Why must I be in debt before they're willing to give me a phone contract?

[UnUnOctium]

Tried to get a contract (activechat 200/400 special by Cell C on the Galaxy S 2) today and to my surprise, I'm not allowed to get one. Turns out that because I'm not in any debt, I don't have a credit record and hence I'm not allowed to get a contract. I think cool, crazy/stupid/retarded but understandable. I go to the bank, get an official account statement on one of my accounts showing that I can basically pay the whole contract cash 15 times over on the spot but somehow that's not enough evidence for them.

Staff was helpful and I knew it wasn't her fault as it's hardcoded in their system so I wasn't going to take it out on her. She suggested I open a store account with Edgars or something and pay it off for 3 months before I get back in there.
Thing is, everything I buy, I buy cash/eft.

I'm therefore wondering if anyone can give me a tip/a contact with CellC (I'm really not a fan of paying twice the amount monthly at Vodacom with a R2.5k pay-in) that I can utilise so that a person who actually lives within their means comfortably can get a mobile phone contract?

 

[Sting]

So truly pathetic this system we live under.

I bumped my head against it around 30 years ago and nothing has changed. I needed to buy a new Fridge (the hand-me-down died) and I could not afford to buy it cash. Furniture store told me exactly what you were told "go open an Edgars' account" to create a credit record.

Good luck.

 

[ginggs]

I would have suggested asking someone to sign surety for you, but even though there's a surety section in the contract, Cell-C seem to have absolutely no idea what it means. A couple of months ago, my wife, a freelance photographer, tried to take out a Red Bull Mobile contract. Filled in the forms, surety section and all, and Cell-C want proof of her income. Why, I ask, as I've filled in the surety section and here is proof of my income. She needs to prove she can pay for the contract. Now if she could do that, why on earth would I be signing surety? Tried two different branches, calls to head office, to no avail.

 

[UnUnOctium]

So truly pathetic this system we live under.

I bumped my head against it around 30 years ago and nothing has changed. I needed to buy a new Fridge (the hand-me-down died) and I could not afford to buy it cash. Furniture store told me exactly what you were told "go open an Edgars' account" to create a credit record.

Good luck.

Yea, total joke if you ask me. Thing is, if I really wanted a phone badly, I'd just buy it cash, wouldn't affect me much at all. It's just that my company offers to pay me for my phone bills so I see it as kind of pointless that I pay for it when someone else is offering to do it for me at no cost to me.

 

[UnUnOctium]

I would have suggested asking someone to sign surety for you, but even though there's a surety section in the contract, Cell-C seem to have absolutely no idea what it means. A couple of months ago, my wife, a freelance photographer, tried to take out a Red Bull Mobile contract. Filled in the forms, surety section and all, and Cell-C want proof of her income. Why, I ask, as I've filled in the surety section and here is proof of my income. She needs to prove she can pay for the contract. Now if she could do that, why on earth would I be signing surety? Tried two different branches, calls to head office, to no avail.

Thanks but I tried that (had my girlfriend with me), they said even if someone signed surety, I still would need a credit record for the system to even allow them to proceed (surety or not).

 

[MickeyD]

Yea, total joke if you ask me. Thing is, if I really wanted a phone badly, I'd just buy it cash, wouldn't affect me much at all. It's just that my company offers to pay me for my phone bills so I see it as kind of pointless that I pay for it when someone else is offering to do it for me at no cost to me.

What is the point of RICA and FICA and NCA and all these other compliance measures if this archaic process is still blocks new consumers?

 

[ShadowEn]

You don't need to go into debt. You just need a credit history. Open an Edgars account. Pay X amount monthly into the account without buying anything, or just deposit a large sum up front. Build up a positive balance. Purchase on the card. Voila, you now have a positive credit history!

 

[Base122]

I recently enquired about the 8ta R199 10Gig promotion.

Being unemployed and unable to provide a payslip and the fact that my last 3 months banks statements show no proof of income, even though the balance shows I could pay the whole 24months up front more than once over.....sorry sir we can't help you....

The fact that I have been paying a Telkom bill without problems for several years, did not help either.
Go figure...

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

You don't need to go into debt. You just need a credit history. Open an Edgars account. Pay X amount monthly into the account without buying anything, or just deposit a large sum up front. Build up a positive balance. Purchase on the card. Voila, you now have a positive credit history!

+1 but would not recommend a clothing account like Edgars as they are very expensive unless your already purchasing items from them. We opened up an Ackermans account in Jan as we use it for the kids - we try and keep the balance in the positive.

A credit card is another great option.

EDIT: To build up an excellent credit rating you should always pay more than the minimal amount each month as they see this info from you credit history. I discovered this 10yrs ago when I had a Markams account and always paid R50 more than I had to. Within a year I had an excellent credit rating and have never had issues with being turned down except for CellC once (was rather suprised about that one)

 

[Grimspoon]

Lol same thing happened to me. I have zero debt except for my bond but they wouldn't give me a decent contract. Truly ridiculous.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tim182]

Simply get a credit card and build a credit record with that. You don't have to go into debt, you can simply transfer money onto it and use it just like a cheque card while building a credit record

 

[UnUnOctium]

Simply get a credit card and build a credit record with that. You don't have to go into debt, you can simply transfer money onto it and use it just like a cheque card while building a credit record

Cool, but then they need me to have had it for 3 months. Oki, no prob, I can wait but I highly doubt that same special will even exist in 3 months' time :/ That's why I'd be eternally grateful if anyone knows of some contact in their 'review' department if they even have (as the one connected forumite mentioned and then deleted their post).

 

[MightyMuffinMan]

Also contact the credit bureaus , I think there are 3 in ZA. For some reason some of them don't update their details or contain incorrect info.

