Cell C Contract Cancellation, how they rob you!

[Waste]

Hi Everyone,

So I thought I would post a thread regarding the "process" that Cell C follows and how they will exploit a last bit of money off you.

So what happened:
I phoned Cell C to "downgrade" my contract that was on month to month to prepaid on 16 November 2015.

I was informed that they have a 30 day cancellation policy and can only cancel it in December. Understood and happy so far. They also informed me that my last payment will be on 16 December 2015 (my debit order date). Understood and happy so far. They then informed me... and this is where you as the customer should read heavily between the lines, or they will make more money off you.. that I will forfeit all my benefits once the contract is cancelled.

Now if you are a normal customer, you will understand and accept that once the contact is cancelled you will loose all your roll over minutes and sms's and data. This is true, you will understand where the catch lies later...

So they also confirmed that my cancellation date is the 16th of December. Which make sense, I phoned on the 16th November, and 30 days later would be the 16th December. Agreed and happy.

So the call ends and now what happens in reality...

So comes 1st of December, and oddly enough I get a Invoice for the full amount for December. Puzzled, because they said my cancellation date is the 16th of December, so I expect them to only charge me for 16 days (1st to 16th). But I also thought that maybe I understood the "last payment date wrong" and that I will only receive the last invoice in January for the usage of December, and need to pay that on the 16th of January 2016.

So comes the 15th of December, and at 23h55 I get a SMS informing me that my service will be disconnected! I read this SMS only on the 16th. Checking my "minute balance" I confirm that they cleared it.

So I phone Cell C and ask why they disconnected me if I paid for the full of December?
> "Because I cancelled on the 16th of November"

So I asked if they can re-instate my service until the end of December, or reimburse me for the duration of December that I don't now have service for, in prepaid credits?
> "No, because I agreed to "forfeit" my benefits and they did not break procedure in explaining that to me."

What to take out of this:
Cell C steals money by charging you for the whole month's subscription and then disconnecting you short of that month. You do get the whole month's worth of minutes, data and SMSs but you only get a portion of the month network access.

So if you cancel your contract on the 1st of a month, you will have 1 day in the next month to use that whole month worth of minutes, sms and data, or you loose it.

I was "advised" that I should rather have asked that my disconnection happen at the end of the next month that I am cancelling in.

 

[Wall]

They just BS'ing you.

When you contract is cancelled mid month, you get charged pro-rata for the period under consideration ( 1 december - 16 december). I know because I cancelled my contract 6 months ago...

Take it up higher and don't buy the BS they feeding you.

 

[SCHUMI-4-EVA]

I don't think their systems allow pro-rata payments. And let's not kid ourselves, most of the contract cost is the included value, not the network access, and technically you could have used an entire month's worth of value in that half month before the mid-month cancellation (and maybe you did not wanting to give anything up?)

It'd be great if they said that you didn't use all of your SMS/data/minutes so they'll convert that to pre-paid value for you, but it just doesn't work like that. It's all or nothing and probably always will be.

Personally I don't think they did anything "abnormally" wrong here and it was your misunderstanding that you'd only be charged a pro-rata amount. Cancellation is almost never pro-rata, always a full month.

 

[Wall]

I don't think their systems allow pro-rata payments. And let's not kid ourselves, most of the contract cost is the included value, not the network access, and technically you could have used an entire month's worth of value in that half month before the mid-month cancellation.

It'd be great if they said that you didn't use all of your SMS/data/minutes so they'll convert that to pre-paid value for you, but it just doesn't work like that. It's all or nothing and probably always will be.

Personally I don't think they did anything "abnormally" wrong here and it was your misunderstand that you'd only be charged a pro-rata amount. Cancellation is almost never pro-rata, always a full month.

Their system most definately does allow pro-rata payments.

 

[Waste]

They just BS'ing you.

When you contract is cancelled mid month, you get charged pro-rata for the period under consideration ( 1 december - 16 december). I know because I cancelled my contract 6 months ago...

Take it up higher and don't buy the BS they feeding you.

I did speak to a supervisor and a manager, they also "reviewed" the conversation with the CSR. But their only response is the CSR followed the correct procedure. Not mentioning that it makes sense to charge me for the full month but then disconnecting me mid-month.

