# General Business Category > Technology Forum >  MTN worst help desk in the world.

## tec0

For the last few days I have experienced a new MTN low. My number was blocked due to a technical error and no error on my behalf. This was most unexpected because this is a contract phone and I am up to date with my payments. "I never skipped a payment and was never late on a payment" 

From this point onwards I have tried to get hold of someone that can help me get my phone operational again. But MTN simply doesn't give a f*ck about their customers. I have been given the run around and when I phone the help desk 173 from my pay as you go phone and then asked to be referred to the contract system where I then enter my contract phone number and hoped to be help. 

My last call was placed on hold for 30minutes "documented" and they never bothered to e-mail back from there help desk. Is this the service we pay for? 
 :Mad:   :Mad:   :Mad: 

I will report it to the consumer council on Monday and make my complaint official then I will terminate my contract and convert my phone back to pay as you go. Then I will change networks. 


MTN SUCKS!

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## murdock

welcome to south africa...where you are guaranteed the worse srvice the bigger the company...they are all the same banks...cellphone operators...etc etc...the problem id they dont need you...you need them...if they loose 100 000 customers...100 000 more will sign up....move to virgin they are even worse or vodocom it will just get worse  :Big Grin:  i feel your pain...and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it...maybe get soem people together and send a bulk email  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## desA

Convert to pay-as-you-go.

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tonyflanigan (28-Feb-10)

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## Dave A

> Convert to pay-as-you-go.


So you can get screwed by TMobile without even knowing about it?

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tec0 (28-Feb-10)

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## desA

^ But, that is illegal. 

You would be able to get a list of transactions to/from even a pay-as-you-go number upon request - they have to be kept, by law - certainly in most countries. If there were bogus charges on this, then the carrier would need to take action. If not, it could make a nice news article.

The other thing that can be done is to set the mobile to not accept info messages - most phones can do this.

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## tec0

Right this is how MTN work.

They cut off your Contract phone for no good reason.  "There given reason: system error["
Then you have to contact them using 173 and ask to be transferred to the contract department  â€œThey donâ€™t do that anymoreâ€  :Thumbup: 

So you must now phone them from a costly landline number: 083 1 808. Now from this point you might get to the help desk by pressing 0 a lot. Then you are asked for your bank details, ID number, Home address and Postal address and whatever else they want as a security check. This takes about 10 minutes to do and remember you are on a land line. 

From this point you explain to the operator with a "doggy" headset that your phone has been cancelled. Then they ask you to hold for about 20 minutes "20 minutes of pure silence" then you are informed that that the department dealing with this error will get back to you on an alternative number. 

This never happens.  :Headbutt: 

So you keep on contacting them trough a land line that is costing YOU MONEY to get help. In total I have spend a LOT of time getting help that simply does not exist. 

So now I have to consider A >> A new SIM B >> New Contract with someone else. It doesnâ€™t matter how you cut it, this is going to be costly because you must contact:

A>> Your Bank  
B>> Your Boss
C>> Your Family 
D>> People that you do business with 
E>> Your Policy holders 
F>> your friends 

Now if you look at that list you just know it is going to cost you TIME and MONEY. That is the biggest problem right now. So by taking all this into consideration one may state that MTN is not a sound solution if you are looking for a mobile service, simply because they do NOT provide proper customer support. There is NO FREE LAND LINE numbers to phone if you have trouble with your phone.

This sucks!!!!

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## tec0

And it works!!!! THE MTN SIM is alive after only 5 days and about 21 phone calls and 15 e-mails and 3 visits to the MTN SHOP! 

>>What was the problem you may ask?!?!?!  

They are still unable to tell me! << Official answer  :Stick Out Tongue:

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desA (01-Mar-10)

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## desA

A very tenacious fellow, you are.   :Thumbup:

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## AndyD

Maybe go to a cell shop and check it's not a RICA issue.

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## Dave A

Sometimes phoning doesn't help, but squatting does quite well.

I did this at a bank the other day (will post the story when I have the time). I didn't like what the teller was telling me so I asked for it in writing. Apparently that would take a while (the attempt to shoo me off), so I pulled up a chair, got really comfortable in front of the teller, and told her no problem - I'll wait.

That might not work as well at a cellphone shop as they tend to have you seated in front of a consultant when they're helping you. However, if you walked in with a pillow they might get the hint...

You're not leaving until you get what you want!

If you want to play rough, it might be an idea to forget to wear deodorant that day too and work up a nice sweat first...

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tec0 (01-Mar-10)

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## tec0

> Sometimes phoning doesn't help, but squatting does quite well.


You just made my day  :Rofl:

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## desA

> Sometimes phoning doesn't help, but squatting does quite well.




