MWEB Contract woes

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Narkath

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Hi guys. Some advice would be appreciated here.

On Saturday the 8th of this month I started using mweb uncapped one meg. I sent the contract through with my details on the 10th and then sent in an email requesting my cancellation on the 13th, as my connection was shaped so badly (I downloaded quite a bit I am told) that I couldn't surf at all. Many, many sites just would not load.

I believe that as per consumer law I am allowed a 5-7 day cancellation "cool off" period that allows me cancel this product. I am however being charged for the first month pro rata and the next month as well. Surly 3 days is quick enough back up off a deal? I have no intention of had no intention of using any access or download past the cancellation date, so I am not entirely sure why I should be billed for R500+ bucks. I don't mind paying for 8th-13thbut it is kind of a crapy way to deal with customers in my opinion, dispite my hasty signature.

Now R500 is not HUGE amounts (nothing to sneeze as, either) of money but I am simultaneously coming off of axxess and moving on to afri host. Needless to say I am feeling all kinds of heat and am not a happy camper.

Advice?

Also, if an mweb rep could post and IM me, I would be gratefull.

Yours truly,
Dumbass.
 
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Hi Narkath,

I'm so sorry to hear about your experience you had with MWEB.
Please PM me your MWEB account details so that I can look into this matter for you.
I will then escalate this matter for you to the relevant persons.

Kind regards,
MWEB Guy
 
Narkath said:
Hi guys. Some advice would be appreciated here.

On Saturday the 8th of this month I started using mweb uncapped one meg. I sent the contract through with my details on the 10th and then sent in an email requesting my cancellation on the 13th, as my connection was shaped so badly (I downloaded quite a bit I am told) that I couldn't surf at all. Many, many sites just would not load.

I believe that as per consumer law I am allowed a 5-7 day cancellation "cool off" period that allows me cancel this product. I am however being charged for the first month pro rata and the next month as well. Surly 3 days is quick enough back up off a deal? I have no intention of had no intention of using any access or download past the cancellation date, so I am not entirely sure why I should be billed for R500+ bucks. I don't mind paying for 8th-13thbut it is kind of a crapy way to deal with customers in my opinion, dispite my hasty signature.

Now R500 is not HUGE amounts (nothing to sneeze as, either) of money but I am simultaneously coming off of axxess and moving on to afri host. Needless to say I am feeling all kinds of heat and am not a happy camper.

Advice?

Also, if an mweb rep could post and IM me, I would be gratefull.

Yours truly,
Dumnass.
Click to expand...

Good morning Narkath,

Please PM me your MWEB account details so that I can look into this matter for you.

Regards,

MWEB Guy
 
@Narkath - don't forget Seacom has been down for a while, so even though mweb has provisioned other bandwidth, the speeds are probably not as good as when seacom is up and running...

Maybe give it some time before you leave... I have very little to complain about at the moment on mweb
 
I heard about that. Unfortunately I was with mweb earlier on in the year and I experienced the EXACT same problem: sites not resolving or pages loading halfway. It has always happened, I must admit, after a a lengthy download and tended to resolve if laid off of the large downloads for a while. This has led me to believe that other ISPs shaped my downloads (UDP, NNTP) where as it is very clear to me that my HTTP access was being shaped or the entire pipe was being throttled. So far Afrihost 50GB capped is working great for me. I might try mweb next year again if their offerings improve or they provide a better (read cheaper) capped offering that afrihost.
 
Update for those interested. By the number of replies I can see that mybb is riveted to the screen in anticipation of the final outcome.

As per mweb's email response...
As per CPA law if a consumer has entered into an agreement as a result of direct marketing:

"The consumer has a cooling-off period of five business days from either conclusion of the transaction or delivery".
Click to expand...

Whatever. Regardless of the "direct marketing" loophole, I am a little miffed at the general lack of customer care. A happy customer, current or prior, can be great in terms of marketing in the case of the former. As for the latter, I could have possibly been a repeat customer. How would a small refund amongst their many, many subscriptions affected their bottom line? Knowing what I know now, second time burned and all, I will be very reluctant to EVER recommend MWEB to anyone ever again (I work in IT and talk broadband a lot, so...lots of potential customers lost right there, lol) or use them myself.

Well, afrihost capped has me now and. So far so good.

As an aside, MWEB Guy was at least attentive toward my problem and forwarded it on to the right people. Thanks again, dude.
 
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To throw in my 2 cents (not that it matters much): From a business point of view can you imagine the headache of people cottoning on to the idea of free uncapped for 5 days? Not saying this was your intention, but the system is open to that kind of abuse if the CPA is not strictly adhered to (or if said company is unaware of the exact conditions of refunds and just agrees to avoid possible CPA troubles).

The CPA isn't just there to protect consumers (as much as some of the more idiotic people would have you believe). It also provides very solid footing for the when and how of refunds and companies will stick to that like glue just because it is being enforced upon them (they may have been lenient in the past with longer periods of time, etc).

The situation is unfortunate as I personally feel MWEB is doing a great job (99% of the time xD) and I have always found their presence on these forums a welcome one.
 
In terms of internal processes of the mweb servicing and billing systems, I can see how having customers adhere to the contract to-the-letter would avoid headache situations. Hell, I personally know company owners who get screwed over by customers who do not want to pay contract bills or pay lesser fees after signatures. In those cases there were major overheads like employees that needed to be payed etc, so I can understand a CEOs frustration. But as I have said, I would have been willing to pay for those few days of use or...if pushed, pro rata until the end of the month. After all, a service rendered is a service worth paying for. In this case it just seems like a "hey well you signed so tough luck, buddy" queue the sound of cash registers.

I wish there were a sage option so I didn't bump a thread when replying.
 
I deal with ISPs quite a bit and I would recommend that you consider Afrihost. Good service, good offerings, and good reliable bandwidth.
 
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