Best/Worst Cell Provider in SA

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bobthedinosaur

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Right, I've had it with MTN.

I've been with MTN since about 1998 (probably earlier but I can't be arsed to check) and I honestly can not think of one good experience I've had with them. I loathe getting a statement from them at the end of the month with an error on it, or receiving a cellphone from them that appears to have fallen off the back of a truck.

Their customer service is bad on a biblical scale. They've set their bureaucracy up in such a way that the only people who can actually do anything useful are the techies (who live in the MTN cave on mars) and the high-up corporates. I've spent enough hours standing in an MTN shop waiting for the 'support' staff there to sort out a simple problem (for which I'd have to go back several times to solve) and all the while watching as one customer after another storms out in a huff leaving behind an increasingly helpless looking bunch of staff members. Even the 'managers' in these stores can't do anything but put you on a call to some techie in the bowels of MTN's corporate monster who'll tell you that you don't have a problem, you're imagining it. (this I witnessed as an irate woman was speaking, under the supervision of a 'manager', to a techie about her brand new cellphone that would only hold its charge for 5 minutes)

And so I would like to stick it to MTN and migrate my number to another provider. But I have no idea which one to choose, one hears good and bad things about all of them depending on who one speaks to.

Basically I'm hoping that the increased exposure of my question to the biggest collection of IT-minded people in the country will help me decide.

Can we start a poll?
 
My experience with MTN's non-existent Customer Service has been indescribably bad.

The last few time the issues were never resolved, I just got fed up and abandoned the effort of obtaining support.

Bad, bad, bad , ....
 
Best to Worst: Cell C, Vodacom, MTN, Virgin :)

At least 'tis my opinion--Cell C have done a fantastic overhaul of themselves, or at least their public image. It has pretty much left the old dinosaurs fumbling.
 
Worst service i ever had was with Vodacom, dropped them in favor of MTN and haven't had any problems so far.
 
@Bobthedinosaur and @Jola
Been with MTN for 12-years now... and I can echo that.
Service has completely degraded. It's a shocker. They are absolutely not interested in retaining customers... rather their focus is on hooking in new business. It's all about market share - the number of active SIMS and not really the high value contracts.
I'm in a situation where my bro is paying 4-times less for his minutes than I am - why - a heavily subsidised entry level contract.
I'm looking to move... but dunno where to go other than to get out of MTN.
Rotten really! :twisted:
 
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I made the mistake of starting to move my 5 lines from MTN to CellC, after being with MTN from 2000. The whole reason for going to CellC was also because I was also gatvol of MTN's crap service and the inabilty to get their billing correct. The wife, warned me that they are all useless, but I would not listen. She was right, and I will never live it down, as I moved her line.
I managed to move one line, then CellC said, stuff you, wait three months before we will move the next line. That was the best thing they could have done for me. Even worse than their crap attitude is the inability of their network to host a call succesfully. I have learnt my lesson. the rest of my lines will stay with MTN. I'd would rather deal with MTN's crap service and attitude, than deal with the same issues with CellC and not be able to use the network by calling my wife or kids 15 times before it will connect. The ability to actually use the network is more important than the crap service I get from MTN.
 
They are all bad. Simpy because ICASA (Telkom's Lapdog/Sockpuppet) is not doing much in terms of regulating the market and opening it up to competition.
 
Been with all of them, all bad. I am stuck with Vodacom the last 4 years. So far so good...
 
Imminent said:
They are all bad. Simpy because ICASA (Telkom's Lapdog/Sockpuppet) is not doing much in terms of regulating the market and opening it up to competition.
Click to expand...

All mobile network providers dictate to Icasa, one hand always feeds the other. :-)
 
No problems with mtn and voda. friends who got cell c have drop calls, calls go to voice mail, etc.
All of us at work got mtn and are very happy. some had that R7.50 a week deducted without their knowledge.
 
Worst provider experience i have been involved in ... !! ALTECH AUTOPAGE CELLULAR !! Bad customer care , dont return calls , bad staff attitude , dont care about the client, only interested in the the BUCK ...etc etc .. Have spoken to many people I know , maybe 2 out of 10 are happy with the service.
 
I have been with MTN since cellphones came to SA, never used another ISP.
Had excellent service from them all the time, so just shows you how it depends on your demographic and local store competence
 
Since 1999, I 've been with Vodacom, Cell C, Virgin (not quite a SP, I know), and now MTN. Have been with them all and they are all as bad as the other.
 
spxza said:
Since 1999, I 've been with Vodacom, Cell C, Virgin (not quite a SP, I know), and now MTN. Have been with them all and they are all as bad as the other.
Click to expand...

