Neotel and their deposit.

A

armitage

Expert Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2003
Messages
1,146
Reaction score
1
Location
South Africa.
So two mornings ago I filled in an application telephonically to have a neotel prime uncapped service.
My area has superb apparent connection to the network so i was quite chuffed.
The rep on the other side then proceded to do a quick credit check.
The program returned that I was declined by their system.
"not to worry" he says. They will send my application through to their credit manager and they will investigate why i was declined and inform me the next day.

So just to make sure(since this is south africa). I phone later on Wednesday to ask them if they have my application and if everything is being processed. Get a satisfactory answer that the credit investigation will be finalized thursday morning and they will phone me(... u gonna phone me...this is south africa...) the next day during the course of the day.

Of course they didn't phone on thursday as promised.

This morning Friday I phone and ask the status of my call log and explain that I am waiting for their call that was supposed to come on thursday but never did( I feel like a kid not being picked up for his date :( ). The rep assures me that they will phone me now when the report is done(no time frame anymore).

So... Just got the callback from them and the results of their credit check.

I HAVE TO PAY A DEPOSIT!!! Since I came back as a bad risk.
First things first. I demand to have the reason for my status as a bad risk to be explained to me as is my right. The rep says he will go back and get the credit manager to hopefully give him the information and then he will inform me.

Secondly I phone the Credit regulator to get the info to make sure that I am in the right to insist on the reason for the deposit. Well I am in the right.

In the National Credit Act [No. 34 of 2005]

Right to reasons for credit being refused
62. (1) On request from a consumer, a credit provider must advise that consumer in writing of the dominant reason for
(a) refusing to enter into a credit agreement with that consumer;
(b) offering that consumer a lower credit limit under a credit facility than applied
for by the consumer, or reducing the credit limit under an existing credit
facility;
(c) refusing a request from the consumer to increase a credit limit under an
existing credit facility;
or
(d) refusing to renew an expiring credit card or similar renewable credit facility
with that consumer.
(2) When responding to a request in terms of subsection (l), a credit provider who has
based its decision on an adverse credit report received from a credit bureau must advise
the consumer in writing of the name, address and other contact particulars of that credit
bureau.
Click to expand...

So, the act says that I must be provided with a reason for credit being denied. Hope they know their credit act or they gonna get a hurting.


To make sure that do not have cause to reject me, I have filed a request by transunion(yearly free credit check) to get a credit report so that I can review my credit history and make sure there arent any blemishes.

Since I earn a good salary, have no crushing debt... I fully expect the report to be good.

I'm sorry but expecting me to cough up a deposit when there is absolutely no reason for it is quite appaling. I'm not gonna stand for it and if they don't change their internal risk assesment to be favourable then they can take their product and stick it up their wazoo.


/me wonders if ill get a reason today still :/
 
armitage said:
I'm sorry but expecting me to cough up a deposit when there is absolutely no reason for it is quite appaling. I'm not gonna stand for it and if they don't change their internal risk assesment to be favourable then they can take their product and stick it up their wazoo.
Click to expand...

And then what, go to their competition Telkom?

You have the right to know why you are a credit risk, but please bear in mind that people have defaults/judgments on their name for some of the weirdest stuff, don't blame Neotel for good practices, rather blame your creditors or the credit agency for fluffing it
 
@ Remybfg10k.
That's why im getting a credit report done at the same time. So i can be 100% sure there is no bad debt to my name.

What pisses me off is that the guy who took my details and informed me of the initial system report told me that I perhaps dont have enough accounts. And this is just after 2 months ago when i closed my last store card. Credit available and just lying there is a bad thing so i close the account if i dont need it.

But yeah, so they penilise you for being responsible with your money :/
 
Ive read in other threads that its R1 000.
Haven't asked myself. The guy never even got so far as to tell me.
 
If they try that deposit stuff on me they can go jump in the Kimberley hole!
Hopefully owning a credit card and paying "Multichoice"" should prevent me from that nightmare.
 
Read this and you may understand things better.

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=135942

Apart from that you must remember that theperson who gives you the result may not be able to tell you why you have been declined - so do not take it out on the person trying to assist you.

In addition, it the unfortunate truth that in SA in order to get credit, you have to make some debt and according to Transunion, more than 2 accounts works in your favour...

It is a good thing that you signed up for the credit report, but i would suggest you take it one step further and sign up for their SMS service too so that you know when you are being credit checked.

As for the question about the amount being R1000, it is not necessarily the case....all depends on how much of a risk you are.

YOU must also read more about the different types of credit providers, some of them are not direct credit providers (they fall under incidental credit) which means that some of the NCA rules may not apply.
 
Last edited:
Update.
Yesterday afternoon i was getting nowhere with the first line reps. So, I asked to speak to their supervisor.
10 Secons later and I was put through to a very professional lady who helped put out the fire...or at least tried to. Turns out that my transunion credit check came back 100% positive. I have no bad debt, so there is no reason to be wary and require a security deposit imho.
Now she explained that in addition to the credit check they do a "demographic" calculation. What this means is that they take my personal details like; How long have i worked at the same place(7 years), salary(above 15k), deductions(3k) and how long i've stayed at my current residence(a year plus). There might be more but I think they base their decision on the information that I first provided them when I signed up and there wasn't an awfully lot more than what I just wrote.
Now all this info goes into their wonderful calculation and the credit manager spits out a risk assesment profile.
As far as i can see there is no reason to require me to pay this deposit. Hence I'm taking a stand that their calculation is fubbared.

