Control Chat - recharged prepaid airtime only to pay for content services

[ginggs]

I supported this initially as an initiative against rogue WASPS like Opera Telecom, T-Mobile, Ringaling, Mobmatic and the lot. Now I can't even enter a competition on KFM by sms'ing 32945.

Surely you can load the smallest amount of pre-paid airtime on your phone, and what you don't use will rollover indefinitely?

 

[ajax]

Surely you can load the smallest amount of pre-paid airtime on your phone, and what you don't use will rollover indefinitely?

True, but I for example can't buy R5 over EFT, only at the tills/shops.
I suppose on balance it's still better than having your airtime covertly drained by a WASP.

 

[Beni_Boy]

Ulterior motives

True, but I for example can't buy R5 over EFT, only at the tills/shops.
I suppose on balance it's still better than having your airtime covertly drained by a WASP.

Sure makes sense, I would like to know how many people really had this happen to them.
I sell mostly Cell C contracts and out of the 1000 that I sold I only experienced 5 that had airtime deducted due to INTEGRAT. So I refunded my client for the airtime he lost, sent an sms with the word stop and bam problem solved client was happy.

There is a bigger picture here and Cell C are just not being totally honest or truthful about the move they have taken.

Why did Vodacom not feel the need to do this? They are the largest network and you telling me that they were not affected by SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES. I don't believe that!

Anyway guess it is just Cell C loss, guess there are those people who no longer want their contracts or their service.

 

[Beni_Boy]

More so if one looks over here at WASPA
http://www.waspa.org.za/members/index.php

They seem to have the power to suspend subscription and premium rated service providers as they have done with Teleplay.

Why not just suspend all "SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES" just pointing out further proof to the ulterior motives Cell C has.

Not a bad article here also explains the difference between SUBSCRIPTION and ONCE-OFF / PREMIUM RATED SMS for SINGLE USE.

http://www.parentscorner.org.za/key-issues/premium-rated-services

 

[c10n3d_0r6]

No, absolutely not.

Actually, Absolutely yes. I used to pay for BIS with my included airtime every month. Now it gets added to my debit order at the end of every month. Not at all happy about it. Think I'm going to find a new operator who isn't sneaky come renewal time.

 

[ajax]

Actually, Absolutely yes. I used to pay for BIS with my included airtime every month. Now it gets added to my debit order at the end of every month. Not at all happy about it. Think I'm going to find a new operator who isn't sneaky come renewal time.

I hope that's a mistake. If not, bad move Cell C!!

 

[intel8080]

I can't believe it CellC did such a thing. Both my children's BIS was simply ADDED to the monthly contract fee ! WTF CellC, you'll loose lots of customers because of such a sneaky move. As soon as the contracts expire - bye CellC. How on earth can they change the contracts like this? BIS was included and now is excluded. I did not sign for this exclusion! How can they amend the contracts AND deduct the money without hearing if I agree with this? For a few months CellC will score a few extra millions because people will have to pay extra for BIS. That won't last though. At least not in my case CellC !

 

[Beni_Boy]

Wow guys, sorry to hear about that, I'm not a BIS user so didn't know what Cell C did there.

By the 6th of September I should have a response from Cell C as to why they think they are above the law and can change terms and conditions and rules in their contracts as and when they like. Sure call rate increases and decreased awarding bonus airtime but to remove a service that as once included and then charge additional for it, despicable.

Maybe we need a collective group representative to open a case at ICASA to stop all the crap that is going on.
If a few thousand people are annoyed at the actions of Cell C maybe their tactics will be forced to a halt and their new tactics will have to accommodate the old rules

 

[ajax]

I've sent a pm to RPM to investigate. If the above is true it is worthy of a news article.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Actually, Absolutely yes. I used to pay for BIS with my included airtime every month. Now it gets added to my debit order at the end of every month. Not at all happy about it. Think I'm going to find a new operator who isn't sneaky come renewal time.

That sucks. I upgraded my daughter to a BB on ControlChat 150 as it was better value than Vodacom. I have a second contract due for upgrade in two months time for the maids son (its an incentive to reward him for staying in school and getting good marks) and adding in R60 extra to the cost will not make it worth my while.

