SA mobile contract cancellations: what you will pay

I'm calling Bull on the VC costs mentioned.

From every case I've seen, they charge the flat 75% rate regardless of the circumstances. I had 7 months left and had to pay just shy of 1.2 grand, working out to roughly 75% of my remaining (150 p/m) contract, plus sundry charges which I didn't have the energy to fight over.
 
Telkom will surely kill you if you try cancel. You'll see for yourself with CellC :p

Prepaid FTW!
 
So... basically they're saying that they will charge the maximum possible amount, whether legal or not, until such time as they piss off a billionaire who takes them to court and gets a ruling.

And they're sure as hell not going to limit their extortion by putting the actual value or calculation in their contracts, even if that violates the CPA (vague contracts and all), because the NCC is a toothless watchdog who can be beaten down with lawyers, just like your average abused South African consumer.

Billboards it is, I guess. (Well either that, or making their lawyers' lives so miserable that they all quit - I suggest waterboarding.)
 
Do not sign service agreements/contracts in South Africa. The CPA has done nothing to protect the consumer under these agreements...

Why should I have to pay for unbilled, outstanding invoices related to a service I no longer wish to use? Let me pay for the handset and charge me an industry standard early termination fee.
 
Hush9300 said:
Why should I have to pay for unbilled, outstanding invoices related to a service I no longer wish to use?
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I'm pretty sure they referring to invoices that have not yet been issued during your current billing cycle ( unbilled ) and any previous invoices in arrears ( outstanding ).
 
acidrain said:
I'm pretty sure they referring to invoices that have not yet been issued during your current billing cycle ( unbilled ) and any previous invoices in arrears ( outstanding ).
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Fair enough, now read Vodacom's explanation... They have you buy out your subscription less 25% too even if you don't get to use the minutes accompanied by that subscription.
 
Rubbish. MTN wanted *more* money than the total remaining months last time I tried to get rid of a contract.

Really wondering if the VC thing is worthwhile.

Pay in R5400+device charge now & get nothing vs Pay in 7200 over time and get 16 months of minutes and data. Think I'll keep it and hand it to my little sister.
 
Oh how entitled we all seem to be.. You do realise that smartphones cost a fortune and are often offered on very cheap monthly contracts? These are businesses, not charities. The networks rely on a break even point of about 22 months and then hope you spend extra per month above your "free" or "included" benefits to make a little bit of profit.

Take for example R100pm contract x 24 months = R4800. For that, you are given a R4000 phone and about R600 worth of voice/data. Are you really worth their time if you only give them a R200 profit over 2 years? Now you want to cancel early. You need to obviously pay off the full device cost, because you are keeping it (R4000), then what about the minutes and data you have used that were subsidised over the full 24 months? Not to mention some of the extra freebies that some networks offer like additional data, covers etc.

For some reason, people feel they should only pay for the phone and that's all. It is far more complex than that.
 
Gaz{M} said:
Oh how entitled we all seem to be.. You do realise that smartphones cost a fortune and are often offered on very cheap monthly contracts?
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That is not the issue. I'm OK with settling on the device side.

The issue is I'm paying R5400 in return for exactly nothing.

> then what about the minutes and data you have used that were subsidised over the full 24 months

Evenly spread over the 24 months...except for 3 gigs promotional at the start. So make that a generous R1000 penalty there (which is like 5x market rate).

Add another R1000 general / admin / random penalty...that gets me to R2000...not R5400.
 
Gaz{M} said:
Oh how entitled we all seem to be.. You do realise that smartphones cost a fortune and are often offered on very cheap monthly contracts? These are businesses, not charities. The networks rely on a break even point of about 22 months and then hope you spend extra per month above your "free" or "included" benefits to make a little bit of profit.

Take for example R100pm contract x 24 months = R4800. For that, you are given a R4000 phone and about R600 worth of voice/data. Are you really worth their time if you only give them a R200 profit over 2 years? Now you want to cancel early. You need to obviously pay off the full device cost, because you are keeping it (R4000), then what about the minutes and data you have used that were subsidised over the full 24 months? Not to mention some of the extra freebies that some networks offer like additional data, covers etc.

For some reason, people feel they should only pay for the phone and that's all. It is far more complex than that.
Click to expand...

I am more than comfortable paying for the outstanding handset costs but why should I pay for the free minutes, data etc that I will not get to use?
 
HavocXphere said:
Rubbish. MTN wanted *more* money than the total remaining months last time I tried to get rid of a contract.

Really wondering if the VC thing is worthwhile.

Pay in R5400+device charge now & get nothing vs Pay in 7200 over time and get 16 months of minutes and data. Think I'll keep it and hand it to my little sister.
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On my sim-only contract (data) MTN wanted to charge exactly what is stated in the article - it essentially came to settling the current month and paying the next month's subscription.
I'm pretty sure that a device skews the matter. There's a likely cross-subsidisation that occurs which they (MTN) are willing to absorb because of the cash they're making from your usage. However if you're cancelling, I'm sure that they take the actual cost of the device, divide it by 24 and multiply by your remaining months. This will almost always be more than your subsidised contractual cost remaining.
 
Hush9300 said:
Fair enough, now read Vodacom's explanation... They have you buy out your subscription less 25% too even if you don't get to use the minutes accompanied by that subscription.
Click to expand...
I tried to read vodacoms one but the percentages don't make any sense and could really mean anything but it certainly looks dodge at best.
 
Gaz{M} said:
It is far more complex than that.
Click to expand...

The only reason it's more complex is because of a greedy corporate intentionally obfuscating the costs. The CPA calls for a clear and unambiguous contract - what these arseholes give you is as vague as humanly possible. Why? Because vague needs to be settled in the courts and normal people can't afford R 1 000 000 in legal fees, whereas a large, faceless corporation has 10 000 arsehole lawyers hanging around just waiting for someone to harass.
 
kianm said:
Prepaid FTW!
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Agreed.

One of the most liberating things I ever did was ditching the contract in favour of prepaid. Puts the control back in my hands and no more surprising accounts at the end of the month.
 
Its simple. it's like buying a car at the bank. you can't just decide to cancel it.
 
I've never had a contract and I would never advise anyone to ever get one. This is how I get by:

1) I bought a brand new Samsung Galaxy S4 from Takealot on my credit card for R6000

2) I have a prepaid Vodacom sim card and am on the 79c per minute price plan

3) I have an automated scheduled monthly airtime topup on the 1st of each month that comes off my FNB account for R200, setup through FNB's online banking. I never have to think about it.

4) I have an automated scheduled monthly data bundle added to my prepaid sim on the 1st of each month that comes off my FNB account for 250MB at R59. Again, I never have to think about it. I work from home so most of the day my phone is connected to my WIFI router using ADSL so that size data bundle is fine for me.

5) I don't bother with sms bundles because I hardly ever use smses. Almost everyone I know is on Whatsapp.

So there you have it. I have all the advantages of contract with none of the hassles.
 
I don't like these guys as much as the next guy... but if you signed a contract @ Rxx.xx/month. Surely if you cancel it - you should be liable for the outstanding amount?

Or - do prepaid.... these contracts are expensive... nothing is free... ever! Read the fine print... and then read it again!
 
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