Afrihost & MTN - Worst Customer Service
Following my previous mybroadband post, I have not received any response from Afrihost on this platform. I also sent through a PM that has not been responded to. I took some time to write out everything that has happened up until now, for the sake of clarity and to show how poorly the service has been from Afrihost.
Up until now, Afrihost is blaming MTN for not having this issue resolved.
I have split the post into two parts as Mybroadband has a character limit count on a post.
Following my previous mybroadband post, I have not received any response from Afrihost on this platform. I also sent through a PM that has not been responded to. I took some time to write out everything that has happened up until now, for the sake of clarity and to show how poorly the service has been from Afrihost.
Up until now, Afrihost is blaming MTN for not having this issue resolved.
I have split the post into two parts as Mybroadband has a character limit count on a post.
- In early December 2017, my Apple iPad Air 2 Wifi & Mobile was stolen on a flight back to South Africa, while I was giving medical attention to a sick passenger. The iPad had an Afrihost Sim inside.
- I contacted Afrihost on the 9th of December at around 12:30 to request both the Blacklisting of the Sim card and the Device, as well as the ITC number following the Blacklist. The ITC number is needed to open a police case report and a police case report is needed for insurance. I asked for a letter as well, so that I could inform insurance that the sim card was blacklisted and that the device was in the process of being blacklisted. [/B]I spoke with ****and was informed that
- Please note for the actual ITC Reference we have sent a request to our Critical Care team and will only get a response Monday. Alternatively you can call MTN to request the above MTN: 173 (pre-paid) or 808 (contract) from MTN numbers or 083-1-173 from a landline or other cell phone network.
- On the 10th of December, I called MTN and then went to the MTN store to follow-up and see if they could assist me. I was fully aware that in the past, it was Afrihost's responsibility to complete the blacklist for me, but I tried anyway. I was informed that once again, I was unable to do anything as the contract for my device lies between MTN and Afrihost and not between MTN and me. The MTN contract is registered to Afrihost as the user - Afrihost just re-sold the contract to me. It is thus Afrihost's responsibility to deal with MTN and complete the blacklisting and receive the ITC number that they would provide to me. Nothing had changed from the past. I was told Afrihost should contact [email protected] to resolve the issue.
- By the 14th of December, I had still not heard back from ****. I called Afrihost and spoke with ****, who promised to resolve the issue for me. He followed up later that day with a text at 12:49 to inform me that the request for the ITC number was sent to MTN.
- Two days later, the 16th of December, I emailed **** again to find out if any progress had been made on the blacklisting and a request again for the letter.
- I received a response from *** on the 18th of December, asking if I received the aforementioned letter from the 9th of December. I told him I had not, and requested follow-up regarding *****'s progress with the ITC number. He responded with the following:
- "I spoke to **** regarding this as he sent the query through to our Critical Care team. He advised me that he has still not received feedback from them but will be putting pressure on them to get that ITC number for you"
- That afternoon, at 14:54, I received a response from ****:
- I apologise it took me so long to get back to you. There was only an update regarding your ITC number today and MTN have just closed our ticket. So I gave them a call to find out why, and the information they gave me was that you will need to contact the customer care line. I apologise again that this delay was caused and I hope its not too late for the ITC number. You will be able to contact (173) from an MTN number or 083 173) from a non MTN number.[/COLOR]
- At 21:54, I replied with a reminder that this has nothing to do with MTN and me, and that if I could have resolved the issue with Afrihost as the middle-man, I would have done so already. I attached the aforementioned proof that it was Afrihost's responsibility to resolve this with MTN, as had previously been done in the past for a previously stolen device:
- As per telephone discussion I have advised that the number ******** is contracted to Afrihost(pty) Ltd and therefor Afrihost need to escalate the blacklisting request to MTN as a third party does not have authority to blacklist a device. Kind Regards, Karabo Tladi
- On the 19th of December, I received the following response from *****, along with an attached MTN Device Blacklist form:
- After phoning in to MTN again we have received the proper manner to receive the ITC number, MTN no longer accept the old way of processing it. Kindly fill out the form attached then I will provide our critical care team with the form to obtain the ITC number.
- On the 20th of December, I emailed back the completed form as requested, including the details of the stolen device (IMEI number, SIM card number, Serial number etc).
- By the 22nd of December, I had not heard back from Afrihost, so I called and spoke with *******, who informed me that the Critical Care Team are still awaiting feedback from MTN. I has him send me a written email with the same information.
- On the 27th of December, I emailed again asking ***** and ******** for a follow up. He later messaged back with the following news:
- Please accept my apologise as we are still waiting for a response from MTN. We did have someone we were phoning to resolve the tickets quicker but unfortunately he is away at the moment. Kindly advise the the end date you need this number for, and I will make sure we get it well before the date.
- I replied with an explanation that I needed the ITC number as soon as possible, and that there had already been far too many delays. I emailed again and received a reply from *****:
- We had to make a new request as the old one was closed, below is the request reference. REQ REQ000000168045
- On the 1st of January, I emailed again to find out what progress had been made.
- I only received a response on the 9th of January from ***** with the following message:
- Please be advised that the Critical Care team has advised that you need to fill out the blacklist form again and provide us with the correct IMEI number. Once you have please revert back to us so that we can escalate back to Critical Care
- On the 10th of January, I emailed again with the same forms completed in an identical fashion and proof that the IMEI was correct all along (Screenshot of the Device Information as appearing on the Apple iCloud website that every Apple Device links to)
- On the 15th of January, I had not received a reply. I emailed ***** again for follow-up. There was no reply
- On the 16th of January, after having not received a reply for almost a week, I emailed again. Once again, no reply.
- On the 18th of January, I called afrihost and communicated with ***** , who promised to resolve this issue for me. She said that the issue lay between MTN and Afrihost, with no responsibility being taken to resolve the issue. She told me that the issue with the IMEI number was that MTN were insisting that the number is supposed to end in "0" and not in a "3". I explained the proof I had submitted that the IMEI number I had given was correct and that it was up to Afrihost and MTN to resolve the issue and complete the blacklisting, as well as provide me with the ITC number. She said she understood my frustration and would follow up.
- By the 27th of January, I had received no follow-up at all. I then took the issue to facebook, mybroadband, and hellopeter. I received the following public response on facebook:
- I'll need to ask our Team to follow-up on this urgently to find out what the procedure is in this instance. Can you please Inbox me your account details I'll check on this for you. ^E
- On the 2nd of February, after prompting once again, I received the following facebook message:
- We have received feedback from MTN and the blacklisting has been completed with the reference REQ000000193386. ^SP
- I messaged back with a request for the ITC number - the number I have been needing all along. The following reply was given:
- Our Team will update you the moment they have it. ^E
- On the 4th of February, I messaged asking why the ITC number wasn't available immediately considering the device had been blacklisted and I was told the following:
- As far as I understand after doing some research, the REQ number is linked to your ITC number pertaining to your particular case. ^V
- On the 5th of February, following my message explaining that this wasn't the first REQ number I had received and that all I needed was the ITC number, I was told:
- Please could you contact our accounts department as unfortunately I cannot assist you further with this ^H
- I called the Accounts Department later that day, who had no idea what I was talking about and explained that I would need to speak with the technical team. I was eventually put through to an individual called *****, who ran down to the Critical Care department to follow-up. He returned to the phone to tell me that the Critical Care Team are dealing with the issue with MTN and promised to call me later that day. He did not.
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