Cell C - ******* AND *****

I have had a two year long struggle with Cell C as they dropped a free portion off my data on contract from the renewal thereof. I could never get anywhere trying through their "customer care". Clearly it must be the same call-center that does their sales calls, as I was refused to ever be allowed to review the recording. Clearly they had, and knew they were guilty and thus just proceed to make all my inquiries disappear. I presume closed even though never resolved. The last one told me that they dont keep recordings for longer than 3 months and then said she would refer the matter to her supervisor when I refused to accept her excuses. I called back in the afternoon to check the status of the call and it was closed as it had been "resolved". Then some attorneys called me as Cell C was handing me over for not paying my bill. I explained the situation and they asked me to write up the whole thing. So while I was there I decided to try hellopeter . Almost immediately, I got a response from Moses Mo***eng from Cell C head office. He reinstated my line, which had been cut-off for weeks, and promised to look into the matter. After a few days he located the tape of the sale and agreed 100% that they were at fault and I was in the right. I listened to the recording as well. He tried to negotiate that I pay half the outstanding bill of R2000 and something. I asked him how I was going to be compensated then for the R15000 odd value of service that I had paid for and never received. He revised his offer to clear the bill 100% and give me 30 Gigs of data. Even though this is extremely poor compensation for the lack of service and the loss of sale on my part, I eventually accepted just to put it behind me. I thought he did a great job to resolve the matter. Unfortunately, I got this SMS the other day:

Final Notice: Your Cell C account will be deactivated permanently, if no payment is received. Contact Cell C urgently on 084140 to make payment arrangements I just emailed Moses to find out what the hell is going on and this is the response I got. Cell C Agreement Regarding Bill Inbox x

Richard Morby-Smith ********** 10:29 AM (1 hour ago) to Mo***eng

Hi Moses Unfortunately the promises made to me have not been kept. My bill is still outstanding and I have not been compensated in any way, even though Cell C have acknowledged they were completely in the wrong. I have now had my phone cut off again and when I try to log in to the cell C website it no longer recognises my number. I looked at October Statement and absolutely nothing has changed *** Man? Please call me urgently

Moses Mo***eng 11:46 AM (21 minutes ago) to me

Dear Mr. Smith

Thank you for the below email.

Please note that I have discussed the matter and I have just been informed that you will be liable for the bill as there has been usage on it and the best that we can do is load the data on the account.

Regards

MOSES MO***ENG SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT Cnr Maxwell Dr. & Pretoria Main Rd. Buccleuch www.cellc.co.za

This email and its contents are subject to our email legal notice which can be viewed at https://www.cellc.co.za/cellc/static-content/PDF/Acceptable_Use_Policy.pdf;jsessionid=YGp7hq1XLh1hT0hv8QknT1zM4YWM0FJ5PSddYpJ6t4nWg1yGdFTQ!- ********** 64!NONE

From: Richard Morby-Smith ********** Sent: 17 October 2018 10:30 AM To: Moses Mo***eng Subject: Cell C Agreement Regarding Bill

Richard Morby-Smith 11:57 AM (10 minutes ago) to Mo***eng

Oh no ffg way........

2 Attachments

Richard Morby-Smith 12:05 PM (2 minutes ago) to Mo***eng

I don't need or want your stupid data. I want full compensation of what I would have been charged if I had used the benefit due to me (R16632). Our previous arrangement is now null and void and you did not even have the courtesy to let me know about this. Back to hellopeter we go.

For reference - see below - previous hellopeter review and responses Cell C - ***** and Contract ******* I had a 24 months contract with Cell C which I took out in 2014. One this contract I received the following benefits every month: 400 minutes talk time 400 Sms 1000 meg Data

When my contract was about to expire before May 2016, I received a call from a Cell C sales agent telling me I could upgrade. I told the person I did not require an upgrade and inquired about continuing on the same package on a month-to-month basis. I found the quoted amount to be acceptable, but I know that I double-checked and asked the agent to confirm 100% that my benefits would remain exactly the same. They confirmed this for me.

A few months later I noticed that my cell C bill had been high for a few months. Upon checking this I found that my data had been reduced from 1000mb to 400mb. This came as a bit of a shock as I was expecting it to be the same as before. So I was not even aware that I was being charged ******ionate out of bundle rates as I thought I was still within my limits. (R0.99 per meg)

Obviously, I phoned to complain but then I was told that my original deal was on a promotion and the 600 megs dropped away once I went on to month to month. I objected strongly as this was not the agreed contract, as recorded. I tried unsuccessfully many, many times to obtain a copy of the recording. I was refused a reference number. I eventually was told they would send the recording to the Hillcrest Store and I could listen to it there. I went there but nothing had been done.

Since then I have tried sporadically to get any joy out of Cell C. Now that I have fallen on hard times and money is an issue, I will fight for what is right. For 2 years they have been charging me for something I haven't received. If I had used the data that was actually due to me it would have cost me an additional R 14,256.00 for a benefit that should have been included in my monthly payment. So, I figure this is effectively what I am out of pocket for, as I have not been able to use this data without paying this fee.

I logged another call a week or two ago. The guy who helped me was efficient and understood the problem. He unfortunately was not in a position to help me get the recording. He gave me a reference number and assured me someone would get back to me with an answer and if I wasn't happy I could go to any branch with that reference number and I would be able to listen to the recording. REF NO: ********** 411

I got a call from someone on Tuesday who had a number of stories for me: 1. I needed to have logged the call within 3 months of the incident. I told her I tried but got nowhere, many, many times. 2. Next, she told me the story of it being a promotion and falling away - I said that would have been fine but I was advised as part of the sale that the opposite was in fact true and there would be absolutely no change to my benefits. It was the basis of the sale in the first place. 3. Next, she told me that they don't keep recordings for longer than 3 to 6 months. I don't know how this is a variable time frame and I told her she was talking *******, as these kinds of records need to be kept for at least 5 years. 4. I told her I was not happy and insisted that I can hear this recording and was very clear that this was not even close to being resolved in any way. 5. She then became very abrupt and told me she would refer the call to her superior. Having heard this story before and then never hearing back from anyone, I made a call on Tuesday afternoon to check the status of the call. Surprise. The call had been closed. Apparently the explanation had been given to the customer and the call was resolved. This person should be fired.

This is the reason that I have not been able to resolve this issue for over 2 years now. If this is the way I am going to be dealt with then I will never get justice.

Cell C clearly doesn't care about bad publicity, as I had a look at their Facebook page, and it is full of very angry and frustrated reviews regarding their ineptitude and dreadful service. The treatment of their customers is disgraceful and there is no fallback if the call-centre is at fault. I am complaining to the people who know they are in the wrong and so they just refuse to deal with it. All I can do is keep complaining and only ever achieve the same result.

Official business reply Good afternoon Richard

We acknowledge receipt of your complaint and apologize for the poor service.

A team member will contact you and assist.

Regards

Cell C | PN

21 Sep 2018, 15:05 a month ago

2 Oct 2018, 14:53 15 days ago richmorby: I had a response to this from Cell C head office. Moses Mo***eng tracked down the recording and found that I was correct and the call center were at fault. He was excellent and communicated very well. We eventually settled on an agreement which at least goes some way to righting the wrongs. I still say Cell C got off very lightly, but at least it was finally resolved. Cell C should seriously open this line of communication to people who have no joy via the call centers without them being publicly exposed by their supplier's bad service. From what I understand they only respond once they have been exposed in the media. So thank you Hello Peter.

Official business reply Thank you for sharing your appreciation with us. We are happy to hear that Moses was able to assist in a commendable manner.

Have a lovely day further.

Regards

Cell C | PN