Cell C

Cell C in South Africa ran a "Dream Call" Competition that ended in May.

I have been receiving SMS' s every day since - announcing the so-called "winners"
The problem is that I'm being charged R1.50 EVERY time I receive this sms.

How can I be charged DAILY for a competition that ended in May?

This is proposterous, and could definitely be constituted as fraud.

I demand that my account be credited with the Airtime they took fraudulently.

R.Klopper

Good morning, I went to cell c canal walk on thursday 7 july after listening to a ad on an afrikaans radio station bok radio, they advertise a blackberry on a top-up 100 at certain cell c stores. Needles to say I went to canal walk and asked about this deal, I was told they don't know anything about it, maybe vodacom will know. Not even tried to find out.

I understand that this competition has come to an end in may. However I am still receiving daily sms' to this day - "that I have been intered into today's draw". Costing r1.50 per day.
I would like my account to credited with this monies, as this is fraud.

Sir/madam

1. The matter between me and cell c has the following reference.

2. In october 2009 I have received the billing letter from cell c stating that I must pay r1399.00 from their bill whereas the contract agreement was r99.00. I was so surprise when I discovered that I was subscribed with exact mobile that was billing me every minute.

3. I have contacted several cell c shops including colognade cell c shop in pretoria and they have failed to resolve the matter. I have requested cell c to pay the agreed amount excluding exact mobile and cell c denied and told me it was not possible to pay them without paying exact mobile. Then I decided to stop paying at all because I knew that I did not subscribe with exact mobile.

4. Then I referred the matter to my lawyers who referred me to icasa. Icasa referred me to waspa. Waspa told me in writing that the matter has been resolved with the service provider that’s exact mobile. So I went to cell c and told them that the matter has been resolved the only thing I want from them was to give me advice as to how to make payment to them of which they fail to come with the solution as the statement was still including the bill of exact mobile.

4. I am very much prepared to repay cell c as they are the people I entered the contract of r99.00 a month with and not exact mobile. I feel I was not treated fair by cell c in resolving the matter as there was no professional correspondence between them and myself. Their staff members were unable to give assistance to me even though I told them I was prepared to pay the bill that excludes exact mobile and today I have to go through their lawyers to settle the matter which is unfair to me.

Below is attached respond from waspa

Mrs m. Mngoma

Cell c - everything falls to deaf ears: !
To the point: after sending two emails, smsing to cells's call me back complaint short code, visiting the redbull cell c mobile store, the cell c customer office off rivonia road (Opposite maritz brothers) , and visiting dion wired hyde park where I bought the device, no-one gets back to me or can answer my question. I have also been told from an anonymous source that cell c know there is a bug in the device, but them or huawaei cannot solve it.
Please cell c - all I want is my paid for data to work when its meant to work.
I have many screen shots where I have full signal but no connectivity.
Trevor... Trevor... Trevor... Maybe you can use this complaint in your next stand up.
See attached screenshots - this complaint was sent using alwayson - which I now pay for over and above my cell c data.

Hi

Cell c has unlawfully blacklisted me for an account that is not mine & according to their legal department the account is also fully paid & inactive. They claim they haven't listed me even though I provided them with an mie & an itc report.
Cell c then promised to update itc accordingly & send me a letter confirming that my name was clear but this was in the beginning of 2011 & still I have not heard a word from the sp.
What’s sad is that this account belonged to my sister erica phora & the account has subsequently been fully paid. I am now struggling to apply for credit facilities because you have incorrectly blacklisted me.

Can someone in the legal department that knows their story correct this. This is unlawful & there are acts that guard consumers against service providers such as yourselves.

Regards

CELLC

My name is Savvatoula Petalas on the 31st of the 3rd menthe cell c debited my account with R1040.00 INCORRECTLY Three weeks ago I contacted Cell c with my problem, the consultant requested that I mail my bank statements through as proof witch I have done twice already IF YOU HAVE A LOOK ON YOU SYSTEM FOR THE PAST 3 WEEK IV BEEN CALLING IN NONE STOP IV EVEN GONE TO THE HEAD OFFICE IN PLATTERKLOOF CAPE TOWN, I have spoken to numerous consultants and Team leaders and supervisors

Each of these people made me promises that were not fulfilled promises that I will get my refund promises that the admin department and the billings department would return my call and last night I spoke to a Wayde Stoffell and his team leader Mompulelo Zunga who guaranteed me that I will get an answer by ten o’clock this morning Wednesday 04 2011 and once again no one has bothered to call me.

