Extremely difficult to do a prepaid sim swap

I'd like to complain about weak MTN operational processes related to SIM swaps. MTN sent me a SIM card to upgrade to LTE. I followed the instructions which require me to send an SMS, obtain a PIN and send a message to MTN with the PIN again using the new card. This failed miserably as the new SIM card needed to be RICA'd which was not mentioned in the letter from MTN with the SIM. I then went into store and bought a new LTE SIM card, RICA'd it and tried the same procedure again as the store refuse to do the SIM swap for me as I am on prepaid. I then go through the SMS process again and received a message saying that the SIM Swap has been scheduled. The sim swap never happens and I call the call centre. The agent says the system is down and I should call again. Thereafter I can no longer dial 173 from the SIM. I call the call centre from another phone number and they say their sysem shows no SIM swap request for 29 Nov. Honestly, should it really be so hard to do something so simple. I am frustrated with trying to get this right using MTN's poor operational processes. Upgrading to LTE is supposed to be beneficial to MTN as LTE subscribers generate more traffic than 3G.