muntublest are compensated for having been inconvenienced by your otherwise good institution. You entertain me despite the little squabbles we, your customers may have with you. Looking forward to better programming this year, HAPPY NEW YEAR Simon!