Mweb: Month-to-month Fibre is a 2-year contract. R 1,725 Penalty cancellation fee for an inactive order. Additional 2 month fees charged on cancellation of non-functioning/used Fibre.

I ordered Fibre via Mweb and Frogfoot on 16/10/2023 as I needed Fibre urgently for work purposes. On 17/10/2023 I received an SMS stating that my fibre is active. The fibre wasn’t working at all. My newly created website profile stated that my order was inactive, and I phoned them: According to them (phone call 087 number, 17/11/2023 – 33 minutes), it is a fault on their side as the salesperson didn’t complete all the steps on their side. I canceled the order via Facebook (got more reaction on Facebook than on the website). The Facebook support assured me that Mweb would not charge me for anything (I have screenshots as proof), as I have canceled the inactive order and product. On 07/11/2023 after various cancellations requests, I received another SMS stating that my fibre is active (AGAIN), after I already got internet with MTN. Suddenly my website profile became active and I had the option to order other products and to cancel the service. I immediately used the cancellation on the website. Guess what, when you get to the second page of the cancellation process, this “month-to-month” product, suddenly becomes a 24-month contract!! – (I took screenshots ) - This must be a very bright serious red light for anyone who is considering Mweb’s Fibre product!! I wasn’t aware of any ISP except for Vodacom etc that offers fibre on a 24-month contract. The problem is that the terms and conditions on the sign up page doesn’t reveal that Mweb’s fibre is in fact a 24 month contract.

My address didn’t qualify for a 2-month promotion at the time. The terms and conditions below carry on about the promotions and conditions of promotional products. Nowhere does Mweb disclose that this is in fact a 24-month contract – this is not transparent and not ethical business practices at all. (Screenshot taken during sign-up process) (remember I have never used or registered with Mweb before)

As you can see, you will be charged a cancellation fee, that consists of the installation fee (R 1,150), activation charge (R 575) and a fee for a router (R 699) if you have ordered one and this refers to promotional items ONLY. First of all, no installation was needed at my house as we have used Frogfoot via Afrihost up to November 2022. We had fibre with Frogfoot since fibre first became active in our area and no one from Mweb or Frogfoot came into my house since I have ordered fibre from Mweb on 16/10/2023. How can I possibly charged for installation if no new installation has been done, Mweb? I unplugged the cable from the little fibre box (ONT) on 31/10/2023 already, so I don’t know if this fibre was actually activated on 07/11/2023. Anyway, I have never accessed the internet via any of my devices since registering with Mweb. Then on 07/11/2023 Mweb also charged me for usage since 07/11/2023 up to 31/12/2023, together with a cancellation fee of R 1,725.00. The total outstanding of R 2,832.00 up to 31/12/2023, for a product that I have never used. I also canceled the actual order long before Mweb’s alleged second activation. Then I also canceled the actual product on the alleged day of activation. Mweb also charged me for all these things after I received confirmation via Facebook that I won’t be charged, as the order wasn’t active. Even if the Fibre did become active on 07/11/2023 it is 3 weeks after I have received confirmation that the fibre is active. I will never, never, never recommend Mweb to anyone, not even to my enemies! I have also contacted Frogfoot various times, and they didn’t help me, they are too concerned with their objective to close a “the ticket” in under 72 hours. It is a shame that companies like Mweb rips off consumers in a country where people are losing their jobs left and right, because of *******ion and various other negative factors. Now, remember that if you have been following the fibre speeds in South Africa, you would have noticed that the major ISP’s are constantly increasing the speed of their internet fibre packages. Now, these people from Mweb don’t indicate or notify you that you are in fact entering into a 24-month contract with them. So why would you stay with the same low speed for 2 years, if you could increase the speed of your fibre every few months? This doesn’t make any sense!

Fellow consumers: I have found the following website which seems to be the ombudsman for cases like this: https://www.cgso.org.za/cgso/ : Consumer Goods & Services Ombud. Lets report these kind of practices to the Ombudsman

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The above Saturday was on 4 November.

This morning 07/11/2023 I sent the below message to Mweb via Facebook: / /

Sign up process screenshots:

When you click on Terms and conditions, they carry on about promotion, but nowhere is their any indication that you are signing up for a two year contract.

My address didn’t qualify for a 2 month promotion at the time.

Below is a screenshot from the Mweb page (taken today) and below that is a screenshot about my order, which is still being “provisioned”

Below are the queries after I phoned to try to lodge a new query today, but the Mweb website doesn’t allow me to. Anyway, the Mweb agent said that the line must still be activated with Mweb and he lodged one of the queries below. One of the queries has been resolved according to them, but nothing has changed since then!

Queries:

Earlier this month I contacted Frogfoot directly enquiring about the possibility of registering directly with Frogfoot. The frogfoot person stated that I should use one of the ISPs, so I did and just like the first time I had fibre with frogfoot, the ISP is causing these problems (last year I used Afrihost). So, I acted on the advice given by the Frogfoot sales agent. But strangely enough, when I check your coverage map, your website states that I can get direct internet with Frogfoot, when I get a new installation in the back part of my yard!!!!!????

So, to summarize: Today I have tried to contact Mweb using the Facebook option, because I am not going to pay for another expensive call to a 087 number and because the MWEB website didn’t allow me to open a new query this morning.

BUT, since this morning I have changed my mind, I now had enough. My Facebook message to Mweb stated that I am cancelling my order altogether, as my account is still not active and I still couldn’t use the Frogfoot Fibre.

So, if you as Frogfoot can not find a way, to give my direct access to the Frogfoot Fibre network, without using an ISP, consider this as my direct cancellation notice, as I doubt that Mweb will even reply or do anything further. The other limitation with the Mweb/Frogfoot is the 40/10 line available, all together a disappointing experience

Please acknowledge my direct cancellation notice with Frogfoot.

I will rather go back to LTE wireless internet, I am also not interested in Telkom or Openserve.