DONT USE MTN

We have had the most awful experience with MTN in the last few months. I would highly recommend NOT using MTN as our experience has been terrible.

My partner signed up for an LTE contract - 50GB daytime and 60GB nighttime. We have never received the correct amount of data. Not once.

In August she signed up at the MTN store at Liberty Midlands Mall in PMB. We received 19GB data pro rata as it was in the middle of the month some time. We assumed this was the pro rata amount on the 50GB she signed up for, but we later found out that this was a prorata amount calculated from 30GB, which is what MTN is giving us each month. This is because they are giving us data on the 6th of the month, not the 1st as we originally assumed.

We managed to finish off that 19GB in 2 days somehow. I guess that's possible, although we have noticed that the data gets finished MUCH faster than the data we used to get from Afrihost, even though we aren't even streaming Netflix any more, which we used to do on Afrihost.

We were supposed to receive 30GB of free promotional data as well when we signed up. This was visible when we did a balance check, but we were unable to use it. It just said we were out of data. It took three weeks of phone-calls, emails and visits to the store to finally receive the 30GB. This started a tradition of a lack of care from the staff at the store. They would not return messages, and just kept passing the buck. This continues to this day, over 2 months later.

We finished this off just before the end of the month and waited for the new 50GB. This is when we found at that the data would only be coming on the 6th, and when we realised they had not given us the correct amount of pro rata data in August.

On the 6th September we received 30GB + 30GB, not 50GB + 60GB. We finished this off within a couple of weeks and started asking them to provide the 20GB they had not given us. Again, many phonecalls, emails, and visits to the store. Much avoiding of us and passing the buck, no returning of messages. We eventually received the 20GB data we had paid for on the 4th of October, 28 days late! But only 20GB daytime, no word about the 30GB of nighttime data they had ****** from us, nor the pro rata data they had ****** from us in August.

Unfortunately I did not check the data left on the 5th of Oct, but when I checked on the morning of the 6th we had, can you guess? 30GB again.

I think this means the data they finally gave us on the 4th, expired on the 5th. And they had only given us 30GB + 30GB again, not the 50GB + 60GB we have paid for.

Since the 11th of October we have not been able to access any of the data we have left for this month. If we check the balance it says we have 11.5GB left, but when we try and use it it says we are out of data. This has still not been resolved.

On the 15th October, the payment came off her account and they had taken R964,54 off the account, not the contracted amount of R699. So they charged us for the extra data they added in September, which we were supposed to be getting for the contract amount, and which I believe they expired the day after they gave it to us.

By now we had lost all hope of ever getting what we have paid for, and nobody has contacted us about the may tickets we have created to try and get refunded for all the money that has been ****** from us, including the extra charges added to our debit order this month. We also are unable to use the data we have left at all for two weeks and counting. Nobody is taking ownership of this. Nobody has apologised to us and tried to make it right. Our phonecalls are ignored or cut off. Our messages are not returned. We have spent many hours on many days in store trying to get some semblance of service. But nobody is helping us or treating this with any urgency.

Last week we went into the store again. This time to cancel our contract. We were told we would need to pay a cancellation fee on the contract. The contract which MTN is in breach of, and has NEVER upheld their side of. We have been **** to, cheated and ****** from. And they think we should pay them out as if we are just cancelling on a whim? Not because they have never given us what we have paid for, have made no effort to refund us for what they have overcharged for and now we have no service at all. And nobody is helping us. We refused to pay a cancellation fee, in fact we expect MTN to refund us for pro rata for all of the data they have not given us which we are contractually entitled to.

On top of that we have also had to pay out of our pocket for additional 3G data at R100 per GB. We needed 50GB a month, that is why we signed up for 50GB a month. Now we have had to pay out an extra R2000 a month for 3g data to meet our needs. We have also had massive loss of income due to all the time spent in their store trying to get what we have paid for, as well as having to pay for many many phone-calls which are never returned.

MTN has still not got back to us. We are at a loss for what to do now. Wendy Knowler? Carte Blanche? The Consumer Ombudsman? SAPS? Surely we have a case for *****, or at the very least common theft.

I really hope someone gets back to me here. If not then I guess we need to go the above route.