Poor service from MTN El Ridge in Boksburg

Good day,

My son and his girlfriend flew to Ireland on Thursday the 6th of December at 14:10 and she needed her phone before she flew.

I understand that there is a hardware related issue with her phone and it continually freezes and that it needs to be replaced.

They took the phone to MTN at the El Ridge Centre in Boksburg on the 12th of November 2018 and the manager there, a Mr Jean van De Riet (083 *** ***x) informed them that the phone needs to go into the repair center and as soon as they have checked it they will provide her with a replacement phone.

He informed them that it would take 10 days for this process to happen, which means that the issue should have been resolved on the 23rd of November.

They went back on a number of occasions and have now been informed that it could take more than a month to resolve by Marietta Botha (083 *** ***x) and that the manager was lying to them with regards to the timeframe of 10 days.

I spoke to Ms Botha on the 3rd of December and she provided me with vague answers with regard to the phone and the timeframes. I requested that she confirms the exact time frames that are involved with regard to this phone as the originally promised timeframes had obviously not been met and we no longer had time on our side.

Daniella’s contract number is C00***xx and I understand that she is paying a premium for her contract.

The repair reference number is R00NR03C************x.

As MTN did not resolve the matter before Daniella and my son flew to Ireland, I have been pursuing the matter with the MTN store at El Ridge.

As a direct result of the fact that she does not have her iPhone with her in Ireland, I have had to spend a considerable amount of money purchasing items for them in the UK and shipping it to them so that they could take photos while they are on holiday.

Despite her promises to call me and let me know what was happening Ms Botha did not call me back and I went into the store on the 17th of December 2018 to find out what was happening. Ms Botha told me that the phone would be replaced but that she was looking for the necessary authorisaton number as she was unable to logon to the system to obtain it. She then promised me that she would get the number and call me on the 18th of December to tell me what was happening.

As Ms Botha again did not keep her promise to call me and let me know what was happening I took time off work on the 20th of December to go to the store and enquire as to the status of the replacement phone as Daniella would require the phone as soon as she returned from Ireland on the 1st of January.

Ms Botha informed me that there was no stock of that model but that Daniella could get the iPhone Xs for an additional payment of R1,300 as that phone was in stock. I asked her why she expected Daniella to pay in an additional R1,300 when it was MTN’s responsibility to replace her phone. In my opinion, MTN should replace her iPhone 256Gb with the newer model if they are unable to provide her with a replacement phone at no cost to her. This is what I told Ms Botha and the other MTN employees in that store.

I was then told by all the employees, included Ms Botha, that they would raise the matter with their manager, a person called Mark with telephone number 083 *** ***x, on the 21st of December as they were having a meeting with him at the El Ridge store. They would request Mark to contact me today, the 21st of December.

I understand that Mark has some oversight position with regards to the El Ridge, Oakfields, Bonaero Park store and Meadowdale MTN stores.

I told the employees that I was unsure as to whether Mark would actually contact me on the 21st as Ms Botha had promised to call me twice before and had broken her promises and I therefore had little faith in anyone from that store actually returning my call. As a precaution I requested Mark’s telephone number and I told the staff that I would call him if he did not call me.

True to form, Mark did not call me during the day and I decided to call him at 14:50 to find out what was happening. I had to call him repeatedly (5 times) before he decided to answer the phone and we spoke for 14 minutes and 26 seconds.

I asked him why he had not called me as the store employees had emphatically promised that they would speak to him and that he WILL phone me. He then told me that the store employees had not told him about my issue and that he had not been to the El Ridge store for quite a while. Little did Mark know that I was actually at the El Ridge shopping centre to do some shopping and I went to the MTN store after my call with him and they all confirmed that he had had a meeting with them this morning and that they had raised my problem with him. He had requested that Ms Botha email him my contact number. Whether the store employees were not telling the truth or Mark, I am sure you could easily find out.

During the call he said that the MTN warehouse had closed on the 20th of December and all iPhone X 256Gb phones had been on backorder for months. He would be willing to give her a 64Gb iPhone XS as a replacement for the iPhone X 256Gb and I told him that that was not acceptable as she uses the phone for her work and needs the capacity that she purchased. I also told him that I find it unfair that she has not had a phone (a very expensive phone that she is paying a lot of money for) for a month and a half due to MTN’s issues. It is also costing me a lot of money to resolve the photo taking problems in Ireland due to her not having the phone she purchased.

Based on my interaction with the store employees and Mark, I unfortunately cannot believe anything that they are saying and question why MTN would close their warehouse during the busiest time of the year?

To resolve this matter I would appreciate the following: 1st prize MTN finds a replacement iPhone X 256Gb 2nd prize MTN replaces her iPhone X 256Gb with a iPhone XS 256Gb at no cost to her as I do not believe that it is her fault that MTN has no stock of the replacement phones and she has been waiting since the 12th of November for her phone issue to be resolved

I personally would NEVER use any of the MTN stores mentioned here as telling the truth appears to be a foreign concept to them and I will not even consider using MTN in the future.

When I had a problem with my Samsung Note 2's battery when I was with Vodacom I called them and they apologised for the fact that I was a having a problem and asked if I would not mind taking a Note 3 as they no longer had stock of the Note 2. I had my replacement Note 3 the next day, delivered to my office. THAT IS SERVICE.

Thanks and regards,