Coporate Gansterism By MTN

<p>The recent national disasters (the fires in Knysna and the Eastern Cape, and the storms in the Western Cape) have ostensibly brought out the best in major corporations, with huge donations from organisations, funding relief efforts for those stricken by these forces of nature. The public have been suitably impressed by the magnanimity of big business as they have ral**** to provide aid for those who have suffered in the wake of these occurrences. (We won't mention the little issue of the tax right-offs they enjoy through these acts of charity)<br />These donations have received a fair proportion of coverage by the media affording these corporations publicity well in excess of what they would have received had the spent those funds directly on an advertising campaign, but that's a topic for a later post...<br />When it comes down to the day to day workings of the monsters of industry, however, it's business as usual, with sub-par (in polite terms) service provision, and even lower business ethics being the order of the day, with the aim of extracting every last cent out of consumers who, well to put it plainly, simply don't have enough fire-power to stand up against them.<br />In short, "the take-it-or-leave-it" scenario is still the dominant attitude of big business accompanied by large dose of the old favourite, "what-you-gonna-do-about-it?" we've all come to know and love!<br />Case in point: MTN refuse point blank to refund cash that was taken off my mother's account (a pensioner well into her 70's) as a result of their miscommunication and general poor (insert expletive here ........) service provision.<br />My sister has a contract with MTN which is in my mother's name, and which she has loyally paid, on time and in full, for quite a few years now. In short, she would be what one would consider a good client.<br />At the end of last month, owing to a series of circumstances, she was informed via text message to pay her account over the counter at her local ABSA branch, which she promptly did, only to discover later that the same amount had also been debited from my mother's account.<br />This created a scenario where other debit orders, which my mom has attached to her account, subsequently bounced for lack of funds.<br />When brought to attention of our esteemed cellular service provider, it was then arranged for the extraneous debit to be returned, which, to their credit, they did.<br />This still left the issue of the bank charges accrued due to the rubbery nature of the other debit orders. A matter of R460.00, which, with the economy in it's current state affairs, is a significant amount for most people with 9 to 5 jobs, let alone a pensioner with no other source of income.<br />A call to their customer care facility, led to a conversation with a certain Nosipho, the conclusion of which, was that they would refund the R460.00 within 24/48 hours. Great...right?<br />WRONG! When said time period had come and gone, without any funds being returned, besides the extra debit, we again called the customer care service, only to be informed that the process would take between 24 and 72 hours. <br />Another call, a few moments later, led to a conversation with young gentleman named Elroy, who deemed it relevant to impart the information that the cash would not be refunded and that we should contact head office (yet another phone call).<br />As a matter of interest, I decided to call them again, a few minutes later, just to hear what the next operator had to say on the subject.<br />This led to a conversation with a young lady named Josie, who then revealed that it would take up to 7 working days to resolve the issue. Three different answers from three different consultants. It begs the question, are these people adequately trained to perform this service? If so, do they thumb-suck these answers just to get rid of you? If so, is that what they're trained to do?<br />Needless to say the deadlines have all passed by, like Santa led by the Easter Bunny on a quest to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow...the result...<br />Well you guessed it...no funds...<br />The most recent interaction, with a certain manager named Gerard, was concluded with an emphatic, "NO!", not unlike a sawn-off shotgun fired at point blank range.<br />All this for R460.00! MTN refuse to refund this sum, which they probably make in a fraction of a second, and which is a direct result of their inefficiency and poor service provision, to a pensioner, to whom that cash is the means of her providing food for herself.<br />I suppose the publicity factor isn't high enough to warrant the magnanimity displayed (for all to see) to the victims of disasters.<br />Kinda leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, doesn't it? <br />So, to the executives at MTN, I hope your bellies still fit comfortably in your R20 000 suits, and that you don't crash your luxury vehicles...</p>