CellC do not cater for tourists

chrisc

chrisc

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Three visitors arrived here from France and need local SIM cards for their phones. The Vodaphone shop at the airport was closed when they arrived at 10h30 on Monday

So I sent them along to CellC Tokai. The shop will not sell them a SIM of any sort since they do not have SA ID books and a confirmation of address not older than 3 months

Thinking this was due to some lack of knowledge at the shop, they went to Kenilworth Centre and Cavendish. Both shops demand these documents and will not assist, and the KC lady was quite rude and suggested they go back to France

Their phones have Orange SIM cards in them and seem only to work on wi-fi calling, outside there is nothing

Which provider, CellC, MTN, Vodaphone or Virgin can provide 3 x NANO SIM cards? Does anyone know?
 
When I get overseas visitors, I just buy the sim cards rica them and give it to them. when they leave I get the sims back and I throw them.

Easy as that, unfortunately everybody has to rica even foreigners.
 
chrisc4290 said:
Three visitors arrived here from France and need local SIM cards for their phones. The Vodaphone shop at the airport was closed when they arrived at 10h30 on Monday

So I sent them along to CellC Tokai. The shop will not sell them a SIM of any sort since they do not have SA ID books and a confirmation of address not older than 3 months

Thinking this was due to some lack of knowledge at the shop, they went to Kenilworth Centre and Cavendish. Both shops demand these documents and will not assist, and the KC lady was quite rude and suggested they go back to France

Their phones have Orange SIM cards in them and seem only to work on wi-fi calling, outside there is nothing

Which provider, CellC, MTN, Vodaphone or Virgin can provide 3 x NANO SIM cards? Does anyone know?
Click to expand...

Hi @chrisc4290

Thank you for posting to us.

Kindly note that we have to perform and complete the RICA process when SIM cards are purchased at a Cell C store.

The only exceptions are made at Cell C stores @ the airport in which visitors into the country are able to purchase SIM cards.

If there is a South African they know, they can perhaps assist with the RICA process and have the SIM cards registered under their profile.

^BM
 
Its the same worldwide

Its really the same process worldwide. Best is you just rica it for them.

I've travelled all over Asia and Europe and had the same experience. You can only buy at the airport if youre a tourist. And you will pay a premium for that. So what i do now is just get one and swop when my friends go there. So they dont need to get one.
 
Personally i would get them a telkommobile simcard and install the telkom app, and just buy data for them.

However take note that although South Africa requests all cellphones to be unlocked, not all foreign providers unlock their phones to allow for other networks. My friend who came from abroad had to follow a process to have his phone unlocked from his network as it didnt want to work here, till it was unlocked
 
My guests frequently got Cell C sim card and Cell C has no issue giving them even with just a hotel booking and passport.

It seems more like stupidity from these specific shops !
 
Cell_C said:
Hi @chrisc4290

Thank you for posting to us.

Kindly note that we have to perform and complete the RICA process when SIM cards are purchased at a Cell C store.

The only exceptions are made at Cell C stores @ the airport in which visitors into the country are able to purchase SIM cards.

If there is a South African they know, they can perhaps assist with the RICA process and have the SIM cards registered under their profile.

^BM
Click to expand...

Yes, I had thought of that. However, since I already have one SIM registered in my name, the shop will not sell me another

I took them along to Pep Cellular. The lady was able to provide 3 MTN SIM cards, provide R1000 airtime for each and only needed the passport and a copy of the airline ticket. A short explanation sorted it out, instead of the aggressive reply received at the CellC shops
 
chrisc4290 said:
Yes, I had thought of that. However, since I already have one SIM registered in my name, the shop will not sell me another
Click to expand...
What nonsense.
You can get as many sim cards as you want.
 
Its all sorted, thanks to Pep Cellular. Btw: These tourists are University professors and come from an upmarket Tolouse suburb and were quite fascinated at the array of merchandise sold at Pep Stores
 
Cell_C said:
The only exceptions are made at Cell C stores @ the airport in which visitors into the country are able to purchase SIM cards.
Click to expand...
There is nothing in the legislation to exclude foreign visitors from RICA at airports. They do the same RICA process as ordinary shops, requirements for foreigners are slightly different. Sorry to inform you, Cell C shops has received incorrect instructions from Cell C headquarters. Please rectify.

The whole RICA process at Cell C shops is awkward. Copy of ID and proof of residence is not enough to you. Customers are requested to answer verification questions which revelal personal information related to their property, directorship, etc. Such information should be not disclosed to Cell C at first place. I was a prepaid customer, you should know nothing about my personal property, but had to go through this crap.
 
Last edited:
chrisc4290 said:
Three visitors arrived here from France and need local SIM cards for their phones. The Vodaphone shop at the airport was closed when they arrived at 10h30 on Monday

So I sent them along to CellC Tokai. The shop will not sell them a SIM of any sort since they do not have SA ID books and a confirmation of address not older than 3 months

Thinking this was due to some lack of knowledge at the shop, they went to Kenilworth Centre and Cavendish. Both shops demand these documents and will not assist, and the KC lady was quite rude and suggested they go back to France

Their phones have Orange SIM cards in them and seem only to work on wi-fi calling, outside there is nothing

Which provider, CellC, MTN, Vodaphone or Virgin can provide 3 x NANO SIM cards? Does anyone know?
Click to expand...

If it's the lady who helped me at Kenilworth Cell C, I can understand your frustration. That was the worst experience I have ever received from a telecom company, worse even than Telkom!
 
Its wasn't frustrating, but downright embarassing. The lady behind the counter obviously had never heard of France, it might have been beyond Bellville for all she knew. I had to translate what she was saying to these gentlemen, who had never been treated with such disdain and negativity.

One of them said to me in the car going back that SA is hurtling back into the third world when you get shop assistants that make up the rules themselves. He pointed out the obvious up-market appearance of a place like the Blue Route Mall which compares to the best in Europe, to the poor attitude and under-trained staff in many of the shops. In their opinion, only the staff at Dischem and subsequently the lady at Pep Cellular were worth their salary. We called into Dion Wired, the salesman was on his phone, also picking his nose and deliberately turned away when we approached the counter. Another was watching rugby on TV by himself and did not move. In France, one call to the shop management would have these staff members before a hearing, with the union backing up the shop
 
chrisc4290 said:
Its wasn't frustrating, but downright embarassing. The lady behind the counter obviously had never heard of France, it might have been beyond Bellville for all she knew. I had to translate what she was saying to these gentlemen, who had never been treated with such disdain and negativity.

One of them said to me in the car going back that SA is hurtling back into the third world when you get shop assistants that make up the rules themselves. He pointed out the obvious up-market appearance of a place like the Blue Route Mall which compares to the best in Europe, to the poor attitude and under-trained staff in many of the shops. In their opinion, only the staff at Dischem and subsequently the lady at Pep Cellular were worth their salary. We called into Dion Wired, the salesman was on his phone, also picking his nose and deliberately turned away when we approached the counter. Another was watching rugby on TV by himself and did not move. In France, one call to the shop management would have these staff members before a hearing, with the union backing up the shop
Click to expand...

Unfortunately service standards seem to be declining rapidly in SA.

I had problems with most banks recently that indicate very low standards of training/professionalism.
 
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