Singed Contract supp**** without prior consent

We have a current (serious) problem / situation will Cell C (internet fiber) service provider. They sent a copy of my official contract, without my consent - entire explanation set out below as events unfolded since 7 January 2019.

On 7 January 2019 an email was sent to the sales person from Cell C from my wife, and she copied me in, to ask the process to cancel our Cell C fiber contract. I was unable to get into contact with Cell C myself as that day I lost my job and a whole lot of other personal things happened all at once on that day, so my wife assisted me with this.

The response from Neville via email was: “Please notify Cfibre of your cancellation ********** Provide full names, address, Id number Normally it should be a 30 day notice period.

Regards Neville”

My wife then send the requested information in an email at 12:10 pm to Cell C fibre support, as Neville instructed, and copied my in as well ask regarding when the last debit order will go off on my account and when the fibre service would be stopped to our property.

Cell C’s support rep****: “Good day Hope this email finds you well There is a claw back fee of R683.16 Kind Regards Odirile”

This was utter non-sense, as our Cell C fibre contract finished in October 2018, and we were now on a month to month, which meant no claw back fee, as we were not “breaking contract”, our contract period has run out already. Also they did not answer us as to when the last debit order will be and also when the line will be cut.

After emails back and forth regarding the incorrect charge to my account for a claw back fee, between myself, my wife, Odirile at Cell C support and Neville. My wife requested a copy of my Cell C fiber contract from Cell C.

Please bare in mind, this contract is only in my name, and both Neville Adams and Cell C fibre support sent a copy (this is twice in total) to my wife’s email address and they copied me in. At no stage did they contact me to ask my prior consent, before sending her a copy of my Cell C contract, a contract which contains not only my ID and personal details, but as well as my bank details. Cell C at no stage confirmed with myself that this is in fact my wife and her email address, nor asked for a copy of our marriage certificate, her details, etc. But they sent her a copy of my contract without my prior consent. Surely they should have verified information with me?

Both me and my wife contacted Cell C on numerous occasions to have the claw back fee, which is being charged incorrectly, sorted out, as well as the cancellation. They kept “ignoring” certain requests and questions.

Then on 11 February 2019, at 10:58 am - Neville Adams (from whom my wife asked how and what the process is to cancel our Cell C Fibre contract on 7 January 2019!), he eventually responds with the following – and this is more than a month later! He copied the Cell C fibre support agent, Odirile Lefifi (which is later Ogopoleng Lefifi?) in as well as some other person, Grant Strong, but not my wife… He even got my name wrong and called me Warren. “Hi Warren Your cancellation request should come from the account holder which is you. Your account will be cancelled without a clawback.

Please provide Name, surname, ID number, address.

Regards Neville”

More than a MONTH later he replies, telling me that the request for cancellation should come from me, and not my wife, as I am the account holder. BUT it is “ok” for them to send a COPY of my account’s contract with all my personal details, address, bank details, etc. to “my wife”. How can this be right?

I forwarded the email to my wife, to which she responded with the following and copied me in, this she sent on 18 February 2019:

“Hi Neville,

By Odirele it was "cancelled" as I sent the instruction through on my HUSBAND's behalf and copied him and everyone in, as he was UNABLE TO DO SO. YOU were copied in on all this correspondence, and did not reply to all emails as to progress.

As per Odirele cancellation was actioned, in the numerous emails to and fro. If they needed an email to come FROM his (my) email account, they could have advised earlier !!!!, but at the time I sent the cancellation he was unable to do the necessary from his email, with LIMITED CONNECTIVITY WHERE HE IS. I am afterall married to him ...

See below what was sent on 7 January 2019. Also Neville, please note your client's name is --------- and not WARREN... We want this sorted out IMMEDIATELY! CANCELLATION WAS SENT TO SUPPORT WITH BELOW INFO AS PER WHAT YOU SAID MUST BE SUPP**** - 7 JANUARY 2019 My husband does not have CONSTANT internet connection, therefore I am actioning this on his behalf!”

On 12 February 2019 at 9:41 am, she again followed up as no feedback has been received and I had no internet connectivity, she copied me in for later reference. By 18 February we had still not received any reply to our emails, which copied in all relevant parties mentioned above (Neville Adams, Odirile Lefifi and Grant Strong from Cell C, included) – my email which I sent at 9:27 am as follows:

“Good day Neville,

It has been almost a week now with no feedback at all and numerous unanswered calls made to you by my wife. The cancellation was requested and all the required information was provided twice since 7 January 2019. Can someone please confirm that the cancellation has been processed with no further charges to my account as well as the no clawback fee charged as was indicated by numerous employees of Cell C over the past month and a half. The level of service is shocking and we expect an answer as soon as possible.”

At 11:04 am on 18 February 2019, I receive the following email, only sent to myself from **********

Your cancellation of C-Fibre 20Mbps/2Mbps from CellC has been received. Order number: O ********** 51286 The order will be removed from: XX ****** Avenue 8001, Cape Town Your service will be removed the following date: 2/28/2019 12:00:00 AM