Echo echo echo

Currently, three data SIMs (two USB and one internal) with vodacom because it works for my purposes and the signal is excellent (my office is below a VC3G tower and since I am seldom there, a mobile solution is the best). All 3 prepaid.

I have my voice and my wife's voice with MTN - one on prepaid the other on Topup, so really both on Prepd, no contracts.

I have one backup line with Cell C for lots of calls to cells (cheapest for that in the long run) and it is usable at home and my office. Prepd.

All I can say is, being prepaid puts the power in your hands. You control your own destiny. If the service sucks, drop it. You could even port it. Repeatedly.

Now, guess which of these arrangements gives me the MOST headaches?

Yup, the TopUp, seeing as it is a prepaid/contract hybrid...
 
I have to agree with you on MTN. I swore off them when they took to constantly lying to my face. I ordered a phone, it was said to be on it's way but I never received it. They made up story after story until I just got fed up and took my business elsewhere.

I found Cell C customer service far better although I do have a problem with their sometimes limited coverage and the odd time where I as well as otehr Cell C users I know have no signal what so ever. However they look to be improving that. I only used Vodacom for a year, I never had a problem with them. Generally I found their contracts more focussed at people with higher usage than me.
 
Cell C is madness. I went to get the Cell C data contract. I left my ID at home, the guy checked everything and said its fine when I bring the ID I can activate it. In peak traffic fetched the ID went back to the store and the guy says okay he must just send the stuff to somewhere, Trevor I guess. And I must wait an hour. An hour later I come back to the store and he says sorry they sold the last two in the last 5minutes. He told me to wait till tuesday when their stock arrives and he will give me a call. He didn't give me a call on tuesday, I called him. He told me that the stock didn't arrive.

The worst is 2 weeks ago when I went for the contract he told me that the contract doesnt exist. I referred him to the Cell C website and he said it must come off the website because it doesn't exist. He said maybe I should try another store. I asked if Cell C was franchised, or how this store is different to another store, I know that confused him because he gave me a stare. I posted a complaint on hello peter. The lady called me 5days later asking me if I'm sure I've seen the contract option advertised. :/ I told her that she must visit a website she might have not heard of called cellc.co.za. 3 Hours later she calls me back to tell me she will contact the technical staff. The technician called me and told me it does exist, but only in certain areas, I told him my area, and he said it is available there. He called the store, they told him they were out of stock and told him that they didn't tell me it didn't exist.

I've come to the conclusion that the people that work in Cellular shops are lazy pieces of $h1+ and the service providers are only as good as their salesman.
So from the day it was advertised on contract I have not been able to purchase it.

The best way to decide a service provider is to either roll a dice or flip a coin.
 
@Mach III

I think you have hit the nail on the head. I have heard many a story like yours accross the board with all providers.
 
Any problems you have with MTN mine are twice as bad. I still get contract bills while i'm on pre-paid/pay as you go! Of course no one can help me because the system says i'm on pre-paid... any then they look at me with a very confused face, as if i made the bill i just put in their hands

and so it goes on and on and on.......
 
Yeah another frustrated MTN user here.

They keep cutting my wife or my phone because she has 2 contracts with them and 2 different account numbers.
They have been saying for 5 months they have merged the accounts and have still not yet told us which account number was merged or if in fact it it even was.
So every month either my wife or i get our phone cut off for a week or 2, and when we call we get the you are not paying B.S criminal treatment.

Evey single month i have to resend proof of payment emails to get a temporary fix.
Same story every month, with 2 hellopeters, 15 calls to them asking for supervisors and a request for an ombudsmen results in nothing happening.
They suck to the power of infinity, and must at least be on par with Neotel.

Bring on the consumer protection act i say!
 
I have also been using MTN since 1998. I think that their actual techincal service like coverage and data is excellent. Their sales, support and billing is absolutely usless and pathetic. Def the worst support service I have ever had in my life from any form of company or provider. Its actually shocking that a company can survive with such an appalling level of support and useless staff. Once you sign a contract they don't give a ****. You can not even attempt to call MTN's helpdesk, it would be easier just throwing your phone off a bridge in solving your issues. But as compared to vodascum and the others, i'm sure they are just as bad!
 
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