A company trying to maintain poor service at all costs

<p>If this complaint can caution new clients as to the service they can expect from MTN, I feel I have contributed to the community.</p> <p>Things can go wrong in life, but you should try to avoid it or do better next time. Not so with MTN. They are comfortable with huge numbers of complaints and poor procedures. Poor procedures cost any company, but MTN just factor it in the price of their products.</p> <p>My case: I got a call from the MTN call centre, reminding me that I can upgrade my cell phone contract with them. I normally go to my local MTN store for an upgrade, but the lady assured me that they can do it conveniently over the phone and even deliver the phone by courier. About 20 years ago (I WAS a loyal customer since the late 1990s...) I had my first phone delivered to my office without any problem. Being wary about ***** telemarketers, I questioned the lady to ensure she is genuinely from MTN. She could provide me with all my personal details available to MTN and she explained that Summer Mobile is a strategic partner of MTN, contracted to provide a call centre service on their behalf and my contract (and phone number) will stay with MTN.</p> <p>She explained that I can get the contract renewed, get a new handset (again a LG like my current handset) and even save on the upgrade. After discussing the new LG model and quoting me a price, I agree to the upgrade. She confirmed my particulars and explain that the courier will deliver the handset plus contract to me in a few days’ time. I must have a copy of my ID and proof of address ready when he calls. I will then sign the contract and hand over the required documentation for him to return to MTN.</p> <p>On the third day, the courier called with the delivery. I signed the documentation and queried something missing from the delivery, compared to the MTN ads. Both the handset box, as well as the courier box, were sealed when he delivered it, so he advised me to take it up with MTN.</p> <p>I decided to take the handset in to my local MTN store to ask them about the discrepancy. At the store, the LG guy pointed out to me that the phone is an old LG model, not the one in the MTN promotion in their catalogue and web site. They cannot do anything about it in the store as this transaction was the call centre's transaction. I should call them.</p> <p>The next day, I called them and explain the problem. The person handling the call advised me to return the handset to MTN. I can do that at any MTN store. So, off I go to the MTN store on 16 March 2017 AD.</p> <p>I booked the handset in for return and asked for a reference. They gave me a sort of receipt, but they could not provide a tracking number yet, as the return has not been logged by the courier company. I was away for a few days, expecting MTN to handle the process according to well established procedures (remember, they should have gained lots of experience over 18 years since my first delivery!).</p> <p>When I got back after 5 days, I phoned to enquire whether the cancellation is complete. At this stage, I learned how bad MTN's processes are. The handset is somewhere in South Africa, on its way to the warehouse, but that will still take a couple of days and everything is now stalled until the warehouse booked the handset back in stock. This is going to take a few days...</p> <p>Remember, we are in 2017 where large volumes of parcels get delivered overnight between cities. I did not expect that this was going to be an overnight delivery, but 3 - 4 days should be adequate.</p> <p>Today is 31 March 2017, the 15th day after returning the handset. They handset is still en route (although I am told that it will be delivered this afternoon?). If nothing else goes wrong, it will only be a few more days for the paperwork to be done. THEN the upgrade can be cancelled.</p> <p>The City Council can fix a water leak in Cape Town quicker than this, perhaps a few other cities as well.</p> <p>During the whole process, a few staff at Summer Mobile and MTN Tyger Valley store were helpful, but as MTN is a faceless company (try to bet a mailbox to send a complaint to or even an e-mail address for complaints!) you cannot reach a supervisor or responsible person to help you in getting the problem sorted out quickly. You just have to go back to the 1st level staff who have no control over the process. MTN does not care about customers. They have to put up with our ancient way of doing business. They can move to another service provider if they are unhappy; we know they are as poor as us, thus they do not threaten our market share.</p> <p>To substantiate me accusations, just look at the number of complaints on Hello Peter and in the press.</p>