Cell C screwed me, it looks like

[duk3]

Last year in late April I purchased one of Cell C’s 5 GB/PM X 12 deals for R2999 on prepaid. The sim was activated the following day, on the 1st of May, 2011. The deal would then go on to last until the end of April 2012. On May 1st, 2012, I was expecting the data bundle to expire and that I would then have no more data loaded on to my sim. But I was shocked to see another data bundle of 5120 MB loaded on.

I went down to Cell C and spoke to a salesman who informed me that one has to provide Cell C with written communication of their express desire to cancel the deal, 30 calendar days ahead of the time of expiration. I paid R2999 for the modem and 12 months worth of data – no more. But Cell C has the cheek to keep stringing me along after the deal has expired. Inside the prepaid data bundle deal I was paying about R250 a month for 5 GB of data. But now I’m told that I have to pay at least R450 for May 2012, as the prices have gone up, and I will receive a bill in June, 2012. I had to sign a termination of contract form. And I'm hoping that it goes through and I don't end up paying beyond May.

Nowhere, or at any time was I ever informed, to my knowledge, that I had to give notice. I was led to believe that once the bundle expired, that was it – not that I had to physically go down and cancel. I don’t recall being told this by the salesman who carried out the transaction out last year, and I also don’t have any written or printed evidence of this anywhere, including the reading material I received with the modem. I'm not sure but it probably doesn't even specify this “clause” on Cell C’s website. I went through a "checklist" at Cell C when I signed up for this deal to see that I understood some of the details, but I don't recall it being mentioned here either. Apparently they don't use these checklists anymore.

What I really hate is that I was going to ditch Cell C in favour of 8ta, seeing as their prices are very competitive (as in I’ll save R2000 - R2 500 on a big prepaid deal), and there’s seemingly less of this conniving going on. You get all of your data upfront to use as you please, without the monthly limits, and once the data’s up you can sign up for another deal, if you wish to do so, and not without your express permission. Instead, I might lose out on the deals 8ta offers as they’re coming to an end, and I’m still stuck with Cell C for another month, with bad customer service, and poor network service, too. As it stands, currently I have been unable to get any service for the past couple of days all ready. I had to phone several numbers before getting to modem tech support where a nice man helped me out and got things going.

I went with Cell C instead of the other cellular networks because it looked like a good deal – and it seemed like I wouldn't have to sign any contracts. There's no such thing it turns out. You have prepaid contracts and postpaid contracts. That's the only difference.

/rant

[Dups!]

I am sorry for what you are going through. I am also shocked by Cell C's conduct in the matter.

I thought this was supposed to be a prepaid promotion that expires 12 months later! Unfortunately, I am stating this from afar as I have never taken out a data promotion like that from Cell C. Hopefully those who have had this promotion can and will clarify this matter better but from where I stand it looks like you have been shafted.

[Cell_C]

Hi

You got a pre - paid that you pay once off as we know.
And got a post paid (contract). just like any other contract after the contract period,
It will go to month to month with a 30 day cancellation period.
this is across all carriers. This is a standard contract clause.

duke please pm me you contract number, let me see if can arrange anything.

Regards
~AM~

[MervynB]

Hi

You got a pre - paid that you pay once off as we know.
And got a post paid (contract). just like any other contract after the contract period,
It will go to month to month with a 30 day cancellation period.
this is across all carriers. This is a standard contract clause.

duke please pm me you contract number, let me see if can arrange anything.

Regards
~AM~

I'm intrigued. Normally post-paid contracts continue on a month to month basis after the initial contract period expires but this is the first I have heard of fixed term pre-paid contracts being automatically converted to post-paid contracts.

I paid R2999 for a 60Gb (5Gb X12) prepaid promotion deal, which included a modem, in September last year. The only record I have of the transaction is a hand written invoice. There are no Terms or Conditions attached.

I was given to understand that at the end of 12 months the SIM dies and I have to throw it away. I would then need to buy a new Smartdata SIM which would need to be RICA'd. The cost of the new SIM would, of course, not be at the promotion rate of R2999. As I was happy with this I reached for my wallet!

From other posts in the forum I have gathered that this is not quite correct. Any time I run out of data during the month I will be able to buy vouchers and load them like any prepaid account and I will be able to continue doing this after I have used the whole 60Gb. This means I will not have to buy a new SIM and RICA it. On the other hand, as data bundles are only valid for 30 days, I will have the "schlep" of buying vouchers every month. The message quoted above completely contradicts my understanding of the situation.

If, at the time I took the pre-paid deal, I had opted to go the post-paid contract route I would have had to jump through hoops providing bank details and pay-slips and a signed debit-order. Instead all I had to do for the pre-paid deal was put money on the table and comply with RICA. Now I understand I will have a post-paid contract, which I don't want and never agreed to, without having submitted bank details or having been subjected to a credit check. I certainly don't have any documentation in respect of this future contract.

CellC has my address as I had to supply that for RICA so they can send accounts but do they really want me as a credit customer without having assessed my credit worthiness? Are they entitled, in terms of the Consumer Protection Act, to extend credit without having made sure I can actually afford it?

Now we come to how much is CellC going to charge me per month on the post-paid contract I never knew I had. A new 60Gb 12 month Smartdata SIM is R4499. Will the bill be for R375 per month or will it be for R250 which is the equivalent of what I'm paying at present? (The actual data cost at present is about R180 per month if we deduct the cost of a modem from the R2999) Will the data usage be limited to exactly 5Gb per month as with the pre-paid SIM or will I be able to exceed this as with a normal post-aid contract? If I can use more than 5Gb per month at what rate will the out-of-bundle data be charged? Will I be able to change the contract to 24Gb (2GbX12) at R167 per month? 5Gb is far more than I need but at R180 per month I can afford to write of a large part of that and still get value for money compared to my previous post-paid 2.5Gb contract with Vodacom.

