Mondo: Misleading, Dishonest, Unprincipled - Don't Buy Anything Over the Phone!

I never buy anything over telecom sales. But this past June I made an exeption for who I thought was a Telkom representative, but was actually from Mondo - as the sales representative introduced himself as a Telkom consultant. I am now reminded why I never buy anything over the phone!

In a nutshell, the consultant said they are running a promotion for a Samsung Galaxy A10 cellphone contract which will cost R149 per month. During the call he mentions a once-off fee of R99 which will be debited from my bank account. When I queried this once-off fee, he mentioned that the fee will be credited to my Telkom bill if I decide to keep the contract. However if I return the phone within the 'cooling off' period of 7 days, the R99 will not be refunded.

After I had received the phone, I was charged an additional amount of R17.15 per month (a cost which was never mentioned) for receiving my Telkom bill. I was able to resolve this additional amount with Telkom directly.

It is now November and I have never received the R99 credit discussed on the call of the sale. I have called Mondo regarding this issue on the 25th of October 2019 at 15h35, and spoke to Pamella. Pamella advised they will revert in three to five working days, but never did. I called Mondo again on the 7th of November 2019 (two weeks later) and spoke to Thuli and Trisha (the in-bound call manager). They advised that their internal investigations contradict my claim, but they REFUSED to send me the recording of the sale and the report. I was told that I have to go to a Telkom Direct Store and call them from the store and ask for a store email address which the recording will be sent to. What a major inconvenience which is not mentioned at the beginning of the sale! When I queried this inconvenience, I was told that it is Telkom policy.

On the 12th of November at 16h35, I went to Telkom Direct Gateway, and was assisted by Precious and the store manager Abi. The information I received from the store directly contradicts what I was told by Mondo. Telkom Direct advised that they are independant from the call centres, and that customers are to receive call recordings directly from the call centres. Nevertheless, I called Mondo whilst in store. Neither Thuli or Trisha were available. The Mondo consultant spoke to Precious and Abi from Telkom Direct, and the answers I received from Telkom Direct were the same post the call.

Today, the 14th of November 2019, I have been called by another Mondo representative, who is repeating the same things, and not giving me a constructive way forward. When I suggested I come directly to the Mondo Head offices in Umhlanga to listen to the call recording, she refused. When I asked to speak to Trisha the manager, Trisha was unavailable yet again. Lastly she refused to send anything to me in writing.

I have spent over an hour of my airtime speaking to Mondo. This experience has cemented the fact that I will never buy ANYTHING over the phone from ANYONE anymore. If I could cancel this contract I would.

Nothing is more infuriating than a company that is misleading, dishonest, and does not honour their words. These actions are typical of deceiving call centres whose call centres say anything to get a sale, then change their tune when it is time to deliver.

Mondo must pay me my money or send me their official report in writing and the full call recording where their decision is on. I don't have time for all this blame-shifting.