30-Day Data bundle Carry-over

I am resorting to Hellopeter after several unsuccessful attempts to resolve this issue with Cell C.

I am a prepaid customer of Cell C. I buy data as 30-day bundles ("once-off") each month via Cell C's USSD service, and do it the day before the current bundle expires, which extends the expiry date of the unused data on the existing bundle (a.k.a. data carry-over or data rol*****). I have been doing this for probably more than 2 years.

On 23/12/2023 I received a text message from Cell C to remind me that my 30 days data bundle would expire in two days and to buy a "30 days data bundle" ... "Your expiry date will be extended". This was normal, i.e. I receive the same message every month. On 24/12/2023 I followed exactly the same steps on USSD that I have always used. I received a confirmation message "Your 100MB Bundle - valid for 30 days has been successfully loaded". But my existing data was not carried over. The USSD option I selected was the same as I always used previously, the name of the selection ("once-off 30-day bundle") was the same as I always selected previously, but behind the scenes and invisible to me it was a different product ("CVM ATL 30 day Data Bundle" instead of "Data 100MB Bundle once-off" - I know this because during the course of one of my attempts to resolve this the Cell C agent sent me this info).

My demand to have my data reinstated has been dismissed by Cell C three times now with essentially the same reason, e.g. "...the bundle you bought is not the same as the bundle that you bought the previous month which is why a data rol***** was not done...". There has been no attempt to address the reason why the bundle was different, which appears to be that Cell C changed the type of bundle behind the USSD option without informing me, the customer, i.e. this was Cell C's doing, not mine. I ended up buying a different product to the one I had intended to buy. This is at best negligent and at worst deceptive on the part of Cell C.

Cell C's document entitled "Cell C's Data bundles- Terms and Conditions" (https://www.cellc.co.za/cellc/static-content/PDF/30-day-bundle-tnc.pdf), which I downloaded on 5/1/2024, explains how the carry-over of data works. I believe this is still applicable because paragraph 11 of the second section (General) of this document requires that changes may be made "...on notice to you..." (I assume "you" refers to the customer) and I received no notice of any changes. Furthermore, this document makes no distinction between different types of once-off 30-day data bundles, therefore Cell C's assertion that I bought a different bundle is irrelevant - the one I bought was also a 30-day bundle.

I have two requests ...

1. On the basis that the reason I purchased a different type of bundle on 24/12/2023 to my previous purchases was due to changes Cell C made that I was not notified about, I require a refund of the 1670MB of data that was not carried over.

2. I would like a explanation of how I should carry over data in the future (USSD selections) seeing that the selection I have always used no longer does this. (I requested this earlier in my series of queries and it was ignored).