Cell C deactived my sim card

SoundRSA

SoundRSA

Dealer
Joined
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Location
Brackenfell, Cape Town
So

In March this year, there was a burst pipe in the road where I live, the City of Cape Town came out to repair the pipe but ended up chopping straight though the phone lines, causing the entire area to go into the dark ages.

I then bought a Cell C 3g dongle with 3gb of data to help through the weeks of no internet.

All worked well except that I soon realized that Cell C has crap reception in my house (to which I have also complained REF #SD430637).

Now to the problem. The 3gb of data I purchased was supposed to be valid for 1 year as explained. No problem.

So I needed the dongle last night due to the internet being down again, and all of a sudden I cant connect at all. I tested the sim card in my phone and it says that its not registered on a network.
I then contacted Cell C customer support (who I must say is close to useless and is way to busy talking to people in the background) and they told me the sim card has been de-actived even though I had 2gb of data left.

I went into the branch today and they confirmed the card was de-activated and that I now lost the data which I paid with my hard earned cash. I was then told that if you are not active for 90 days then they recycle the number. I was told that this is in the Terms and Conditions in the Sim pack. I then dug deeper and discovered that the T's&C's are IN the pack and not visible, so you have to buy the product without even being able to read the T's&C's.

Cell C then told me I must buy more data and a Sim Card. This is against the consumer protection act because I paid for a service and am now not receiving it due to something I did not agree to. I told the Cell C "agent" that as well. Her colleague then told me that it isnt, I then said that I will contact ICASA. After that he offered me a free sim card as well as all my data that I had before the de-activation. He then warned me in a rude manner that if I com back after 90 days with the same problem, they will not help me.

Conclusion : I am disgusted at Cell C as a whole, for basically stealing my money and having to force me to resort to threats of contacting ICASA to get my sim and data back. I paid for a service and I expect to receive it.

Cell C this was the last blow, I have received a lot of grief, received spam sms's (yes from Cell C), received telemarketing calls from Cell C, have convinced me to buy a phone through your false advertising (I bought a galaxy S5 advertised as the LTE model and received the 3G model, Cell C has refused to swap the phones) have received a poor service and not to mention a horrible connection no matter where I am in Cape Town. You will loose me as a client as soon as my contract expires because you have not given me 1 single reason to stay a customer.
 
I have a Cell C data sim for backup (FNB Smart device). Had the same problem where it because deactivated (and I didn't get my monthly 500 MB) and I was told you need to use it every month. So now I have a recurring reminder in my calendar to use it once a month.
 
biometrics said:
I have a Cell C data sim for backup (FNB Smart device). Had the same problem where it because deactivated (and I didn't get my monthly 500 MB) and I was told you need to use it every month. So now I have a recurring reminder in my calendar to use it once a month.
Click to expand...

I personally think this is theft. If you pay for a service, you expect to receive it. But hey, thats Cell C, they launched LTE and their Edge network isnt even stable. You cant even have a conversation over the Cell C network due to calls constantly being dropped, that if you even manage to get a connection to initiate the call.
 
You have to make a CALL every 90 days to keep it active, I just phone my house phone and pick it up for 1 min then the counter gets reset.
 
Oddly enough I've had an opposite experience with Cell C and their dongle. I bought the 3GB dongle pack 2 or 3 years ago and used it for a year until the data ran out. About 8 months back I had a wind-induced line failure that took Telkom 4 days to resolve and I pulled out the dongle and expected it to be dead. It connected and reported it had no data or airtime. I was able to load data via an ATM and it worked. I haven't checked it in a while though, must do that. Maybe.
 
bruce_the_loon said:
Oddly enough I've had an opposite experience with Cell C and their dongle. I bought the 3GB dongle pack 2 or 3 years ago and used it for a year until the data ran out. About 8 months back I had a wind-induced line failure that took Telkom 4 days to resolve and I pulled out the dongle and expected it to be dead. It connected and reported it had no data or airtime. I was able to load data via an ATM and it worked. I haven't checked it in a while though, must do that. Maybe.
Click to expand...

Mmm, correction to my earlier post then. My sim was not deactivated, but because it wasn't used for a set period it was in some limbo state and the free 500 MB I get from FNB every month wasn't allocated. Now that I use it for a moment every month it remains "active" and I get my data allocation.
 
Too this date, my biggest problem with Cell C is that they sold me a phone assuring me it was the LTE model only to find out its the 3G model. They have refused to help me and refuse to accept responsibility for what they have done. I think I still have the brochure of the Galaxy S5 where they boast about its fast connection, its capabilities of using mobile data and wifi at once to increase connection speed, all only available on the LTE model. It was pretty much the only reason why I took out the contract.
 
