garyb01
Senior Member
Let me start this off by saying that I am absolutely flabbergasted by what happened to my wife and I Friday when she applied for a contract with MTN.
Let me sketch the background a bit:
My wife is a financial manager with her company and earns a really good salary. She wanted to take out a new contract with MTN as a gift for her son, a MTN anytime 200 contract, with a Nokia E66 phone with the package.
We both have substantial Vodacom contracts currently but decided to give MTN a go as is looked like a good deal, Nokia E66, with R200.00 airtime a month for R 249.00. I'm sure that everyone would agree that this seems like a really good deal. She took off work and with me in tow to advise and assist where I could, we went to the MTN shop in Hillcrest, KZN, with all the required documentation, bank statements, payslips etc.
She completed all the forms and the shop assistant, a chap named Bongani (Who was great by the way and just as upset with the whole saga as we were) said that he would send everything off and call us as soon as the contract was approved.
Let me state from the outset that there is absolutely NO reason at all as to why this should not be approved, my wife has NO judgements, earns a really good salary and has a completely CLEAN credit record!
At about 16:00 Friday afternoon, I received a call from said Bongani to say that everything was approved and that I can come and pick up the handset etc. (My wife was in meetings the rest of the day and we arranged with him that I would collect on her behalf)
I arrived at the shop at around 16:10 and then the fun started:
Bongani showed me the PC screen which indicated that the application was approved, this I saw with my own eyes, and for this reason he called me to come in and collect, YET when he tried to activate the number or handset or do what ever needs doing, the computer returned an error stating that the amount EXCEEDED the approved credit allowed or something in that line.
At this stage we both thought this to be some kind of error and he quickly contacted the head office to correct this.
In any case after an hour and a half of waiting and frustration, I eventually spoke to some lady on the phone who told me that the vetting "SYSTEM" had indicated that the best that my wife would qualify for was a top-up contract!!!!
Firstly, I am sick and tired of computers making decisions like this, or being used as an excuse for cock-ups like this!! Secondly, this lady could not explain to me how it was possible that a R 249.00 a month contract, which in the greater scheme of things is actually a pittance, could be denied and a top-contract approved WHEN AN AVERAGE OF BETWEEN R 40-50 K WAS GOING INTO THE BANK ACCOUNT PER MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!! WITH NO, AND I MEAN NO CREDIT RATING PROBLEMS AT ALL!!!!!
At no stage was a cost analysis or income vs. expenditure done so how can a "computer" make this call without any relevant details, and if this were the case, then the amount of money coming into the account should more than justify the approval of any contract, especially one as small as this one!
How on earth is this possible??? To top it all off, I was informed by the other shop assistant that MTN would not even allow HIM an employee of MTN to qualify for a top-up contract when He applied!!
This lady apologised profusely because having been sent the application via e-mail, she herself could pick up that this was indeed a screw-up and even asked me to direct a letter of complaint about it, because although she could see this, according to her there was nothing she could do about it AND ONCE AGAIN THE SYSTEM WAS BLAMED! What actually happened was that once again, as is so often the case in this country these days, some idiot did not care enough to do their jobs properly!
MTN: Let me say this to you:
1- As I stated above, both my wife and I are on substantial Vodacom contracts which we were strongly considering moving over to your company when they ended in a few months from now. That in itself is around a R 48000.00 loss for you over the next 2 years, because some idiot did not know how to do their jobs properly!
2- You wasted my time, my wife's time, got our hopes up and then dashed these and that of her son for whom this was going to be a birthday present AND HAD TO GO THROUGH TODAY WITHOUT A BIRTHDAY PRESENT BECAUSE OF YOU AND YOUR INCOMPETENT STAFF.
3- Although there is a lot about Vodacom that I can complain about, nothing comes close to this! It took one phone call to a Vodacom shop to arrange everything, all we have to do is pop down tomorrow morning, sign the documents and if we do not have the phone at the same time, we have been promised that we will have it Monday morning, SO not only has your competition proven to be far superior than you in the service department, in trying to keep existing and get new clients, but they have and are going to profit very nicely out of the deal over the next year or two and most likey much longer than that as well.
4-I cannot understand how an application such as this can be approved in full one minute, the client contacted and informed that they can come in and collect because all is approved and in order, only to then be told once you are in the store that it has now been denied and then to sit around for an hour and a half and fight with your staff on the phone, when all involved agree that is totally wrong and obviously a big mistake and should not have happened!!
Be aware that this is happening to potential customers, and realise that no matter how much money you are making, its people like us who are giving you that money, and though you may not feel it IN MY CASE, you will when I tell everyone I know about this, all my staff members for whom my company has taken out contracts, all my wife's staff members, and the list grows longer, and know this:
WE WILL NEVER DEAL WITH YOU AGAIN!!!
