*********** staff, inefficient service

HI there,

I need some assistance please. I’ve been trying to get some clarity on my upgrade. When logging on to the website, as well as my app, i am advised that I am due for an upgrade on 30.04.2018.

Upon receiving this information, I then called 135 to confirm. The IVR confirmed the same information, however when I spoke to your call centre consultants, they advised that it would only be available from July 2018. I was told that the app, website and IVR are incorrect. I proceeded to go to a store in the hopes that it would be resolved. When I went to the service centre at Century City, I was advised that I don’t qualify. When I questioned him on why the app, website and IVR confirmed differently, he went into my profile and checked on my status as well. Once he was in my profile, it too showed him that I qualified for an upgrade. He then proceeded to explain that even though I qualified for the upgrade, should I choose to upgrade now, I would need to pay my current contract amount, as well as the fee for the upgrade until November 2018 as that is when the promo on my 36 month contract would end. When I questioned why this was or when this had changed (as previously as soon as an upgrade took place the new fee app****, and the old fee fell away.) I was just told that the phones are too expensive, and because I took the cheaper option of the 36 month contract, I have to pay the full term. I called the call centre again yesterday, and was on hold for 45 minutes trying to get through I was once again told that the IVR, website and app are incorrect, and that if I wanted to upgrade now (as I do not qualify) that it would have to be an exceptional circumstance, and I would have to provide sufficient reasoning to be approved for an “early upgrade” and that a faulty handset is not sufficient reasoning or motivation for an “early upgrade”.

Firstly: To my mind, yes, May is prior to the 36 months of the full term contract, however, why would I need to motivate for it? Why when I asked if I did motivate, could I not be told how much or what the pricing would be if I decided to?

Second: Why have I continuously been told that I do not qualify, until each of your agents went into my profile and confirmed that they were in fact wrong and the system indicated that I DO qualify.

Third: Why then, if I qualify, would the terms of this upgrade be different from the 4 previous upgrades that I have done with MTN, and why was this not communicated in a more efficient manner?

Fourth: If your electronic tools are incorrect, WHY are they not fixed. Not in any of my interactions with your staff has anyone offered to query why the website, app and IVR all offer the incorrect information. I have been dismissed, and publicly embarrassed by your store staff who treated me as if I were trying my luck, and lying about the information I received.

I’ve been trying to resolve this for 3 days now. I have sent you DM’s on twitter, I’ve also tweeted you, and I’m hoping that emailing you will finally do the trick. All I want is some clarity on what I should be doing, what information is correct, and when I am actually due for my upgrade. Its become tedious to get service from you. It seems that should I decide to leave MTN after 8 years of having contracts with you, it will probably take me months to resolve. I cant believe that this is the service im receiving from a company I have been a client of since I was 14 years old. Disgusting service, lazy, misinformed staff who make assumptions that the client is stupid and wrong/lying before even investigating the issue.