This you Dave?

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## murdock

jokes aside...if you go to the mtn in the pavilion you will end up in that postion the ques are long and boy do you wait...you need tham they dont need you and until this changes there is nothing you can do about it.

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tec0 (02-Mar-10)

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## Yvonne

Personally, I believe this is a deliberate planned procedure, as most often, the public are just overwhelmed with their inability to get through their systems to reach some satisfaction with their complaint. 

We know the cost of "fighting and argueing" the issue is just too frustrating, and just not worth it! Regardless of whether the dispute is completly the fault of the cell phone company!

Until, and only when there is genuine open "Free competition" will anything change, the fact that they don't even take into account the number of years they have had your account, nor how much your account has earned M.T.N.  Their attitude sadly is an indication of the dis-respect with which they treat their clients. 
*There is no evidence of a will to assist you to sort out the problem.*

Perhaps it is because the employees of the cell phone companies themselves are overwhelmed with the daily task of dealing with so many complaints!

Yes, I am overly emotional in this matter, and believe me it is based on many "events" from the past!, and the almost sure knowledge of the many times to look forward to in the future.

I have a pay as you go, but our directors cannot due to international calls. 

Sorry about the rant!

Yvonne

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## tec0

Well when it comes to respect the client never gets any kind of respect from the telecommunications provider. There so called reward system is just a load of BS just listen to the terms and conditions. 

Still owning the monopoly is what it is all about. Millions are made every day and these providers are addicted to money like most are to air. So there will not be change... I fear that MTN will be here to stay along with Vodacom. The other two providers is just a smoke screen they have no real infrastructure and there service is not much better. 

It is at this point that one must conclude that the telecommunications industry will remain as it is. And that on its own is a scary thought. We will never break free from the supper high cost when it comes to SMS, MMS, Voice and Video & Voice calls. Not to mention the internet cost... 

The only way one can change their minds is trough mass action from the public demanding that their communication licences be revoked and given to other parties and see if there is some improvement.  But again this will also never happen. 

I fear the only true way is to hope that technology will soon allow us to bypass the telecommunication industry.

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## twinscythe12332

well, considering Government has hands in all the telecommunications pies, is it any wonder why no officials are really getting them to change their ways? We won't get anyone else coming in because they will be told to:
give away 51% to a black partner.
government will want practically the rest of the pie.

someone coming from a "free" country such as America won't exactly see that as useful to them. honestly, what is the point of trying if half the company just goes down the drain?

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Dave A (04-Mar-10), tec0 (04-Mar-10)

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## tec0

Well in the end of the day there services will be just as good as the thousands of dead âunusableâ phones that we have. But soon this may all end up being for nothing. See there are a lot of new space programs in the world trying to get big pieces of technology up into the sky. 

As their successes becomes the norm we may not need mobile providers anymore we will link up via satellite and watch our telecommunications industry fade and become part of history.  Then there are no more hands to be forced and pies to be handed out for free. Then customers have options and that is the last thing our telecommunications industry would want << no more free money.   :Thumbup:

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## tec0

Yes MTN is back and there helpdesk is more useless than ever before. To connect to the internet via MTN is like having an enema filed with superglue. In general I have experienced signal loss, and there 3G will frustrate a snail. 

There service is so bad lately that I have given up on their free e-mail facility along with just being able to call someone anyone regardless of time. When you phone someone all you get is silence... For the biggest network as advertised they are still supper expensive with Data and you are lucky if you can download an antivirus update because there network drops you every chance it gets.

At this point in time I am thinking how difficult would it be to train a pigeon  :Stick Out Tongue: 

What are your findings with MTN?

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## Chrisjan B

Another of my pet hates, MTN and Vodacom also like the banks got a licence to steal - just grin and bear it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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## murdock

i agree unless yopu have a way of making them show loses in the next quarter you wont make any changes to their  attitude while they sit on an island probably owned by the top boys of any of the banks or cellphone comapnies....

you want to get rich... dont waste your time with amway or a service industry...or even as a wholesaler and that type of bussiness you will be doing until you retire waiting for your effort to produce rewards.

you need to start something that sells while you are awake or sleeping....like water...electricty....chlorine gas......petrol...internet banking...internet downloads...where people are online all day and night.

even the insurance comapnies television broadcasters have got wise...to run an ad on tv you need to pay sabc millions....if you run a program and sell it to them they make millions...thats why when i woke up this morning...i was looking forward to watching th nutsman....there is no longer the nutsman instead its all the insurance companies trying to tell you why you need to buy their products...and the medical insurance etc...the same junk over and over and the scary thing is i wonder how mnay people get suckered into them...and the part that blows my mind i have to pay a tv license to watch the junk...

come on people have we become such suckers

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## tec0

I dont own a TV anymore and hopefully never will again. I am just waiting for that damn lawsuit letter... no clue how I am going to handle that bit.  :Stick Out Tongue:  As long as I have a notebook and internet I can do much more than watching advertisement crap. DSTV can go to hell and take their crappy movies along with them. It is a shame that I will no longer be able to watch Cricket anymore but for half the DSTV subscription you can get uncapped internet via local wireless providers and or landline providers.  

