MTN Customer Service at Ballito Branches and SIM swap problems

Hi. I have been trying since last week (5 Dec 2023) to try and find out what went wrong with my prepaid SIM card. Firstly, my original sim stopped working. I was told that if I didn't make a call from my sim, which I have had for 7 years, it would be deactivated even though I had loaded 10 gigabytes on there and had been using it the week before. I was told to call 135, but I had no success in speaking to an agent as there was no option to chat with an agent on this pathetic IVR. 135 just provides self-service options to chat with an agent. I got told to call 083 135/136 and still no option to chat to an agent. I sent a message via Facebook to both MTN branches in Ballito as well as MTN South Africa. While I was waiting I called the branches in Ballito several times, no answer, even today 11 December 2023 I have not had any feedback from the branches. I was helped via the Facebook message feature on Thursday 7 Dec 2023 and was told that I would need to go to the branch. I went on Friday and out of 5 people only 1 person was able to assist me. Eventually, he assisted me, but he was so grumpy and unfriendly I just kept quiet. Eventually, he said the sim swap was successful and that I had to wait 24 hours. It's now Monday (11 Dec 2023) and still no change. Truth be told, I feel that the 2 branches in Ballito do not know what customer service is. I tried again to get in touch with the customer care centre 135, 083 135.

I have previous experience with both the MTN branches where I have been trying since June 25 to do a sim swap. Firstly the Ballito Junction MTN branch is terrible with customer service, eventually, when I got helped by a lady, the sim swap was requested then I was told that I must keep the sim out and phone off until 6 pm or early morning. The next day I switched it on and nothing. On the 26th I went back to the store and another lady looked at the sim status, said I must now keep it off for 2 hours and sent a please call me at my number and it will show me if it is working. If not, then switch it off for another 2 hours. On Monday and Tuesday, I called the Customer Care line, and they told me that they had activated it but it has been escalated to a supervisor for approval. I was also informed to keep the phone on and not use it. I comp****. Wednesday arrives and get told that the Monday and Tuesday calls were not even logged. From Wednesday to Friday, I tried again until I got told I needed to buy a new SIM card. On Saturday I bought a sim card and called around 16h30. I was told the sim was activated and that I had to wait 24 hours with the phone on, it was escalated to the supervisor again for approval. Come Monday the 3rd I am still waiting for the supervisor to approve, have called 4 times today and every time I get told an email has been sent to the supervisor to approve. At 19h54, still not approved. I do not know what to do. Why is it so difficult to get the sim swap done? I am so frustrated.

I just gave up today, no help again so I will go over to Telkom.

MTN, remember where you started, yes I may not make a dent in your billions, however, things are changing fast. I am disappointed and I am sure no action will be taken to the Ballito branches I went to for help. To walk into a shop with a poor level of service offered, and a lack of friendliness and understanding you then need to visit some other cellular shops to see what you can learn.

I am positive this complaint will be shrugged off.