Horrid experience from MTN on a ***** incidence

In January 2017, I found out that my account was being debited by MTN and I did not have a contract with them. I was able to establish that an account had been opened in my name **********ly. I promptly advised both MTN and my bank. Five months down the road the debits were still going being processed at which point I decided to close that bank account altogether.

A year later, in January 2018, I was contacted by a debt collector demanding payment for an outstanding balance on the MTN account. I followed up with MTN and provided them with the requested police affidavit and my ID and opened a ***** case. This was followed by numerous calls to the debt collector and MTN. Long story short, I managed to get through to William Meintjies of the MTN Legal Department who issued a letter in July 2018 confirming that the account had been opened **********ly and advising the credit bureaux of the same. However, the emailed letter was unsigned.

My bank requires a signed copy of the letter and my attempts to get hold of William to get him to issue a signed copy have come to naught. He is unreachable according to the lady at their switchboard and she will not provide a direct number where I can get hold of him. I have left messages and sent him emails but have received no response. Requests to speak to anyone else in the Legal Department have not been granted. Instead, I am transferred to Customer Care who advise that they would have to get in touch with the Legal Department and then the Legal Department will contact me. Needless to say, I have not heard from them.

This has impacted negatively on my credit rating for no fault of my own and MTN seems to be unwilling to do their part to clear my name.

I would not recommend MTN to anyone given the kind of treatment I have received.

(See the chronology of this nightmare below)

31-01-2017 Noted an MTN debit order running through current account MTN SP A ********** ********** 549 R (589.00) 08.06.2017 MTN debit order

30.11.2016 Contract signed at Meadow? Ltd number ********** Kenneth answered (Feedback to MK via email)

19.01.2018 (From MK) MTN + ********** 0049 (Direct Channel Holdings?) (Need police affidavit saying contract not ours) - number does not connect to the debt collectors

25.01.2018 Called ********** and MK spoke to them. Contract was activate 01.12 2016 for My MTN Choice+S. Required to present a police affidavit and Certified ID copy at an MTN store to open a ***** case.

29.01.2018 Case reported to MTN and ***** Case Serial number issued: REQ: ********** 12187. Logged a dispute with Transunion.

06.04.2018 13:45 Received another demand email from VVM. Called MTN Mall of Africa who referred me to Boulders where the case was reported. Spoke to Karabo ********** who will check and revert.

11.04.2018 Karabo established that affidavit and ID are not on the systeFm and referred me back to Darren of MTN Mall of Africa to whom the documents were given for him to forwarde them.

12.04.2018 Contacted Darren who was not able to locate the affidavit and ID. He said they were probably in the archives but advised that since three months had passed, the certification would already have expired. MK advised to write a letter advising MTN that if the matter was not resolved in 2 weeks, we would take legal action. He had submitted documents as required but MTN had not processed and he should not have to replace the documents as the delay was MTN's fault.

18.04.2018 14:30 Received call from ********** regarding the account - wanting to speak to MK - told her I was aware of the account and that it was handed over - she said alright and hung up. I tried to call back but it went to voicemail.

28.04.2018 Sat 12:16pm Received email from Darren and also copied to VVM with the abstract and ID attached.

30.04.2018 09:05 Spoke to Ms Dikeledi of VVM Call Centre ********** who advised that once email is received a confirmation of receipt will be sent. Following that, documentation processing would take 14 working days.

02.05.2018 08:40 Checked with Darren if he had received the auto-reply from VVM and he confirmed he had not.

03.05.2018 12:40 Called VVM and spoke to Mr Disetso @ Call Centre ********** to check if attachments received. He said there were no attachments and suggested forwarding them to ********** I forwarded Darren's email with attachments and copied **********

10.05.2018 16:14 Spoke to Mr Osman after receiving SMS from VVm. He said the account is under investigation in the Queries department and he would email his supervisor to email the Queries department and he would communicate the response. He said the sms was sent by error to a number of clients following an IT glitch. He said smses are usually put on hold for accounts under investigation.

