IRREGULAR BUSINESS PRACTICES OF MTN - BILLING AFTER CANCELLATION OF CONTRACTS

<p>Early 2016 I tried to upgrade one of my lines with MTN. I have been a customer for years and had three lines on my contract. I tried to do the upgrade at Retail Park branch in Pretoria. After providing two photo type ID's they continued with the upgrade. Before finalising the upgrade, I was requested to answer three security questions to again verify my identity. I was asked questions about furniture and Hyperama accounts that was paid off nearly 20 years ago. These accounts were never in arrears and fully settled. Apparently I answered the questions incorrectly and my account was blocked. Thus in my opinion MTN cancelled the contract. When I queried the validity of the information, the security questions was based on, the staff at Retail park referred my to their Head Office.. Phoning the customer care centre of MTN was very frustrating and of no use. They told me to take the matter up with the branch. Eventually I gave up and changed over to VODACOM - MTN still biiled me every month for the line however. In September 2016 my son wanted to do a sim swap on his line at MTN, which was linked to my contract. He was refused to do the simswap as my account was blocked as I according to MTN could not verify who I was previously. He also changed over to VODACOM. Despite various email correspondence to MTN, I could not resolved the matter. I eventually had to go to the branch and officially cancel the contracts, despite the fact that I was billed for services I could not use. I cancelled all the lines on my contract in March 2017 at the Retail Park Branch and received the relevant reference numbers. The last line of the contract anyway expired in February 2017 and could not be upgrade due to the block. To my surprise I still received bills and the money was deducted per debit order. I then had to forward the reference numbers of the cancellations. according to MTN CC. Before the customer care person would assist. I had to prove my identity by supplying my account, bank details and ID. I did this in May. Despite this I was billed again for the next month. And the process of verifying my identity and supplying proof of cancellation had to be repeated. Not only is it highly inconvenient and frustrating to deal with this company but forcing me to supply sensitive information by means of email, is in my opinion highly irregular. I just received another bill from this company for July!!!! I honestly believe that the CONSUMER PROTECTION COMMISSION should launch an investigation into the business practices of MTN. I will in my individual capacity also file a complaint with the Commissioner. Trying to resolve matters with MTN is a TOTAL waste of time!!!!</p>