MTN have charged me over R15 000 in incorrect fees due to 'system errors', and useless Customer Services. I am now left completely disempowered and at their mercy.

Hello Peter,

I'd like to warn consumers to avoid MTN because of the frustrating journey I've been on, and the hopeless and disempowered position I now find myself in because of a multitude of technical errors on their side. My story is long and detailed, but is all around a My MTNChoice 20Gb data contract I subscribed to in May 2018, for R499pm, and which has now cost me over R15 000 in incorrect fees.

I will share the following insights I have learnt along the way.

1. The Consumer Protection Act, Section 14(3)(i) as read with Regulation 5(2), provides clear guidelines regarding the early cancellation of contracts. Service providers are entitled to charge a 'reasonable' fee for early cancellation, to recover outstanding costs for devices, etc. However, when I asked MTN if I could cancel my contract 5 months early, they effectively barred me from early cancellation when they quoted me a cancellation fee of R2526 - effectively the same cost as simply paying for the contract for another 5 months. This despite the fact that I had no device or outstanding costs attached to the contract. (MTN email ***). I believe this is *******, and MTN should be held accountable for this behaviour.

2. Don't believe that MTN will honour the contract you sign with them. My contract was a 20Gb per month data contract, and at the time a promotion 'doubled my data' for free. When the 24 month term of my contract ended, I expected that my billing would revert to normal billing for a 20Gb contract, as I had signed for. I expected that the promotional data would fall away, because MTN told me that my data would be doubled for free. However, instead of the extra 20Gb of promotional data falling away, MTN presumptuously decided that they would continue to provide me with an extra 20Gb of data, that I had never asked for, and increased my monthly debit order from R528, to R2405! I gave no consent to such an incredible increase in my debit order, and this was completely contrary to the 20Gb monthly data contract I had signed for. My MTN email ***.

3. Do not rely on MTN's customer care services. Over 1 year of emails and telephone queries to their customer services, and every single thread now remains unrep**** to by MTN. They simply stop replying to my email queries, and calls to their customer services are never returned, despite promises to do so. See MTN email thread ***, ***, and call Ref ***, Call ref 1-***, Call ref: ***, ref ***, Call ref: ***, Call ***, Call ref: ***.

4. Do not think that you are safe from being overcharged incorrectly by MTN. MTN loaded my contract incorrectly on their system, and because of this I was suddenly charged in excess of R2400 per month, despite only wanting, and only agreeing to, 20Gb of data per month. It has been impossible for me to reverse these charges. (See all references above).

5. Cancelling your contract is more difficult than you can imagine. After spending 2 months trying to find out from MTN why I was being overcharged, I eventually cancelled my data subscription on the myMTN app in Sept 2020. However, I received another invoice from MTN in mid-October, so I called their customer services to ask why I was still being invoiced. The Consultant assured me that my subscription was indeed cancelled, and I would simply be charged a final payment (call ref 1-***). However, the following month, my bank account is debited AGAIN! However, I note that at least now I am only receiving 20Gb of data per month, but unfortunately still being charged in excess of R2400 per month. I don't know what for. At least MTN have stopped invoicing me. I take these as signs that my cancellation on the myMTN app have at least registered on their system, albeit rather unhelpfully.

I am then told that I will need to cancel my contract directly with the MTN retentions department, despite the fact that my myMTN app now clearly shows that I have NO ACTIVE SUBSCRIPTIONS (whereas there were previously 2x 20Gb subscriptions, which I cancelled!).So I try get hold of Retentions. In November 2020, our local MTN tower is vandalised by *********, and we have no network to make any phonecalls for 1 month (Madwaleni Hospital area, Elliotdale, Eastern Cape). Through December 2020, in the midst of our second COVID wave at our hospital at which I work, I try to call MTN retentions daily - each time, after waiting in excess of 15 minutes for an answer, I am forced to give up and return to the COVID wards where I work. I try calling MTN Retentions more than 10 times, and am unable to get through to them - waiting over 45 minutes one day with no answer. I am completely unable to cancel this subscription and the monthly debits continue, despite multiple emails and phone calls to Customer Services along the way. (See all above references). I finally get through to Retentions in January 2021!

However, the Debit orders continue. They are now in excess of R3000 per month!

So I contact my bank, and request that they cancel and reverse the debits made against my account by MTN. Once this happens, MTN then kindly decides to start sending me invoices again - pointing out that I know owe them in excess of R6000.

6. Do not think that MTN is at all interested in resolving disputes. They have all but given up on engaging with me to resolve this dispute, and have handed my account over to the Credit Bureau, despite our unresolved dispute. Along the way, MTN have called me back ONCE, to acknowledge my dispute, and promised to arrange for some of my recordings (when my contract was sold to me initially, and when the consultant confirmed that my account was indeed cancelled in October 2020) to be accessed and listened to, but I then received no further follow up from them. My own attempts at accessing the voice recordings have been absolutely futile, despite multiple promises from consultants along the way that they would 'escalate' the problem and get back to me. See all references above.

A friend, working in a 3rd party contract position on the MTN technical side, gave me valuable insight - the MTN system is apparently in shambles after a recent upgrade into a newer system, and I am one of multitudes of their clients left with these issues as a result.

I have approached ICASA with this dispute, and they unfortunately feel that this is out of their jurisdiction (GAU003199/21) and so I have now approached the National Consumer Commission to help, as I now sit trying to recover over R15 000 in incorrect charges from MTN, all due to system errors and poor Customer Care. Mtn Customer Services have turned their back on me completely, and I have nowhere left to turn but to Hello Peter, and social media.

I hope my story helps warn consumers about MTN, and if it shakes MTN up into a better service provider then that would probably benefit a lot of people as well.