She wanted to go see if they can lower the deposit from the initial R1000 to a lower amount, but i am not interested in paying any deposit whatsoever if this deposit is not required by all customers.
I will know the result of her query next week.

Unfortunately I am not prepared to pay a single sent for a deposit. So if she comes back with one, they will have unfortunately lost out on R24 000, just because they want to make a quick buck.

Interestingly enough she informed me that its not just a few ppl that they require to pay the deposit. It's actually most of the new customers are paying it.
That's quite scary if you think how much money they will be getting for free.
 
@armitage I must say the world of credit rating is rather strange. I earn a lot less then you, being only 2 years in my current job and 6 months at my current address. But I seem to have this amazing rating - I use to have a lot of credit accounts, but I would manage them in a way thay boosted my credit rating.

But I do suspect that your demographics are important too, and not just from Neotels side. I live in what is presummed a wealthy suburb and I think that contributes a lot.

Anyone in Somerset West that has had to pay for a deposit yet?

EDIT: I'm on Neotel Prime 2.5GB, no deposit and I opted to pay them by deposits - no debit order.
 
Last edited:
The credit rating is bull.
I earn over 300K per annum. Have 3 credit cards, 2 of which are in the black. well over 100K in credit cards available. Pay 6K a month on my car, never missed a payment on any of my debts. Still have plenty of money each month for spending and 3 months of salary saved in my cheque account and I still had to pay the deposit of R1000. Been working at my current job for a year and my last job for 4 years after varsity and I have a bacholar of Sciences Degree. Doesn't make any sense hey.
 
Wow PeteGT. Gotta say if you had to pay a deposit then there's really something fscked up with their calculation.
If I may ask. Which package are you on?
 
armitage said:
Wow PeteGT. Gotta say if you had to pay a deposit then there's really something fscked up with their calculation.
If I may ask. Which package are you on?
Click to expand...

10 gig prime, but since last months bill and some wild usage calculations from Neotel, I've requested to be migrated to Unlimited.
 
lol, neotels policy on Deposit...

If you can afford to pay the deposit you have to, If not then you don't have to :confused:
 
armitage said:
So two mornings ago I filled in an application telephonically to have a neotel prime uncapped service.
My area has superb apparent connection to the network so i was quite chuffed.
The rep on the other side then proceded to do a quick credit check.
The program returned that I was declined by their system.
"not to worry" he says. They will send my application through to their credit manager and they will investigate why i was declined and inform me the next day.

So just to make sure(since this is south africa). I phone later on Wednesday to ask them if they have my application and if everything is being processed. Get a satisfactory answer that the credit investigation will be finalized thursday morning and they will phone me(... u gonna phone me...this is south africa...) the next day during the course of the day.

Of course they didn't phone on thursday as promised.

This morning Friday I phone and ask the status of my call log and explain that I am waiting for their call that was supposed to come on thursday but never did( I feel like a kid not being picked up for his date :( ). The rep assures me that they will phone me now when the report is done(no time frame anymore).

So... Just got the callback from them and the results of their credit check.

I HAVE TO PAY A DEPOSIT!!! Since I came back as a bad risk.
First things first. I demand to have the reason for my status as a bad risk to be explained to me as is my right. The rep says he will go back and get the credit manager to hopefully give him the information and then he will inform me.

Secondly I phone the Credit regulator to get the info to make sure that I am in the right to insist on the reason for the deposit. Well I am in the right.

In the National Credit Act [No. 34 of 2005]



So, the act says that I must be provided with a reason for credit being denied. Hope they know their credit act or they gonna get a hurting.


To make sure that do not have cause to reject me, I have filed a request by transunion(yearly free credit check) to get a credit report so that I can review my credit history and make sure there arent any blemishes.

Since I earn a good salary, have no crushing debt... I fully expect the report to be good.

I'm sorry but expecting me to cough up a deposit when there is absolutely no reason for it is quite appaling. I'm not gonna stand for it and if they don't change their internal risk assesment to be favourable then they can take their product and stick it up their wazoo.


/me wonders if ill get a reason today still :/
Click to expand...

Forget everything except the phone calls. forget the deposit forget the National Credit Act... all of it ...except the fact that they didn't return your calls (even after giving you a time when this would happen) - you still want to do business with these guys?:rolleyes:
 
SlinkyMike said:
Forget everything except the phone calls. forget the deposit forget the National Credit Act... all of it ...except the fact that they didn't return your calls (even after giving you a time when this would happen) - you still want to do business with these guys?:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, this is the land of no-choice. Neotel have alot of improving to do, but they're still beter than Telkom when it comes to service and price (for high usage clients anyway).
 
SlinkyMike said:
Forget everything except the phone calls. forget the deposit forget the National Credit Act... all of it ...except the fact that they didn't return your calls (even after giving you a time when this would happen) - you still want to do business with these guys?:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

You have a point there. If i had more choice this would already have been a deal breaker for me. Unfortunately there aren't any other products out there in the market in za that comes close to the usage that this package affords me legally that is :) (im looking at u iburst users :P ).

Just a brain fart. I wonder if the ASA can be contacted in this?
Would this not fall under false advertising? As far as I know any advertised product must these days state all costs involved. If neotel require a deposit that is needed by the majority(by their own admission) of clients, then that would have to appear on the ads.

The only costs that their pamphlets state is R999 x 24. Nothing else, not even a little asterix that shows additional costs might apply.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X