Billing

i have been with multichoice for a number of years and when i do not pay via debt order, when i dont pay for the next month i am notified to make a payment in 24hours or service will be disconnected. in August i called the callcentre requesting amount needing to pay to re activate i was told to pay a amount of R355 and that would be till the first of September. i paid the amount and my service was reconnected. when the first of the month came my service was not disconnected and neither did i recieve the notification i have always gotten to pay my amount due for that month. the service stayed on and eventually went off 17 days later. when calling to reconnect this month is was told to pay double as i was still viewing for 17 days and that i never notified them that i was not going to pay . why is it my duty to notify them that the service was still going. they had/ have the ability to disconnect 3 days after payment should have been made. when i call and am ask to pay via debt order i notify them that i do not want to pay via debt order as i cannot always afford to have it on for that month, September was one of those months and now that i want to reconnect i have to pay for double.