The other networks all work the same way. If there is no activity on the sim card for 3 months the number is given to someone else and you lose whatever airtime was on it.
 
blade19941 said:
Too this date, my biggest problem with Cell C is that they sold me a phone assuring me it was the LTE model only to find out its the 3G model. They have refused to help me and refuse to accept responsibility for what they have done. I think I still have the brochure of the Galaxy S5 where they boast about its fast connection, its capabilities of using mobile data and wifi at once to increase connection speed, all only available on the LTE model. It was pretty much the only reason why I took out the contract.
Click to expand...

What's the exact model code of that S5 it should be G900 then a letter.
 
blade19941 said:
So

In March this year, there was a burst pipe in the road where I live, the City of Cape Town came out to repair the pipe but ended up chopping straight though the phone lines, causing the entire area to go into the dark ages.

I then bought a Cell C 3g dongle with 3gb of data to help through the weeks of no internet.

All worked well except that I soon realized that Cell C has crap reception in my house (to which I have also complained REF #SD430637).

Now to the problem. The 3gb of data I purchased was supposed to be valid for 1 year as explained. No problem.

So I needed the dongle last night due to the internet being down again, and all of a sudden I cant connect at all. I tested the sim card in my phone and it says that its not registered on a network.
I then contacted Cell C customer support (who I must say is close to useless and is way to busy talking to people in the background) and they told me the sim card has been de-actived even though I had 2gb of data left.

I went into the branch today and they confirmed the card was de-activated and that I now lost the data which I paid with my hard earned cash. I was then told that if you are not active for 90 days then they recycle the number. I was told that this is in the Terms and Conditions in the Sim pack. I then dug deeper and discovered that the T's&C's are IN the pack and not visible, so you have to buy the product without even being able to read the T's&C's.

Cell C then told me I must buy more data and a Sim Card. This is against the consumer protection act because I paid for a service and am now not receiving it due to something I did not agree to. I told the Cell C "agent" that as well. Her colleague then told me that it isnt, I then said that I will contact ICASA. After that he offered me a free sim card as well as all my data that I had before the de-activation. He then warned me in a rude manner that if I com back after 90 days with the same problem, they will not help me.

Conclusion : I am disgusted at Cell C as a whole, for basically stealing my money and having to force me to resort to threats of contacting ICASA to get my sim and data back. I paid for a service and I expect to receive it.

Cell C this was the last blow, I have received a lot of grief, received spam sms's (yes from Cell C), received telemarketing calls from Cell C, have convinced me to buy a phone through your false advertising (I bought a galaxy S5 advertised as the LTE model and received the 3G model, Cell C has refused to swap the phones) have received a poor service and not to mention a horrible connection no matter where I am in Cape Town. You will loose me as a client as soon as my contract expires because you have not given me 1 single reason to stay a customer.
Click to expand...

Hi blade19941,

Apologies for the inconvenience experienced.

Please PM us your contact details and we will look into it.

^SM
 
Cell_C said:
Hi blade19941,

Apologies for the inconvenience experienced.

Please PM us your contact details and we will look into it.

^SM
Click to expand...

While CellC is feeling helpful - how about a little resolution on 5081201041 ? Have had 3 difference correspondences in the last 2 weeks from CellC and have been addressed by 3 different names - but I'm no closer to discovering where my refund is...
 
I was contacted by Moses from Cell C head office (best Cell C assistance I've ever received) earlier today, they resolved the problem and I was issued with a new sim with 1.5gb of data.

Moses agreed with me that its absurd that no T's&C's are displayed on the sim card packaging (only a link, funny because im buying the sim card to go online with, cant really read it before hand). The consultant confirmed with me about 15min ago that there is a T's&C's brochure in the packaging. After arriving home and opening the pack, there is no brochure other than a small "quick start" guide. So the only way to read Cell C's T's&C's is to go on their website, which you cant really do if you dont have an internet connection and your purpose for the sim is to have an Internet connection.

By the looks of it, Cell C is only allowing you to read the T's&C's only after you make a purchase, which renders the T's&C's unenforceable.
 
Last edited:
yolanda@1989 said:
I need my numme because I Los my fone and my id now I struggle to get my cellc number back
Click to expand...
Good day,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

We are sorry to hear that, kindly private message us the number in question, we'll look into this matter and assist.

Cell C | PN
 
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