MTN Accounts and Call Centre extremely pathetic and unprofessional service

I received an sms this morning informing that my services are suspended due to non-payment. I am having a standing debit order for years with MTN for the 25th of each month. I contacted 135 and spoke an agent who sounded lost in the call centre as she had to speak to a Xhosa lady on each and everything I raise. Firstly, I asked when was my bank account debited and the response from the bank. After consulting the Xhosa lady in the background she told me that it was debited on the 25th of November and there were no funds which is a TOTAL LIE. I reminded her that the contract I signed with MTN states that should the collection day fall on a weekend or Public Holiday, the debit will be implemented on the business day before or business day after that holiday or weekend. In this case 25th of November was a Saturday and even if they tried on that specific Saturday they would still get money in my account. Secondly, I asked to make an arrangement for MTN to double debit me the end of December to settle aged and current accounts. She consulted the Xhosa lady in the background and she said to her that arrangements are not allowed. It sounded as if the Xhosa lady in the background is the actual MTN as she calls the shots. I made the agent aware that this is not the first time that MTN unfairly suspended my account due to maybe incompetency of their accounts department or something like that, and I end up making an arrangement with them to unsuspend my lines and double debit me the end of the month. Thirdly, after being told of arrangements not being allowed, I requested to speak to the supervisor. The agent consulted the Xhosa lady again who said to her “mxelele akukho supervisor apha” simply meaning “tell him there is no supervisor here”. I got irritated and told the agent not to tell me ******* and tell me who is this arrogant Xhosa lady. I was then put on mute for about two minutes and someone started talking to me. I asked her if she is the supervisor or they are just taking me for a ride and she confirmed to be the supervisor.

I related to her my story and asked for an arrangement. She sais unfortunately the arrangement system is down. When I asked her for how long she said it is over a week and they cannot make any arrangements.

Finally, this is not my first encounter with MTN suspending my account due to their incompetency and pin it on me. I have proven to them that my banking details are still the same since day one and the debit mandate is still active at my bank. I went to my bank to check when did MTN try to debit me and the response from the bank was that there is no trace of MTN trying to debit my account on those agreed dates including any other day. I strongly feel that there is something very wrong with MTN accounts department since they are faceless and nameless. It is very unfair for us consumers to be exploited in this way where they are politely saying we will do whatever we want with you and there is nothing you can do.

If one had an option, I would cancel my two contracts with immediate effect and migrate to the service providers who understand what is customer service. I am having a feeling that the call centre is outsourced which is why nobody cares. If the outsource company is receiving its monthy payments from MTN, they would just continue being heartless and *********. I am even trying to see if the Ombudsman cannot assist in this ********* business by MTN.