TelOne to reduce outstanding bills by 40% for customers paying within this month (October)

Seems TelOne is indeed on a roll to bring about what they promise; fast, reliable and affordable telecommunication services.

About two weeks back they introduced Wifi Home And Away – a service which allows TelOne home ADSL or Fiber internet subscribers to use data at any of the 200 TelOne WiFi hotspots; as well as the TelOne Voice Bundles – a cheaper voice calls alternative .

Now a few days back, TelOne announced a new deal which allows customers with outstanding bills to pay 40% less of the original amount. The promotion is only valid throughout the duration of this month i.e. until the 31^st of October 2017.

Upon noticing that there wasn’t much detail of the promotion on the flyer or on social media, we inquired more from TelOne and received some detail that might be useful for those who are interested in the promotion.

For starters, its important to note that the promotion is only valid for residential clients, that is to say non – corporates. Sucks for companies that had already factored in this promo into their decision making. It is also only valid for debts that were accrued for post-paid lines between the years 2009 and 2012.

Again, I  noticed a question posted on twitter asking how the promotion would work if one is paying in installments. My assumption is that more people have the same question so I will address it as well.

Well, the 40% discount is only applicable for those paying the balance in full. You will not get a discount if you are paying an installment. So for example, if you have a 1000 dollar bill and are planning to pay $400 this month, the best plan is to find another $200 to make it $600 because if you pay the $600, it means you will be free from that particular 1000 dollar TelOne debt.

That indeed in sounds super good. I mean using that example,the pressure of finding an extra $200 in a short space of time is better than that of continuously owing. After all, they do accept all the commonly used forms of payment i.e. Ecocash, Cash, POS and RTGS.

However, considering the Zimbabwean economy, it might not be as practical as it sounds. Over the years, people’s priorities have changed. Phone calls and phone calls bills are secondary – well, to be fair they always have been but the difference now is that people do not even look at these secondary priorities. We only have money for primary priorities and by primary priorities I mostly mean food and rent. Therefore, the common reasoning would be “if no debt collector is going to come or no lawsuit is going to be filed, then I might as well not pay the bill!”

If we are to be frank, it only makes sense that this promotion is coming in response to that: people are not paying their post-paid landline bills. The promotion therefore is meant to incentivise people to settle their debts, in full! Currently, there hasn’t been much incentive for people to pay their TelOne debts since one can still apply and get ADSL internet connection even with an outstanding balance.

Nevertheless, I hope the promotion will go a long way in getting people to settle their debts with the telecommunications company.