Telkom incorrectly signed me up for a 24 month contract instead of a month to month

I took out a month to month contract with Telkom while waiting for fibre to be installed in my area. A fairly small useless data package just to keep me going. I signed up for the contract which amounted to R399 a month and it was explained to me that I could cancel at any time as it was a month to month sim only contract. I repeatedly asked this question and I was assured that I could cancel at any time. I decided to cancel my contract after signing up for fibre and I was hit with numerous hurdles. The app is completely useless , if you log on to Telkom from google it has no information on any of your packages and if you call the “customer care” (and I use this term loosely) line you get put through circles up until the call is suddenly dropped with no warning. Eventually I managed to get a telkom agent to call me back to cancel my contract and I’m told that apparently my contract is a 24 month contract and there’s still a balance of 19 months. If I wish to cancel I need to pay R8500 to end the contract .. R8500 FOR A SIM ONLY MONTH TO MONTH DATA PACKAGE!!! This is ridiculous. Fair warning to anyone that takes a Telkom contract ... Even if your contract is coming to an end , Telkom makes it nearly impossible to cancel your service in an attempt to keep you for an extended period of time. I look forward to Telkom’s response to this review and I regret ever doing business with you. I feel like I have just been ****med.