Where can I begin? Perhaps close down. Get rid of the cobwebs. And spiders.
Then reboot. New system. New people. Everything you used to do? Do the exact opposite.
My experiences? First my pay as you go... Money just disappearing. I am talking about buy R100 airtime, and 500mb data on a Friday. And the Monday it is simply gone. That is me being on Wifi and making one single call to a mate lasting not more than 10 minutes.
Yes yes MTN claims that I am "subscribed to services" which is BS. Look at every single post on their page. These are not my comments:
"You are bunch of thieves."
"MTN they will continue Ripping you off"
"Mtn staff are stealing our money , sim swap fraud is a daily practice"
"How can MTN South Africa put up "inspirational quotes" when all you do is steal your customers money? Absolutely disgusting"
2 minutes and that is what I found already.
1. OK. So fact is money disappears, data depletes. Thieves! (I didn't say that, but I agree with the couple of other 1000 saying that)
So I moved to Cell C, all of the sudden my R200 lasts 2 months. Even with my data depleted and eating into my actual airtime. The usual worries. Speed of internet and quality of calls and area of reception. But rest assured. 5 months later. And it is not better, not is it worse. In fact I have nothing to complain about. Oddly, my area of reception has grown though. Bonus point to Cell C. Area of reception will not be point 2, simply because I reside in Western Cape, you will have the exact opposite in Gauteng, perhaps KZN, who knows.
So about 16 months ago I signed a data contract which includes a tablet. After this mess above I thought to myself... Hang on when it the last time I used it? Opened it up and sim was blocked. OK... Made a couple of calls.
1. They changed my debit order, to who knows what. My account was given over to Collections at a legal firm. 2 seconds away from being blacklisted I managed to stop the process and EFT the account.
2. They seem to have reverted ALL my account details to a contract I had in 2001. Email address, telephone number, postal address, the works.
3. Finally I got that "sorted" so that I can pay my accounts, but now it is a cash account, they can't fix the debit order)
4. My accounts stop arriving. Again, they have changed my postal address. Again sim blocked, same process followed. I really am trying my best to pay my account, MTN, I really am!
5. They changed my number to something I had in 2001. Good luck trying to call me on that number!
6. "But we called you on your contract number" - I forget how many times I had to explain - "It is a data contract. With a data device"
2. MTN is in financial crisis after Nigeria. Yet they make it impossible to pay them.
3. And for being idiots - they can clearly see what contract I have - and that you cannot call a tablet / modem / router
4. Updating / reverting contact details as they please, with no prior warning
Now trying to log a problem is impossible - see the screenshots on their page? 30 minutes waiting, and some instances even more. When you get through, finally, you will speak to someone who might or might not have the intellect to comprehend your problem. In my case I was always but always very unlucky in that regard. But that is fine - if you cannot manage a problem you'd escalate to a manager, yes? The answer is no. Not MTN. Fact is - there is zero escalation of problems. You speak to the first line support, and pray to whichever god you pray to that hopefully your problem is solved by itself, or you simply accept your demise.
5. No escalation of problems
Now the logical thing would be to get out, run away, hide - if the enemy is unapproachable. Quick read up on the Consumer Protection Act... Hmm, you can get out of almost any contract:
1. one month calendar notice - tick
2. of course you are responsible still for the full outstanding financial charges of your phone - tick
What you would not expect is this...
1. If a device is worth say R5000... Then over 24 months that means R208, which means say over 12 months and you cancel, you would owe one month of contract fee, as well as R208 x 12. That comes to R2496. And it sound great because your contract is in any case R260 a month. Right? Nooooooo so so so wrong.
2. "The device is R9500. So it is R9500 / 24, and x12 for remaining months. So you owe us R4749, plus contract x 1."
6. MTN super-inflates the device value on day of cancellation
At every point MTN is taking bits from their clients, some may notice, some may not. I mean it took me 30 years to realise that the way ABSA treats me is not normal, and that every other bank out there is better.
I think that covers it. What MTN does really well is messing with my patience. This is not an isolated event either. There are thousands of others on their Facebook, on HelloPeter. I am not even angry anymore I am simply "slightly" humoured by all the negative attention they are deservedly getting.
I am now just counting the days until I can get rid of the worst connection.
I mean - here you have a mobile network that has not RICA'd Nigeria for close to 10 years, perhaps more. The whole reason for RICA is that unlawful activities can be stopped. All those 419 scams, all those pesky calls from insurance companies who you find out later is fake, they are just trying to steal your money, all those 3 in the morning SMS messages of you winning 2 million - yes they ALLLLLLLLL come from Nigeria. And yes they are ALLLLLLLLL MTN contracts, which has not been RICA'd.
7. MTN is not just pi$$ing their own clients off, the are messing with every person with a cell phone in ZA.
Your 7 year old daughter is scratching in Mommy's wallet? Because the nice "Oom" on the cell she answered wants your credit card number? Yep - blame MTN for that.
I will leave that for you to ponder on.