You may think that the complaints we lodge to our service providers go unheeded by the telecoms regulator, POTRAZ. Actually, I was surprised that they include statistics about customer complaints in their financial statements. It somewhat shows how much it cares about the wellbeing of customers, so to speak, when using Information and Communications Technology. For those who are in the dark, you can ask POTRAZ to help you with a complaint to your respective service provider, thats after your service provider fails to help you. (Read: Unhappy With Quality Of Service From Your Telecoms Service Provider? Here’s The Complaints Procedure)
In its latest financial statements report for 2017, POTRAZ recorded a decline in customer complaints it attended to, from 41 (in 2016) to 22 (in 2017). The reason why I’m interested in talking about this is because I want you to know that you can lodge virtually any type of complaint for POTRAZ to assist you in getting your issue resolved. Here are the complaints customers lodged in 2017;
| Nature of complaint and date received | Respondent Operator / Organisation | Complaint Resolution Status |
|---|---|---|
| Poor Quality of Service in Hwedza – 17 January 2017. | NetOne | NetOne was directed to improve Quality of Service and abide by the Quality of Service Regulations. |
| Ecocash API application – 18 January 2017. | Econet | Resolved. Econet engaged the consumer and the issue was resolved. |
| Ecocash failed transaction resulting in $46.78 deduction - 22 January 2017. | Econet | Referred to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ). Resolved. |
| Premature disconnection of 15GB of which only 11GB were used – 13 January 2017. | Zol | Resolved. ZOL compensated the consumer. |
| Double charging of ADSL account via Ecocash Lucky Mbira – 24 February 2017. | Econet | Resolved. Transaction reversed. |
| POTRAZ Toll free number not working – February 2017. | TelOne, POTRAZ | Resolved. TelOne attended to the switchboard. |
| Failed Ecocash ZESA payment, $5 debited – 10 February 2017. | Econet | Resolved. The $5 token was credited. |
| Billing complaint – 28 April 2017. | Powertel | Resolved. Powertel presented detailed billing statement with no anomalies. The complainant was appraised. |
| Anti-competitive practices – 3 May 2017. | Econet | Explanation received from Econet and complainant was appraised. |
| Data bundle expiry – 26 May 2017. | Econet | Resolved. It was explained that the one- week expiry is only a window period. The bundles can be exhausted before a week depending on usage. |
| Poor Service at Econet Call Centre. | Econet | Resolved. Econet engaged with customer. |
| Loss of $500.00 Ecocash transaction – 7 April 2017 | Econet | The customer reported the case to the police. |
| Failed Ecocash $2 airtime transaction – 8 June 2017 | Econet | Resolved. The case was forwarded to RBZ who said they resolved the case. |
| Slow Internet speed – 2 July 2017 | Powertel | Resolved. The customer was reassigned to another IP pool. |
| Complaint on update of domain registration – 21 July 2017 | Telone | Resolved the case of domain registration satisfactorily. |
| Loss of airtime via voice mail – 7 August 2017 | Econet | Econet resolved the complaint |
| ZESA token Ecocash refund – 24 August 2017 | Econet | The case was referred to RBZ. The complainant was refunded. |
| Erroneous Ecocash transfer ($1) – 9 November 2017 | Econet | Case referred to RBZ. Refund done. |
| Erroneous Ecocash ZINARA Tollgate account payment – 9 November 2017. | Econet | Case referred to RBZ. Transaction revisited and corrected. |
| Call Centre not accessible – 9 November 2017 | Econet | The complaint was raised with Econet and they advised that they are introducing a web self-care, and trouble ticketing system to improve accessibility. |
| Query on the justification for the expiry of data – 23 November 2017. | All telecommunications operators that offer data services | The consumer was advised that data bundles have window periods to enable operators to plan and manage telecommunications networks. |
| Unsuccessful Ecocash bank to wallet transfer – 29 November 2017. | Econet | Referred to Econet and RBZ. |
Gahagah potraz line down