I Paid MTN to Cancel My Contract. They Took the Money and Changed the Rules.

On 15 December, I contacted MTN’s cancellation department and was advised to pay an early termination settlement amount of R3,480.60 at an MTN store in order to cancel my contract.

I visited an MTN store on the same day and paid the full settlement amount in good faith and in line with MTN’s instructions. While in store, I indicated that I had been advised to call the cancellation department on the same day to finalise the cancellation. The consultant advised that I should instead wait for the payment to reflect and call back on 17 December, as 16 December was a public holiday.

I followed this instruction. When I contacted MTN again on 17 December, I was informed that the cancellation could not be processed as billing had already run and that an additional amount would be payable.

Since 17 December, I have been actively trying to engage with MTN to facilitate the cancellation. I was advised that the matter would be assisted, however responses have been delayed and I have had to repeatedly follow up just to receive updates, while billing continues to run.

Despite having paid the quoted settlement amount and following MTN’s guidance, the cancellation has not been processed, and a debit order is still scheduled to run on 25 December.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time MTN has failed to cancel a contract timeously. I previously had to escalate a similar matter to the National Consumer Commission (NCC) due to continued billing after cancellation, and the matter was ultimately resolved in my favour.

I have escalated this matter to MTN Complaints and management and am requesting urgent intervention to have the cancellation processed based on the settlement already paid, or to ensure that no further debit occurs on my account.