It's easier to leave a cult than to cancel a Cell C contract

On 23 February 2024, I contacted Cell C to cancel my contract. I confirmed that the last payment date will be on 1 March 2024. I received an SMS confirming my cancellation and that it will be "effective on the date you have specified". I wasn't too concerned about the wording because I had confirmed in the phone call that the last payment date will be 1 March and that my contract will expire on 23 March. As expected, both my sim cards stopped working on 23 March and I started the process of ordering an FNB sim and porting one of my numbers to that sim. I also bought a bit of airtime to hold me over until I got the new sim and re**** on WiFi until then. As soon as I got my FNB sim, I removed the two Cell C sim cards and they haven't been in my phone since.

But, since 1 April, Cell C continues trying to debit my account. I continually dispute and block the debit order, but they keep debiting my account. I went to a Cell C shop and they said on their side it shows that my contract is still active. I have phoned Cell C several times to hear what's going on. I also sent several emails.

The first time I phoned the operator confirmed that my contract was cancelled and put me through to another division. After being on hold for 10 minutes, I hung up to attend to my own work. The second time I phoned, the operator again put me through to another division. An automated voice said they're experiencing technical difficulties. This happened three times. Another two phone calls to them simply dropped.

Now Cell C is claiming that I only cancelled my one sim card. I distinctly remember asking the Cell C operator when I cancelled my contract that everything will be cancelled, which he confirmed. I remember this because I explicitly made a point to confirm this because I had issues with Vodacom when I moved to Cell C and didn't want to have the same problems. Cell C, however, claims that the recording does not reflect that. I requested to listen to the recording and they told me I can do so at a Cell C shop. I went to the Cell C shop and listened to the recording. Imagine my surprise when nowhere in the recording is the confirmation of the last payment date or confirmation that everything will be cancelled. The recording is also only 7:57 minutes long but my phone shows I was on the call with them for 13:19 minutes. Even accounting for choosing options and waiting for an operator, that's 6 minutes missing on their side.

Also, each time one of the security questions was "How many Cell C contracts do you have?" The first time, I got that question wrong - I thought 2 sims = 2 contracts. I checked my documentation and saw that both sims are on one contract. So, the correct answer to the security question is one contract but Cell C is suddenly claiming two contracts to ****** more money out of me?

Since my number has already been ported to my FNB sim, I would have just let this go but now Cell C's nonsense is starting to affect my credit rating. I don't know what to do anymore.

The only reason I'm giving Cell C one start is because I can't give them zero.