Canceling a contract with MTN is such a nightmare

I've now spent R60 airtime just holding on for their retentions department on three different calls. call reference ***

You call and chat to an agent in the cancelations department who does a whole verification but can't cancel your contract(s). They have to put you through to a retentions department. You hold on for 25 minutes plus and no one answers. The retentions department doesn't have a direct line - of course. Then the call is dropped cos you run out of airtime (not calling from an MTN number) - never used the sim cards and have no idea where they are.

I also tried emailing after the second time this happened - *** They work Monday to Friday only 8 to 5pm and they typically respond within 24 hours. Its been 60 hours since I sent the email but still no response.

I also tried calling the store where I purchased the phones but they can't cancel contracts - That was Friday afternoon. Instead, they took my personal cell number and diverted all of the stores calls to my cell from Friday to Tuesday. I had no choice but to answer the phone on Monday and Tuesday because it could've been work related. My husband had to go into the store after work to inform them about this on Monday afternoon! only sorted out on Tuesday. So we spent airtime, time and petrol to get this sorted out - but not even so much as a call to apologise from the MTN store

The service sucks! don't sign up with them. I can't believe they still want to know why I won't upgrade with them!