Extremely disappointed with MTN

Extremely disappointed with MTN.

I want to make it very clear that my frustration is not with the phones or the products themselves. I am actually very happy with my phones. My problem is with MTN’s customer service, lack of accountability, and the way my issues have been handled from start to finish.

In August last year, I took out an MTN router contract. Before agreeing to it, I specifically asked the sales agent about the contract period and was told that it was month-to-month. Based on that information, I agreed to the contract.

I later discovered that I had actually been signed up for a 24-month contract.

When I tried to cancel the router, I was simply told that I couldn't because I was locked into a 24-month contract. Nobody seemed particularly interested in the fact that I had been given completely different information by the sales agent when I signed up.

That alone was incredibly frustrating, but unfortunately, it didn't end there.

My bank card was cloned, which meant my banking details had to change. I physically went into an MTN store and explained the situation, specifically asking for my debit order details to be changed. I went there expecting someone to assist me with something that should be a relatively straightforward customer-service issue.

Instead, I was essentially left without proper assistance.

The debit order continued trying to go off my old account, and because this was not properly dealt with, I have now ended up owing approximately R6,000.

I have not refused to pay this money. In fact, I have actively tried to resolve the situation and arrange a payment plan because I am willing to settle what I owe. However, I was told that I need to physically go into a store to make payments.

This is honestly unacceptable.

I work. I have responsibilities. I do not have unlimited time to repeatedly travel to an MTN store to deal with problems that I have already tried to resolve with MTN in person.

What makes this even more infuriating is that this entire situation could potentially have been avoided if someone had simply listened to me and properly updated my banking details when I first reported the problem.

I feel like I have been punished for trying to do the right thing.

I have been a paying customer, I have communicated my problems, I have physically gone into a store for assistance, and I have tried to arrange a way to pay the outstanding amount. Yet instead of receiving assistance, I have been met with "there's nothing we can do" and sent back to the store.

At this point, I am not just disappointed — I am extremely frustrated with MTN's complete lack of customer care and accountability.

A company can have great products, but that means very little when the customer service is this poor. When customers make an effort to communicate a problem and ask for help, they should not have to fight this hard to get someone to actually listen.

I genuinely expected far better from MTN.

MTN needs to take responsibility for how these issues were handled, investigate the sales information I was given, look into why my banking details were not updated when I reported the problem, and provide an actual solution instead of continually sending me from one place to another.

I am happy with my phones. I am not happy with MTN.