Cell C hidden costs

I've had a contract with Cell C for well over years and have upgraded religiously every two years. I have had no issues with Cell C and have always promoted their network. Until I had to upgrade again.

I have a 50GB data simcard with Cell C and currently pay R360.00 for this contract.

On 20 October 2022, I received a SMS that I was due for an upgrade. I called the Upgrade Department and requested for less data. I agreed to 10GB for about R200.00. I was told that this would be effective 11 January 2023.

On 7 January 2023, I received an invoice that I needed to pay R850.00 at the end of January 2023. Naturally, I contacted Cell C to find out how it is possible that I am paying 2.3 times more for my contract. I was told that I had not received the discount that I received monthly and that the agent would escalate it as I should have received the discount.

On 8 January 2023, I was contacted and informed that the reason my total due was R850.00 is because my contract had come to an end and the discount was only for the 24 months. I was also told that I could call their cancellation department to cancel my contract or I could upgrade. I had told the gentlemen that I had upgraded on 20 October 2022 therefore I was expecting to pay a pro-rated amount for the 50GB contract and the 10GB contract. He informed me that there is no upgrade on their system. I informed him that I had received an email on 20 October 2022 as confirmation of my upgrade. This seemed to surprise the agent as he was sure that there was no upgrade done. I forwarded him the email I had received with the terms and conditions of my upgrade. He said that he would escalate it further and I would receive a call back in 2 working days.

On 10 January 2023, I had not received a call.

On 11 January 2023, I received a SMS that my contract has been upgraded. My data from my old contract lapsed and my new prorated data of 6GB was loaded. I contacted Cell C as I had not received feedback and suddenly my upgrade was successful. The agent I spoke to advised that I was supposed to be informed that I would be paying R850.00 for a data that I would only be able to use for 10 days of the months before my new data was loaded on 11 January 2023. I advised the agent that I was not informed of this amount and that they should listen to the call recording. Her response was "you were supposed to be informed but either way, you will still be charged R850.00". I requested the my complaint be escalated to management and she responded "they'll tell you the same thing". I still insisted that it be escalated as I will not be paying an amount I was not informed of. She said her manager would call me the same day, I asked what the process was if I did not get a call back and she informed me that I would need to visit the branch.

It has been 5 days since the last call to Cell C and no one has contacted me back. Cell C and their representative refuses to take accountability for the fact that their consumer has not been informed of the total due and expects me just to fork out 2.3 times more than was agreed to.

I expected Cell C to listen to the call recording of when I did the upgrade and tell me where I was told of R850.00. If this is not on the call recording, I expect to pay the R360.00 as originally agreed and that the upgrade agent be coached/disciplined to ensure that Cell C's consumers are aware of all costs of their contract. I will not let this rest, even if I need to speak to Douglas Craigie Stevenson to ensure that this does not happen to anyone else then that is what I will do