MTN and ridiculous upgrade fees by use of third party agencies a day before contract is due for upgrade

I've put a review on this site last week regarding MTN South Africa charging an early upgrade fee of over R 500, after they gave my information to a third party to contact me in order to facilitate my upgrade a day before my upgrade was due.

The consultant who had all my personal information supp**** by said service provider harrassed me via telephone continuously and made it seem like I would not be able to upgrade my contract in store as I am under debt review, regardless of me telling her continuously that I would prefer to upgrade in store when I return home from a different province.

Eventually after several calls and with much harrassment from said operator I agreed, so that she could leave me alone and I could decend in peace down Van Rhyns Pass.

I subsequently went to an MTN store 2 days later (the day after my upgrade was due possible) and requested to do an upgrade there in person but was told by the person behind the counter that the system says that my upgrade is pending.... The person behind the counter advised me to call MTN customer care and cancel the upgrade and best do it in store, because the call centre is known for calling customer ls just before their upgrade date in order to gain the early upgrade fee and that its always best for customers to upgrade online.

Well I was unable to cancel the upgrade calling customer care as there is no option to speak to a consultant and when selecting upgrades the mechanical operator notes than I am ineligible for an upgrade.

My contract was due for upgrade on 18 November, call received 17 November, still pending 19 November, actual device received 28 November, yet my service i(paid in fulld) s suspended due to an unwarranted and unmerrited upgrade fee I have not paid as I have logged a dispute.

I received feedback from MTN eventually stating that I need to pay the fee on order to reconnect my service and I should take up my dispute with the third party organisation who did the upgrade and not them. They refuse to even respond for weeks I am left with no network on my cell, no WiFi at home and my mother's contract is also suspended as a result of my disputing payment of the upgrade fee.

I have had to purchase new SIM cards and additional data as I was out of town last week and my family also need connection at home, to contact each other and to call ubers for my children who are at school and so forth.

MTN is wiping their hands telling me to liaise with said third party but they gave all my information and the authority for this company to swindle me and thousands of other trusting clients.

No person would think such a thing could happen to them with their info provided by their service provider to another a day before their contact is due for upgrade yet they receive the product 2 weeks later.