I am a 72-year old social welfare pensioner existing on R1010 per month.

I am using an old laptop computer that was given to me as a gift about 3 years ago by my eldest daughter who lives in Port Elizabeth. I have always since then had the ambition of getting connected to the Internet but never did so because I could not afford it. A computer “geek” whom I know suggested to me about three months ago that I could get connected via a cellphone so I bought an old second-hand Nokia cellphone with GPRS capabilities from a cellphone dealer here in Ladysmith for R600. I could not really afford it but my desire to get onto the Internet was stronger than my poverty at the time.

After spending much money on standard prepaid airtime rates I realized that this was a very expensive game that I could ill afford to continue. I spoke to my computer “geek” friend again and he suggested that I not use the standard prepaid airtime but that I ask for a “data bundle” to be loaded onto my cellphone in future. So on about 8th September, 2009 I visited an MTN shop at the Game Centre in Ladysmith and had 500 megabytes of data-bundle loaded onto my old Nokia. By the beginning of October I noticed that my data-bundle was running low so I decided to visit another MTN shop at the Pick n Pay Centre because it is nearer to where I stay and not so far to walk (I don't own a vehicle).

The two assistants in the MTN shop suggested I buy a 2 gigabyte (2000 megabytes) data bundle as this would work out cheaper (only 19cents/megabyte as opposed to 23cents/megabyte) in the long run and would last for a whole 60 days instead of expiring after only 30 days. Although I could ill-afford it I decided to buy the 2 gig data bundle for which I paid about R390. This was on 5th October, 2009.

This morning (6th November, 2009) I received an SMS on my cellphone from MTN informing me that my data bundle would be expiring on 8th November (coming Monday)! I immediately tried to get in touch with MTN but they did not acknowledge my calls in spite of my trying for several times. I then walked down to the MTN shop where I had bought the data bundle and insisted that they rectify their “mistake” which is tantamount to fraud. They got through to their principals after much waiting and I was eventually told that there was nothing that could be done to rectify the matter.

Where do I stand?

Yours sincerely,

VJM HOUZET
c/o 9a Kudu Street, Observation Hill, Ladysmith, 3370
Mobile: 0780872666
merlinhouzet@gmail.com

I am a 72-year old social welfare pensioner existing on R1010 per month.

I am using an old laptop computer that was given to me as a gift about 3 years ago by my eldest daughter who lives in Port Elizabeth. I have always since then had the ambition of getting connected to the Internet but never did so because I could not afford it. A computer “geek” whom I know suggested to me about three months ago that I could get connected via a cellphone so I bought an old second-hand Nokia cellphone with GPRS capabilities from a cellphone dealer here in Ladysmith for R600. I could not really afford it but my desire to get onto the Internet was stronger than my poverty at the time.

After spending much money on standard prepaid airtime rates I realized that this was a very expensive game that I could ill afford to continue. I spoke to my computer “geek” friend again and he suggested that I not use the standard prepaid airtime but that I ask for a “data bundle” to be loaded onto my cellphone in future. So on about 8th September, 2009 I visited an MTN shop at the Game Centre in Ladysmith and had 500 megabytes of data-bundle loaded onto my old Nokia. By the beginning of October I noticed that my data-bundle was running low so I decided to visit another MTN shop at the Pick n Pay Centre because it is nearer to where I stay and not so far to walk (I don't own a vehicle).

The two assistants in the MTN shop suggested I buy a 2 gigabyte (2000 megabytes) data bundle as this would work out cheaper (only 19cents/megabyte as opposed to 23cents/megabyte) in the long run and would last for a whole 60 days instead of expiring after only 30 days. Although I could ill-afford it I decided to buy the 2 gig data bundle for which I paid about R390. This was on 5th October, 2009.

This morning (6th November, 2009) I received an SMS on my cellphone from MTN informing me that my data bundle would be expiring on 8th November (coming Monday)! I immediately tried to get in touch with MTN but they did not acknowledge my calls in spite of my trying for several times. I then walked down to the MTN shop where I had bought the data bundle and insisted that they rectify their “mistake” which is tantamount to fraud. They got through to their principals after much waiting and I was eventually told that there was nothing that could be done to rectify the matter.

Where do I stand?

Yours sincerely,

VJM HOUZET
c/o 9a Kudu Street, Observation Hill, Ladysmith, 3370
Mobile: 0780872666
merlinhouzet@gmail.com