Guys start building your credit history now, the longer it is the more negotiable your interest rates will be if you need a home or car loan etc.

 

[mercurial]

Tried to get a contract (activechat 200/400 special by Cell C on the Galaxy S 2) today and to my surprise, I'm not allowed to get one. Turns out that because I'm not in any debt, I don't have a credit record and hence I'm not allowed to get a contract. I think cool, crazy/stupid/retarded but understandable. I go to the bank, get an official account statement on one of my accounts showing that I can basically pay the whole contract cash 15 times over on the spot but somehow that's not enough evidence for them.

Staff was helpful and I knew it wasn't her fault as it's hardcoded in their system so I wasn't going to take it out on her. She suggested I open a store account with Edgars or something and pay it off for 3 months before I get back in there.
Thing is, everything I buy, I buy cash/eft.

I'm therefore wondering if anyone can give me a tip/a contact with CellC (I'm really not a fan of paying twice the amount monthly at Vodacom with a R2.5k pay-in) that I can utilise so that a person who actually lives within their means comfortably can get a mobile phone contract?

Sigh. The system is so stupid.

Anyway, on the point of a pay-in for the S2, you don't need to. I got my contract for R319 p/m on Vodacom without any pay-in.

 

[mercurial]

http://www.vodacom.co.za/vodacom/De...ng+I9100+on+EverydayOffPeak+120(per+min+bill)

This is the one I have. No pay-in.

 

[UnUnOctium]

Update for anyone curious:

Still trying to get a credit record...

After the debacle with Cell C refusing to open a contract with me, I decided to open an account with stuttafords in order to get a credit record. Applied for an account with Stuttafords the week after, had to repeatedly phone for 4 days until they told me "your application has been denied, you don't have any other accounts or a credit record". Excellent... ****tards.

I then decided "wait, maybe I've been an identity fraud victim without me knowing!". Logged onto experian, got the whole free credit check. Everything was literally "0", no accounts, no debt, nothing. Only 1 previous credit record check. Excellent again...

So, being the perseverent person that I am, I decided to open a credit card with Virgin Money. Applied, approved, no word from them ever since. Have been promised phone calls after following up for weeks. Nothing. Excellent... dickwads.

Now this gets only better. Decided, "screw this, going to get a Standard Bank credit card, they seem to like my financial situation". Applied, approved. Guy phones me on a Saturday 3-4 weeks ago telling me my limit and that my card will indeed be sent to a branch of my request, 'great stuff dude'. Phone 1 week later to ask where it is, "was sent to your original branch, wait 1 more week to get to the branch of your choice". I guess you can't blame the retarded for being stupid. A week later, kept phoning several times and was told to wait 1 more week by all of them. And then we get to...

Today: Phone Standard Bank, get told that my card has been shredded. Naturally, as any human does, I ask "wtf?". Apparently, I have to get FICA'd for my credit card account in order to be able to get my credit card. I then ask why I have a credit card statement already sent to my email. Radio silence. I call a different tard on the same line, ask the same questions (by this point, I've learnt the hard way that the answer from a call centre monkey is not determinate and that is in itself a stochastic process) and to my surprise card's not been shredded but is in my main branch, awaiting for me to FICA.

I then ask why do I need to FICA when I already have 2 fully FICA'd accounts open with them. "You just have to, it's the law". So, having learnt their weakness i.e. inability to think, I ask what documentation I need to FICA. I get told any account/statement with your address on it, the usual crap. I then ask, "what about a credit card statement?", "Sure!" she replies. I then aim precisely with the punch as she fell into my trap, "so then I can use the credit card statement you sent me for exactly THIS card which I'm trying to FICA?"... "errr, yes". From then on, all sorts of reference numbers were requested for this call.

This leaves me with...

Tomorrow: Off to Standard Bank to try and FICA myself for a credit card with the credit card's account statement. If you guys hear of a black hole forming in a standard bank employee's head due to a logic circularity... my bad.

Rant over, I should write a book about this.

 

[AnimateX]

ROFL, this I got to see.

Bonus points if you can actually get Standard Bank to *explain* the logic behind that one

 

[ginggs]

LOL! You have Schrödinger's credit card. It is simultaneously shredded and not shredded. Tomorrow when you get to the bank they will open a box and only then will your card be in a state of being shredded or not shredded.

 

[Ou grote]

Tried to get a contract (activechat 200/400 special by Cell C on the Galaxy S 2) today and to my surprise, I'm not allowed to get one. Turns out that because I'm not in any debt, I don't have a credit record and hence I'm not allowed to get a contract. I think cool, crazy/stupid/retarded but understandable. I go to the bank, get an official account statement on one of my accounts showing that I can basically pay the whole contract cash 15 times over on the spot but somehow that's not enough evidence for them.

Staff was helpful and I knew it wasn't her fault as it's hardcoded in their system so I wasn't going to take it out on her. She suggested I open a store account with Edgars or something and pay it off for 3 months before I get back in there.
Thing is, everything I buy, I buy cash/eft.

I'm therefore wondering if anyone can give me a tip/a contact with CellC (I'm really not a fan of paying twice the amount monthly at Vodacom with a R2.5k pay-in) that I can utilise so that a person who actually lives within their means comfortably can get a mobile phone contract?

I'm guessing it's easy to forge an ID book, so the more they have to prove that you're a real person the better.

 

[UnUnOctium]

Right. Final necro just to share the massive irony.

Current status: Have had contract with Vodacom for 5 months now, everything is going well.

Today, I get a cold call from a Durban land-line number. Turns out it's either CellC or someone reselling CellC. Guess what they're spamming me for?! That's right, "do you want a contract?"

Just closed the phone and didn't waste time on the insignificant fools, they had their chance when I was asking them to take my money.