Neotel pulled money from my account without a signed contract

<p>In mid-March 2016, I went to Neotel to apply for wifi to be installed in my home. They provided me with a quote, but told me that I would only need to sign a contract once the wifi had been installed and was working properly. They installed a 4MB line in early April 2016 at my home. Immediately, it became apparent that I was not receiving 4MB of speed, but instead was averaging around 0.5-1MB at any given time. I began exchanging emails with Neotel about this problem, noting that I would not sign the contract until it was sorted out. After countless calls and emails, no progress was ever made. </p> <p> </p> <p>Despite this lack of progress, on 1 June 2016 Neotel pulled R1,356.18 from my husband’s bank account. They did this even though I had never signed a contract agreeing with Neotel and had never authorised them to deduct money from my account. On the same day, I emailed Neotel with a termination request and told the about the withdrawal from my account. I only received an automatic acknowledgement but no other communication, so on 7 June I emailed Pertunia Matlala, who told me (on 9 June) that the termination was being processed and the credit note would be processed once this was complete.</p> <p> </p> <p>On 17 June, I received an email saying that the account had been terminated. However, following this notice the reimbur*****t never came, and again on 1 July 2016 Neotel pulled R698.82 from my account. At this point, my husband had FNB reverse this debit immediately and asked them to follow up and try to reverse the 1 June 2016 debit as well.</p> <p> </p> <p>Over the course of July and August, I exchanged countless emails and calls with Neotel asking about the credit that I was owed. Throughout this time, I was also received multiple SMS’s and calls from Neotel saying that I owed them money related to the reversed debit order. In response, I continuously asked Neotel to provide me with a contract with my signature, which they never did (which is not surprising because I never signed anything). Over this period, there was never any clarity or resolution to these issues.</p> <p> </p> <p>On 5 September 2016, I received a SMS from Neotel saying that my “Neotel account of R924.24 has been handed over to NuDebt. Call ********** 647 ref: ND ********** 0 to arrange payment.” I called NuDebt immediately and asked them to send me the contract I had signed, and they stated they had not received this from Neotel and would look into it.</p> <p> </p> <p>In addition to being extremely frustrated with Neotel’s incompetence and unprofessionalism, I am now very concerned that this will lead to my being blacklisted. I would like immediate resolution of this situation, which would be the clearing of any outstanding debt with Neotel and a reimbur*****t of all amounts *******ly deducted from my account.</p> <p> </p> <p>I have submitted complaints to ICASA and the National Consumer Commission. I'm also seeking advice on taking legal action.</p>