MTN destroyed my daughters birthday

To whom it may concern

While I was thinking of how to write this email, I questioned myself and the reason behind it, and the fact that I am only 1 small person complaining to the automated giant that is MTN…..and still felt that something needed to be said.

Automated or not (which I know the response to this email will inevitably be), my experience needs to be put into writing, as I hope that you may use this in one of your customer service training assimilations….”how NOT to treat a customer”….

Let me begin by first saying that I am a current MTN contract customer – I may have 2 small contracts, but never really had anything to complain about until my experience began on 23 August 2017. Being a month in advance, I thought I would surprise my daughter, who turns 14 on 22 September 2017, with a new cell phone for her birthday. From previous dealings, and contract applications, I have the Inbound Sales Agent’s email, and contact number, and so, to start I sent him an email to enquire about the online deal I saw on your website for an Iphone 5S for R229 x 24 months.

After receiving no response, I then emailed again on 24 August…again no response. Another follow up email was sent on 28 August asking if anything had been found….again no response.

By this stage I was not entirely happy, but gave the benefit of the doubt. Having the consultant’s cell number, I sent a whatsapp through, apologising for using his cell, but asking if he had seen my emails enquiring as to said phone…..surprisingly no response again. I followed this up with another email on 29 August, which was again unanswered, until eventually on 30 August I sent through another whatsapp to which I eventually got a response….yay!

The discussion of stock availability, as well as models and price plans was discussed, and eventually the application was sent through that same day, 30 August.

After that, again, I got no response…..messages were sent through enquiring if everything had been submitted, and if there was anything outstanding, constantly asking for feedback, but to no avail.

Eventually I received a message “Will let you know” on 4 September 2017 – nothing after that….

On 5 September we discussed deals again, and based on the monthly price, and stock availability again…oh and I was also told delays on the vetting side…..I settled on the Iphone7 32gb @ R449 x 36 months. Everything was going swimmingly, and confirmed that there was stock available – I got to choose the colour (black) for my daughter, and everything was perfect….

I was told later that day that everything was approved, and we then confirmed the package (Talk s – 200 minutes, 500mb data and 200sms)….and then also confirmed my daughter would get 30gb data shared over 3 months and unlimited MTN to MTN calls during those first 3 months as well. I was very excited.

At 7:33am on 6 September 2017 I received a standard, automated sms from MTN confirming my contract approval, and that the order had been sent to the courier…..your standard….again – great….my daughter would get her phone before her birthday….well that’s what I thought.

That is where it all fell flat – by Monday, 11 September, I had not received the standard call from the courier to confirm delivery etc, so I tried to call them myself, after obtaining the number from the agent I was dealing with……big mistake – on hold for 20 minutes only to be told that they have no delivery scheduled for my ID number…that was around 11:30am…

Again, I followed up with the agent, and after 24 hours of waiting, received an MTN order number ( ********** 926) – another day gone…

I continued trying to trace the parcel through the call centre numbers I was given – ********** / ********** – I even tried to call switchboard…all either on hold for over 10 minutes at a time, or just not getting any answer at all…..amongst all this I was also trying to find out from the agent, who would not give me a superior’s number to try and deal with the issue.

Eventually this spilled over to 13 September 2017 – trying the courier, trying call centres, net getting any answers – my wife then took it upon herself to post a complaint on your Facebook page, which yielded what looked like another automated response telling us to call 808…..which I did – what an absolute joke – while I understand it is a free call from an MTN cellphone, I was on hold for 1 hour – total call time was 1 hour 11 minutes……only to be told that the problem has been “escalated”…….with no feedback again from MTN……

Today is the 14th of September, and again the problem spills over…..I receive a whatsapp message from the agent telling me also that the complaint has been escalated and apparently there was a mess up at your warehouse…..somehow there is no stock of the phone I was able to order nearly 2 weeks ago…..this does not sit very well with me, which I conveyed to the agent at the time…only to be told “very sorry for your daughter” – let me just say this – that did not sit well with me.

Back and forth messages were exchanged, until eventually I demanded to speak to a Supervisor or Manager before 14:00 today – well, it is now 16:10 and I have yet to speak to anyone regarding my delivery…..

This has led my wife to go to the local mall MTN store and apply additionally for another contract for my daughter – the only thing now, is the phone is the Iphone 6S, not the 7, and the monthly price is nor R549 per month and not R449…..so we have to settle for lower grade at a higher price…..well done MTN!

Let me bring another element into this equation for your customer service to ponder…..you must be asking yourself, why the Iphone when there are so many other capable phones out there? The simple answer to this is – my daughter has been diagnosed with “special needs” – she is 14 this year, and still is on the level of a 6-7 year old when it comes to reading and writing. Can you imagine, as a parent, knowing your child wants some independence, but cannot have it due to barriers she faces….as a parent, you want your children to be happy and to able to experience what children their own age experience – in other words, be normal…

The one way to combat this was to use the “Siri” application on the Iphone so she could do everything via voice command, hence giving her some independence, but I guess reason behind order is none of your business anyway – we are just a number after all….

What I would like to know is the following :

1. While chasing revenue and keeping Shareholders happy is the goal of large corporates (please bear in mind I have also worked for an organisation such as yours), should more emphasis not be placed on your customers? After all, it is the customer that put your company where it is today… 2. After having to take out an additional contract, for a lesser phone, for a higher price, who will be responsible for price difference?

I know this email will fall on deaf ears, and as I said, I question why I am even sending it – I guess it boils down to the false hope that there could be someone reading it who can actually “act” upon it, rather than send an automated “we will get back to you within 48 hours to never”……