MTN LTE Router & contract mess around

I purchased a 100GB business data contract from MTN Rosebank on 26 Feb with the B618 LTE Router. It was R499 per month for 24 months. For 2 weeks I hadn't been able to use it. Overall I just couldn't get it to work. Due to time constraints I just bought prepaid data on another sim card to keep everyone online. Due to the load shedding we needed a solution that kept our internet and business online with our inverter generators powering computers and the LTE router. I also needed the router at a video production job in Pretoria where we did Facebook Live interviews and again at another shoot on location. Needless to say the 100GB contract just didnt work anywhere.

I finally found the time to go to MTN yesterday and they told me these key factors that they didnt tell me when I signed the 24 month contract: • They said that the sim card needs to be allocated an area which they didnt allocate and thus why it wasn't working. • They also told me that it will only ever work in that one specific area once allocated. i.e. that card cannot move around and function how i need it to function in order to run my business. • I had been waiting at the branch yesterday for over an hour trying to get to the bottom of this but also just waiting to speak to someone who could help me. Eventually I ask to speak to the manager and they told me he is busy having lunch and will phone me in an hour. Needless to say he didnt call me back until this morning. But whats an extra day when you have been waiting 2 weeks.

Who needs great customer service when signing a business contract that directly affects the running of your business. And the ironic thing is that MTN is trying to launch into businesses in a big way and thus why they are offering business deals.

So the Rosebank Mall MTN manager calls me and says he cannot offer me any type of resolution other than signing onto a different contract that offers me 50GB of data for R429 so I will be getting half the amount of data for the same amount of money OR a 120GB contract for R699 where 60GB is day and 60GB night time (but thankfully I dont work at 2am so not beneficial to me). He also didnt care that I have been jumping through hoops for 2 weeks trying to get the thing working and spent a fortune on data yet offered me no compensation for that.

I literally told him that MTN has messed me around for 2 weeks and as a business owner of an always operating video production company, I barely have time to make a personal phone call let alone deal with this nonsense. He still didnt care enough to even escalate this matter to head office where they might be able to offer some sort of compensation or at least try give me a contract where Im not getting *****ed.

What irritates me the most is that if they had told me these restrictions 3 weeks ago when I asked them about this contract, then I would've said no up front and moved on but instead they'd rather sign me up for something that I cant use. In my opinion thats not only terrible business practice but im pretty sure its *****.

I told the MTN manager that Vodacom is offering 100GB anytime data sim with the same B618 router that can be used anywhere in the country and thats only R699 per month and he said to me sorry he cant help. He cant escalate this to head office because they wont care. They offer what they offer and they wont try help me in any way.

I even told him that my business cell phone contract expires this month and I have been with MTN for 15 years. I told the manager that I have had such a terrible experience over this matter receiving no grace from MTN as a loyal customer of 15 years and that I will definitely move over to Vodacom.

The MTN manager said there's nothing he can do about that and we ended the call.

So thats it. Moving over to Vodacom, which my wife is really happy about because she has been with Vodacom forever and never had problems like this.

Latest update 17 April So now MTN didnt even cancel the above contract properly and I have been billed for March for a contract I didnt use 1kb of and currently being billed for April as well. I pointed out in March that I would lose my **** if I got billed for something I literally couldnt even access and they assured me it was cancelled. Yet here I am billed for the contract I couldnt use after I requested they cancel it and it clearly hasnt been cancelled. It really makes it tough to want to stick with a service provider you've been with for years.

Garon