Pathetic service from MTN

After numerous calls to MTN’s customer care and various visits to MTN Kolonnade customer service centre, I formally lodged a complaint with MTN on 23 March 2023 because of certain issues that remain unresolved.

The first issue is that I’m very disappointed with the level of service that I received from MTN. Since I’ve transferred my cell phone contract from Telkom to MTN in February 2023, I do not have ANY CELLPHONE RECEPTION when there is loadshedding. I work from home and cannot afford not to have any cell phone reception. A lot of my work is done via cell phone communication.

The second issue is that on 10/02/2023 my MTN data contract was changed from MTN Made For Home 1TB to Home Unc FLTE 20Mbps FUP 600GB 4Mbps, after MTN erroneously upgraded my initial contract to a 5G data contract although we don’t have any 5G reception at home. MTN couldn’t rectify the issue telephonically and I had to go visit a customer service centre to resolve the issue, after a few days that I had no internet access and a lot of time spend on the phone with MTN. Besides the no internet issue, I’ve paid for data service up to 16/02/2023 as charged on my January 2023 invoice. However, on my February 2023 invoice, I was invoiced pro-rata for the period 10/02/2023 to 16/02/2023 (when the new contract came into effect) but did not receive any pro-rata credit for the same period that I was already invoiced for in January 2023.

The third issue is that on my February 2023 statement, there was a past invoice of R 142.70 (incl. VAT) added to the statement, although my account is paid monthly by debit order. When I followed this up with MTN's customer care and requesting the invoice, they could not provide the invoice and had to request it. Up to date I still haven't received the past invoice.

The fourth issue is that I was erroneously invoiced for insurance to the amount of R 32.30 (excl. VAT) on my February 2023 invoice, although no insurance was requested on the Branded Retail Channel Customer Checklist. I’ve contacted MTN to rectify the problem and was advised to send an e-mail to ***, in order for them to give me a credit the following month, in March 2023. When I received my invoice for March 2023, a credit of only R 23.29 (excl. VAT) was processed. A discrepancy of R 9.01 (excl. VAT).

The fifth issue is that I was billed R 1.40 (excl. VAT) for an international SMS on my February 2023 invoice, although when I followed this up with MTN, they couldn’t tell me for which number it was. I do not send any international SMSs.

The sixth issue is that according to my invoice for March 2023, my monthly contract subscription fee is increasing on 1 April 2023, within two months after my 24-month contract was taken out in February 2023. MTN did not inform me of any increase within the 24-month contract period. This is not acceptable, and I wonder how the Consumer Goods and Service Ombudsmen is going to respond to this.

The seventh issue is that my invoice details are still incorrect after various requests. When I took out the cell phone contract on 10/02/2023, the person at the Kolonnade customer service centre, corrected the information on the system. My March 2023 invoice still reflect the incorrect details.

As today, 13 April 2023, I still haven't received any response from MTN as yet.