Telkom - Holding me to ransom under my contract although passed the initial contract period

Upgrade? So I call Telkom to "renew my contract" and to upgrade my phone. I have been on a FreeMe Unlimited contract for 26 months and am due for an upgrade.

I call them, wait patiently on hold for 20+ minutes, and then finally get through to the operator.

I tell them i want to upgrade my phone to a new iPhone, and change my contract to the FreeMe 28GB package.

So i would be paying them R1500 pm vs the R1000 pm currently. The feedback is that this is a downgrade (because I am changing plans) and so I can't do that on the phone. I have to do that by going into the store.

So with the Coronavirus pandemic in full swing, I need to go to a physical store to change my plan, which i have been in for longer than the contract period of 2 years. Telkom is effectively holding me to ransom on my existing plan and refuses to help me online or on the phone.

This is ******ion and i will be writing up on this on all available media platforms.