Unbelievable in every respect. They tell you that there is no contract activated then activate it a month later without your knowledge. Then send you a bill a month after that!

Mr "whose surname was refused to be given to me when I requested it, telling me 'it is not MTN policy to give that out'" was not prepared to move one inch to make it easy for me to cancel the contract but insisted that I drive to the nearest MTN Direct Store to do the cancellation and was not interested that it was another 122 km round trip for me to travel further in order to get the contract cancelled yesterday at about 15.30 in the afternoon on a weekend when the road would be busy because of the Whale Festival in Herm**** and that I would have 2 mountain passes to travel both ways and end up at home at about 10 o'clock at night!! He only stressed that I had to cancel within 7 calendar days otherwise I would be liable for the costs!!! While taking down the scanty details which I requested to be able to report his bad customer service, he was speaking so rapidly (I suspect to confuse me) that I had to tell him to speak slowly because I am over 60 and cannot write so fast. At this he politely told me that I had no business accepting a contract at my age. What cheek! What utter *******! What disrespect was shown at this stage! Sequence of events as follows: On the 13 September 2017 at 15.39, I was called by a "Withheld number" with regard to a contract for 2 x cellphones for R69 Per month with 500 megs of data plus 50 minutes of airtime. After a 15 minute call, I decided that it was not what I wanted because I requested that my number be ported to the new sim card and I was told that it was not possible so I said thank you very much but I'm not interested and hung up. During the conversation, I was told that it wouldn't be necessary because the phone was a dual sim phone. First lie!!! At 15.56, I was called again by the lady who then told me that it was possible to have my number ported. I said that I would think about it and that she should call me back the next day. She called me the next day at 09.33 whereupon I said that I would be interested in the contract after ensuring that it was exactly what I wanted (or so I was lead to believe [at this stage, I did not know that MTN no longer offer a contract with airtime and data on one sim card. This I was only told for the first time at the MTN Herm**** shop yesterday]) and we proceeded with her taking all of my details. Something I have picked up on the contract only yesterday after I got home was that the mailing details were not captured correctly as per my specific instruction to this lady that I only accept correspondence via e-mail. The contract stated incorrectly that correspondence should be posted but no postal address was taken down!!! Somewhere in the next hour, she got sick and male person took over the call to complete the contract as she was no longer able to complete the transaction. The call was lost just before everything was finalised and at 10.36 a 3 minute conversation took place to finalise. From then on, I waited with baited breath as well as apprehension (because of my uneasy feeling with regard to “the contract of my dreams”) for my cellphones to arrive via courier at my door. 11.29 I got my first sms to say that Mobilestore has processed my order MP- ********** 2-1 and that they would be in touch on the status. I got an e-mail on the 19th to say that my MTN contract has been approved and they will be in touch shortly. Finally yesterday, I called DSV - the couriers - to find out when my phones would be delivered and today at 11.17 I got the call from the driver to say he is coming up the road where I stay so that I could meet him at the gate of the complex where I stay to let him in. Well, I opened my package with great excitement and found that there were 2 x sim card and each phone only had 1 slot for a sim card. When I called for activation, I was told that I would have to go into an MTN store to have the number ported before they did the activation. So I got in my car and drove for 1 hour to the nearest MTN store in order to do this. The first thing that I was not told correctly by the sales person who apparently a Magdalene? Tilley (if my memory of today's events are correct) because everything from this point onward went downhill very fast. Miss Tilley told me at the time of the contract being discussed that I would have to get delivery of the instrument first and she gave me a number, which I can't remember, to call to have the number ported once delivery took place. I told her very clearly when she called that it was an hour's drive to the nearest MTN store from where I stay. This was not the case. I called MTN Direct to do this and was told that I have to go to the MTN Store in order to have the porting done. Then I get to the store where I was told that I could not have the airtime and the data on one sim card because of there only being one slot in the phones by both the sales person in the store and the person at the activation centre of MTN. This is when I decided that I do not want the contract because it was not what I understood that I was supposed to be getting and that I do not want to use one phone for data and another for airtime. MTN Direct then told me over the phone that I would have to speak to the sales lady that sold