DSTV Customers Condemn Poor Services

Despite its success in the Nigerian market, subscribers to Dstv cable service have continued to vent their spleen against the South African brand over alleged poor attitude towards consumer complaints, poor service quality and monopoly of the pay TV market.

During the monitoring of complaints by National Mirror on Dstv official Facebook and other social media including Sahara reporter, Dstv subscribers are aggrieved that the pay TV was only after their money than rendering quality service and after sales consumers care.

While the pay TV is accused of insensitivity to consumer complaints, Mr. Olusola Olajuyigbe complained that he had been migrated to an unsubscribed platform which he didn’t subscribe to and yet was made to pay for the service.

“Per Dstv no 41078149709, Kindly reinstate the no of days of Dstv subscription which I lost to E45 issue and refund the N7,500 which I had to pay: per my decoder because I suspect the inconsistent instructions provided by the call centre operatives forced the occurrences. I believe I was unfairly required to swap at an unrelatable cost per nature of the problem.

The problem was also not related to power as I have surge protection systems in place.

“So, what brings about the E45 message and why did I have to swap my decoder (at a discomforting cost), instead of making correction to your system which resulted in the problem. I made payment to renew my subscription early in June and the E45 message came up and I called customer care who assured me that the problem will be solved.

On another complaint I was told to call an accredited installer but they couldn’t resolve problem too.

So in all I made several calls between payment date of 19th of June to customer care all to no avail till I went to Dstv office on 19th and I was forced to my dissatisfaction to swap at a cost of N7, 500.” Also, another subscriber, Dante Daniels complained about non-upgrading after payment for a family bouquet.

“Please, this customer paid some days back but is not upgraded”. Omotosho Adewale Owe with code 4113046816 also queried the pay TV for being disconnected before expiration date. “I want to know why my decoder was disconnected before the expiration of my connection due for June 24, 2013… this is ridiculous …”

He was also corroborated by another dissatisfied subscriber Emesowum Onyebuchi, “STV, your service is too poor; you disconnect customers even when their account is still running.”

While the pay TV service experience has been miserable to most subscribers, a UK based Nigerian, Chikadibie Okafo, who came home recently in a commentary on Sahara reporter said, “It is only in Nigeria that I found out that cable television is subject to weather dictates; DSTV signal is lost at the slightest trace of cloud in the sky.

You can guess what happens whenever it rains. Having spent a considerable time in Europe, I split my hair trying to remember the last time SKY TV lost signal either as a result of rain or snow! In Nigeria, the technology DSTV is using is so archaic and pathetic that it takes about 10 minutes for the installed cable box to boot! It can scan and scan until you fall asleep.

I am still wondering what would happen to our viewing right the moment the heavens decide to shower us with rain for up to a month; you will lose the chances of enjoying what you paid for while Multichoice smiles to Jo’borg with your cash!”

In his response to growing consumer complaints, the Public Relations Manager of Multichoice Nigeria, Mr. Segun Fayose said the pay TV has been responding promptly to complaints.

“We have a turnaround time of 20 minutes for responding to all customer service queries received via our social media channels. We also have a dedicated customer care application which was designed specifically to address queries conveniently and in the shortest possible time.

Also, we ask subscribers to make use of our self-help options such as using a short code to reset or reconnect their accounts, check their due dates and perform other functions to keep their account active from the comfort of their homes with the use of their mobile phones or to reach us via email,” he said.

Source: CKN Nigeria