Neotel
Reviews and Complaints

I have bought this wifi towards middle/end 2013 with data. At the time the date was supposed to last for a year, only to be reduced to 6 months later and now when I phoned yesterday you told me only 3 months. I have 32 gigabytes on this stupid wifi and cannot even get a battery for it with you guys, and no, I shall not buy an updated version from you. As a matter of fact, I have bought a new router from cell c and got 100 gigabytes for a year at r299.00!Now put that in your pipe and smoke it. I shal never ever ever ever ever do business with you guys again. This is daylight robbery. You should be summons by somebody with money and taken to court for all the people you are doing in. Ggggggggggggggggoooood bye neotel.

You are the service provider for a company that is harassing me with daily hang up calls. The above numbers were supplied by you to a company registered as SASSA Grindrod bank in Sandton. I receive calls from them twice per day on my business land line. Upon answering the calls, they drop the call immediately. This has been going on for two weeks every single day. I ended up diverting the calls to my mobile so that I could pick up the callers number and then I had a Advocate trace it for me to Neotel as service provider. What can you do to assist me with this?

My NeoBroadband Wireless connection went down after a thunderstorm.

The POE box had died (that's the thing that powers the antenna)

I tried calling Neotel customer service, no answer after multiple calls.

Eventually when I did get through, the person on the other end repeatedly told me that I was wrong and that they could see nothing wrong with my internet connection - even though everthing on my end was unplugged/not working!

So basically I am lying according to them.

Eventually the customer service person said they would send someone out.

A couple of days later - surprise - nobody showed up to take a look.

I called them again, and they again told me that nothing was wrong with my internet, but that someone will come out to take a look.
Nobody showed up, so I called them again...rinse, repeat.

It is now 2 weeks later and they are only looking at it today.

I have been without internet for 2 weeks, Have been told multiple times by Neotel that I am basically lying.

Neotel are happy to take your money, but are too incompetent to provide the product they are selling.

Neotel are providing Africa-levels of service. Avoid.

I contacted Neotel last year Nov to stop a debit order, they did not stop it and as such i am charged a missed debit fee monthly. i then contacted them in March to tell them their service was not being rendered and i would like to cancel my account. they have not cancelled my account as at 10 oct 2016 (7 months later) and they have not made any attemp0t to fix the service they are charging us for which they are not providing because it does not work. i requested that management get in touch with me regarding this which they have not. when my account went unpaid they were quick to phone me monthly regarding it however when i ask them to provide the service they are charging me for they cant pull through. i am so sick of this thief company stealing from my family with their missed debit fees which i requested they stop, the service fee for the service they do not provide and all my wasted airtime and time with constantly phoning them. STAY AWAY FROM NEOTEL THEY ARE CROOKS

I have been a Neotel client for a while now. My initial contract finished but I'm still on a month-to-month contract with them. I was contacted by a call centre agent who suggested we get an upgrade, however I was not interested in a telephone upgrade so asked about a router. He advised they have a package on 15gig for an excellent price. I then agreed to this and he had it couriered to me. I then attempted to get it started up on my laptop but was unable to get sufficient signal. I contacted the technical support agent, who tried his utmost to assist and was very patient with the whole process. Unfortunately the signal strength was just too weak and he then advised me to take the router back to a Neotel store (N1-city) and they will then have to cancel the agreement with no cost to me as it is not my fault the signal was so bad. I had then taken the device back to the store and was assured that I would not be billed a termination fee, this took place in Feb 2016. I received and in-contact message to my cell phone that a debit had gone off my account for Neotel for almost R2000. I called the call centre and spoke with an agent who advised this was done in error and the money would be returned to me within 21 working days, which excludes weekends and public holidays. Together we then calculated the money will be refund to me by 28 April. On the specified day I had no received any form of notification that the money had been refunded, I then again called the call centre, spoke to another agent and he advised that the query is being processed and the money will be refunded on that day still. He provided a reference number again and said should it not be received I should call the centre again and query. I then left the call until the morning(after 8am) of 3rd May, which was then 5 days after the specified day of refund, spoke to an agent who advised they had not processed the refund yet, however the "paperwork" was done. She then logged a call for it to be refunded, she confirmed my details and while providing me with the reference for the query, my call got cut and she didn't even bother to call back to provide the reference! I then waited for a call but nothing, I decided to call back before 12pm that same afternoon and was transferred from pillar to post, being told that they are having system issues/ technical difficulty. in the space of 5 minutes I had spoken to 3 agents and then with fourth agent I refused for him to transfer me to speak to a team leader or supervisor. He advised that "the management and team leaders are in an undisclosed venue off / away from the office for a meeting"! REALLY!? The management would leave a bunch of incompetent people without supervision? I advised him that he had better sort out the mess a I am taking the matter further, also that I know how call centres work as I work in one myself and when meeting take place they never leave the premises. he then followed through trying to assist but also just said he would escalate the matter and that I would receive my refund by today(03/05/16) it is now 10pm and have not as yet heard from anyone there or received the refund. I have incurred obvious expenses for the numerous calls made to find out what was happening as well as bank charges which I have to foot the bill for.
Reference numbers
SREQ_[protected]:1 (11/02/16) - N1 City store
SREQ253543611 (30/03/16) - Thabo
FCR_[protected] (28/04/16 - Thabelo
Nosipho - call got cut (8am 03/05/16)
Sabena - after 11am transferred to Tebogo then transferred to Sabelo who provided 03/05/16 and his name as reference.
I would appreciate that Neotel refunds the amount in full along with funds to cover the calls made to them and and bank charges that would be required from me for the transfers made both to and from my account.
I would appreciate that this matter gets dealt with urgently!

