Telkom suggested I cancel and now I am penalised R800!

I took out a sim only contract beginning of August. To date I have no service (we did a sim swop - no nothing can be wrong with the sim card or phone). I have attempted to go into the Telkom office and fix the problem. Only empty promises received about calling me back etc. The last time I went there I was told "If you don't like it then cancel the contract"... and they handed me a cancellation form to complete. Fair enough - I am not getting a service - so why should I be paying for it? So I cancelled. I have been informed the number has now been changed to "prepaid" but is still not working?

Now, APPARENTLY I am going to receive a penalty of R800 for the cancellation? WHAT??? I just wanted a service... ***I don't understand why I should be paying for something I NEVER received in the first place?*** If anything, Telkom should be paying me for all the trips to the store and phone calls/messages to call centres in trying to resolve their mess-up!