MTN, too big for it's boots

I received a sales phone call in March 2025, near the end of a work day. It was an MTN representative, offering me an "upgrade" to an existing mobile router month to month deal. (Upgrade being; changing to a fixed contract for a cheaper monthly cost). I declined the offer but I asked about home WiFi as we are having challenges with our current service provider.

The service representative was happy to help. We settled on the 35mbps line for R549 per month, 24 months.

The router arrived fairly quickly. We waited for the network to kick in but it never did. I called MTN within the first few days and asked them about it. They did something and miraculously, we had great internet for a few minutes. I called MTN again within the next few days and they reset something or other again and vuala, internet for a few minutes. The representative advised that if the internet continued to be problematic, we should call the connectivity department.

I called the connectivity department and they said that the speed is wrong for where we live. We'd need to downgrade to a 20mbps line. We went to MTN Canal Walk, we spoke with a representative, where we came to the conclusion that we'd rather cancel. We were advised to hand in the router. We took the router to Promenade (Mitchell's Plain) mall.

The representative at Promenade mall told us that she needs the piece of paper that came with the delivery box. We drove home but I couldn't find the piece of paper. Upon returning to the store, they declined to help.

We decided to go back to Canal Walk branch because they give better customer service. We took the router to the store and a representative informed us that they are not an MTN owned store, we would need to go to an MTN owned store in office hours. We left the store but something didn't seem right. We went back to the store and spoke with a different representative this time. We handed in the device and we were informed to cancel the contract telephonically. We were also informed that the usage address on the system is Cape Town CBD, which is about 23km from our home.

I contact *** as instructed by the MTN representative. They told me that I cannot cancel without paying a penalty.

A. Because the cooling off period passed. B. Because we used 11 gigs of data.

My question is, how did we even use 11 gigs of data? The thing worked for a few minutes twice.

That said, MTN sold us a product under false pretenses. I don't have the router or sim in my possession for over two months. I emailed the complaints line and asked for cancellation with no expense to me and to reimburse what I have paid towards this contract.

They agreed to cancel but not refund the R1089,99 they debited me with, noting that 11 gigs of data was used. I agreed, to simply be over with it.

Now, several weeks later, a R926,50 was debited from my bank account. I asked MTN to reimburse me but they said that the contract was cancelled on the 9th of June, and this is my outstanding payment.

I have had absolutely no joy from this experience and I have lost R2016,49 of my hard earned cash. I've made numerous phone calls and driven from pillar to post.

I feel ****med and powerless, as MTN clearly sold me an unsuitable product from which I've derived no joy and I've already lost so much because of it.

I am hoping for the following outcome based on the fact that the product sold to me wasn't fit for purpose and the agent clearly used the incorrect address to make a sale. A. All bank account debits refunded B. Confirmation of cancellation