RICA BARRED

On Saturday I took out a new contract with MTN. I had previously been with Cell C which I left due to reception issues. My old number therefore had to be ported from Cell C. The port was successful, and I'm no longer on Cell C service. However since Saturday I had not had any reception I'm unable to receive/make calls sms's or make use of any other function of the phone that requires registration on the the mobile network. Apparantly my number is Rica barred. While upgrading at my local store, the number was Rica'd and after two visits to the store today I was informed that Rica is offline, and various others are also experiencing the same difficulties. I find this completely unacceptable that contract are sold with Rica being offline. I'm thinking of returning the phone and going to Vodacom. This is clearly a head office issue, and if it wasn't for the friendly and helpfull staff at the Eden Meander branch in George, I would have left immediately. I hope this can be sorted out timeously, or I might be forced to take alternative actions.