A Deceptive and ********* Experience

I am writing to express my sheer disgust with the devious and deceptive manner in which Cell C treats its customers. My wife and I have had two cellphone contracts with Cell C for several years. In October of last year, our combined bill was R578. This increased to R595 in November, which we didn't immediately notice. I "upgraded" my contract in mid-December 2023 from R299 a month to a slightly lower R279 a month contract. The new bill was supposed to be effective from April 17th this year, and one would assume to see the slightly lower bill by the end of May. However, to our surprise, the bill was R619. This began the painful process of contacting the unmanned call center and emailing the unattended email address. When we eventually spoke to a very disrespectful call center agent, named ***, we were told the following: Cell C had a price increase in October, allegedly communicated via SMS. Neither my wife nor I received this, and the agent was unable to provide any evidence of this. If you enter into a contract with a stipulated time period and cost, on what grounds can this be altered? How is this ethical? This month's bill is higher due to some sort of prorata adjustment. How can switching to a lower contract result in a higher bill? The agent was unable to provide an acceptable answer and preferred to talk over my wife and me. When we inquired about not receiving statements, the agent claimed they were sent to my email address, not my wife's, despite confirming her email address twice at the beginning of the recorded phone call to verify her identity. When I requested a copy of the recorded phone calls, I was told I would have to visit a store. It is strange that you can enter into a legally binding contract over a phone call but cannot obtain a copy of that call unless you go to a store. Perhaps Cell C doesn't want these copies to be made available to their clients? This kind of business practice is ********* and *********. I would strongly advise anyone to reconsider choosing Cell C.