MTN Sh*tty service provider… I’m porting out

I bought R250 airtime and transferred R150 to my SIM that I use for streaming, by mistake I transferred to my old mtn contract number which I no longer use. I immediately contacted mtn and after pressing so many options with hopes of speaking to an agent, Thandeka took my call, after explaining that I have 4 numbers with mtn, 2 prepaid and 1 contract I mistakenly transferred airtime to one of my old mtn contract numbers I was told that they cannot retrieve my airtime and my number had been recycled some few weeks ago. Even when I insisted that I still have contract documents that prove that I’m the previous owner to that number they could not get my airtime back….