Hello Vodacom, here I come with another contract for you!

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Besides the competitions, what about all the real value added premium shortcodes we use to buy electricity (iBuy), query bank accounts (eg Capitec) and other valuable information services!

 

[chrisc]

Its all so incredibly complicated and to make it worse, the ruled governing useage are changing all the time. I wish there was a website where I could go and see what is chargeable and what is not. I had heard of Control Chat before this but had no idea what it meant! (crawls back under rock)

 

[Ekstasis]

Cell C what the hell are you trying to accomplish here? Is there something like "Negative marketing"? If not, you've just created a new strategy

 

[Cell_C]

I hope that's a mistake. If not, bad move Cell C!!

HI

On the control chat, you should still be able to buy the BIS from the airtime provided.
Will follow up on this , but have had no communication other wise.

Regards
±AM±

 

[cavedog]

I can confirm that they have completely stopped ALL chargable services from being deducted from the free airtime. I got one of these discounted airtime deals from edgars mobile which gives me R115 airtime and 100 SMS for R60 a month they debit to my edgars account. I did always buy league of legends riot points but looks like its no longer allowed. They stopped it.

I think this is BS cause they just changed it. Now edgars doesn't want to cancel the contract cause the 24 months are not yet finished. But its fine for cellc just to change that. Now I get R115 airtime THAT is TOTALLY USELESS CAUSE I CAN'T EVEN BE ON THE 99c 4 REAL PACKAGE........ I have a choice of Standard or All day tarrif plan. Wow so much for saving.

Atleast I can buy BIS and data bundles with that money.

 

[intel8080]

Are you sure you still can buy BIS? Make sure! You'll see, it won't be deducted from your available moneys, you'll be charged extra! ! ! WTF

 

[ajax]

I have just "subscribed" myself to 35050 (the one where the winners are fake) to see if this system works. So far sent two sms's, one with the pin code. There was then a 2nd sms requiring me to send YES. After that I received the welcom sms and my website login.

Each sms cost 50c but so far only R1 taken. Let's give it a day and see what happens to my airtime.

Sidenote: To get a breakdown of your balance, dial *147# and then 2 ("available balance") and then 1 ("balance"). I could see that R4.50 was recharged airtime and R101.27 was Control Chat airtime. So theoretically, I shouldn't be able to subscribe to this service.

EDIT: Seems to be working. Logged into the service online and when I tried to compete for a prize they stated:

Your airtime is low, billing was unsuccessful. Please ensure your Airtime is topped up in order to be eligible to play the game

 

[Bern]

I have sent a message to Cell C demanding no services are billed to my account without my express written confirmation and I also want them to get back to me on how they ensure I do not get billed for any "Services" in the future. I don't think FNB banking falls in the same class as all subscription anything.

 

[ajax]

I have just "subscribed" myself to 35050

Here then some observations:
No inclusive airtime was taken on the day I subscribed. The next day I recharged with R5 giving me R9.50 odd of "recharged airtime". Within the hour not sure R6 was deducted and appeared on MyAccount as BUON012.
No further airtime was taken. I unsubscribed the next day. The day after I recharged again so that I had more than R6 "recharged" airtime. None was taken. So at least this system is working in terms of preserving one's inclusive airtime.

However, I have some reservations. It is still possible to get fraudulently subscribed. Welcome and reminder sms's are often seen as spam and deleted. So fast forward a couple of months down the line. I want to use maybe a few gigs of data and load additional airtime accordingly. The airtime would then get deducted and a fight to get it back will still have to be fought.

The initial signup/subscription process must fail when there is no airtime. It shouldn't be allowed to "cache" airtime deductions.

 

[doubletrouble]

Besides the competitions, what about all the real value added premium shortcodes we use to buy electricity (iBuy), query bank accounts (eg Capitec) and other valuable information services!

I have learned this the hard way. As of last week, I am no longer able to use my top up airtime to do cellphone banking via FNB (*120*321#), yet I am able to use *130*321# to buy airtime via fnb so that I can recharge my airtime and access my banking and buy electricity etc. Really pathetic from Cell C. My contract expires the end of the year, and after that I will move to a different service provider. I really feel done in.