1 reviews | Active since Apr 2022
FNB Connect *****
FNB Connect commits ***** and then claims you signed up. So I bought a phone through FNB Connect beginning of 2021. I went with this option because you only pay for the device and going on their network is optional and a separate charge. Not like the awful contracts you get with cellphone networks.
As usual activating the Connect sim is optional. I NEVER activated it. After they *****ulently took money from my husband’s account out of the blue after more than a year after he bought his phone through them, he warned me to cancel/ block the sim. The ONLY option on the app is to block the sim. So I did that and forgot about it. Around August/September 2022 I had the means to pay my phone off and cancel the debit order. Fast forward to February 2024. After NEVER paying any Connect fees, choosing to remain on MTN prepaid. Out of the blue I get a R113.50 deducted from my account for “Connect Topup Signup”. What?! This must be *****. I took no action to signup. Yet someone is doing it on my behalf which means someone is impersonating me. It is *****.
I manage to track down the well hidden number to call them. After waiting 20 minutes I finally get through to an *********** and rude agent that interrupts me and tells me to listen. I get told that it is part of the deal that they will “continue to debit the Connect sim fees” after the device is paid off unless I cancel the sim.
This rude person could not even grasp the very basic concept that I have never activated the sim and never had any money deducted. He just repeated the same rehe****d story that the the debit orders will continue after the device is paid off. But he was incapable of recognising I have never activated or taken any action or given any instruction to activate it.
Oh! And the cherry in top was when he could see I blocked the sim. But he could not explain HOW A BLOCKED SIM COULD BE ACTIVATED.
FNB Connect are ******* and they will commit ***** to get money out of you. HOW DO YOU ACTIVATE A BLOCKED SIM????? HOW DO ACTION SOMETHING WITHOUT THE CLIENT’S INSTRUCTION????? IT IS *****!!!!!
The issue has been resolved. A wonderfully professional agent called and talked to me with empathy and practised active listening skills. Joining the FNB Connect Network is no longer optional. It is still unclear that FNB Connect now activates the SIM card without any action from your side, and nowhere does it specify that the SIM card must be cancelled through a call centre. The app can block and cancel it, but it does not work because FNB Connect never receives this information.
For those readers that don't know, they send communication to the Connect SIM, even if you don't opt to activate and use it. Even if the SIM is blocked, they will send all communication to this blocked and cancelled SIM. Once your device is paid off and you fail to respond to this communication (they insist on sending it to a number that is not in any way associated with your FNB profile), they will automatically switch you to a TOPUP and deduct money for it in the absence of a DebiCheck mandate because they cover this under layers of technical jargon in their Terms & Conditions.
Those who still believe you can buy a device only should be aware that FNB Connect has changed its model to be like the traditional cellphone networks that want to sign a contract and join their network. It does appear to be ***** because someone is taking action on your behalf, but it is, in reality, a very flawed "automated" process.
The issue has been resolved. A wonderfully professional agent called and talked to me with empathy and practised active listening skills. Joining the FNB Connect Network is no longer optional. It is still unclear that FNB Connect now activates the SIM card without any action from your side, and nowhere does it specify that the SIM card must be cancelled through a call centre. The app can block and cancel it, but it does not work because FNB Connect never receives this information.
For those readers that don't know, they send communication to the Connect SIM, even if you don't opt to activate and use it. Even if the SIM is blocked, they will send all communication to this blocked and cancelled SIM. Once your device is paid off and you fail to respond to this communication (they insist on sending it to a number that is not in any way associated with your FNB profile), they will automatically switch you to a TOPUP and deduct money for it in the absence of a DebiCheck mandate because they cover this under layers of technical jargon in their Terms & Conditions.
Those who still believe you can buy a device only should be aware that FNB Connect has changed its model to be like the traditional cellphone networks that want to sign a contract and join their network. It does appear to be ***** because someone is taking action on your behalf, but it is, in reality, a very flawed "automated" process.