Complaint - Contract Upgrade - MTN Retentions Department

To Whom This May Concern

I am sending this complaint in an attempt to get someone competent to sort out my upgrade for my 2 contracts. My old contract expired at the end of November 2020, and although I was sent an sms to remind me few months before, that I was eligible for an upgrade. I decided that I would hold off on upgrading, and was under the impression that although my contract was due for upgrade I would just allow the current package to carry on until I had made a decision, and was dealing with other family issues related to Covid. I was however shocked when in February, I was looking at the upgrade packages available to me, that I came across my bill owing for December, January & February (averaged at around over R700 per month, where I was paying on my contract around R400 per month). I also never picked this up earlier for the reason that I have after numerous requests to have my invoices and statements e-mailed to me, I was still not receiving anything, and I was just paying my R400-R500 a month as my monthly charges were always around R400. I enquired with MTN helpline (135) and was told that the reason I am paying more per month is because my contract came to end and I was being charged standard rates after the official contract ended. I informed them that I was not happy to pay this extra amounts due to the fact that no one had contacted me about this personally, and in the past (I have been an MTN customer for a very long time) I have never had an increase in the charges once my contract has ended, it has either stayed the same or the additional services has been cancelled automatically and I was either contacted about this. I was informed by one of the 135 assistants that MTN had moved over to a new billing system and the new system did not do this for some reason, and I informed them that I didn't see why this was my problem. Once of the rude assistants on 135 that I dealt with even had the audacity to tell me that if I didn't read my contract that it is my problem with the additional charges. Anyway after clarifying this issue after many calls and hours spent on the phone, I was informed that the billing department would not credit me for these charges so I told them then I would be moving over to Vodacom and porting my number if that was the case. The person informed that it would be best for me to speak to the Retentions Department. I was put through to ABRINA, who initially was very helpful and patient with me seeing that I had been kept on hold for retentions department for over an hour until I got through. Abrina stated that the best she could do was if I was willing to go with an upgrade then she could apply to management to give me 3 months free on the new contract to counter the additional amounts that I was charged for standard rates when my old contract ended. She said she would need to put this in writing to management and would get back to me on it (I spoke to her early afternoon on a Friday, and she said she would definitely get back to me on Monday. I waited the entire next week, and on Friday called the retentions department again only to be kept on hold first time for 46 minutes and then was cut off, and then 2nd time where I was on hold for almost an hour, and the person I spoke to said that they would send Abrina a message to get in contact with me. I never heard anything from her until the next week, only to find out she had apparently been on leave for a week??? She told me that the request for the 3 months had been approved, and would put through for a special package (offered on black friday) she offered me for samsung A31 with 20GB data and minutes for just over R300 per month and then R199 for contract (no handset just 15GB data and minutes) on my other number. She checked my account and said that it was frozen as there was an outstanding amount of R190 odd rand, so I should pay that and when it reflects she would be able to do the upgrade. I never heard back from her and left it for a few days only to call retentions department and be kept on hold for another long period of time (there seems to be a serious issue with amt of people assisting in retentions as there is a big delay in answering calls) and again Abrina wasnt available and left a message for her to call me. I did receive a call back from Abrina but missed her call but she did call back the next day. When I started discussing how far my upgrade was she didn't initially know what it was about and then she finally realised that it was me she starting checking my upgrade and then realised the the A31 Samsung was not in stock. She told me that she didn't know how long it would take to get stock of this but would keep me updated. Probably about week later I had to again phone and find out what was going on and managed to get hold of Abrina, only to be told that the A31 was discontinued. I asked her what was the way forward now, only to be cut off. No attempt has been made to contact me back. I think this is very very poor service on behalf of MTN, and saw that Abrina has put me on zero rated status, which means that until further notice I don't get any data or minutes and I am still sitting with no upgrades done, and it is over a month later. I have noticed that recently my one number has been given 10GB of data, but not sure what this is all about.

As far as I am concerned MTN is definitely not looking after its customers, especially one like me who has been with MTN for almost 15 years. The problem is that it is so difficult to get hold of the person you have been dealing with, as they don't provide you with their direct e-mail address, and you are expected to hold on for over an hour every time. All I want is my upgrade to be done, based on the package that I was offered by Abrina....is that so hard??

I trust a competent person will contact me, in terms of resolving this issue ASAP, other wise I will be moving over to Vodacom. I would like this matter resolved the latest end of this month!

Yours in concern and frustration!!! Justin Botha