 

[SCHUMI-4-EVA]

Not mentioning that it makes sense to charge me for the full month but then disconnecting me mid-month.

I'm pretty sure ISPs do the same, and Telkom.

 

[Johnatan56]

I'm pretty sure ISPs do the same, and Telkom.

They usually cancel end of the month and charge pro-rata for the month you join.
At least Afrihost/WebAfrica/CrystalWeb/Mweb do that.

 

[Waste]

...and technically you could have used an entire month's worth of value in that half month before the mid-month cancellation (and maybe you did not wanting to give anything up?)

When you pay for subscription, it also includes access to the network (think "receiving calls"). So to pay for the whole month and not have access to the network for the whole month is essentially paying for something that you are not getting ("in other words other people cannot contact you if you are disconnected").

To put it blunt: Would you be happy if your ISP charges you for 100Gb of data (or uncapped) and then cut you off on the 16th, because "technically you could have used an entire month's worth of value in that half month"?

It'd be great if they said that you didn't use all of your SMS/data/minutes so they'll convert that to pre-paid value for you..

We can only hope for such great service from any network!

 

[Waste]

They usually cancel end of the month and charge pro-rata for the month you join.
At least Afrihost/WebAfrica/CrystalWeb/Mweb do that.

Agreed, I had this experience for all subscription services so far. After cancellation they normally inform you that your service will end at the end of the next month (with 30 days cancellation). So effectively you will make one more payment for one more month of service.

 

[Waste]

I'm pretty sure ISPs do the same, and Telkom.

Also, Telkom specifically cancel your service 30 days from your requested date, and you pay pro-rated for the partial month. That was my experience on cancelling a few services during my lifetime...

 

[SCHUMI-4-EVA]

When you pay for subscription, it also includes access to the network. So to pay for the whole month and not have access to the network for the whole month is essentially paying for something that you are not getting.

To put it blunt: Would you be happy if your ISP charges you for 100Gb of data (or uncapped) and then cut you off on the 16th, because "technically you could have used an entire month's worth of value in that half month"?

Except you're not really. Look at standard prepaid, you're not charging up with an R60 voucher and then being docked R10 later for network access, it's just there. In the old days we had the airtime window, every R60 voucher gave you another 2 months and if the window lapsed you had to buy the 356 day send/receive voucher, there you were paying for network access. But now, other than the same slightly higher usage charges, prepaid isn't paying a thing to access the network. So you're fooling yourself if you think you lost out on tons of value on just the network access side. The Network covers that cost in other ways, most of the contract cost is the device and the added values.

You can lament the loss of value, but you said you knew that would happen. In your example you knew that whatever was remaining on cancellation date of the 100GB would be lost. Of course one wouldn't be happy, but you understood that's how it worked.
From the charge side the network provided you with full service, the access to the full 100GB was there and could have easily been used up (and you understood that whatever wasn't used would be lost). So it's not like they only delivered 50% of the value, only gave you access to 50GB and yet charged you for 100GB for instance.

Other than the misunderstanding, and the general annoyance of how the world works, I really don't know what you're complaining about. Were you honestly thinking you'd lose all added value (which you understood) but retain network access? So that would give you what? "R10-20 network access" and the slightly lower out-of-contract charges for services for the rest of the month? Is that really something worth complaining about?

 

[SCHUMI-4-EVA]

Also, Telkom specifically cancel your service 30 days from your requested date, and you pay pro-rated for the partial month. That was my experience on cancelling a few services during my lifetime...

They usually cancel end of the month and charge pro-rata for the month you join.
At least Afrihost/WebAfrica/CrystalWeb/Mweb do that.

And yet I've seen so many complaints over the years about how ISPs handle cancellations? Why that then if it's so simple and fair?

 

[Johnatan56]

And yet I've seen so many complaints over the years about how ISPs handle cancellations? Why that then if it's so simple and fair?

Do you mean Openweb? Yeah, they are an example of a terrible ISP.
What many complain about is also the calendar months notice, which would be e.g. Mweb, but it does give you the full months service though.

