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View Full Version : MTN 24h Uncapped Data Bundle Scam


hk1979
29-09-2011, 09:33 PM
My wife is currently very furious! She bought this 24 hour data bundle during August. She received an SMS that she had purchased it. We then downloaded some stuff non stop. Speed was terrible, but we tried to get as much value from the 24 hours as possible. The billing department contacted her later, saying there was some large amounts from her account. She told them what happened, and they said that when she gets the invoice, she must go to branch. She got her invoice, went to branch, and all went downhill from there.

The interesting part comes that MTN claim she never activated her bundle, and then insisted that she pays the bill now on her account!!! Her account rarely been higher than 1K, and over a 24 hour period they charged her more than R6000!!! Hectic, 8ta only charges you R199 for 10 Gigs, and she didn't even use close to 5 gigs that day.

But here comes the worse part. Usually these companies will sort out your issues if you log a ticket at the call centre and share your story. But not MTN. It's more than a month later, and they show absolute no remorse for their clients. They just blamed her for not reading the SMS properly, saying the same SMS says she must activate the bundle. But my wife showed me the SMS, and there are no mention of activation at all! Check how MTN blatantly lied on Hello Peter:

http://www.hellopeter.com/mtn/complaints/24-hour-data-bundle-loyalty-points-644574
http://www.hellopeter.com/mtn/complaints/loyalty-points-used-for-bundle-but-charged-647017

Upon futher investigation I found other people to have same issue, note they also say no mention of activation SMS:

http://www.hellopeter.com/mtn/complaints/data-bundle-not-applied-as-per-contract-650109
http://www.hellopeter.com/mtn/complaints/unnecessary-deduction-in-airtime-649698

MTN please take care of you subscribers. Luckily I'm with Vodacom, much greater customer service and faster response.
$m@Rt@$$
29-09-2011, 09:47 PM
I also bought one a about 2 months ago. After I received the SMS saying thats it activated it was still using my airtime for about 30mins. Also, I managed to use about 200mb on the computer as a modem, and thats besides the amount of youtube and radio streaming I did in the car before I got the SMS saying that I`ve hit my 150mb fair usage and will be throttled to 10kb/s speeds.

Seems like their uncapped is still very buggy...
hk1979
29-09-2011, 10:16 PM
Buggy we can handle. What we can't handle is:

- Customer Care that is lying in public to make consumer look incompetent
- Making consumer pay for flaws in their system
intel8080
29-09-2011, 10:23 PM
Sorry to hear about your wife's problem. Some people had to sell their vehicles to settle the bill. Count your self lucky. +1 MTN . . . -1 Customer Lesson learned.
hk1979
30-09-2011, 01:39 AM
Well maybe she will have to sell her vehicle if MTN doesn't wake up. We don't just have 6K in case of telecom emergency.
kingrob
30-09-2011, 03:42 AM
Another reason why I love my 10GB 8ta deal. When the 10GB is up, it points you to a landing page where you can top-up.

Just too risky with MTN. Their billing system is still a mess, as I'm still billed two months in advance. WTF?
Venomous
30-09-2011, 06:47 AM
contact nqc or voldemort .... Not always around but you do get help when they are..
The_Librarian
30-09-2011, 07:10 AM
This is the #1 reason why I won't use a contract SIM to download huge quantities of data.

I'll use a prepaid SIM rather.

Good luck, hope you can get sorted out in your favour.
hk1979
10-10-2011, 11:19 PM
just some feedback, it seems like it will get sorted out by means of a credit note on her account. the joys of public outcry paid off.. it still was lots of hassle to go through... all the admin and keeping track of amounts
Jola
10-10-2011, 11:26 PM
This is the #1 reason why I won't use a contract SIM to download huge quantities of data.

That ...

Applies to all ISP's !!!
Kosmik
11-10-2011, 07:02 AM
Surely someone must have contested the fact of these large data bills in court? I don't see how it can be legal to allow a subscriber to rack up such huge amounts, especially as it's technically a credit extension. I was told before that you were only allowed to run up a bill 3 x your contract amount per month, has this changed?

Surely it must be against the NCA and CPA.
xera
11-10-2011, 03:59 PM
That ...

Applies to all ISP's !!!

Especially Vodacom. R2.00 per MB OOB, can you believe it. :wtf:
Quey_Quick
16-11-2011, 04:21 PM
Surely someone must have contested the fact of these large data bills in court? I don't see how it can be legal to allow a subscriber to rack up such huge amounts, especially as it's technically a credit extension. I was told before that you were only allowed to run up a bill 3 x your contract amount per month, has this changed?

Surely it must be against the NCA and CPA.

I think it is, ADSL went down recently (fckn Afrihost) and i had been using my cell c 3G quite a lot, they actually informed me and asked if i would like to be capped.