The only contract I have with CellC is that I agreed to pay them R2999 once off and they agreed to let me use up to 5Gb of data per month for 12 months. If I don't use all of the 5Gb in any given month I write it off as it doesn't get carried over. I have looked through the Terms and Conditions on the CellC web-site and I cannot find any reference to pre-paid contacts automatically becoming post-paid contracts. I would appreciate it if you could post a link to the actual document that binds me to this unwanted contract.

As I have no intention of ever having a CellC post-paid contract I would also appreciate an email address to which I can send notification now that any present or future contracts in respect of the SIM I'm using are to be canceled on the day that the last of the 60Gb available to that SIM is used or expires.

[SaiyanZ]

Did you guys sign contracts and give CellC your bank details for a prepaid sim?

I also have a 2GB pm CellC prepaid sim which I bought in May 2011. All I did was buy the modem + sim package and then RICA it. No bank details were exchanged and nor was any contract signed.

[ginggs]

Last year in late April I purchased one of Cell C’s 5 GB/PM X 12 deals for R2999 on prepaid. The sim was activated the following day, on the 1st of May, 2011. The deal would then go on to last until the end of April 2012. On May 1st, 2012, I was expecting the data bundle to expire and that I would then have no more data loaded on to my sim. But I was shocked to see another data bundle of 5120 MB loaded on.

Do you remember Cell-C told us the 12 months would only start at the beginning of the next month?
We were essentially given a 13 month free.

I went down to Cell C and spoke to a salesman who informed me that one has to provide Cell C with written communication of their express desire to cancel the deal, 30 calendar days ahead of the time of expiration.

I think the salesman misunderstood.

[duk3]

@Dups!: Well that's what I thought. Pre-paid. I paid for what I wanted and that's it. Thanks for your concern, btw.

@Cell_C: It was prepaid, btw. I didn't get a postpaid deal. I don't have a contract number as far as I know. Did you mean contact number?

@SaiyanZ: I didn't supply my banking details, no. I just paid with my debit card for the deal. I had to sign forms - I suppose that counts as a contract these days.

@ginggs: You're absolutely right. I do recall being told that by the salesman on the day I bought it - that we'd get a 13th month free or something, although he said that Cell C had stopped doing that. That was my first reaction when the new 5GB for May was loaded on. I don't know - maybe this other guy misunderstood. He seemed a bit dozy to me.

[Bundu]

Nah, this doesn't make sense - pre-paid means you are not checked for credit worthiness, so there is NO WAY that they can simply roll a pre-paid over to a contract without you signing for it and credit checks being done

Must be a misunderstanding and I would simply use the 5GB for this month, until they stop the credit

[MervynB]

Nah, this doesn't make sense - pre-paid means you are not checked for credit worthiness, so there is NO WAY that they can simply roll a pre-paid over to a contract without you signing for it and credit checks being done

Must be a misunderstanding and I would simply use the 5GB for this month, until they stop the credit

I agree with you. I have come across enough poorly informed sales staff over the years (at all the mobile service providers) to accept that the guy on the floor perhaps didn't know what he was talking about. What worries me is that Armando has confirmed that a fixed term pre-paid contract becomes a post-paid contract and that they expect a 30 day written cancellation. This is why I asked Armando to post a link to the T's & C's that implement this.

[Bundu]

I still think that would be against the law - credit and consumer rights

I think Armando is mistaken on this one....

[sajunky]

I think Amando was about 12 months data contract promotion, not a prepaid 12 months package. Prepaid data package just expires. At least mine did.

[duk3]

I've been thinking about it and I agree with the advice given. It was prepaid and they can't shift it to contract without a credit check and my permission. I will use this 5GB on my sim until the end of the month, and we'll see what happens. I haven't done anything wrong. If I got a 13th month free and it was unintentional, that's their problem. If I was meant to get it somehow, then I've nothing to worry about.

After that it's off to 8ta. How much longer will that 60+60 GB deal last, btw? The 3 Gigs big deal expires this month I think, and the 10 GB contract deal is end of June.

Oh, and I know all about salesmen and their incompetence. It's my belief that a clown could often do a better job.

[Edduck]

If there is no debit order signed and you only ever paid with a debit card then I can't fathom how they plan to send you a bill and debit your bank account!! Else there is some serious banking fraud going on at cell c....

[sajunky]

If I got a 13th month free and it was unintentional, that's their problem. If I was meant to get it somehow, then I've nothing to worry about.

It was intentional, but I agree, you don't need to worry about.

Re: moving to 8ta. Get prepaid SIM, convert it to non-roaming and test connection to www.8ta.com (free), then on small bundle first. GoBig 2+1Gig is a good start.

[MervynB]

If there is no debit order signed and you only ever paid with a debit card then I can't fathom how they plan to send you a bill and debit your bank account!! Else there is some serious banking fraud going on at cell c....

They could send you a bill as they have your address from the RICA application. It would then be up to you to pay it or dispute it.

I have contracts with Vodacom and MTN and neither company has a debit order against my bank account. I get accounts from both companies via email and I make monthly EFT payments. That way there can be no massive withdrawal, which could leave me financially embarrassed, if ever there is a glitch in the accounts.