Autopage to Cell C Porting Problem

[francoisellis]

When offered an upgrade with my Cell C phone with Autopage, I found the same upgrade to the Galaxy S3 mini cheaper directly with Cell C.
I applied for a new contract with Cell C on 2 April 2013 and, after being promised that my new cellphone will be delivered within 3 to 7 working days, and after a lot of calls being made to them, I at last received my new phone on 19 April 2013.
This was where my main problem started. I requested that my existing 084 number with Autopage be ported directly to Cell C when I applied for the new contract. Since 19 April I have been phoning daily, spending a few R100's of on airtime and telephone calls, trying and sort out this mess.
If at LAST I get through to a section/person, after listening to their voice message for long times in the queue, they transfer me from one section to another.
Nobody wants to take ownership of the problem and attempt to fix it.
Cell C porting section tells you that they cannot assist you as this is a new contract and sales must arrange otherwise I will be charged R250.
Even mails to Customer Services or Lauren Neethling of Customer Care did not help as nobody even bothers to reply.
On 10 May they again transferred me around till after 17:00 just to tell me that the next section already went home!!

Yesterday (Monday, 20/05/2013) Autopage denied Cell C's porting request for what must be the 7th time!!!
Cell C says Autopage must convert the number to prepaid. And Autopage tells me they will only be able to do this as from end June. This contract expired 29 March 2012!! and has been on a month-to-month basis since then, so I owe Autopage nothing. Cell C reckons the conversion to prepaid should take place immediately.
I am FED UP !!!
I have been paying Cell C for 2 contracts since 19 April 2013, and NO ONE IS PREPARED TO HELP ME RESOLVE THIS!!!

It has got to the point that if this problem is not resolved this week, I am prepared to cut my losses and shut my number down and rather open a new contract with a service provider who actually WANTS MY BUSINESS!!

@Cell_C user, can you PLEASE HELP!!!

 

[Guji]

Put it on HelloPeter and see how quickly someone will sort this out!

 

[alternate]

Yep this is the same long story I got from autopage. Ended up having to pay for an extra month.

 

[Cell_C]

When offered an upgrade with my Cell C phone with Autopage, I found the same upgrade to the Galaxy S3 mini cheaper directly with Cell C.
I applied for a new contract with Cell C on 2 April 2013 and, after being promised that my new cellphone will be delivered within 3 to 7 working days, and after a lot of calls being made to them, I at last received my new phone on 19 April 2013.
This was where my main problem started. I requested that my existing 084 number with Autopage be ported directly to Cell C when I applied for the new contract. Since 19 April I have been phoning daily, spending a few R100's of on airtime and telephone calls, trying and sort out this mess.
If at LAST I get through to a section/person, after listening to their voice message for long times in the queue, they transfer me from one section to another.
Nobody wants to take ownership of the problem and attempt to fix it.
Cell C porting section tells you that they cannot assist you as this is a new contract and sales must arrange otherwise I will be charged R250.
Even mails to Customer Services or Lauren Neethling of Customer Care did not help as nobody even bothers to reply.
On 10 May they again transferred me around till after 17:00 just to tell me that the next section already went home!!

Yesterday (Monday, 20/05/2013) Autopage denied Cell C's porting request for what must be the 7th time!!!
Cell C says Autopage must convert the number to prepaid. And Autopage tells me they will only be able to do this as from end June. This contract expired 29 March 2012!! and has been on a month-to-month basis since then, so I owe Autopage nothing. Cell C reckons the conversion to prepaid should take place immediately.
I am FED UP !!!
I have been paying Cell C for 2 contracts since 19 April 2013, and NO ONE IS PREPARED TO HELP ME RESOLVE THIS!!!

It has got to the point that if this problem is not resolved this week, I am prepared to cut my losses and shut my number down and rather open a new contract with a service provider who actually WANTS MY BUSINESS!!

@Cell_C user, can you PLEASE HELP!!!

Thanks francoisellis, i got your PM. i will keep you posted. *DM*

 

[ajax]

Cell C says Autopage must convert the number to prepaid. And Autopage tells me they will only be able to do this as from end June

This is typical Autopage. If you don't go through a 3rd party then the conversion can be done on the same day.

