How to...transfer your telkom account

I was advised to submit the forms for transfer at least a month in advance.

The agency we employed contacted me around 10 days prior to the move to say they'd help, but as is the way here (based on experience) if you want anything done, you do it yourself.

This particular bill is in my name, don't ask it was a painful experience trying to get it put in the name of someone who is only here on a visitors visa, but it was finally agreed after setting up hubbies bank account for payments (which by the way, I pay on my card, monthly at the post office) I need proof of residency.

So I explain what is happening and lo and behold, she helps me fill the form in, tells me I need the stand number of the house, they take a copy of my ID and off I go.

2 weeks later I get a call from the gate house to say Telkom are here to put in the new line.....hang on I'm not in the new house till June 1st. That's ok they say, we'll come back.

1 week later they are back....noooooo...I'm still not in the house. it's ok they'll come back again on June 1st.

So far this sounds reasonable, but I wasn't holding my breath...until...

June 1st, moving day 'this is telkom we are at the main gate can you authorise our entry'

30 minutes later...ta dah...we have phone and internet.

18 days later we have no phone or internet. I'm in the UK, hubby can't ring out to report a fault, so I tweet my number to a guy in South Africa to report the fault because I'm on a UK IP address and can't access all the facilities of the Telkom website.

3 days later, hubby finds out why we've been cut off. We've exceeded our credit limit, so he pays R300 and phone/internet reinstalled.

Apparently we'd exceeded our limit from the costs invlolved of transfering the ADSL .

Why didn't anyone tell me this?

I didn't ask, that's why