 

[SCHUMI-4-EVA]

Do you mean Openweb? Yeah, they are an example of a terrible ISP.
What many complain about is also the calendar months notice, which would be e.g. Mweb, but it does give you the full months service though.

Actually now that I think about it that's indeed what most of the complaints were about. Well calender month + perceived lack of service due to whatever reason they're cancelling the contract in the first place.

 

[Purply]

I'm confused after reading everything on this post, mainly because I've also just cancelled my contact to go pre-paid, but was told that I would still receive all my contract benefits (imagine my surprise as that makes very little sense)
I figured it prudent to ask the person to repeat what was said regarding the contact benefits 3 times, so pretty sure I heard correctly. Needless to say, this will only happen sometime in January if memory serves me right, so guess I'll just wait and see what comes from it all.
Pretty certain the "operator" got their words mixed up, not that it would bother me one bit, was just odd.

 

[Waste]

[...]I really don't know what you're complaining about.?

The fact that I was charged a full months subscription charge and not have the full month to use the value in a reasonable way.

I signed up for a package which has the same value that I need to get through a month. So I paid for the month of Desember, but halfway through I now have to go buy more airtime, because they canned all the minutes I needed (and paid for) for the month... Rather than them either 1) charging me half of the month's subscription, so that I can use the other half to buy airtime to continue using my phone after the 16th on prepaid. Or 2) charging me the full month, and giving me the full month of time to use the "value".

I only expected to lose the minutes, sms and data that rolls-over, or was left on the 16th to be "forfeited". I did not expect being charged for the full month's value again in the beginning of December and only having 16 days to use it in.

 

[Waste]

I'm confused after reading everything on this post, mainly because I've also just cancelled my contact to go pre-paid, but was told that I would still receive all my contract benefits (imagine my surprise as that makes very little sense)
I figured it prudent to ask the person to repeat what was said regarding the contact benefits 3 times, so pretty sure I heard correctly. Needless to say, this will only happen sometime in January if memory serves me right, so guess I'll just wait and see what comes from it all.
Pretty certain the "operator" got their words mixed up, not that it would bother me one bit, was just odd.

I think in a cryptic way, they explained exactly what I experienced, you will get the full amount of minutes/data/sms on 1st January (contract benefits) and only have limited time to use before it gets cleared, and you are subsequently moved to prepaid.

The key here is to pay attention to the "cancellation date" that they repeat to you. If it is on 31 January, you are good, if it was 17 January, you will have only 17 days to use your "benefits".

 

[SCHUMI-4-EVA]

The fact that I was charged a full months subscription charge and not have the full month to use the value in a reasonable way.

I signed up for a package which has the same value that I need to get through a month. So I paid for the month of Desember, but halfway through I now have to go buy more airtime, because they canned all the minutes I needed (and paid for) for the month... Rather than them either 1) charging me half of the month's subscription, so that I can use the other half to buy airtime to continue using my phone after the 16th on prepaid. Or 2) charging me the full month, and giving me the full month of time to use the "value".

I only expected to lose the minutes, sms and data that rolls-over, or was left on the 16th to be "forfeited". I did not expect being charged for the full month's value again in the beginning of December and only having 16 days to use it in.

Oh I see. That's how you understood it. That's clearly a misunderstanding on your part though. Lesson learned, the hard way I suppose.

And back to the pro-rata, that still wouldn't fair, either your or the network would still be making a loss. You could have use more than half and they'd make a loss, or you could have use less and you'd still be making a loss, just a slightly smaller one. And there is absolutely no way the system allows an exact pro-rata. They have to cover themselves and assume you'll use up all value/as much as possible as you know you'll be losing it and thus they charge the full month because they have to assume you've already used the full month's added value.

 

[blowdart18]

Similar thing happened to me, I want to cancel my contract in the middle of the month because that is when I opened my contract.

Phoned through today, told the consultant my contract comes to an end on the 18th October, I told her I would like to convert to pre-paid thereafter.

Long story short, you are billed for a FULL month regardless of when the contract actually comes to an end, this is because they have a one month cancellation policy. If you decide to stop on that date then you loose your benefits, otherwise you will have to stick out until the end of the month.

They do not pro-rata the rate for the days you will be loosing out.