When you see MTN logos all over the place it is unbelievable that they can screw all their customers and we take it because we have too. But lately it is if every company is just out to make your life hell, from your medical aid to your bank to your broker to your insurance. I sometimes wonder if it would not be better to say screw them all and find a rock to crawl under.  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

The corporate revolution has killed family life, family value, religion, morality and overall ethic. I go to sleep every night wondering how the hell did we the population get so damn weak. We are basically over exploited by everyone and for what? How many decisions do we make and how many of those decisions come right back to bite you? 

MTN is a horrible BS provider; there is nothing good about them even their reward system is designed to screw you? MTN has made owning a mobile phone a curse. I just hope I live to see their downfall and liquidation and utter bankruptcy.

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## murdock

and the joke of it all they have given us the power to make a diference...we can conmunicate with anyone anywhere in the world...yet we are still sit  around complaining on public forums....what we should be doing is using the technology to control crap companies and shutting them down...you could bring a country to its knees by using sms...facebook...twitter etc.

we could also control the crime using all the modern technology available to us....all the cameras just hanging idol on the polse all along the freeways in towns etc....millions of unemployed people....no shortage of manpower...

by lets say today we target mtn...every single preson who has a contract with mtn goes and moves there contract to vodocom...next week then the following week we all close our mtn accounts they will be bust...but the problem trying to get everyone to actually go thru with it.

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Dave A (08-Jan-11)

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## murdock

we did it with the world cup why cant we get motivated and make a diffrence in this country...for a better future for all of us..

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## Dave A

I just loved the irony in post 22  :Thumbup:

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## murdock

heres a plan to see if it would work tommorrow morning start sending an sms to someone lets say  "lets make a difference"...then ask the person you send it to to forward it to one person or 100 it is not important how many people you send it to...and see if it comes back to you and lets see if people start talking about it.

anyone in on this?...all it takes is to start it...who knows where it could end up.

right my sms has left the building...

copy this message and send it...it reads...

"lets make a difference...send this message to anyone we are trying to see how powerful technology really is...the amount of people is not important...just send it"

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## Dave A

I heard the source of many of the viral sms's that were floating around at one time was actually the cellphone companies themselves.

So what's the strategy here? If we help them make more money we'll get a better helpdesk?

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## irneb

I'm not sure if it would do any good for MTN, but after a month of problems with an insurance company I finally added a complaint about them on HelloPeter. The next day they phoned me, and the day after that the problem was solved ... this after phoning and waiting at my expense for eons before.

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## popayetwo

ng

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## Hello! Rewards

Hi, I know someone that can help you at MTN. Pease send me your contact details - karenza@hillton.co.za and I wil ask him to phone you asap.

Kind regards,
Karenza Webb

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## tec0

MTN how low can there help desk go? Well, this is how the help desk will avoid helping you, firstly when you phone there technical help desk they will ask you if you are on contract or prepaid. If you answer prepaid you get disconnected. This happened to me twice now. 

But there latest tactic is brilliant, First the normal help desk will transfer you to the technical help desk and then they cannot understand you because you are braking up. This continues until you hang up. 

Now sending them an e-mail via there system is useless because they never get back to you EVER! So no point in it really. I have been with MTN for a few years now and there level BS is staggering! In the end we the customers are just not important to them so what the hell there is no point in keeping them around.

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## tec0

MTN how low can there help desk go? Well, this is how the help desk will avoid helping you, firstly when you phone there technical help desk they will ask you if you are on contract or prepaid. If you answer prepaid you get disconnected. This happened to me twice now. 

But there latest tactic is brilliant, First the normal help desk will transfer you to the technical help desk and then they cannot understand you because you are braking up. This continues until you hang up. 

Now sending them an e-mail via there system is useless because they never get back to you EVER! So no point in it really. I have been with MTN for a few years now and there level BS is staggering! In the end we the customers are just not important to them so what the hell there is no point in keeping them around.

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## Hello! Rewards

I can still offer my help with MTN....

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## tec0

> I can still offer my help with MTN....


Thanks for offering, but I fear that this is just a lost cause, That said MTN is really bad but Vodacom is still rotten in comparison.

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