Cell C What a Rip-Off!!!!

On Monday, 13 August I was having difficulties with the internet service. It went from poor coverage in the morning to no coverage by the evening. I suspected that my data bundle (which was purchased in December 2017) had been depleted and so, I put the SIM from my router into my mobile phone to check the balance. The balance said R0.00 so, I used my mobile data to load the Cell C app so I could purchase more data. The app was hanging so, I then went on to their website. Unfortunately, the website was also not working too well and I had to make the purchase three times before it eventually went through.

Given the technical difficulties, I called the Cell C call centre immediately after the purchase and spoke to Thulani. I indicated my challenges and asked him to confirm 1) that the purchase had been made and, 2) that the purchase was valid for 365 days. I explained that I do not use a lot of data and so, if the data was not valid for a long period it would serve no purpose. At that point, I had not used the internet and none of the data on that purchase was used. Thulani went onto the system and discovered that I still had 146GB available from the purchase I made in 2017. So, I explained that the purchase of 30GB for R899.00 needed to be refunded since it was not required. He logged a complaint and promised to get his supervisor, Robin to call me.

I did not receive a call back on Monday so, on Tuesday, 14 August I called the call centre and spoke to Nokhtula. I explained the situation again. She said she'd get Robin to call me. Robin called that afternoon and after I explained the situation she explained that Thulani had logged the complaint emphasizing that I wanted the 30GB bundle to be valid for 365 days and did not capture the technical difficulties I experienced or that I wanted a refund. She acknowledged that since the balance reflected zero I was right to ask for a refund. She promised to escalate the complaint and call me back on Wednesday.

Today, after waiting several days for Robin to call me back, I called the call centre again. I spoke to Noma and Nokhtula (shift manager) who explained that Robin did log a complaint but that she did not stipulate that I wanted a refund. They also informed me that they could not give me a refund since the bundle of 30GB was depleted. She refused to give me the name or contact details for a manager. It raises suspicions when service providers do everything possible to ensure a refund is not granted and that 30GB has been used up in a week when I hardly used the internet.