As far as imp concerned I AM SICK AND TIRED OF YOUR VERY POOR SERVICE NEVER MIND THE FACT THAT CELL C HAS MADE ME SHORT OF PAYING MY OTHER ACCOUNTS DUE TO THERE INCORRECT DEBIT ORDER WICH I AM STILL WAITING FOR.

IM SENDING YOU THIS EMAIL TO NOTIFY YOU OF THE CANCELLATION OF MY CONTRACT I WILL STOP ALL MONTHLY PAYMENTS AND IF CELL C CUTS MY LINE OR BLACK LISTS ME I WILL GO TO THE OMBUDSMAN AND WILL CONSALT A LAWYER. I WILL NO LONGER LISTEN TO CELL C EMPTY PROMISES AS FAR AS IM CONCERND YOU ARE IN BREACH OF YOUR OWN CONTRACT BY DEBITING MONEY THAT IS NOT DUE AND STILL OVER A MONTH LATER IM STILL AWAITING MY REFUND. AND THE EXCUSE THAT THEY NEED TO FIND THE PROBLEM INORDER TO REFUND ME CELL C HAS COST ME PETROLL MONEY DRIVING UP AND DOWN TO TRY AND SORT OUT A PROBLEM THAT CELL C HAS CREATED ASWELL AS COSTING ME MONEY EVERYTIME TO REQUEST BANK STATEMENTS AND MONEY FOR THE FAXES IV SENT THROUGH. IM AM SERIOUSLY VERY ANNOID AND IM NOT LEAVING THIS IN CELL C HANDS ANYMORE AS THIS IS THE WORST SERVICE IV EVER HAD VIA ANY SERVICE PROVIDER OR RETAIL STORE.

Savva Petalas
National Groceries operationa manageress
( Cell) [protected]
[protected]
Fax to Email [protected]

I ran a credit check on myself about a week ago. Turns out that I have been blacklisted by Cell C on an account that has been indeed settled in full on 18 August 2010. I still have a copy of my proof of settlement (and also confirmed this again with Select Online). I have been trying to get 8n tough with the legal department of Cell C for almost 48 hours now.. ...nobody answers the phones. I have left numerous messages with operators etc. Everybody just tells me that the leagl department will phone me back...NO results.

All I want to do is clear my name. I am stronly considdering leagl procedings against Cell C for wrongfully blacklisting me.

I have been calling the call centre every week for the past 4 months. I am trying to do a migration to a package i was previously on. I get told that i will be contacted by the credit department within 48hrs. I call in every week. I don not receive any calls back from cellc. My bill is now over R2000 A month. I have not paid my last bill and will not. Cell c has to compensate me for the past 4 months. Will only pay when cell c contacts me regarding this matter.

Repairs of 3 weeks, now months later
Phone model: lg (Red) phone to cellc in maynard mall, wynberg, cape town s. A
History of the matter: the phone broke during the period of the guarantee and was handed in for repairs in november 2010 with which we received a 90 day repair gurantee. The phone then had the same problem that was supposedly repaired in the 90 day repair guarantee. I took the phone back in early march 2011 and was told that it will take 3 weeks, after the 4th week I became worried and upon enquiry was told that they still waiting for it from the cellc repairs shop. I went there about 21 - 30 times to go check and up till today have not receive the phone back. I received a phone call from one, candace from the repair shop and was told that the phone was not repairable and she offer me a lower grade phone, the offer was unacceptable and I was referred back to the wynberg cellc shop. I was then told that the owner, mr. Oswald is not willing to make a decision and neither he nor the repair shop ever came back to me. Please furnish details of the person with who I must deal with at the head of cellc. I am no fed-up of this or alternatively I am referring this case to the ombudsman and the media. Bad publicity of a cellc branch could damage their market as they are damaging my daughter's carreer. Mrs susan adonis, cape town south africa

