Horrible Customer Service

My phone got ****** late August, and after going between MRP mobile and MTN trying to recover my number for months, MRP mobile decides to release the number to MTN, and MTN has been struggling to reactivate a number that was always under their network ever since. One minute I'm being told by a call centre agent to wait 72 hours, the next I'm being told by a Melville MTN store agent to return to MRP because the number is Rica Barred and he can't help (neither did MRP mobile), then I call the call centre, and another agent tells me to go do an affidavit and revisit an MTN store in order to activate and recover my number. I go to the police station and then straight to the MTN store, where an instore agent tells me that the number being Rica barred means he has to emails the rica barred department; cool. Better than the response I got from the Melville store. He then tells me to return back to the store after 3 days for feedback. I returned to the Northgate store more than a week later (I have a job), and I learn that they still don't know what is going on with my number, as it still shows as inactive. The manager took charge of the matter and spoke on a call for more than an hour, only to give the instore agent another number to call, and now I'm being told to return on Monday.

I don't know why these people think anyone has such time and patience, but I've never struggled this much to recover a simple cellphone number that was under contract. Not sure if this is because the agent are all inadequately trained or what... If this wasn't my work number, I wouldn't have bothered this far, but I have pretty much reached my limit. Wish I'd have thought to port the number to Vodacom while I still had the chance.