"We cannot assist, We don't know what is the problem, The customer service personnel misled you"

<p>How can I phone the customer service of MTN, more than 15 times, and each time I get a different response? Some MTN customer service operators trying to be helpful but ***********, some just plain rude and lastly, some 'misleading'. I am denied a service I paid for. I am a woman, travelling with 2 babies on the SA roads, and no mobile phone to let anyone know in case I have an emergency. I am utterly disappointed by the way MTN deals with customer issues.</p> <p>On 18 July 2016 a MTN customer service operator told me the move from MTN contract phone to prepaid (requested on 21 April 2016 and migrated on 24 April 2016) was not complete. The MTN system apparently showed her the phone sim card needs to be reset. She requested I switch off my phone and take out the sim and battery for 5min and then the migration will be complete. However, since I have done this, my mobile cannot make outgoing calls, I cannot use my data or sms's. It can only receive calls and sms's. It was loaded with prepaid money and working fine before the sim card reset.</p> <p>This whole week I have tried several times a day to phone MTN customer service to resolve the issue.</p> <p>Seeing as my husband, who works in Qatar, was the contract account holder, he has to phone the MTN customer service to resolve the prepaid issue. Really? Why? It's a prepaid phone now and I, the user of the phone, cannot phone 173 (prepaid customer services department - the response is 'your service has been suspended, please contact your service provider'.) I can only phone 808 (contracts customer services department.) So in short. I am unable to phone the prepaid customer department and the contracts department does not want to help me as I am not the account holder.</p> <p>My husband tried all the suggested phone numbers from abroad with no success. Why can one not get through to MTN from abroad? This is 2016 people! We all have family working overseas and customers living abroad. MTN you need to take your business serous AND your customers.</p> <p>My husband tried phoning to a landline and I phoned MTN contracts customer service. With both phones on loudspeaker the sound was very bad and I had to convey all messages between my husband and the operator. We were however told by a Mr. Thabo, who sounded much clued up, to unbar the phone calls with a code and then to reboot. Seeing as we were fed up with bad service as I have been calling MTN customer service department so many times without a working solution, we requested a call reference no ( ********** 10). We also asked Mr. Thabo if it will be possible to speak to him in the future by phoning the customer service and requesting to be put through to him as my husband cannot walk out of meetings and put his day on hold to answer the same questions every time I phone MTN customer service in hope of a solution to my broken network. Mr. Thabo said it is possible to request his service next time. </p> <p>Needless to say, switching off call barring did not work. After 24 hours, rebooting and testing my phone I gave up and phoned MTN customer service department requesting to speak to Mr. Thabo again. My request was received with 'it is against company policy'. Requesting the lady to follow up the call reference no in hope of progress on the issue I was told 'Mr. Thabo has misled you mam. We do not have that option.’???? So a MTN customer services operator does not have the option to escalate an issue which is unresolved. Are all operators experts on all aspects of a phone? Certainly not! So why does MTN not have a system to assist its operators in resolving issues they are *********** to deal with? The operator just said she does not know what could be the problem I should phone 555 and activate my contact. If I do phone 555 (which I have done the past 5 days!) the response is 'we are experiencing technical difficulties at the moment. Please try again later'. I am disappointed again!</p> <p>On 20 June we again tried the loudspeaker option (hubby on a second line) and again we spoke to a man who sounded like he knew what he was talking about. He said he will log a call with the technical department (in his words 'the people who work with the programming') and they will definitely make sure all services incoming and outgoing are migrated from contracts to prepaid as he is sure this has been where the network error occurred. He requested I switch my phone off several minutes and wait 2-24 hours for the issue to be resolved. He gave the reference no SMC/ ********** 8696. And the story repeats itself. Again I tried to follow up after 24 hours of rebooting and testing my phone and the response by the MTN customer service operator. 'Mam we do not have a technical department to refer unresolved issues too'. ???</p> <p>I ended up phoning the contracts customer service several times to be put through to prepaid customer service. If I was put through which was not always, I explained my story and requested advice. The last advice was to again reset the sim card and switch off my phone for 5 minutes. This made no difference!</p> <p>So stranded without the service I paid for!</p> <p>Phoning contracts customer service they say they cannot see my number's file on the system as it is a prepaid. They cannot help me.</p> <p>Phoning prepaid customer service and they say all looks 100%? They do not know what I should do next to fix the problem. They cannot help me.</p> <p>Last option. To visit a MTN shop where a shop assistant just did exactly the same as I did. Phone the customer service department. (They have no powers to escalate an issue!) He explained to me that there is a suspention on the line and the lady who he talked to will remove the suspention. After 2-24 hours (and switching off my phone for half an hour and rebooting several times) I should try again and the issue will be resolved. NOT! Following up with the MTN shop asssistant I was told there is nothing more they can do!!!</p> <p> </p> <p>Wow MTN! If you follow up on all the (hopefully recorded) customer service calls I've made, you surely need to be ashamed!</p>