Dear All'
This is the most worst company i ever had a contract with. My contract expired last year June, i asked them if i could upgrade they said no because my sim card is reported stolen with my phone but they still billed me every month for 24 months. I was surprised that after the 24 months was over that they still debited my account i went to the Head Office and enquired about it the gentleman told me that if your contract expires they put you on a month to month i said i was not happy with that and we cancelled the contract immediately at Cell C Head Office. Yesterday i was informed that they had put a ADVERSE against my name on the Credit Bureu for wahat i don't know.
please assist me in this .LAA'IQAH NORDIEN

I have recently subscribed to the Blackberry Internet Service @ R57 a month, it has worked for 2 days. I contacted customer services and they told me. Oh in Cape town the service was and will be down for a while? and you will not be refunded for the service.

Hi there,

At the 9th of march I bought the 5gb usb stick from cellc. before I bought it I informed myself on the cell c website about this product. after reading that I decided to get the prepaid version (2999r payed once off prepaid http://www.cellc.co. za/internet/page/data-products/prepaid) where I get 60gb over 12 month. around the 7th of april I started to use up all my data, because I thought it will get renewed the 8th or 9th, because the terms and conditions on the cellc website say

"validity & expiry

All five (5) data bundles are valid for 30 days from the date of purchase.
Where a prepaid or controlcha t customer purchases more than one smartdata bundle, each data bundle will have its own expiry date.
Smartdata bundles will expire at 23h59:59 on the 30th day.
Smartdata bundles do not auto-renew and prepaid and controlcha t customers will need to purchase a new smartdata bundle on expiry / depl ". but nothing happened. I run out of data and went to the cell c shop where I bought that stick.
They started to think... till they wanted to explain me that I bought a contract and that my data is getting reloaded the 1st of every month. but now the terms and conditions in internet say something completely different. after half an hour fighting they told me to call the cell c customer service. what a mission! in this company, nobody knows what they actually sale. the first person we had to explain what the cell c usb data stick is... that is no joke. the people in this company don't know what they sell.
She started as well with my contract. no I never signed any contract.
In the end she wanted to pass me through to the technical service. after 10 min waiting I hung up. that is how good and how fast there well advertised customer service is. after that I started to send in email. no reaction. than I sent a threat on facebook.com 2min later it got deleted and I received a call. than I had to explain the whole problem again. the woman said she will call back. nothing happened. after 2 days we sent another email and another threat on facebook. same procedure, they deleted the threat and called. maybe that is the onliest way to talk to them quickly. but nothing happened after that call. on sunday the 17th I tried to call the customer service again. she still gave me through to the technical service. this time I waited, I think like 15 to 20 min. than I explained my whole story to this guy. after sending him the screenshots of the terms and conditions (the terms and condition haven't been online for some reason) he realized slowly what my problem is, and saw, that there is something not 100% right. he said i'll get a reference number and will receive help in the next 24-48 hours. but this company has time! I am still waiting for my call!
So in the end, the worst customer service I have ever seen and the worst excuses I have ever heared. I want to read the proper terms and conditions black on white, but they can't provide them. so whose mistake is this whole story.
And by the way that is not all... if you are interested, I send a second part with more details!

I'm having network connection failures with my blackberry & whoosh modem consistantly since end feb 2011. I've complained numerous times to autopage and cell c, both say the problem is for the other company to sort out! Aaargh! Finally vaughn, a super helpful guy from autopage, arranged for cell c technicians to come to my house last wend sat & test the connection from my house. 4xtech's came & mostly sat fiddling on their laptops & chatting in a foreign language that I couldnt understand. When they were done they told me the following:
* I have very badno signal because the tower is too far away (I live in newton park, a business area four blocks away from the largest shopping centre!)
* the one tech apparently went to this 'far-away tower' & 'moved the antennae' so that it was pointing in my direction to maybe strengthen the signal (It didnt - absolutely no change)
* according to the tech's, there is absolutely nothing cell c can do for me now!
What?! For over a month now, 99% of the time I have no signal to call or use my internet... But amazingly autopage seems to think that its ok to still take their full r900 out of my bank account for services not received! *! A week has passed since I posted my last complaint on hellopeter and I still have not been contacted by a consultant regarding the problem! Even after cell c emailed back to say that one would call me shortly! Maybe they cant get through to me coz theres no friggen signal! I'm definately taking this matter further!

