BTCL gets harsh customer backlash

Monkagedi Gaothobogwe | Thursday March 19, 2015 20:33

 

The meeting started with the  Chief Executive Officer Paul Taylor’s optimistic speech for the next 12 months, which was followed by colorful video presentations of the BTCL group’s products and services.

This was however followed by a stern reality check by a tirade of not so complimentary feedback from the BTCL customers that included Bank of Botswana, the University of Botswana, and the Strategy Office at the Office of the President, that did not mince words about their unhappiness with the unsatisfactory level of service from the BTCL.

Whether it was the satellite service, MPLS, Radio network, Internet connectivity, the BTCL got a mouthful from the representatives of leading institutions that attended the breakfast meeting.

Bank of Botswana representative said they are not happy with the BTCL delivery.

BBS was surprised to hear the BTCL CEO say that the cost of their services have now reduced by as much as 75 percent from last year. The BBS representative said, on the contrary, the benefits of that price reduction have not reflected on them as a customer since they continue to pay high fees.

A representative from the College of Medicine also bashed the BTCL for poor customer service, saying BTCL had failed to give them proper guidance on the services they can provide. She said they do not have Wi -FI in their area, yet BTCL was claiming at the breakfast meeting that they had one of the fastest Internet services in the country.

Cash Bazaar, the owners of Riverwalk Mall, also complained that they have been waiting for Wi-fi connection for over a month now, since the BTCL team had visited their buildings to make installations. The Riverwalk manager said he was also surprised to learn from the deliberations that BTCL is able to upgrade Internet, while he was told that was not possible when he wanted to upgrade from 500MG to 2GB.Another client, who revealed he subscribes to radio link with BTCL, complained about difficulties in tracking radio data.

The complaints come at a time when the BTCL were announcing that they had started a pro-customer-service oriented initiative, ITLOLE.Since the introduction of undersea cables two years ago, BTCL customers have been complaining that they have not benefitted from the faster and cheaper Internet.