11.05.2018 09:30 I called VVM and spoke to Cecilia, She was able to trace the documents sent but she said they had not yet been 'attached'. She said she would send them to the Queries department and that I would receive a ticket reference number by email ([Ticket# ********** ********** 01] FW: A ********** ). She also said a consultant from the Queries department would call me back to confirm receipt and/or raise questions etc. Email was received - awaiting call.

14.05.2018 15:51 Spoke to Dikeledi (Ms) who said that the documents had been attached and that it would take 31 working days for the matter to be finalised (write to client for feedback etc.).

23.05.2018 09:20 Spoke to Cecilia who said they had sent an email to Darren Harris requesting 6 specimen signatures (MK's). Darren said he did not receive that email.

25.05.2018 12:20 Spoke to Vincent who said that a query had been sent to MTN legal department on the 23rd of May. The account was on hold awaiting a response.

11.06.2018 10:15 spoke to Mbali of VVM ( ********** ) who advised that on the system a query on the ********** account was sent to MTN Ref: #1- ********** 8806 on 29th may 2018 - 30 working days for response. I emailed Darren to advise.

03.07.2018 10:27 Spoke to Lulu of VVM ( ********** ) who requested six signatures on MK ID.

03.07.2018 10:57 Emailed the specimen signatures to **********

11.07.2018 08:38 Spoke to Dikeledi who informed me that they had logged a ********** case, subsequent to which MTN recalled the account so they can do their own investigation.

11.07.2018 14:32 Called MTN Mall of Africa for Darren (was busy with a client). The gentleman who answered the phone advised me to call MTN Legel Dept with the query ( ********** / ********** / ********** )

11.07.2018 15:04 Finally got through to ********** (for the other numbers I was kept on hold). Spoke to Lerato who advised that the account was cancelled and they could issue a paid-up letter. She said if I do not receive confirmation within 72 hours, I should call back to enquire. Reference Number issued: 1- ********** 4824.

16.07.2018 09:22 Spoke to William of the legal department and requested a paid-up letter. He emailed letter which advised that credit bureaux had been informed. Wait 7 - 21 working days to check for update

28.08.2018 13:19 Received SMSes from MK sent by Transunion requesting documents to be faxed.

29.08.2018 08:11 Faxed documents to Transunion.

10.09.2018 08:48 Re-faxed clearer ID as requested via SMS.

18.09.2018 10:04 Received Whatsapp from MK "Please send a clear copy of your ID document to TransUnion on fax ********** 193 for TU ********** 8-000261-01. The copy received is not legible".I responded and suggested I make a new photocopy when MK is in the office as this would be the third time I would be sending the ID.

18.09.2018 13:49 I received an SMS on ********** 044 saying "Contact Hammond Pole Urgently regarding the legal actions on your MTN account? ********** Whatsapp ********** "

18.09.2018 14:23 Called Hammond Pole and spoke to Mr Olwethu to whom I explained that MTN had issued a letter saying the account was **********. He advised me to email a copy of the letter to Simone ********** which I did at 14:44pm.

20.09.2018 08:27 Received Whatsapp message from MK "Attempts have been made to contact you. Your MTN account is overdue and accumulating costs rapidly. Contact us urgently! HP Attorneys ********** 737"

20.09.2018 08:30 Called the number provided and spoke to Ms Nombulelo who went on to advise that the account was outstanding to the tune of R11,904. I told her about the email to Simone and she said she would confirm if she had received. She put me on the line with Simone who said their systems had been down since Monday and she had not received the email. I offered to re-send and asked if I could call her back to confirm receipt but she said she would respond to the email. Resent at 08:42am and copied MK.

15.10.2018 09:23 Emailed William requesting he follow up with Transunion.

15.10.2018 09:24 Emailed William a request for a signed copy of the ********** account letter.

15.10.2018 Emailed Darren of the Mall of Africa MTN shop to ask if he could contact the Legal Department on our behalf to ask for a signed copy of the letter – which he promised to do.

Calls made to MTN Legal department in an attempt to get hold of William – left messages for him to call back ( 16.10.2018 12:10 ; 13:05 15.10.2018 09:55 12:10.2018 11:37)

16.10.2018 Hellen advised that she had contacted MTN legal department for the letter by they would not assist her as she was not the account holder.