Do not take a Mr Price Mobile Contract. They will **** you.

I took a contract out with Mr Price Mobile mid 2019. I did not always look at my debit order deductions, so I suspect for years, they charged me close to double what they should have. My contract was for R199 per month, but I would often get charged R300 or higher, with the most being R369. I do recall a few years ago (I'm unclear on the timelines because it was so long ago) calling them asking for this to be resolved, reminding them that I did not ask for a open contract, when the airtime or data is finished, they most not allow it to go over as additional billing. The phone is being used by my little niece and I also asked her to be more careful, if the data is up, she must not continue to go online etc. She said the phone does not even let her go online when the data is finished. The was also my experience of using the phone the first few months I had it before giving it to my niece, it would not let me go online if data etc was finished. Most of this happened over 2019, I reported the issue and they assured me it was resolved. I made the mistake of not continuing to monitor the debit orders after that.

Last year the contract ended around July and the MrP Mobile team called me to renew, told me the data, minutes and many other benefits had been doubled and I continue to pay the same price and I get a new device. I agreed because of the online learning of lockdown. I renewed the contract and instructed the contract remain a closed one, it should never go above the agreed upon R199. Since last year September/October, I have been checking statements more regularly because money is tight, this lockdown has come with a lot of financial burdens. I noticed MrP Mobile have been charging me between R349 and R369. I realised they probably never resolved the issue even the first time I raised it with them in 2019. I could not reverse some of the debit orders because they were too old, but I reversed the 2 that I could, called them and asked them again to resolve this issue. Since communicating with them, they have continued with this weird billing, I have continued to reverse these debit orders. I do not reverse the R199 debit orders unless they bill them twice in one month, then I reverse one. Today they billed me different amounts which make up R1137 collectively. Zero communication, they just took the money. I called them frustrated to say they must cancel the contract and let me pay them what I owe them for the cellphone. It is a cheap cellphone any ways. They refused to assist, threatened me with penalties if I insist on cancelling. It seems like the recent request to make the contract a closed one also has not been actioned because I was told that the best way they can help me is make my contract a closed one (it should already be a closed one). At a different part of the conversation the lady, Parisha Naiker said the contract can't be made a closed contract, it is up to me to monitor my usage and make sure I don't go over. I told her this was dishonest and was never disclosed to me when I joined. It is also unreasonable because I got the contract for a child who might not be able to properly track her usage. She finally said she will cap the extra usage at R15 extra. I also said no to this, our agreement was R199 and I won't pay more. More importantly I called to cancel the contract because they were in breach of contract by billing me more than what was agreed on. She finally said she will escalate the issue to her manager. I asked her to cc me in the email, and she refused. MrP Mobile from statements I have access to has been charging me more than they should be from February 2021 when it was still even the old contract. But I suspect its been the entire period of the old contract as well as this new one, I just don't have access to all the old statements on my banking app anymore. The lack of service throughout the years when I have raised this issue and how Naiker kept changing the conditions to my contract over the phone and tried to force me to agree to things I was not comfortable agreeing with and would threaten not to assist me if I don't. All of it is very ****my, this is not how a legitimate company should treat it's clients. Naiker refused at some point to assist me if I did not agree to the remaining 17 month contract, she basically wanted me to retract my request to cancel. I had to tell her repeatedly that I cannot agree to that on a call I initially made to cancel the contract. I want out of this contract and will be escalating this issue to ICASA if I am not released from it ASAP without the penalties. I will pay what I owe for the phone, but that's it.