I got a Neotel telephone around 2009 after I decided that not to get a fixed line. Al went well and after my initial contract ended in 2011, I decided that it might be a good idea to move to a different plan. That was a mistake...
The plan that I moved to was a R 99 per month special that was running, only thing required was that you bought the device (telephone). As I got the device as part of my initial contract and it already belonged to me, I did inform them that I had a device and they assured me that they would not bill me for the device.
The next thing I know, my email stopped working. I phoned Neotel and after talking to several other people, I was finally put through to a technical consultant that informed me that they had to delete my mail profile and recreate it in order to move me to the different plan. I am in the IT industry and that is a load of crock, as it is possible to move a mailbox in Exchange without having to delete it. All would have been fine, had they not deleted the 5 emails that were still in the mailbox, which was lost and they could not recover.
After admitting defeat to incompetence, I then got my bill at the end of that month, and I was billed for the device.
Call after call no-one could help until I finally got through to a person that informed me that they have to invoice the amount or they cannot put you on the price plan. Incompetence again.
After several fights, they finally admitted in making an error, but the solution proposed was that they would let my account lie in credit for the amount and subtract my monthly charges from that. I was on debit order which was my first mistake in all of this but that basically came down to fraud as they took an unauthorised amount from my account. The amount is negligible, but it is the principle of the issue. Only after I threatened with legal action was I refunded.
From there things was OKish. I never used the phone for calling as I needed the internet access but not broadband and the Neotel speed was enough. Then in the beginning of 2012, the internet connection speed became almost slow enough to believe it is a dial up connection. Upon ensuiring, I was informed that there was no Neotel broadband coverage in my area. I find it strange that the connection speed seemed to drop by around 70% but there was no way of convincing the once again incompetent guy on the other end of the phone.
I decided to get a HSDPA router and got a contract with Vodacom, and my internet connection issues came to an end immediately. I did however decide to keep the Neotel line going to ensure that all my email contacts get my new address.
In June/July of 2013 I changed banks, and I phoned Neotel to change my banking details. I have multiple accounts that run of debit orders, and I had no issues. Neotel however informed me that I had to send a letter, which is kind of expected, but also a letter from my new bank and I needed to RICA again. This after there is a recorded voice that tells you that all calls are recorded. I refused to send any of the requested items and told the once again incompetent agent that I will merely stop the payment and they will not get their money. Funnily enough that they then decide to change my bank details as requested.
I then in middle November of 2013 sent them a cancellation letter. On phoning them, they tell me that I had to give a reason for disconnection. REALLY?
My phone was disconnected on around the 21st of December and I am finally rid of them. But here is the kicker... They have not as yet deleted my mailbox and I can still access the mailbox on an account that shouldn't exists anymore. Once again, incompetence.
Any prospective new Neotel customers, need to really consider rather not going this route.

Was offered an upgrade after being a customer for 2 years.
Informed neotel of the problem I had originally experienced.
Was informed network had improved and would not experience any such problem this time.
After a month of trying to perform the upgrade neotel inform me that they would need to terminate the contract. (How can a company go backwards when it is was working ?)
Problem they invoice me over 6k to terminate and deduct the money from my bank account after promising me in writing and on the internet that this will be credited.

