MTN's false advertising of deals and devices.

In the beginning of December, I checked if I was due for an upgrade and to my suprise this was the case. I proceeded to make my way to The Glen Shopping center which is host to two MTN stores (one being a franchise store). Upon entering, I selected the ticket needed for my request and proceeded to be called to be served by one of the tellers available.

Before my visit, I had viewed MTN's December 2020 catalogue and came across the LG Wing 5G which was being advertised to come with a set of promotional headphones if you submit documentation of your purchase/upgrade. In the fine print it also explained that a R1000 Takealot voucher would be gifted to any purchased of the product as long as the documents were sent through before the cut off date for this promotion. As both promotions were still in a valid time frame I proceeded to enquire about upgrading to this LG device as I had awaited it's release and this deal was too good to pass up.

To my surprise, the teller explains that the store has not received the device even though it was being advertised. I know for a fact these devices could not have sold out because consumers tend to stray away from LG flagship devices compared to the other brands, this store also did not have any Huawei devices in stock.

I then proceeded to exit the store and make my way to the franchise store which is located near the food court in the mall. Upon my arrival there I proceeded to follow the same procedure, provide my number, confirm that my number was due for am upgrade and then proceeded to ask to upgrade to this LG device. The teller at this store explained to me that even this store had not received this device and did not know when stock would be received as a matter of fact. I then asked if the mobile device is available at any other store. The teller proceeded to check the system and there was no other store with this device. As this was early in December I did not make too much of this as I assumed they would receive stock before Christmas.

The next week I proceeded to call and still nothing. Not one single device had been delivered. I was then frustrated and annoyed as I was ready to upgrade but false advertising seemed to be the appropriate term for what was happening. I just left and proceeded to go on with life giving the stores time to restock and maybe the device would arrive sooner than later.

Then today the 27th December 2020, I proceeded to visit the mall again. This giving the store a couple of weeks to stock this device which is falsely being advertised. I followed the same procedure and as it was time to choose a device. I proceeded to request the LG Wing 5G device. The teller explained that this device had still not been stocked at this store and that no other store has it. The promotional date for the Takealot voucher has thus ended already on the 14th December if not mistaken as this was the cut off date for documents to be sent through to be processed for this promotional package. This means that no one has received this which leads me to ask the question why MTN is falsely advertising devices they do not have or do not stock and how can they proceed to falsely advertise such deals when promotions will never be claimed.

According to The Advertising Regulatory Board of South Africa, requires that advertisers must hold the evidence for their advertising claims. Adverti*****ts must be truthful and may not mislead consumers. What MTN has done with this posting in the December 2020 catalogue is considered to be false advertising as they are advertising a device with deals which have a deadline but they do not actually have these devices on hands for consumers.

This is highly disappointing as competitors have these devices in their store and as an MTN customer of many years. It is not the first time that upgrading to an LG device has been very frustrating and discouraging. I am highly disappointed, not in the actions or serving of the tellers but of the service of MTN as an organization.