me the contract to get the contract cancelled. I asked to be transferred to her and it was at this stage that I was given her name. When I got through to the company concerned, not realising at this stage that it was no longer MTN but a franchisee that sold me the contract; I asked to speak to the supervisor who later refused to give me his full name just that his name was Clinton. He refused to cancel the contract because only the sales person who sold me the contract could cancel it and he could not put me through to her because there were no lines to her??? And that I have to send an e-mail to her and that I have 7 days in which to cancel the contract. (I'm guessing there were only outgoing lines and no incoming lines. Also I’m guessing that all of this is a delaying tactic in order to tie me into the contract that I do not want because of the cooling off period expiring first before the contract is cancelled and I would have to pay the cost of the cancellation. This I do not want to happen!!!!). Not sure, but it could also be that they were not willing to cancel contract because he was threatening me that should I not drive through for another hour to an MTN Direct store to cancel the contract, I would be liable for the instruments and mentioned a value of about R750. It was going to cost me R500 petrol for me to drive to the nearest MTN Direct Store. I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't and Clinton "whose surname was refused to be given to me when I requested it, telling me 'it is not MTN policy to give that out'" of Mobilesplus was not interested in the fact that I was **** to about what my contract consisted of nor it was not explained clearly enough that I was getting 2 x sim cards with data on the one and airtime on the other and that the phones were not dual sim phones and now I was getting threatened that I have to drive to the nearest MTN Direct Store within 7 days to cancel otherwise I am liable for the contract. All of this was making me very nervous because I am concerned that I would not get a response in time to cancel the contract – as I wish it to be – Cancelled!!! The sales assistant at the MTN Franchise at Herm**** was very helpful in giving me tips on what to say to Clinton "whose surname was refused to be given to me when I requested it, telling me 'it is not MTN policy to give that out'" and letting me use their phone all this time and I would give her 5 stars for her helpfulness - even to the point of being the first one to mention that for me it was a 2 hour drive to the Somerset Mall where the MTN Direct Store was to Clinton "whose surname was refused to be given to me when I requested it, telling me 'it is not MTN policy to give that out'" but Clinton "whose surname was refused to be given to me when I requested it, telling me 'it is not MTN policy to give that out'" was not interested in what I had to say only that I had to go to the MTN Direct Store to cancel the contract even to the point of being rude and obnoxious, talking too fast when I asked for the name of the business and the phone number so that I couldn't write it down fast enough and when I explained that I am 60 and not fast in the things I did anymore - no sympathy but critically asking me why I took out a contract if I was over 60 and that I had no business taking out a contract at that age! Hey they called me! They had plenty of time to realise that I was over 60 when they took all of my details on the 14th! They had plenty of time to work that out. Oh! And he insisted that I was the one who called them! I didn't even know that the contract was available until their Sales Person called me! Anyway, long story short, I sat on the phone for almost an hour after all of the calls back and forth trying to get through to the correct department at MTN Direct Head Office with nobody answering. I only got back home after 6pm accomplishing nothing and deciding that I will have to call first thing Monday morning in order to cancel that contract which I will not be doing until I have sent the e-mail requesting the cancellation to both MTN as well as Mobileplus and copying in ICASA. This will make it 4 days after delivery. I am writing this now so that everyone will know not to take out a contract with Mobilesplus or Mobilestore because they do not want to cancel contracts which their staff are not properly trained for to make in the first place to be open and honest about what is exactly on offer. The normal T&C's are explained properly but what the customer really wants are not taken into consideration properly and the staff do not know what is needed to know in order to make proper contracts. They are not trained properly on what was previously on offer on contract so that they know where the customer is coming from. Lies and omissions do not constitute making a contract binding. Also Clinton did not answer me when I asked him to go over the recorded calls - which leaves me in doubt that this actually is the case so it ends up being my word against theirs. I am not happy about the situation which has been forced on me by the staff of this company and I think they should lose their franchise because they give MTN a bad name! I will also try to copy this whole piece onto hellopeter for this problem to become more widely known. These people should not be allowed to carry on their business.