MTN as starter packs bought have invalid Sim cards

I wanted to port my prepaid number from my service provider to MTN. On the 29th of June I bought a starter pack from the MTN store situated in the Secunda Mall and had it Rica 'd. I sent the PORTME instruction to *** and waited approximately 36 hours with no response from MTN. I went to a local PEP store and bought another starter pack and also had it Rica 'd as I thought it was a bad pack. I waited a further 24 hours and still nothing. I phoned MTN and was directed to the MTN Rica department. The friendly consultant checked both starter packs and said to me that she couldn't find the SIM cards with the sim numbers I gave her. I then tried another retailor and went through the Rica process again - still no response after 24 hours. I gave the process another 24 hours but nothing happened - none of the cards reacted. I phoned the MTN help desk again but was told the same story - Invalid SIM numbers and they (the RICA help desk) had no information on the three SIM cards. As a final resort I went back to the Secunda MTN Mall branch and bought the fourth starter pack and again had it Rica ' d. This also didn't work. The assistant told me he could RICA contract numbers - go figure