Why I support Orange - because MTN sucks

When I arrived in Botswana in June last year, I had a choice of cellphone providers – Orange, Mascom or BT.

Having been a customer of MTN in South Africa for many years (around 14 years); you would think I would pick Mascom; however, the cracks in our relationship were already developing.

I cancelled my four accounts in writing on 31 March 2011 but that was entirely ignored because I foolishly believed the company actually read its emails. So, I went off to a ‘service centre’ – that only took two hours and twenty-five minutes waiting in the queue. In writing, (I still have copies of the paperwork) I cancelled three accounts with immediate effect because the contracts had expired. The fourth account was under contract until December 2011, so that was cancelled for December and the amount required to run the account paid in full in cash.

The company persisted in running debit orders against the closed accounts until 29 July 2011. Despite numerous emails, the attitude was ‘prove it’ – so I incurred more costs by asking the bank to produce ‘official’ bank statements, as the copies from the website were ‘unacceptable’.

It then took until 20 January 2012 to refund the amounts, plus costs.

But, oh what a surprise, I discover the company has decided to run the debit order on the fourth account that should have been closed in December 2011, as per its own written instructions. So here I sit again, two debit order runs on a dormant bank account, costs incurred and my good company banking record trashed consistently by a ‘service’ provider.

The response – “Thank you kindly for the cancellation request, kindly see attached I have logged a USD for the credit to be passed.”

It’s not a cancellation request, it’s a demand to return stolen money, as it is theft to take money from a bank account after an account is cancelled. As to my emails stating that the second debit order was run at the end of January 2012, the silence is deafening.  

In a recent article, MTN chairman Cyril Ramaphosa states, “MTN and the Board remain committed to providing the highest quality of services and products to our customers…” perhaps, he should check out the actual delivery of that statement, as it is not even close.

So ‘hello Orange’, go away Mascom, MTN and any of its subsidiaries.