It did not RAIN in Capetown for me yet!

With the recent launch of Rain's mobile 4G Data only internet service, I was more than a little interested when I read the deals which offered free unlimited downloads for up to 90 days depending on the deal you opted for. I immediately went to their web site and decided to opt for the SIM only deal offering 15 days free unlimited downloads. I clicked on the join button filled in the usual details, chose the date and time for the delivery of the SIM card ( very cool as you have to be there in person to accept the delivery for RICA etc and running my own business means I don't earn if I not working so least time possible away from work the better). Anyway information filled in and made online payment, received notification that my order had been processed and an account created for me on the system. Great I could already log in and get billing info, look at my dashboard and even track the delivery of my order, so far I am pretty impressed at how smoothly the process had gone and the ease of completing the order process, so now sit back and wait for fast 4G LTE internet to arrive........ Well that unfortunately was where the cogs of this apparently well oiled machine came to a grinding shuddering halt. Let me explain..... The order was placed on Saturday 09/06 and I had selected delivery for Monday 11/06 between 8 and 10, convenient as this would mean least amount of time away from work minimal loss of income right. Nope wrong, I waited on Monday from 8am ,9,10,11........ 4pm ,5,6 yip you guessed it, no SIM card was delivered, no email, no SMS offering an explanation, nothing Nada. During the day being a little peeved that the delivery had not been made as scheduled I tried to get hold of someone at support for an explanation, let me tell you now, if you want to do an exercise in frustration try and get hold of RAIN support for any sort of help. When you call the only telephone number that RAIN has and I mean the only number the public can use, the call is picked up by an automated system that tells you the obligatory message about calls being recorded for ... You know the one, and that you are being put through to the next available agent and then the poor quality broken jazz type music begins, this is not a good number and is only a few bars of the song in a loop that goes on and on and on.... There is no little voice that come up every once in while saying please hold you are number x in the queue, so at least you know how many minutes sorry hours you still have to wait to speak to someone, no just the broken ass jazz loop playing over and over. Remember you are paying for every minute you are on hold, in my case at cell phone rates. I tried several times that fateful day holding for up to 10 minutes each time and giving up before my airtime ran out. I tried sending emails to enquire about the delivery, once again I received an automated response informing me that my email had been received and a support agent would respond as soon as possible, with a reference number, should I need to follow up. Well that did not happen at all, to any of the 3 emails I sent that day. No reply to any email I sent that day or any other day since. Amazingly the only response I have received to date is another automated email referring to the the reference number given asking me to rate the service and help received from the support team in response to my email query, I mean really, nobody has ever bothered to reply to my emails but their system is already asking me to rate the service I received, give me a break. The only other option to get hold of anybody at RAIN is the online help service, well if you think that was any more helpful than the other two options , think again. The seemingly easy interface is just a mind trap and a very quick way to turn you into a drooling, aggressive troll. The simple question you are presented with is " How may we help .." , should read , "How may we waste your valuable time and **** you off..." Let me explain, when you are finished typing your query in the little box and press enter the question is moved up to the conversation area and you are then informed that you are number xx in the queue, I usually started around 85 or so in the queue, you then sit and stare at number indicating your position for a very long time 85,84,83.......a long time later 44,43,42..... Wait what just happened page refreshed and "How may we help you?" , my message is gone, no longer in a queue nothing, start again type msg back at 87 in the queue, and wait and flash and back to start again, over and over closest I got was 13 in the queue. This all transpired on the Monday trying to get an explanation as to why my SIM which I had paid for had not been delivered. Come 20h00 that night and RAIN shuts down. Remember that there is only one number to call and one email address and the online no-help service, there are no other contact numbers to call, regardless of what the nature of your call is about. No number for an accounts department, legal department, switchboard to speak to management, nothing just the bad jazz, no response email, and online no-help service is the only way you can't get hold of RAIN. Anyway rather frustrated I had no choice but to leave it, hoping nay expecting to hear from RAIN the next day with an explanation for their poor service in not keeping to their scheduled delivery, did not hear a thing from them, not a call, not an SMS, still no reply to emails, nothing. Once again later that Tuesday afternoon I tried calling the support and went through same process again and again. Eventually at 19h30 on Tuesday night I got hold of a support agent, and after much shouting (my side) and much apologising (their side) the support lady escalated my delivery and promised me that the SIM would be delivered on Wed 13/06 after 17h00 as per my request. A little bit calmer and thinking to myself OK maybe they are really busy, must be a lot of people signing up, deliveries may be a little backed up. OK no problem will get my SIM tomorrow no problem. Roll on Wednesday ... Rescheduled the meetings I had that afternoon so I could be home in time for the promised delivery of the much anticipated SIM card.... 17h00....18h00....19h00 and guess what , no SIM card delivered, now ****ed off I call support 3 times on hold broken ass jass music no reply. Fourth time get hold of a support agent, much shouting (my side) much apologising (their side) , they can't understand why the delivery has not been made, support manager called in on the saga, who is now busy calling the courier to find out where they are, me holding what seems like a dead phone to my ear, occasionally asking if they are still there, yes they are still there just waiting to hear from courier, my airtime is fast running out and ask if they can call me back, which they agreed to and did. More waiting, still no response from the manager who is apparently still in conversation with the courier, so I ask if she can call me back which she promised to do before 8pm when the support office will close. Well not surprisingly she did not call me back and still no SIM card. Thursday tried in vain the whole morning to get through to support with no luck, tried the online help again and surprisingly 2 hours of being in the queue I finally get a response from a support agent, I needed to once again relate my tale of woe to this agent and again give all the reference numbers and order numbers to him to see what can be done. You will not believe what he tells me next, he informs me that there is no reference on their system to my order and if I would send a proof of payment to him so that he can check the bank account and if they have the payment he would be able to refund me the R120 and I would then have to place another order for the SIM and they would deliver it to me about the 19/06 at the earliest. Say what!!! Last night I was a courier call away from having my SIM and now I don't exist and must provide proof that I have paid. Anyway the back and forth chat went on for a while and he said I must wait a minute while he checks something, a minute later the chat session terminates without reason and once again I am no further to having a SIM than I was on Monday morning. About 7pm last night I finally get another support agent online who after much explaining of the events he tells me that the SIM cards have been dispatched to a Delivery Agent and they would be in touch with me regarding delivery. What the hell, now there is a third party involved who will be making their deliveries, this is first time this version of why my SIM has not been delivered. I have been assured that I should have my SIM by the 21st, funny as I thought I was not on their system?? I must just wait now for their Delivery Agent (would not give me any details as to who this is) to contact me to arrange delivery. To date I have not been contacted again by RAIN, they still haven't responded to my emails, I am out of pocket R250 in cell phone expenses, lost a day and a half income from my business and the R120 cost paid to RAIN for the SIM card I have not yet received and starting to think I may never actually see it, based on the bull and lies dealt out to me by their support staff. My recommendation stay clear of dealing with RAIN directly, don't know if their partners can offer a better service but don't expect to be online in a hurry if you deal with RAIN directly. I am now going to seek legal advise as to this saga and what can be done about this *****lent activity that is taking place.