Massive mobile broadband bill?
It’s not uncommon for billing “hiccups” to occur. We all experience the odd double debit order or a funny charge from time to time. But a Moneyweb reader’s experience has got to rank as one of the scariest to resolve.
This reader has a 3G data contract with MTN. In an average month, his usage is “normally around R500”. In October last year, the first shock came: a bill for nearly R5 000. Having attempted to get some sort of response from MTN’s call centre, this reader says he eventually took the effort to visit a store.
By this time, halfway through November, the bill was already at R34 000!
R34 000 worth of data on a 3G package equates, by MTN’s own admission, to about 26GB. Astonishingly, 22GB of that was allegedly used in a fortnight.
Now, 26GB is a serious amount of data. This equates to about 40 full movie downloads. Or over 6 500 mp3 songs.
Take an average 50KB or even 100KB e-mail. With 26GB, you’d be able to send or receive over 200m standard text/document e-mails!
The irony is that, even if you tried, it is extremely unlikely that you’d ever be able to clock up this much data usage on a 3G connection in this period of time. Industry sources agree with this hypothesis.
He requested that the account be suspended at that point. This user then had his computer inspected to check for spyware and any hidden programs or viruses that could be causing abnormal data usage. None were found.
He asked a technician what he thought of the amount of data and the technician “confirmed that he also thought there was definitely something wrong”.
The user logged a query with MTN and this was escalated to what he terms “the network team and data manager”. Frustrated by no apparent resolution after six weeks of waiting, the user made contact with the media.
The problem was that MTN held this user responsible for the R34 000 November bill as well as the nearly R5 000 account from October. The user, quite obviously, was not budging. “Until proper investigation, I won’t accept the bill,” he told Moneyweb last month.
Now, another six weeks later, MTN seems to finally be taking this problem and a few others like it, seriously. MTN says it wishes to audit these “disputes in detail and will revert back” to the users in question.
But the problem here is the amount of effort required to get this response from MTN and for that matter countless large companies in this country.
So what are your options?
Call centres (hear me out!) are realistically your best chance of solving problems like these. But it all depends on how you use the call centre that determines your success.
Firstly, try and explain the problem as quickly and as succinctly as possible to the assistant who first answers your call. If you’re not sure, ask. Don’t retell your entire saga to someone only for them to tell you after you’re done that, actually, this is the “prepaid” or even “enterprise e-mail” helpdesk.
Secondly, get your problem escalated as quickly as possible. Most South Africans have the view that call centres are simply banks of desks with only thousands of junior-level employees. Not so. There are hierarchies within call centres, and often some very clever people to help – it’s all about reaching them.
MTN says “If a customer wishes to log a [specific] billing query, they should call 083 808 and request the customer billing queries department. A consultant will note the query and the customer’s account details, investigate the issue and give feedback.
“Where a query concerns a data billing issue, the investigation is more complex and time-consuming. Once the investigation has been completed, the billing queries department will provide the customer with feedback.
“If the initial feedback is not to the client’s satisfaction, he or she may request a further investigation, or may ask to speak to the billing supervisor or log a complaint on the MTN website, www.mtn.co.za.”
Vodacom’s customer care helpline is 082 111, while its specialised data helpdesk is reachable on 082 155.
Your other option is to visit a physical store, the bigger the better. MTN has a host of service centres around the country (different to a normal MTN store in the local mall). Vodacom also has customer service centres in the major areas.
Your final option would be to log your complaint on a consumer site such as www.hellopeter.com or even www.getclosure.co.za, hoping someone from the offending company will notice it.
Then again, you may just find yourself waiting, waiting, and waiting some more…
MTN responds to queries on excessive 3G data bills
Thank you very much for your queries on MTN’s data billing. Most of the reported cases occurred in either October or November last year, when normal usage patterns became distorted resulting in increased monthly bills. An initial investigation showed no signs of irregularities. However, when delving further into the issue, it appeared that the highest usage resulting in unusual bills was caused by software updates eg, third party operating systems, modem software and antivirus software updates occurring in the background and trying repeatedly.
Also, prevalent to this investigation, was that that a small percentage of MTN 3G modems were not uploaded with the latest software meant to prevent charges on MTN software upgrade website. As a result, some of these 3G modems were routed to an obsolete MTN web address for updates, which was not zero rated. MTN is currently looking at ways to upload the modem software to the batch that has been affected.
We would like to further advise our customers to turn off automatic software updates as these could potentially result in very large files being downloaded and billed for – unbeknown to the customer. To prevent this from re-occurring, MTN is currently looking into a monitoring system that can detect abnormal user behaviour.
MTN apologises for the inconvenience this has caused our customers and assure that we will reimburse those that were affected by this anomaly. Users that have experienced this problem are urged to contact their MTN Service Provider or MTN Call Centre on 083 808. Each case will be investigated in its merit.
Mobile broadband billing – give your view
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