After complaining to hellopeter cell c finally manage to contact me regarding my insurance claim that I claimed. Bad service again. They are telling me that my claim its been declined bcs I used onother sim card on that phone. Why are they disclosing terms and conditions only when I claim. The form that I signed didnt have those term and condition. Those terms can only apply in my case if I signed the contract. Cell c needs to provide a form with my signature showing I sign the contract with those terms and conditions.

Cell c needs to pay my claim if not im not gonna stop fighting regarding this. Im doing for other cell c victims out there who cant fight for their own rights. Cell c is robbing money from its own clients. Cell c insurance doesnt exist they are stilling money from millions of south african. If insurance exist why contact no of that insurance doesnt exist. And why cell c consultans keep on lying to us.

i have cancelled my cell c contract in febuary and have received a R550.00 bill for an account which i never used. i to date cannot get a hold of the correct person at their useless call centre and find out on when i will receive my refund. it was promised to be paid 10 days ago and nothing received to date. i have not received a call nor a letter from them but received the bill and have already been debited for the figure of R550.00. now i see i am listed on itc for the account that i have cancelled in feb 2011. it seems that they give the worst customer service

Cell C are still charging contract holders monthly by debit order even if the contract has expired and timeous notification has been given.They, as in my case have not responded to my complaint about this since Dec 2010 and continue honouring the monthly debit order.They are making millions of rands by just robbing the people in this way.Government needs to investigate this "fraud" that they are practising and get them to refund all people they have "over charged" delibrately.

Very poor service & ndash; 10 days and no reply, even lodged a complaint on www.Telltrevor.Co. Za, and still no reply! My best option to report this to the ombudsman & ndash; hopefully someone will then attend to this problem.
Gert wepener; [protected]
Ek wil hiermee my teleurstelling uitspreek ten opsigte van die uiters swak diens van cell c se klientediens. Ek het eers 084145 geskakel omdat ons in aanmerking kom om op te gradeer. By hulle moes ek verneem dat daar & rsquo;n betaling terug verwys is.. En daarom kan die opgradering nie gedoen word nie. Daar is einde desember/begin januarie verskeie e-posse aan ons gestuur ten opsigte van uitstaande betaling, na verskeie pogings, ook op die klientedienslyn, kon ons uitwys dat die bankbesonderhede nie verander het nie, en dat dit & rsquo;n interne fout aan cell c se kant is. Januarie se betaling is eers die 7de januarie verhaal. Sien onderstaande as bewys dat daar geen terugverwysde betalings was nie. Dit word dan ook nou op my kredietrekord aangedui dat ek nie betaal het nie, gaan cell c dit regstel?
2010-12-01
M#cell c service provi vsandton za
74922130334158651239111
- 228.27

2011-01-07
M*cellular c service p vsandton za
74922131006159010038801
- 296.54

2011-02-03
M*cellular c service p vsandton za
74922131033159270078049
- 419.61

By 084140 bestaan klientediens glad nie! Daar is & rsquo;n opsie om in afrikaans gehelp te word.. U kan dit maar afhaal uit die opsielys. Ek is vandag 5 keer van een persoon na & rsquo;n ander deurgeskakel en die een persoon se engels is swakker as die volgende persoon.. Niemand om in afrikaans te help nie (Ook maar goed so, hulle kan nie eers behoorlik engels praat nie).