 

[Segg]

My father just had a similar issue, if you are on contract with them, cancel and convert to prepaid then do the port to Cell C, my father had 2 contracts running for 6 months after waiting for his autopage contract to expire. Autopage is just a bunch of useless middlemen

 

[Hein_JHB]

I also ported from Autopage (Vodacom) to Vodacom direct and also had a few problems but it is sorted now and I am glad that I ported to Vodacom direct and I also got the deal I wanted for cheaper at Vodacom Direct. PS: Make sure that Autopage cancels the account after the porting. They still mailed me accounts like for R11 that they ow me and deducted from the R11 the postage fee

 

[francoisellis]

I already logged a complaint on HelloPeter on 12 May. Cell C responded the morning of 13 May that they will investigate. HelloPeter said they will send me an e-mail to evaluate Cell C after 54 hours which I also never received. It just seems to me that they are all useless!!

 

[francoisellis]

This is getting ridiculous. After clarifying with Autopage exactly what was needed for them to approve the porting request, Cell C was instructed to do the port (with the correct Autopage official's telephone number attached - to ensure the port was done correctly). Cell C obviously ignored this note, didn't contact Autopage as requested, and the port was ONCE AGAIN denied on Thursday, 23 May. This is now the 7th failed attempt at a number port. It's not even a change of network, merely moving the contract away from Autopage and to Cell C Direct.

I can only assume that Cell C is not interested in my business, since this matter is STILL UNRESOLVED since 2 April 2013!!! As a result I am now seriously considering cancelling my contract, and the huge inconvenience of losing my number would still be less hassle than what I've had from Autopage and Cell C the passed 2 months!!

 

[ajax]

This is getting ridiculous. After clarifying with Autopage exactly what was needed for them to approve the porting request, Cell C was instructed to do the port (with the correct Autopage official's telephone number attached - to ensure the port was done correctly). Cell C obviously ignored this note, didn't contact Autopage as requested, and the port was ONCE AGAIN denied on Thursday, 23 May. This is now the 7th failed attempt at a number port. It's not even a change of network, merely moving the contract away from Autopage and to Cell C Direct.

I can only assume that Cell C is not interested in my business, since this matter is STILL UNRESOLVED since 2 April 2013!!! As a result I am now seriously considering cancelling my contract, and the huge inconvenience of losing my number would still be less hassle than what I've had from Autopage and Cell C the passed 2 months!!

You can lodge another hellopeter complaint. You can do every 5 days. Cite the previous complaint and person who was supposed to help you. Tell them to take OWNERSHIP of your problem. INSIST on the person who calls you from hellopeter/Cell C's email address.

 

[ngwe23]

This is getting ridiculous. After clarifying with Autopage exactly what was needed for them to approve the porting request, Cell C was instructed to do the port (with the correct Autopage official's telephone number attached - to ensure the port was done correctly). Cell C obviously ignored this note, didn't contact Autopage as requested, and the port was ONCE AGAIN denied on Thursday, 23 May. This is now the 7th failed attempt at a number port. It's not even a change of network, merely moving the contract away from Autopage and to Cell C Direct.

I can only assume that Cell C is not interested in my business, since this matter is STILL UNRESOLVED since 2 April 2013!!! As a result I am now seriously considering cancelling my contract, and the huge inconvenience of losing my number would still be less hassle than what I've had from Autopage and Cell C the passed 2 months!!

I had the same problems i few months ago. It was only solved when I promised to take back the phone and not go ahead with the contract. The response was quick and the made a follow up to make sure the port went thru.

 

[bladzok]

Same problem from MTN

This is getting ridiculous. After clarifying with Autopage exactly what was needed for them to approve the porting request, Cell C was instructed to do the port (with the correct Autopage official's telephone number attached - to ensure the port was done correctly). Cell C obviously ignored this note, didn't contact Autopage as requested, and the port was ONCE AGAIN denied on Thursday, 23 May. This is now the 7th failed attempt at a number port. It's not even a change of network, merely moving the contract away from Autopage and to Cell C Direct.

I can only assume that Cell C is not interested in my business, since this matter is STILL UNRESOLVED since 2 April 2013!!! As a result I am now seriously considering cancelling my contract, and the huge inconvenience of losing my number would still be less hassle than what I've had from Autopage and Cell C the passed 2 months!!

I suspect the problem is Autopage and not Cell C. I am trying to do the same thing to MTN pre-paid. All of the information they have requested goes on the port request (I sat with the MTN agent while he did it) and still they deny it. But they won't tell me which fields were wrong.

I am convinced they do it to try and force you to change to pre-paid (which adds another months revenue for them).

Their call centre staff are very defensive around this issue - I think they are as frustrated as anyone and have been hammered by countless frustrated clients over the phone. They just don't have the tools to do their job.

You would think it would be as easy as sending you a mail saying:

You requested a port with this information:
xxx
xxx
xxx
xxx

We were expecting this information
xxx
yyy
zzz
xxx

They obviously know why they rejected it - they just choose to keep it a secret to frustrate you.