********** upgrade

As agitated as I am by your very *********** service, I am going to try and be assertive in an amicable manner. My dear Mother surprised me with an iPad for my birthday two years ago and it was on contract. Since an iPad cannot make calls I have been getting data for the agreed 24 months. This suddenly changed on the 24th month. I am a student currently residing in another province for academic purposes and have since been the user of this contract. I know the plan was to cancel the contract when the 24 months of the contract lapsed so when I did not receive any data from MARCH it was not a big deal since the plan was to cancel the contract anyway. To an upsetting surprise MTN as loyal to its debit orders did not forget to "take what's theirs" at the end of March but failed to meet its obligation of render the due services that result from payment.

Ok cool, first time we try to reach out to MTN by way of calling the customer care to be informed that My Mother "has upgraded the contract" the consultant even shared the date. A very confusing end to the phone call as My Mother who is the rightful owner to the contract never consented to any of this. The consultant advised we visit the nearest store of which My Mom did and the staff said that the systems say that there has been an upgrade done and gave the day only they know where they got because there is nothing like that. Listen to the admin my Mom had to endure; She had to make copies of her particulars, queue in long lines at the police station to get her particulars certified and to also write a sworn affidavit declaring that she did not make any upgrade because she was even at work on that day.

No problem, we understand that is standard procedure when coming to handling any matters suspected to be **********. The precise date she handled the matter was on the 24th of April 2017. Two months later, she still is has not heard anything from MTN so she yet again visits the store- 30 June 2017. She was handed a copy of an email conversation that explains the problem that has been picked up, they said something between the lines of: "no the starter pack was just activated". By who? On whose consent? Can we ask again who is the contract owner and person paying for this contract? Not to deviate from the point, My Mother was just handed the papers and the staff at the store just said: "I don't know ma'am, that is your report".

The problem is that My Mother uses a different service provider for her network so reaching out or even calling customer care is a problem. That means that she has filed a complaint with MTN as a customer and no sense of urgency from your team has been showed in helping a client sort out the matter. I have had to travel all the way home just to be able to call MTN as the contract and number user simply because the contract owner also has to be present in the conversation as the RIGHTFUL CLIENT. This is actually sooo funny, you do not know how many times your consultants have sent us to call the retention department since they are handling contract cancellations. We call the retention department to be told that ********** matters are handed by customer care. You don't want to know how many times your *********** stuff has played the chicken or egg situation with us considering the going back and forth and them not knowing what they are doing clearly.

One gentleman from the retention department, after being transferred for like the 5th time at least knew what he was doing, advised us to ask for a manager from the customer care line. We did that, the gentleman sounded like he kind of had an idea and said he understands very well what the issue is. He said he would sort it out and call my Mother within 30 days, wait for it... 3 months later we haven't heard anything. Its already spring and the matter has not been solved. I reiterate on the fact that MTN does not miss the debit order payments, punctual as ever when coming to taking money but I'm not sure on what to say when coming to the performance of their duties and services on the other hand.

I recently called them again on the 15th of August 2017, to have a very lengthy conversation with one of the managers. He too sounded so convincing as though he knows what he is doing but I have news, MTN still took their debit orders in time without providing any data for my iPad or notifying my Mother of any changes whatsoever. This is after we "established what the problem is" as they always and never do anything. I wish to mention that I have all the names of the consultants that have been helping out, dates when these calls took place and references of the conversations. I thought I knew what poor service and what zero regard for customers meant, but this here takes the trophy. MTN you win, contacted the ombudsman to assist in this regard, still waiting response. This sort of incompetency yells for serious repercussions, not when people's particulars and money is involved.

I was about to say I would appreciate to hear from you guys, but then again who am I when customer care supervisors can blatantly promise to get back to my Mother, the one paying and they never do?

Regards, Puseletso.