Beware of Cell C!
I would like to warn everyone not to repeat my mistake. In November I signed up with Cell C, paying cash for one years supply of data bundles – 2 GB per month. As I had never used 2 GB in a month I calculated that the offer would work me out to R 125 per month – being less than I then paid monthly for using internet. After a few initial setup problems November and December worked out excellent and I started patting myself on the back thinking I had indeed made a good choice. Oh, what a mistake!
Towards the middle of January my data bundles started to mysteriously disappear. I had to buy additional airtime to the value of R 400 which I converted to 1 GB of data bundles! I could not understand why as I mainly use my bundles to send and receive e-mails. At no other time (during 2 years) I had even come close to using this amount. I put it down to an upgrade of my Windows – only farfetched explanation I could come up with…
1st February I received my monthly 2 GB. On the evening of the 6th February, before switching off my computer for the night, I still had just above 2 GB. On Monday the 7th when starting up my computer and connecting to check my e-mails – all my bundles were gone!
I phoned Cell C customer line – being disconnected several times and finally after 35 minutes waiting got a consultant telling me there was indeed a problem. Cell C was doing a system upgrade- as per the messages they had supposedly sent me - and it seemed many customers had lost all their bundles. Not to worry – they hoped that the problem would be sorted out sometime during the day. No, they could not notify their customer when the problem was rectified. But I could always phone again to find out…
When I later in the afternoon managed to go online again Cell C had recovered 1 GB of my data bundle. I phoned again. Again I had to wait close to half an hour in telephone line. Again there was nothing anyone could do – I was promised that they would look into it and get back to me.
On Tuesday nobody had gotten back to me. I sent two e-mails to customer service. Nobody responded.
On 12 February I again spent 30 minutes in a telephone line before reaching a consultant. I spent at least another half an hour explaining and re-explaining my problem, now it seemed I had 10 GB data bundle. I was given a reference number for the first time. I then requested:
• Cell C must follow up why I do not receive any of the notifications I had been told had been sent me – rectify the problem and let me know.
• Find out why my data bundles had been disappearing during January as they claimed this had nothing to do with all the other data bundles that disappeared.
• Get back to me with feedback.
• Let me know how they would re-pay/compensate me the R 400 spent on buying additional data bundles.
Wednesday 16th February nobody had gotten back to me. I sent another e-mail to customer service requesting they urgently phoned me.
Friday 18th February I spent 38 minutes holding for a consultant. When giving my telephone number the consultant could not find any notes on my many calls and queries. The reference number given me was wrong – it referred to an old query not made by me. I again had to tell the whole story another 30 minutes on the telephone.
The consultant promised me (why did I not believe her?) that she would investigate and get back to me later during the day. It is Tuesday 22nd February. Cell C has not contacted me.
I have spent more than 3 hours of my time on a telephone waiting for and speaking to a consultant – at what I on Friday discovered, when receiving my telephone bill, CELL PHONE RATES! (I was told to phone this number from a land line as it was charged at normal local rates.)
Conclusion: Instead of paying the supposedly R 125 per month for internet I have till now paid close to R 400 per month including the top up I had to do when my bundles disappeared and the cost for waiting in telephone line to speak to Cell C. This does not take into consideration the time and frustration! An expensive swop for lousy service! And the worry of not knowing when my remaining data bundles will disappear.
How I regret! becoming a client of Cell C. They have the absolute most pathetic “service” and customer care I have ever come a cross. And I used to think Eskom, Telkom and municipality were bad – after my encounter with Cell C these now all seem friendly, efficient and customer orientated.
My problem is still not solved. Yes, for some reason (nobody can or will tell me why) I now have 11 GB of data bundle – which I won’t be able to finish by the end of the month even if I work on it day and night. But tomorrow or next month or a week from now Cell C might decide to make them all disappear again, together with the remaining future ones. And when they do I for certain know that: nobody will respond to my e-mail, I will have to wait at least 30 minutes in a telephone line – at cell phone rates - before speaking to a consultant that will not be able or willing to help me and that will certainly not keep a promise of phoning back.
I realize and accept that even the best companies can have problems – it is how they deal with it and communicate with their clients that set them apart.
Do not repeat my mistake – DON’T join Cell C. I believe their policy to be: “Grab all money up front you can from the customers – then they can’t win, don’t answer the customer line, if you are unable to disconnect an unhappy client make sure you make a false promise of phoning back and always give a false reference number should the customers want to follow up. Even the dumbest Cell C client will eventually get that Cell C does not care and they certainly won’t help.”
Catarina