People stand-up against neotel stand up for your rights. Lodge a formal comlaint at icasa and the national consumer commission. It has to stop that service providers continously break the consumer protection act and provide on top of that louzy service. Only if we want to slide into another african banana republic, we should stand-up and government should start taking action for those breaking the law instead of creating anarchy.
Neotel device does not work, different packages are sold than agreed upon, overcharing with several hundreds per month, no clear billing, the modem is not compatible and only operating on windows 7 and higher, no response on emails and telephone calls, false sales techniques... Conclusion: neohell.

Two years and 5 months ago i took out a contract with Neotel SA to run for 24months. This contract ended at the end of January 2012. In April of this year I phoned their offices to terminate the service as I had not been using their services for more that 24 months, meaning that they had been deducting monies from my banking account to cover the cost of the twenty four months contract which we had. Needless to say I have been battling to get this company to cancel or terminate the service since then. I have sent them numerous e-mails. They (Neotel) has acknowledged the receipt of these e-mails as one of their consultants replied. I have just today received another billing charging me R199.00vat incl to be taken off my account at the beginning of August. The other issue I have with them is the fact that they never registered a debit order on my account. I went to my bankers to cancel the debit order and was told by my bankers that there was no debit order for Neotel and that they are taking monies from my account as thou I am paying by eft. Please help as I am now at the end of my tether. I have signed a stop order at my bank but was informed that if Neotel changes the amount by even 1c then the monies will be taken off again, regardless of the stop order. I tried to attach a copy of the newest invoice but am unable to do so.

I have a neotel prepaid service and all of a sudden the 26th of april 2012 they just disconnected my service! Why they did that and who gave them authorization to do so, I don't know! It's my phone I have paid in full for my prepaid phone! I have contacted quit a few times for them to sort the problem out! All they say is that they will send it through to their it department! Why should I suffer while trying to make my calls for my business to run as smoothly as possible, if it's not a mistake from my side! It's the 3rd of may now! Please help!

I contacted neotel wednesday 25 jan to order prepaid phone and data card. I spoke to megan who promises to call me back but she never did. I phoned back and spoke to mikal who then promises to email me detail but he never did. I phoned back and he gave me payment details over phone and I made special plans to get to cresta to pay monies in for the devices as I do not drive. I also faxed through proof of payment. On friday the promised delivery date my devices did not arrive. I phoned mikal who informed me that their fax details has changed and that I will get my devices "sometime next week". I blew my top and got put trough to supervisor eric who then appologised and said he will personally deliver the devices to me on friday after work as he stays close to my home. He never showed up on friday neither did he call and he is ignoring my calls. When I phoned the service department they were even more blase about the bad way I have been treated. I just want what I have paid for. Is that just too much for neotel to handle or do they prefer to make promises and not keep them.

I purchased a phone from this company they have all my banking details for a debit order every 1st of the month, since august
They have not taken any money off and last month I had to phone them we confirmed all details were correct and they said it would
Happen but it didnt. I got a phone call from their lawyers on friday and I explained to them it is no fault of mine why they did not
Take their money. Today I have phoned 5 times been put on hold then told they would phone me back still nothing I have repeated myself 5 times over and after holding on for a consultant I get cut off. This is not business what does one do in cases like this.
Incompetant staff and billing system oh and I have been cut off of services.

I received an sms in april 2011 that I owe neotel r14483. I have never opened an account with this company. I sent them an email and instructed that they sort this issue out. Kagiso moloto - executive escalation from neotel called me and said this issue was sorted out and I did not need to worry about the account as it was sent to the wrong person.
On the 12 aug 2011, I received a letter from mcrobert attorneys threatning to blacklist me if I dont settle this account. Whats wrong with these people.

