Tracking a consumer complaint at ICASA

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ellipsis

Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions
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marco will take us through the complaints process he has been following, from lodging with the original service provider to taking it up with ICASA.

Take it away, marco.
 
marco and his ongoing MTN problems?

*grabs popcorn*
 
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This is the 3rd query I sent to MTN over 6 months with no reply.

Dear Sir Mam,
Account No: *********
Name: *********

I have sent a query 2 times over 6 months with no reply. This time I
will wait 14 days and if no reply I will let ICASA take it over.

This is a 3rd party TopUp contract upgraded 31 May 2008 two months early.
So the expiry of the "Device" part of the contract should have expired
end of July. Not so? You told me it will end on 9 Sept 2010 in an email.

I was paying R217.00 for R150.00 airtime.

The signee of the contract(Mr*****)relocated from Cape Town to
Jhb and we lost contact with him. After paying R217.00 end of
September I tried to stop the "device" part of the contract by
emailing you and visiting mtn at Longbeach Mall to no avail. I was
still charged R217.00 for R150.00 airtime.

My last payment was end of Sept. and I reversed the Nov.payment. My
SIM was suspended immediately although I still had about R100.00 from
the previous month on it.

I eventually got hold of **** and he went to stop the contract last
month and he was told that the account was R673.80 and R217.00 in
arrears which he paid.
He now wants his money back from me.

These amounts must be returned unless you can tell me what service I
got since Sept. with a suspended SIM.

Please reply soonest.
Regards,
Marco *****
 
My ICASA complaint. Sent 14/02/2011


Dear Sir/Mam,
I have sent 3 queries to MTN over 6 months and they don't answer me at all. My latest one
was 14 days ago with no reply again hence my contacting you.
I know that I must first contact "Management" before I lodge a complaint but this is
impossible as I cannot even get "Helpdesk" to answer after 60 minutes in queue.
The email query I sent is below:

Dear Sir Mam,
Account No: AO949389
Name: *******
I have sent a query 2 times over 6 months with no reply. This time I
will wait 14 days and if no reply I will let ICASA take it over.

This is a 3rd party TopUp contract upgraded 31 May 2008 two months early.
So the expiry of the "Device" part of the contract should have expired
end of July. Not so? You told me it will end on 9 Sept 2010 in an email.

I was paying R217.00 for R150.00 airtime.

The signee of the contract(*******)relocated from Cape Town to
Jhb and we lost contact with him. After paying R217.00 end of
September I tried to stop the "device" part of the contract by
emailing you and visiting mtn at Longbeach Mall to no avail. I was
still charged R217.00 for R150.00 airtime.

My last payment was end of Sept. and I reversed the Nov.payment. My
SIM was suspended immediately although I still had about R100.00 from
the previous month on it.

I eventually got hold of ***** and he went to stop the contract last
month and he was told that the account was R673.80 and R217.00 in
arrears which he paid.
He now wants his money back from me.

These amounts must be returned unless you can tell me what service I
got since Sept. with a suspended SIM.
Query [#3442777]

Please reply soonest.
Regards,
Marco
 
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When did you email ICASA - when ever I tried emailing them they just ignore it.
 
I have found Veronica Smith's email at MTN and sent my complaint to her with a link to this website and a copy of my complaint to ICASA.
Also, I resent ICASA my complaint with a link to this site.
Now lets see.
 
That was the aim of this thread - to test the consumer complaint process as set out by ICASA.
So far, they've missed the timelines indicated in their consumer complaints process.
Perhaps the next step should be forwarding the complaint to the Chairperson with an indication that the consumer complaints email address seems to be going ignored... :)
 
ellipsis said:
Perhaps the next step should be forwarding the complaint to the Chairperson with an indication that the consumer complaints email address seems to be going ignored... :)
Click to expand...

Which will most probably also be ignored - we all know how competent ICASA are.
 
The ignored part or the competent part?

Here's the header from one email, I think I have 3 other attempts still in my PST
Code: 
Received: by 10.114.159.3 with HTTP; Thu, 25 Oct 2007 05:10:42 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:10:42 +0200
From: me
Sender: me
To: [email protected]
Subject: Complaint against MTN
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; 
	boundary="----=_Part_997_28005982.1193314242491"
Delivered-To: 

------=_Part_997_28005982.1193314242491
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline
 
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To summarize my complaint with corrections:
1. 24 Month TopUp contract ends 9 Sept. 2010. R217 for R150.00 airtime. R67.00 is the "device" part and R150.00 is for the airtime.
2. As I pay in advance, my last payment should be 1 month earlier.
3. This is a 3rd party account and the signee has disappeared. I cannot stop the contract. Only the signee can do so.
4. Send MTN email query to stop the "device" part and carry on with the airtime part. No answer to date.
5. Another deduction from my bank account end of September for device plus airtime for October.
6. I allow this payment but query it. No response to date.
7. Another deduction for device plus airtime end of Oct. which I reverse and my SIM gets suspended immediately. Still had R100.00 on it. Lock the SIM in my safe.
8. Get a lawyers in Nov. Letter backdated 15 days stating that the signee will get listed on ITC after 7 days from date if not paid !!!
9. MTN rep on mybroadband sends me PM that I have been removed from their system and no more charges will be made.
10. I finally get hold of the signee and he gives MTN written notice of cancellation in Dec. He gets told that amounts are outstanding including the latest invoice for January. R67.00 for device and R150 for airtime again.
11. He pays all outstanding amounts as he does not want to get blacklisted and now wants to get the money back from me.
 
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Still no response from ICASA but Veronica from MTN did reply promptly so I will negotiate with her first.
Although I sent her the whole story as above and a link to this thread, she obviously did not read any of it.
She told me that my contract ended 9 Sept 2010 and I used the sim on 13 Nov.2010 so I am liable for all payments. "Device part plus airtime for 30 months"
I have asked her for a billing statement as I know that I have NOT used the suspended SIM since end Sept. It is locked in my safe. I did take it out on that date to dial 141 but it was still suspended.
Will post again when I get my billing details from her.
 
Got this reply from Veronica:
Yello,

As mentioned previous there was usage until the 13 November so you are liable for the November invoice. You were billed in December because there was no cancellation letter received, however we will request that amount only to be reversed as there was no usage in December. Kindly advise if the banking details as per the system are correct so that the funds can be refunded. Your contract is a Top Up 150, not your subscription fees R150.00. Your monthly subscription fees are as set below:

Call line Identity - R 7.02
Monthly service fee mychoice top up 150 - R 166.67
Service fee itemized billing - R 16.67
Total - R 190.36
VAT - R 26.64

Invoice Total - R 217.00


Regards

Surely, the Mychoice Topup should have ended when the contract ended and then only the airtime deductions.
She also did not send me my billing details that I asked for to see where the +- R1000.00 comes from.
An offer of R217 for December month only does not cut with me.
 
Still no reply from ICASA.
Got this from Veronica:
Kindly provide a signed copy of your ID so that I can print your itemized billing and fax this together with your statement so that you would be able to view the usage. Regarding the contract not being cancelled, there was no cancellation letter received. MTN would not be liable for any loss or damage suffered due to the Network not being suspended. (clause 6.3).

The SIM was suspended. Why must I now send them a signed copy of my ID. It was good enough for 2 years for them to send me an account. Now they can't????
I will not let this rest.
I will try another avenue. Consumer Protection Act. Must study this first. Veronica must think I am a dumbo. We will see who wins.
 
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