Telkom mobile contracts amount to reckless lending. Beware!

<p>I app**** for a freeme 1gig contract with telkom mobile. I expected that I would only pay 200rands a month, something that I would obviously afford with my small budget. What I did not know was that there is a hidden 10000rands maximum spend limit which is inbuilt into the contract. How it is app**** to my contract boggles my mind because I obviously can't afford that. Furthermore the contract allows a person to set permanent spend limit via ussd *180# , another very reckless feature. Any member of the family who is not a contract holder can do this. I was told that the spend limit can be set this up to 500rands. I can't afford to pay more than 250 on a phone contract otherwise I will default. So telkom without my permission app**** an optional spend limit of 500rands per month, which I am not allowed to refuse, and which does not take into account my ability to afford. There is no affordability test that is app****. If my son via ussd sets a spend limit of 500rands and uses it all up, on that month i will pay 700rands! Does telkom care if i can afford that or not? Why can't you take away the spend limit from my account? I was told i can't. </p> <p> </p> <p>Furthermore, there is this thing they call additional spend limit. It can only be increased and never decreased. So if by mistake you set the figure to high, then tough luck, you are trapped as the system does not allow a decrease, it can only go upwards. Now if thats not ************ that what else is. Again the additional spens limit can be set by a very simple ussd *180# with no security features such as pins to protect your account. So anyone with access to your sim card can set the additional spend limit and you the account holder will be responsible. That is funny.</p> <p> </p> <p>What boggles my mind is I am allowed to reduce credit limiton my credit card but 500rands is app**** on my account without my consent. I am not allowed to reduce it or reject it. Cellc has a similar feature but with cellc, that is done only via the call centre. This ensures that only the account holder changes spend limit. Not with this terrible network which is now reportedly making profits. Are those profits emanating from these ************ practices? I find a Telkom mobile contract to be more dangerous than a gambling addiction. Whilst you can do something about a gambling addiction, you can't do anything about spend limits which they give you by a simple dial of a ussd code. The spend limits are there and anyone can dial a given ussd code and they are available for spending. </p> <p> </p> <p>I want telkom to with immidiate effect remove the 500rands spend limit that is available and which can accessed via a simple ussd code, especially via the additional spend limit route. I tried to raise this with their call centre agents and all they will tell me is that they have reduced it to one. But that is nonsensical when there is this animal called ussd by which the same can be changed. To make matters worse, there is animal called additional spend limit which available immediately! My number is ********** 232.</p>