Re: complaint / neotel / rudi herbst
1. On the 24th november 2010, I visited neotel cedar square to enquire about various business services.
2. I was referred to rudi herbst of treziscope cc, a channel partner of neotel. I called him and he asked me to email him my requirements, which I duly did on 25th november 2011 (Available for perusal). Rudi said he would email me a quote, which, to his credit, he did.
3. I called rudi again that day and asked him whether we could keep our number, and to please find out if we had coverage at our new premises because I had tried to confirm coverage on neotel’s website, but couldn’t validate coverage. He assured me that there was adequate coverage and that we could transfer our number.
4. On the 26th november rudi emailed and informed me that he needed to apply for our lines so we would be ready before we moved (Available for perusal). He also asked that we make payment of his quoted price asap. He asked me to complete the neotel paperwork which he had attached to his email (Available for perusal).
5. I duly completed the neotel & ndash; customer order form (Cof) and attached all the requested accompanying documents. Rudi came to collect these documents and called to say that neotel had approved our application and I now needed to pay the quoted r7050.00 and faxed proof of payment to chantelle at neotel on [protected]. I duly did as he requested (Available for perusal).
6. I was very clear about wanting everything installed by mid-january 2011. We made an appointment for installation on 20th january 2011. He cancelled this installation. We re-scheduled on the 27th january 2011 (Available for perusal). He also cancelled this installation.
7. We then made an appointment for 1st february 2011. He cancelled this installation because there was a death in the family. We re-scheduled the installation for the 3rd february 2011. He cancelled this appointment as he was still in bloemfontein. He promised to call and re-schedule but didn’t respond to my emails or sms’s, so I threatened to contact neotel (Available for perusal).
8. Rudi didn’t respond to my & ldquo;threat” but called that night to say that he took his mother-in-laws cell phone and had to travel back to bloemfontein to collect it. He promised to call & ldquo;first thing in the morning”. I sent him an email & ldquo;installation?” which he didn’t respond to and so, absolutely frustrated, extremely angry and very close to going to the press I called neotel’s customer service department (8th february 2011). After much frustration with junior staff I was eventually put through to joseph pitjeng, a supervisor. He promised to escalate the matter to various & ldquo;powers that be”, and assured me & ldquo;someone” would get back to me.
9. When I called neotel on the 8th february 2011, I was shocked to find out that we were not a registered / approved client of neotel, and that there was no paperwork received from rudi herbst.
10. Rudi called (8th february 1.03am) , after my call to joseph at neotel and scheduled an installation on thursday, 10th february 2011 at 10am.
11. I waited for rudi at our offices on the 10th february but he never arrived. I called his cell at 10:30am and asked & ldquo;where are you?” he said he had terrible & ldquo;jippo guts” from a boerewors roll he’d eaten at the rugby the night before.
12. I discussed his unacceptable response and behaviour with nla’s director, natalie lubbe and it was decided that we would no longer tolerate his deplorable, unethical, and unprofessional conduct. I sent rudi an email on the 11th february 2011 to this effect and gave him until the 15th february 2011 to refund our money.
13. Needless to say rudi did not refund our monies by said deadline. On the 1st march rudi emailed me:
“i herewith regret to inform you that things are not going well financially and we are not able to make payment as requested. I know that I committed to do so but business is quiet and I am really under a lot of stress at this moment. The only other alternative is that I pay you off over a couple months. I can give you some post-dated cheques and if I get the money beforehand I will pay it over to you!”
14. I emailed rudi on the 7th march 2011 with strict terms for monthly repayment of monies he had, by his own admission, fraudulently misappropriated.
15. Rudi agreed to all our terms on the 9th march 2011. We arranged to meet to sign the acknowledgement of debt on the 11 march 2011. Again, rudi did not arrive.
16. I called rudi, and re-scheduled the meeting for the 13th march 2011. Rudi arrived, and duly signed the acknowledgement of debt, and also left 6 post-dated cheques.
17. I deposited his 1st post-dated cheque on 4th april 2011, but it was returned & ldquo;unpaid” because of insufficient funds.
18. Natalie lubbe called rudi on 18th april 2011 and informed him of the non-payment of his cheque. He said he couldn’t understand why it had & ldquo;bounced” and he promised to make payment by electronic transfer within 24 hours (19th april 2011 before 13:30).
19. No monies were received by rudi herbst and natalie lubbe left a message on his cell phone (21st april 2011) and informed him that legal action will be instituted against him.
20. Nobody from neotel has, as of today, had the decency to respond to my complaint! Neotel was notified of this escalating and unacceptable situation on the 9th february 2011, on the 11th february 2011, on the 15th february 2011, on the 1st march 2011, 7th march 2011, 9th march 2011, (All communications are available for perusal!).

I was contacted by neotel within 24 hours and thought my problems were finally over. The main problem lies with administration. I was told that a document is attach to my account which clearly states why I wanted to cancel my connection.

Now all of a sudden I must do it again, for the reason stipulated for cancellation is different from what I said.
My reason stays the same: bad service! I am not relocating, I am canceling due to bad service and a faulty network. We were promised by a sales rep that our speed would be 2.4mbs. When I query this they said no it could go up to this. I was very disappointed for neotel at that stage were even slower than a normal adsl telkom line.

When I phoned today, they told me that I will be credited r1618. I do not approve of this, since r1915.20 was wrongfully deducted from my account on the 30 of jan 2010. Now it seems that neotel wants to make profit out of their mistake.

