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HS
Hardus S

1 reviews | Active since Jul 2016

10 May 2018, 10:44

Ridiculous arrear account claims by MTN

"Welcome to the Bozza network. How may I brighten up your day"

This is the way MTN clients are greeted when they phone in. In my case they didn't "brighten up" my day. They completely ruined my day.

I received an sms staying: "Yello, please settle R139.00 immediately to avoid a negative credit rating. Kind regards, MTN."

Immediately I am puzzled by this sms as I've always paid more than the amount due so according to me the account should actually be paid up plus extra credit for the amounts overpaid. So I called the Customer Service Centre just to find out that according to MTN I missed a payment in OCTOBER 2016! SERIOUSLY??? After 17 months!

My next question was "Why am I only being notified of this NOW? It's been 17 months. Why wasn't I told in November 2016 so I could send the proof of payment then?" and the consultant's reply was the best yet. According to MTN policy, if I am a cash paying customer and I miss a payment but they receive payments for the account in the months following the (speculated!) missed payment, they don't send out any notifications. Only when the amount hasn't been paid for ALMOST 2 YEARS then it becomes an issue to them! She even said the following: "MTN thinks that you might have forgotten about that amount and believes that you will rectify the issue in the following month". Which is fine, had I been notified in November 2016... But seriously, doesn't MTN think that if I "forgot" for 2 months and I haven't paid the missed amount that a reminder for the issue would be in order??

I feel like this is just unfair treatment! How on this earth does MTN expect me to keep proof of payment from October 2016. The payment was made via an ABSA atm at that time. Those slips fade very quickly. It's unreasonable to expect proof of payment after 17 months! Also, the payment history should reflect that I have never missed a payment. Why would I suddenly miss one payment and just continue paying all the other months

I have no choice but to pay the outstanding amount otherwise my services get cut off!

The MTN consultant didn't even try to help to lodge a query into this!

Luckily I am eligible to cancel my contract in January 2019 and I will most certainly be doing just that!

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Replies (1)
HS
Hardus S's update15 May 2018, 12:00
Reviewer Update
Good day Alice, Thank you for your reply. I am VERY well aware of what the system says on MTN's side. What is making me FURIOUS is the fact that this issue started in 2016 and I was never notified about the issue. I went and drew up a full payment history (using my proof of payments that I found as well as historical MTN statements) from 2016 up until now to see if I missed a payment. And according to my proof of payments I have NEITHER paid the account short NOR late. The only reason your system reflects that it was short and late was due to the alleged missed payment. What is making the matter worse is that MTN is just accepting that I am wrong and their system is correct and 100% without errors. BUT, using the following info you provided, "The account is on cash, you have 21 days from the invoice to make payment to the account. Invoice date is the 20th of every month. The 21 days includes Saturdays and Sundays. ", I put the following question to you... Since I have 21 days from invoice date, why wasn't I called/sms'd after the 21 days had passed to notify me of the issue and informed me that I allegedly didn't pay my account one month? Had MTN actually done this then I would've been able to provide the ATM slip which showed the payment BACK IN 2016 WHEN THIS HAPPENED! This whole issue is completely devoid of common sense on MTN's side. How does MTN expect clients to keep proof of payments almost TWO years after the issue occured? And what is worst of all to me is that I can't even speak directly to a person because the call centre is useless, therefore I have to use an online platform to make my voice heard. Do you understand my problem, Alice? I never doubted as to what MTN alleged was outstanding. I have an issue with the fact that I am to provide proof of payments for almost 2 years ago because of MTN's negligence!