Don't EVER Upgrade

On the 27th of May, I received the following sms from cell c (verbatim): “Dear Marisa Marais, Your upgrade due date is 29-07-2017”. My son and I went to your Shelly Beach branch on the 6th of July to look at what deals were available so that we have sort of an idea what we were going to upgrade to at 29-07-2017. We were helped by a very friendly and helpful sales consultant (Rintha), she told us that we could upgrade that same day. She did not mention any “early upgrade” fees that would be applicable and she later confirmed that she also did not know that any extra fees would be charged. We were also not advised until after the upgrades were done that what I already paid for the month at the “then” current contract won’t be deducted from the new upgrade monthly fees. I basically paid twice in one month (previous monthly fee + new pro-rata upgrade) for the privilege to be cheated out of even more money which I didn’t know about at that time.

I have been a loyal cell c customer for longer than 10 years and have never had any disputes with you, I always pay on time without complaint. Great was my surprise when I saw that you were going to deduct R1334.38 from my account when I only agreed and signed for the following upgrade amounts: R249 x 2 - Total R498 and R199 X 2 + 2 x R12 whattsapp – Total R422. That makes it a total of R920 per month but you’re overcharging me with R414 because your system says so.

If I was told at the beginning, before I upgraded that I would have to pay twice for one month and then still be charged an early upgrade fee (up until end of October) over and above all that, I wouldn’t have done the upgrade at that time because I can barely afford to pay more than I agreed to on the 6th of July.

I phoned the cell c customer care line (which in my opinion should be changed to “NO, WE DON’T CARE, HA,HA,HA) on 28th of September to query the exorbitant amount I was being charged and the consultant said that I was still paying for the old handset/early upgrade. She said I had to return to the store to ask about my contract which I did, the following day 29th of September. Oh my word, what an awful experience that was, Rintha tried to help me but she didn’t have the authority and the manager Varsha or Vasha Gunah was absolutely & completely useless!!! She is very rude and didn’t help at all except stand around looking at Rintha (as if she could help me) and refusing to give me her manager’s number. Is this how you help your customers cell c? Eventually after I seriously lost my temper, Rintha managed to talk to someone who apparently agreed to help but he wanted an email describing the issue. Rintha sent him the email that same day and I left the store, not even remotely satisfied but hopeful that this will be sorted soon. I should have known…

The email was sent to Kartick Maharaj in your Umhlanga branch on that same day the 29th of September. I waited, got older and still waited to hear from this “not so helpful” fellow and then I sent him an email on the 5th of October to ask about the status of my complaint and he responded almost immediately by saying he’ll contact me tomorrow (30th of September). Needless to say, this wonder boy from your Umhlanga branch didn’t even bother sending me a please call me, never mind an email. I once again sent him an email on the 9th of October and still haven’t received any reply. Well done cell c, your customer service rocks…NOT!!! I am sick and tired asking for someone to help and your staff just blatantly ignores loyal customers. I am sending this same message to ICASA, maybe I’ll get some higher up at cell c to sort out my problem because no-one wants to help or even cares. I am also sending this message to My Broadband, they have done brilliantly in proving that MTN was *****ing airtime from their customers, I am sure that they will assist or at least expose your very suspicious business practices cell c. You can check all my accounts, my main number is ********** 902. I also posted this to your Facebook page and sent it to some of your executive committee members directly. PS: system won't allow me to post without giving you one freakin star which I highly dispute!!!