Up to now: no one has contacted me personally. I would like to be fully reimbursed: connection fee and monthly fee fee + the r1915.20 cancelation fee.

I canceled my account on the 26 of nov after joining neotel middle october, and after phoning several times.

On the 29th of May 2009 I signed up for Neotel and paid a R500 deposit. I collected my hardware and commenced testing. The connection was terrible and I then tried to contact the support line both via phone and via e-mail with no response.

Eventually on day 4 I went to the Neotel head office in Woodmead to cancel my account; this was not a great experience but after a couple of hours I had handed back the hardware and canceled my account.

On the 8th of June I received a statement from Neotel for services rendered which I then forwarded through to the person I had been dealing with along with a print out of my credit card statement to prove that I had paid the R500 deposit. (Go figure they can't check their own records).

12 March 2010 I still had not received my R500 deposit and was now contacted by Macrobert Attorneys who stated that I owed Neotel R676.22 and if I did not pay within 7 days I would be 'blacklisted'.

I recommend to anyone reading this, STAY AWAY FROM NEOTEL...

I Arrived home last night to find that i do not have network coverage any more, this was no surprise as it was up and down the whole week, but was still able to use my device. Last night though i could not phone or use the internet. I bought and paid for a ten gig line. I had excellent coverage from day one, and then it started to dwindle. I phoned your technical department, and we went through some basic check of the hand set. During the checks the operator informed me that there is no coverage in my area, to which I replied 'impossible' this is why I do have a contract with you. So he said that they are changing areas to give better coverage and that there services are limited in my area... He then suggested that I terminate my contract... I asked to be transferred to a 'Customer care' consultant; he also said i should terminate my contract... nice business practise... So am i no longer important to you? I am now a client for more than 8 months and this is how you treat your customers. This all was done without notification or warning. I have cancelled all my Telkom lines as I moved on to the 'better' supplier...

This is the fourth straight month I have received the wrongly stated invoice. Each month neotel had apologized and promised to rectify it. I took off the overcharge and paid the correct amount as instructed by neotel. It’s never fixed. As the result neotel suspended my line twice for seeming overdue because of negligence of not correcting my invoice. Neotel apologized for suspending my line and put it back on.
I have spent so much time talking to call centre that doesn’t deliver service.
I spoke to so many people and all I get is apology but never correction. The communication line between colleagues horizontally and vertically is nonexistent.
All I want is now get rid of neotel and never deal with it. I feel sorry for neotel’s toothlessness.
Neotel has convinced me it is a waste of time to speak to them and nothing changes the situation. The more I have tried the more I realized how hopeless they are. The best way is to walk away. So I will move the business elsewhere.
I know neotel will suspend my line at the end of this month again to repeat the same mentioned above.
Neotel asked me to pay r1000 for service termination fee. After having received service of this kind, I will refuse to pay it. If anything neotel owe me money since I could not be online when they suspended my line.

Two months ago neotel sales reps offered me their device on a 7 day trial period, in which I could return the device if there was no service in my area. I paid the deposit and got the device delivered. I tried the device and there was no coverage for internet services. I then immediately sent an e-mail to neotel informing them that the device did not work. There have been promises of my refund for the past two months and nothing has been done so far.In one e-mail from neotel, I was promised my refund within 14 days but nothing came my way. I am very disgusted at the way neotel has handled my request. They are quick to ask for money but fail to stick to their promises. It seems the complaints e-mail receiver is useless as there are responses or follow ups to clients requests. I will never ever use neotel as a service provider even if they introduce coverage in my area. Its unfortunate that I lost all the e-mails neotel sent to me with the reference numbers, but im sure if they check the account they can see that it has not been in use since september 31st, 2009 and there should be record why they have not billed me since then. If I have not been billed then they know they owe me.

I am paying Neotel R 1000 per month for a so-called uncapped service. I live in an excellent coverage area. Network signal disappears intermittently.

When it starts to rain don't expect any coverage either. No EVDO service. Only 1X with bad latency and voice echos.

When phoning the call center from my mobile phone (for which of course I get billed) I have to wait endlessly only for them to tell me there are network issues. Hello? That is why I phoned you.

The general attitude at the callcentre is not so great. I get the feeling 'we are doing you a favour' by answering the telephone. Don't ask us for to much...we have only been trained to respond with 'there are network issues in your area'.

It disgusts me to think I take one thousand bucks and flush it down the drain.

MY MONEY DON'T DISAPPEAR MAGICALLY EACH TIME A HAVE A HEADACHE OR FLUE. PLEASE GET A LIFE AND SORT OUT YOUR ISSUES.