Mtn gave me a second hand phone!

Over a year ago my phone stopped working, as I had no insurence for the phone I had to make do with my old phone that I got over 3 years ago. Finally last week it was time for my upgrade and I could get a new phone.

After waiting a few days for the phone and sorting our some issues with the accounts department at Mtn, I went through to the clear water branch yesterday to pick up my Sony Erricson P1i with great excitement. It was becoming quite important because my old phone battery was not lasting more than an hour or two. The lady at the branch opened the box with me (I didn't notice at the time that it wasn't sealed), I had a quick look at the contents and put my sim card into the phone. It seemed to work fine so I left the store and went home.

I played with the phone for a while with the bit of charge that was in the phone (which I was told is normal), and then it came time to charge it for the first time. I looked in the box and couldn't find the charger. So I called up the branch I had been dealing with and got treated like a criminal for asking for a charger. The guy there told me that he would have to check with his manager because the box was "opened" in front of me and therefore when I walk out the store I am effectively accepting the phone. Since it was a Sunday I decided to leave the discussion till Monday morning. Then I noticed that the phone didn't actually have any of the film that they place on the screen or any surface that might get scratched. So I dug around in the file system and found some pictures of some guy's car. Some car just sitting on a patch of grass somewhere. The pictures had been taken 2 weeks ago!

So basically they handed me a second hand phone with a straight face, and now I am probably going to have to fight to get another one. I spoke to the branch again this morning and they have asked me to return the phone and they may order me another, it will take at least a month to arrive!

I have never heard of such a disgusting thing in my life!

If you are ever in the position where you have to deal with Mtn, specifically this branch, please read all the fine print, check your phone carefully and make sure you hold on to your wallets as I am willing to bet the contents would go towards staff bonuses if you give them half a chance!

Man, that sucks.

I would copy the pics to another folder and hide them away from plain view, if they send you back the same phone, you can just check if the pics are there and give them the finger.

Sucks man, sorry to hear about it

Dude that must suck on sooo many levels - hope they sort you out quickly and be sure to demand a free generator! Oh that's Cell C

Nice idea tera

I popped into a Vodashop to have a look at a couple of phones, and they never had the dummies for two of them. The sales assistant ripped open two boxes and pulled out the phones to show me. While I appreciated being able to see and feel the phones, I was a little surprised that they would break the seal on the boxes for someone who had simply walked in off the street and asked to have a look at them. Always worth opening the box yourself, but even then, I suppose it's not all that hard these days to reseal a box if you have the equipment...

Good luck with trying to get a new phone, and good luck to the poor sucker who gets your old one (which will then be third hand). I hope this time they at least do a hard reset on the thing!

Report this to hellopeter.com. It's a brilliant site and your complaints will be handled very quickly!

Same story...

Got the phone. looked carefully at it that night and saw there was a burn mark at the top of the screen. Like a cigarette coal or something that was hot could make if it fell on it.

Took it back to MTN and they said I did it and there is ABSOLUTELY nothing they could do. Eventually I called the manager in and he said nothing could be done...

SO... I told him Im canceling my contract... then he sort of had a grin on his face and said well sir then you have to pay the R900 penalty. (I know the fine print of the contract) So then I said excuse me but I can cancel the new contract within 7 days at no fee... he then looked shocked that I knew this and eventually after I made him look like a tit infront of all the retarded MTN staff I got a BRAND NEW SEALED PHONE.

So moral of the story...

Know the fine print and never deal with MTN.

Rendier said:

SO... I told him Im canceling my contract... then he sort of had a grin on his face and said well sir then you have to pay the R900 penalty. (I know the fine print of the contract) So then I said excuse me but I can cancel the new contract within 7 days at no fee... he then looked shocked that I knew this and eventually after I made him look like a tit infront of all the retarded MTN staff I got a BRAND NEW SEALED PHONE.

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I love it!!!

Wonder who got the damaged phone?

Rendier said:

SO... I told him Im canceling my contract... then he sort of had a grin on his face and said well sir then you have to pay the R900 penalty. (I know the fine print of the contract) So then I said excuse me but I can cancel the new contract within 7 days at no fee... he then looked shocked that I knew this and eventually after I made him look like a tit infront of all the retarded MTN staff I got a BRAND NEW SEALED PHONE.

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SUPERB!!!!

Rendier said:

..can cancel the new contract within 7 days at no fee...

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That is the law ... just dont let this go on for over 7 days and get everything in writing!!

Dont get my started on dealing with these kind of issues! I finally get to pick my phone up today from repairs at Mtn, after only having the phone for 2 weeks it gave up the ghost. I ended up having to post numerous times on HelloPeter just to get them to actually call me with an update. Use Hello Peter, it works wonders.

Grimspoon said:

Dont get my started on dealing with these kind of issues! I finally get to pick my phone up today from repairs at Mtn, after only having the phone for 2 weeks it gave up the ghost. I ended up having to post numerous times on HelloPeter just to get them to actually call me with an update. Use Hello Peter, it works wonders.

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Which phone bombed??

