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DStv Upgrade Leaves Some Customers Unhappy(AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Not all DStv subscribers are happy with DStv's new upgrade that did away with the holiday home accounts, which subscribers had to pay for as a second DStv account. The upgrade of the Digital Satellite Television (DStv) system by MultiChoice Namibia was done at the end of July. "Subscribers will now be able to switch their subscription between two smart cards without having to pay subscription for two separate accounts and still enjoy DStv when they are visiting their holiday homes," said General Manager of MultiChoice Namibia, Roger Gertze. However, some dissatisfied subscribers are still questioning the rationale behind the changes, with weekend farmers and those with holiday homes complaining that switching the subscription between their homes and their farms will leave viewers at either of the two venues without their beloved DStv. Moreover, yesterday subscribers confirmed the problem where they have to switch off one decoder to activate another. "So many customers have been complaining about the changes and we understand that management is looking into it. They said they will inform us as soon as the changes are made," said one subscriber. Gertze admitted that "some challenges experienced during the changeover were the generation of new account numbers by the system, older version decoders and smart cards not integrating with the system and holiday homes. Some subscribers also experienced challenges with mobile devices, access services (PVR functionality), Extra-view and Dual-view and smart card pairing. Therefore, longer than usual queues were experienced at our head office, agents and branches countrywide, higher than usual caller volumes to our call centre and a backlog on our email address and SMS line. These challenges were rectified and are now resolved." MultiChoice Namibia underwent a systems upgrade and switchover on 25 and 26 July, in order to provide a better and improved subscriber experience. "Notably with such a significant business systems changeover, some minor challenges were experienced during the transition. MCN is confident that the challenges experienced by our subscribers during the systems changeover are resolved," Gertze said. He was however quite reluctant to divulge MultiChoice Namibia's investment in the upgrade, saying: "I am not at liberty to divulge the investment that went into the new system as this is an internal business process." Gertze however explained that the new system was tested before implementation and before going live. He added that a backup system was ready to be used in the event that the new system could not be operationalized, which was not the case. Asked on the number and frequency of complaints, Gertze remarked: "There were customer complaints, but I cannot provide you with the number of queries we dealt with, but what is important is that these queries were resolved in good time." Gertze added: "We also have a high number of subscribers who pay for services after their next invoice date, where the next invoice date falls on a Saturday, Sunday and/or on a Monday. These subscribers are then disconnected only on a Tuesday and their normal subscription is increased with the number of days that fall over a weekend and or a Monday as explained. This requires that subscribers need to approach MultiChoice, its agents and or payment providers to obtain the correct outstanding amount before a payment should be made." "The new system is designed to manage workflow and integrate interactions and is user-friendly and therefore will improve the customer's experience when dealing with MultiChoice Namibia," said Gertze. Copyright New Era. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). |