I showed this email to my wife, to which she rep**** on our behalf the following on 18 February 2019 at 11:10 am: “Hi Cell C, This email has been sent to Cell C Fibre Escalations and Neville Adams, cancellation should effect on the correct date, as cancellation was furnished 7 January 2019 and not effect on 28/02/2019! I just want to inform you regarding the cancellation which was sent to Cell C on 7 January 2019 on my husband's behalf from him and he was copied in, as he was UNABLE to make cancellation himself - which has been explained before. NO ONE through the course of the cancellation (and there was AMPLE OPPORTUNITY TO DO SO!) advised us that the cancellation MUST come from ***XX, prior to Neville's email to ***XX, who he addressed as WARRAN, on ONLY on 11 February 2019 (more than a month after my initial email an MANY other corresponding emails where support and Neville could have advised of such). Cell C clearly didn't do their work AGAIN and now wants to blame us for their mistake.” If a debit order goes off for Cell C at the end of February from ***XX's account, for any more fees / costs (as cancellation was supposed to be effected at the end of January, if Cell C did their job the way they were supposed to) - these are the steps of action he and myself will be taking against Cell C. As we have proof on email of all communication and the sending of the contract from Neville to me on 14 January 2019, and Cfibreescalation sent the same on 15 January 2019 to me. Again their could have advised then already that ***XX must cancel it from his email account. But the more serious matter / offence is in both cases where Neville and Cfibreescalations sent the copy of contract with ALL ***X's personal details, ID, bank account, etc. on it. Your urgent feedback regarding the issue of cancellation, closing the account immediately and not deducting another debit order / fees at end February (as Cell C has already been disconnected from our house on 5 February 2019, when we moved out). “

Cell C’s Ogopoleng Lefifi rep**** on 18 February 2019 at 11:24 am – which means they did not even read our email properly before replying in just 4 minutes? “Good day Hope this email finds you well Please note that Your cancellation request of account ********** 82 has been processed successfully and your contract will be terminated on 28/02/2019 and claw-back fee for your account is R00.00, and it does not include your latest bill, Please be advised this is due to CELL C billing in advance and collecting in arrears. NB: There is a 30-day notice for cancellation, notice effective from 1st day of the month as Cancellation can’t be processed during the month hence the date of termination is 28/02/2019 “

Here they state that the claw back fee indeed is now R0.00 and that the contract will eventually be terminated 28/02/2019. We moved out of our property, where we had the fibre, on 3 February 2019, and therefore did not use the fibre internet at all for the duration of February 2019, as our cancellation was sent through on 7 January 2019, and should have been cancelled 6 or 7 February 2019. All of a sudden it’s not just a 30 day cancellation period, but a “from the first of the month” period, which was NEVER in the entire correspondence over the past more than months with them, stipulated to us. Clearly they have breached their own “agreement” with me (my account) numerous times, so no contract should be effective? They sent out a copy of my contract to someone who they did not verify with me, prior to getting my consent (consent which up until today I have not given them) or gotten my prior consent, but they want to enforce “their terms”? Surely this is unfair / negligent / bad practice? Especially disclosing my very personal details, including my bank details and address, to someone they did not even verify… what if this was a stranger and I just didn’t “check properly” who was copied in, then my info would have ended up in possibly the “wrong hands”? Are clients not protected from this happening when you have an account with a service provider? Is there not a security verification check that should have been done? After we’ve laid numerous complaints, we are still just running around in circles, as Cell C now demands payment for the month of February 2019 as well, which we did not use the Cell C fibre was disconnected on 3 February 2019, when we moved out of our property! Surely they can pick this up on their systems as well? This back and forth emailing continues further and will be provided if so required. I also got the below correspondence.

Then on 15 March 2019 at 10:40 am an email is sent to me only from ********** (from Odi) – stating the following:

“Hi ******XX, Good day Hope this mail finds you well I checked your account and all is at R0.00 and it doesn't show that any amount will go off Kind Regards Odi”

Again an email from Cell C, above that says everything is R0.00 and that nothing will go off. A debit order went off my account at the start of March 2019, making my account with FNB in arrears, and I had to ask FNB to reverse the transaction, as there were no funds due as my contract has been cancelled with Cell C fibre in January already on the 7th.

Then on 18 March 2019 at 13:46 pm , I receive an email again from Odi at Cell C, stating the following:

“Hi ******XX, Good day As I have explained to your wife that the cancellation request had to come from you before it could be actioned that is it the reason i actioned the cancellation after sent a mail Kind Regards Odi”

Their correspondence is very weak and vague. I have also requested a copy of the phone recording to which Cell C called my wife on 21 February 2019 at 15:19 pm – I have asked them this recording numerous times, with no reply and no recording supp****. “Also, someone from Cell C support phoned by wife regarding the issue of sending her the copy of my contract without my consent (and my wife's complaint on HelloPeter, which is a valid complaint stating the facts) when she asked the lady to send it to her on email - what she's saying over the phone, she told my wife she cannot as she is not the account holder. Then why was she giving the feedback over the phone, but "can't" supply it over email. My wife requested her to then send the feedback to my email, which the lady also didn't want to and said she will call me (the lady) and she never called me. “ I am at wits end with Cell C, their incompetence and total lack of service, but not only that, that the safety and security of an account holder’s personal details are clearly lacking, which is a major concern. Their service and feedback is inconsistent, they made many mistakes during the entire communication process, from supplying lack of “info to action”, the claw back fee which was demanded and then realized was their mistake, but never apologized, the supplying of my copy of contract without my consent, the incorrect taking money off my bank account, which I had to reverse and I informed them of that action by me, which they emailed to say account is R0.00 an nothing will go off, and then again going on about the cancellation process, which was not issued / handled by them correctly.

I am sure you can understand our frustration will Cell C at this point. I wanted to escalated it to their internal complaints and have requested the following on numerous occasions, also mentioned above, asking Cell C: “Who is the manager overseeing the escalations division? This lack of service and resolve is unacceptable.

We are just going around in circles, and I want this resolved and ties cut with Cell C for once and for all. “

I want to lay a complaint against them and warn others to not step into Cell C’s poor service trap. Surely there’s a standard they need to uphold?

My name and my wife's name were removed from the email correspondence and replaced with ***XX.