With regards to the OP, having charge on the phone, initially IS normal, and the plastic on the screen: well that's dependent on the phone. My W960i did NOT come with any plastic on its screen (and I watched them unseal the box in front of me). The P1i should have taken you through some configuration steps when you first started the phone. Did it?

That's absolutely shocking that they would do something like that!!

@ Rendier: Which branch was it that you went to and received that "service"?

It was at the Clear Water mall branch. I took the phone back yesturday, they told me that they would order me another phone and it could take about 2 months to arrive! So I told the guy that I was going to give him one last chance to make a plan for me. He just told me to choose another phone. I asked him if he was sure that none of the other branches had stock. He said they didn't.

So I left and got onto the phone to the Morningside and Northgate branches, they of course had just received plenty of stock. So I called Mtn and complained further. I then got hold of a journalist that I know well to see if I could make life difficult for them, as I was on the phone the branch called me back to say that they had magically found another phone and they had done me the great service of going and picking it up and it was now ready for me.

So I now have a phone, and I think it is great, very happy with it. As far as Mtn are concerned, I will still use hello peter and I will still pursue other routes, they should not be able to treat customers like this!

The funniest thing is everyone at that branch actually got irritated with me, like I was a difficult customer for expecting a new phone! They wouldn't even great me, and the manager refused to speak to me on the phone when I asked to talk to him/her.

So yes, once again I am left with a very bad taste in my mouth after dealing with Mtn. Maybe I should have gone accross to Vodacom, but I hear from many people that you experience the same things there if you are unlucky (Not second hand phones specifically, just really bad service).

Oh, and by the way, the new phone was in a sealed box and it had the film over the screen and wow, it even had a charger in the box. I feel really lucky...

I have been with Vodacom since May 1999 and I have never had such issues in my life. I have always gotten fresh and healthy Nokias (and one Siemens) and never had to fight about anything.

So not all cellular dealers treat their customers like crap and try to rob you and give you old stuff. Then again, I am a nice guy so I get treated nicely

Sad thing is YOU need to feel lucky for spending YOUR hard earned cash...

sn3rd said:

Which phone bombed??

With regards to the OP, having charge on the phone, initially IS normal, and the plastic on the screen: well that's dependent on the phone. My W960i did NOT come with any plastic on its screen (and I watched them unseal the box in front of me). The P1i should have taken you through some configuration steps when you first started the phone. Did it?

That's absolutely shocking that they would do something like that!!

@ Rendier: Which branch was it that you went to and received that "service"?

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Touch Diamond - got a new one today, hope this one behaves.

sn3rd said:

Which phone bombed??

With regards to the OP, having charge on the phone, initially IS normal, and the plastic on the screen: well that's dependent on the phone. My W960i did NOT come with any plastic on its screen (and I watched them unseal the box in front of me). The P1i should have taken you through some configuration steps when you first started the phone. Did it?

That's absolutely shocking that they would do something like that!!

@ Rendier: Which branch was it that you went to and received that "service"?

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The MTN shop in Cape Road, Port Elizabeth

teraside said:

Man, that sucks.

I would copy the pics to another folder and hide them away from plain view, if they send you back the same phone, you can just check if the pics are there and give them the finger.

Sucks man, sorry to hear about it

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Or just copy down the serial number of the phone/ accessories.

yep, my wife needed a laptop for studies via the internet, so we went to cell c at canal walk CT and checked out the asus eeepc laptop, two of the sales girls assured us that we could use my N73 as a cable modem to connect to the internet.

so happily we accepted the contract and lo and behold, come at home and nokia pc suite doesnt work with linux (eeepc comes with linux OS).

so we call cell c, and e-mail all of the above for days and days and get no joy, we went to the store several times too, telling them that their assistants obviously had no clue as to whether the N73 could in fact work as a modem on that PC but just wanted the sale.. we fought for weeks and after calling head office countless times they eventually gave us a windows laptop instead, but the service was terrible and the manners were even worse...

magically the manager was never in store when you need to speak to him either..

so if any of these sales people make you promises, get it in writing!

so far as i can tell i have had good service from vodacom tho for the last 9 or ten years that i've been with them, so i cannot complain about them..

MyDummyName said:

yep, my wife needed a laptop for studies via the internet, so we went to cell c at canal walk CT and checked out the asus eeepc laptop, two of the sales girls assured us that we could use my N73 as a cable modem to connect to the internet.

so happily we accepted the contract and lo and behold, come at home and nokia pc suite doesnt work with linux (eeepc comes with linux OS).

so we call cell c, and e-mail all of the above for days and days and get no joy, we went to the store several times too, telling them that their assistants obviously had no clue as to whether the N73 could in fact work as a modem on that PC but just wanted the sale.. we fought for weeks and after calling head office countless times they eventually gave us a windows laptop instead, but the service was terrible and the manners were even worse...

magically the manager was never in store when you need to speak to him either..

so if any of these sales people make you promises, get it in writing!

so far as i can tell i have had good service from vodacom tho for the last 9 or ten years that i've been with them, so i cannot complain about them..

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You can in fact use it as a modem. But not using the Nokia PC suite (which does not support Linux, not other way round). Google the forums for Nokia, modem, linux.... or in google. You will find a solution.