Paying for a phone that is not in possession of the customer, refusal to replace a faulty iPhone 7 within warranty and being held liable to pay an exorbitant bill of (R5000).

I bought two iPhone 7 black 32 Gig in July 2020. One of the iPhone could not read the mobile network in the first 2/3 months of purchase it was booked in for repairs hardly a month or two later the same problem persisted. I then booked in the phone for repairs in January 2021 up to date 6 April 2021 I am still not in possession of the phone.

I have been paying my MTN account consistently with no quarrels though I do not have the phone in my possession.

I tried calling MTN repairs centre for the past 2/3 months with no solid answer to my satisfaction. Last week I was told that my sim tray is broken and therefore I should pay R5000 for a new phone replacement.

1. The phone has/had a network problem it's not the first time it sets foot at the repairs, nothing was done about it, it was send back only to be told it was fixed, by the was only 3 months old, hardly 3 months after that I experience the same problem. 2. Again it booked in January, with the same problem, and I was told the Find My iPhone is still active, which we managed to switch off. 3. Now I am told I that I broke the sim tray, and I’ve been told that the phone cannot be repaired or replaced because of the sim tray that broke, if I do not make a payment of that invoice the phone will be returned to the store and the store will contact me to come and collect my useless phone tray iPhone.

It doesn’t make sense why I should pay R5000 for a phone that is somewhat discontinued, there is no verified website for me as a consumer to confirm the current phone value and also paying for a phone that I haven’t been using for the past 3 months and I still honoured my contractual obligation with MTN to pay for the phone in question.

Where is my fairness when I had no phone for 3 months and still paying for something that I wasn’t using?

None of the contact centre agents were able to assist me or escalate the matter to management. This is not the first time I am faced with a situation where MTN does not take me seriously. I feel as through MTN thinks that it is doing me a favour by giving me whatever they want and I should either take it continue to pay a phone that does not work for the remaining 15 months.

As a consumer I feel violated and not protected, I feel that money is being ******ed from me without care for as long as the service provider gets their payment every month they are unbothered whether I am a satisfied customer or not.

This is not good principles from MTN no customer satisfaction. During a global pandemic South African citizens have lost their jobs, their income and those who are still employed others did not get their annual increases every price is hiked all over and you find a service provider that says “ Connecting people and communities across the Middle East and Africa through voice and data services, changing lives for the better in a bold new digital world” unfortunately I cannot say that’s the case with me.

I have been a customer with MTN for the 13 years and there were so many errors from their side overcharging my account for approximately 2/3 years without removing the BIS on my account.

My believe is that MTN issued me with a faulty iPhone initially, and it doesn’t make sense to have a phone within 2/3 months and then it starts to have a problems. My believe is that when you make a device purchase you expect it to be assessed by the SABS and that usage will be with ease. Now I am held liable for a faulty phone. Had MTN replace this phone initially I doubt it that there would have been a situation of this kind.

MTN is not caring about my outcry they just want to pay and then we move on swiftly without them taking accountability.