Let me sketch the background a bit:
My wife is a financial manager with her company and earns a really good salary. She wanted to take out a new contract with MTN as a gift for her son, a MTN anytime 200 contract, with a Nokia E66 phone with the package.
We both have substantial Vodacom contracts currently but decided to give MTN a go as is looked like a good deal, Nokia E66, with R200.00 airtime a month for R 249.00. I'm sure that everyone would agree that this seems like a really good deal. She took off work and with me in tow to advise and assist where I could, we went to the MTN shop in Hillcrest, KZN, with all the required documentation, bank statements, payslips etc.
She completed all the forms and the shop assistant, a chap named Bongani (Who was great by the way and just as upset with the whole saga as we were) said that he would send everything off and call us as soon as the contract was approved.
Let me state from the outset that there is absolutely NO reason at all as to why this should not be approved, my wife has NO judgements, earns a really good salary and has a completely CLEAN credit record!
At about 16:00 Friday afternoon, I received a call from said Bongani to say that everything was approved and that I can come and pick up the handset etc. (My wife was in meetings the rest of the day and we arranged with him that I would collect on her behalf)
I arrived at the shop at around 16:10 and then the fun started:
Bongani showed me the PC screen which indicated that the application was approved, this I saw with my own eyes, and for this reason he called me to come in and collect, YET when he tried to activate the number or handset or do what ever needs doing, the computer returned an error stating that the amount EXCEEDED the approved credit allowed or something in that line.
At this stage we both thought this to be some kind of error and he quickly contacted the head office to correct this.
In any case after an hour and a half of waiting and frustration, I eventually spoke to some lady on the phone who told me that the vetting "SYSTEM" had indicated that the best that my wife would qualify for was a top-up contract!!!!
Firstly, I am sick and tired of computers making decisions like this, or being used as an excuse for cock-ups like this!! Secondly, this lady could not explain to me how it was possible that a R 249.00 a month contract, which in the greater scheme of things is actually a pittance, could be denied and a top-contract approved WHEN AN AVERAGE OF BETWEEN R 40-50 K WAS GOING INTO THE BANK ACCOUNT PER MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!! WITH NO, AND I MEAN NO CREDIT RATING PROBLEMS AT ALL!!!!!
At no stage was a cost analysis or income vs. expenditure done so how can a "computer" make this call without any relevant details, and if this were the case, then the amount of money coming into the account should more than justify the approval of any contract, especially one as small as this one!
How on earth is this possible??? To top it all off, I was informed by the other shop assistant that MTN would not even allow HIM an employee of MTN to qualify for a top-up contract when He applied!!
This lady apologised profusely because having been sent the application via e-mail, she herself could pick up that this was indeed a screw-up and even asked me to direct a letter of complaint about it, because although she could see this, according to her there was nothing she could do about it AND ONCE AGAIN THE SYSTEM WAS BLAMED! What actually happened was that once again, as is so often the case in this country these days, some idiot did not care enough to do their jobs properly!
MTN: Let me say this to you:
1- As I stated above, both my wife and I are on substantial Vodacom contracts which we were strongly considering moving over to your company when they ended in a few months from now. That in itself is around a R 48000.00 loss for you over the next 2 years, because some idiot did not know how to do their jobs properly!
2- You wasted my time, my wife's time, got our hopes up and then dashed these and that of her son for whom this was going to be a birthday present AND HAD TO GO THROUGH TODAY WITHOUT A BIRTHDAY PRESENT BECAUSE OF YOU AND YOUR INCOMPETENT STAFF.
3- Although there is a lot about Vodacom that I can complain about, nothing comes close to this! It took one phone call to a Vodacom shop to arrange everything, all we have to do is pop down tomorrow morning, sign the documents and if we do not have the phone at the same time, we have been promised that we will have it Monday morning, SO not only has your competition proven to be far superior than you in the service department, in trying to keep existing and get new clients, but they have and are going to profit very nicely out of the deal over the next year or two and most likey much longer than that as well.
4-I cannot understand how an application such as this can be approved in full one minute, the client contacted and informed that they can come in and collect because all is approved and in order, only to then be told once you are in the store that it has now been denied and then to sit around for an hour and a half and fight with your staff on the phone, when all involved agree that is totally wrong and obviously a big mistake and should not have happened!!
Be aware that this is happening to potential customers, and realise that no matter how much money you are making, its people like us who are giving you that money, and though you may not feel it IN MY CASE, you will when I tell everyone I know about this, all my staff members for whom my company has taken out contracts, all my wife's staff members, and the list grows longer, and know this:
WE WILL NEVER DEAL WITH YOU AGAIN!!!
