PEP...FONEYAM...LONG REVIEW MUST READ BEDORE YOU SUFFER

I'm never one to write reviews and things like that but after my experience with foneyam and PEP steeldale i have to and believe me I've been through some things!!! ..I was credited for x amount on a samsung phone a few weeks back and thought let me give this a try for my daughters birthday gift,as I know and you all there are hardly any 12 month contracts out there as I'm with mtn and all my upgrades are pretty much 36 month contracts and with it being my daughters first phone ID get her one not too over priced and also not to pay the exorbitant insurance premiums that come with mtn contracts but also not end up having to pay for a broken or lost phone for 36 months.i can get the device from pep and at a later stage get sim only contract with MTN cause they are replaceable....

I ask the lady at pep if the telkom sim card that comes with the phone a contract sim and she tells me no it's a pre paid one and I don't need to use that telkom sim card..great right up my alley and perfect for a first test of my daughters responsibility journey..

The pep employee I'll call her Macy(I really don't want to out her with her real name as she was very friendly but untrained in the product pep stores is providing along with Foneyam ..

Macy puts the telkom sim in the phone she shows me the phone is working and off I go...I get home and think let me load some telkom data for my daughter on that sim card until I organize my mtn sim only contract...I don't have the number so I try a please call me to my personal number and it doesn't go through

I then take the telkom sim card out and put my mtn contract sim card that I've had for well over 5 years in the phone and my sim works,I then take my mtn sim out and there is this error message on the phone saying it's locked to my sim (MTN) and the phone is completely locked like it's a ****** phone..

I then phone pep at steel dale and speak to Macy who says I must call foneyam and discuss the matter with them...at this point I'm starting get really frustrated as first of all I was not told about the network lock and sim lock that comes with the phone was only told once I asked if it was PREPAID and am now paying more than what I would've at mtn for a phone and sim contract...but I brushed accepted it as I felt so sorry for Macy who I could see was so flustered..

I sit on on hold for call centre agent for about 20 minutes before a agent answers as she answers I get the you got one minute remaining reminder and ask the agent please can she call me back my airtime is going to die...without hesitation she says no we don't do that here and my phone cuts the call...

Bearing in mind yesterday was the 8th and between the two calls to pep and then foneyam and obviously the odd call personally my 60 minute airtime I recieve a month is now gone..

In the car back to pep...the Macy's face when she saw me spoke a thousand words..she really was trying to assist but the product knowledge just wasn't there,Macy then proceeds to foneyam...eventually after quite a while she gets through and tries to explain to the agent in the phone our situation...I can hear her telling the agent but the agent isn't understanding that it's my personal mtn number that now locked to the phone and that she never put the sim in properly when she was showing me the phone...eventually I ask Macy to hand me the phone as I could see it wasn't helping her struggling with the language barrier between her and said agent...I politely ask Macy to hand me the phone and let me try explain to the agent what's happened...I get greeted with the coldest tone of voice and as I'm proceeding to tell the agent she tells me TRAVIS (like I'm a little boy) you don't explain anything to me I'm the one who is going to tell you what to do when I've heard her and telling her she doesn't understand loading data on my mtn sim card(which I have already and is now in the device)is not going to work..this back and forth went on for ages...myself and Macy interchanging between ourselves to get through to this rude arrogant agent..myself and Macy requested numerous times to please talk to a manager or a supervisor or even another agent..she flat out refused and I was told that there is no management there or superior (Thursdsy afternoon at approximately 2.30pm)...,I was absolutely fed up and Macy eventually after nearly 40 minutes had to go across to ackermanns and ask the manager there if he could assist which he tried to but said the customer(me)wasn't made aware of the sim card phone lock and also had explained to me that the staff from pep had spoken to him previously and said they never been for training with the payment services..I walk back to Macy still on the phone with the agent who says to me the call agent says I must buy data for the telkom sim..which after all I've been through for Macy's sake dug further into pockets now R1000 down 1st paymet for a phone I never knew and wasn't told about admittedly from Macy..petrol up and down to pep my contract minutes which I can honestly say was about 40 minutes worth of airtime..I still buy the airtime and say to Macy I'm now too frustrated and need a smoke after hours of hours of trying to sort it out...I head to my car have a smoke and head back inside

As I get inside Macy says she has sorted out the phone...I then realize because of all this unprofessionalism and a absolute humdinger of a story to tell cause I couldn't make this up even if I tried

I was then left to fend for myself to make a plan to get home to get my spare key with not a cent..phone now dead as I had literally been there since 2 30pm(the 2nd time) the kind people at the astron let me charge my phone and make arrangements to get my spare key....

That ordeal took me the whole day..I only got back to my car at steeldale at 8 30 pm...let's see if I hear back from anyone at pep or foneyam...proof is in the pudding watch this space

The worst service I've ever had ever and I'm not even a complainer

I still wish I could throw this phone down a hill..