As with so many things in South Africa the innocent public gets the short end of the stick. At first we had Telkom and the service was horrid to say the least but it was at least dependable. That is until the cable theft started. It got so bad that Telkom decided not to replace the cables in places where the theft kept on occurring. The public had to find alternative means of getting on the net so they looked at Vodacom and MTN. The advertisements promise the world. Such great advertisements gave the public hope again. Unfortunately the promises were just another dirty scam and the absence of Telkom put the public in a worse position than before.
I first tried Vodacom who promised a fast speed at cheaper rates. A friend of mine said I could use his modem and I was so happy that I found an alternative means of using the internet. What a sad state of affairs that was. Most of the time I was disconnected or the internet was so slow it took forever to load a page. At the end of the month I got a bill that shocked me silly. I immediately gave the modem back to my friend and looked at MTN. They advertise low costs, fast internet speed with excellent customer service? Well this sounded great to me. After all I needed the internet to do my work and this sounded just perfect. When getting my contract I enquired about getting an extra gig or two and was told that I could just phone and they would add it to my monthly contract. Nothing was said about extra costs of itemized billing, identical call or an extra two weeks payment on my initial bill.
The connection turned out to be acceptable most of the time although there were constant problems with the email service. At the end of the month I got a bill three times higher than Vodacom. I called to top up my gigs and was told I could not do that. The only way out of my mess, or so I thought, was to take out an extra contract. Now I had 4 gigs and I thought I would be fine. Another huge mistake on my part! At the end of the next month I had a bill of R4500. When I called and asked how was that possible I was told, “that is what you downloaded and there is nothing we can do about it”. This I found very confusing because when I was using Telkom I had four gigs and did download a lot as well as being on the net nearly 24/7 and I never went over my gigs. Now before the full month is over I have used 4 gigs and by the end of the month I had used over 8 gigs.
I tried to find out what I was doing wrong for my gigs to come to an end so fast but had no joy in that area. The customer service was abrupt and made me feel like they just wanted to get me off the phone. No explanation, understanding of my situation was forthcoming. Just a straight, “You used it you pay for it”. The third month I pulled out the connection of my modem to start my pc and the pins broke. My older modem is still fine and I have to pull that connection out every time I start my pc. I took the modem in for repairs as it is under guarantee and was told it would take 6 weeks before I would get it back. Then I got a call to say that I broke the modem by mishandling it and I would have to buy a new one. I was furious, after all I did nothing to break my modem.
Why would I hurt the (tools) that brings in my income? So I called the service centre and they just informed me, “You broke it you buy a new one”. That was as far as they would go. Eventually I called their customer care service and asked for the head office address. I was asked in a rude manner what I want to know that for. Immediately the hackles rose on my neck. I told the woman that, I wanted to go and see a manager there. Her reply was, “What for”. I told her that it had nothing to do with her, all I want is the address of the head office. She told me in no uncertain terms that it was her business and I would have to tell her. I blew up then put the phone down and called again. Another woman gave me a telephone number to contact and I eventually got the address and information I was seeking.
The whole attitude is, “Pay and keep your mouth shut. Don’t bother us”. I asked if I could end the contract and was told. “Yes you can. You must pay a fine of R1750.00 plus the months remaining”. So the end result is. I am sitting with MTN, no service, no help, paying more than my rent a month and I have no way out. I wonder just how many others have been caught by Vodacom and MTN?
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