MTN Top-Up Ripoff

[HavocXphere]

I just saw my sisters itemized phone bill and am totally shocked.

Her calls are usually around 5 seconds long, just to tell my parents something.

Since it is "Billed for first minute, thereafter per second", she pays R2.10 for those 5 seconds.

With an average-5-seconds call pattern she effectively gets just under 3 minutes of talking time for the R75!

The Helpline says that it can't be changed to true per second billing.

Vodacom has had per second billing on top-up for over a year now.

My sister will definitely move to Vodacom and I'll inspect my parents phone bills carefully too the next time. 3 minutes talking time total for R75 is bullsh!t.

 

[lion_fish]

Fully agree.

 

[boramk]

3 minutes talking time total for R75 is bullsh!t.

thats real hectic, sigh

only in africa

 

[broken1]

That is crazy. Your sister should use the other 55 seconds...maybe catch up on the days news?

It's like that Cell-C advert, where they try and fill the minute with conversation!

At least with MNP...you can move to Vodacom!

 

[HavocXphere]

Yeah i'll investigate the whole MNP thing in the next few days. Unfortunately its a fairly new 24 month contract so its going to be a mission to change.

 

[broken1]

Yeah i'll investigate the whole MNP thing in the next few days. Unfortunately its a fairly new 24 month contract so its going to be a mission to change.

They'll probably end up charging you so much in cancellation fees it won't be worth it.

Unfortunately, you should have done research before taking out the contract...but life is like that - tell her to send sms's instead of making 5 second phone calls, or just speak for longer

 

[HavocXphere]

Yeah. We did not realize that the billing method could make such a hectic difference since we thought Airtime is Airtime. I guess its a case of learning the small print lesson the hard way.