Cell C
Reviews and Complaints

A network that has pathetic, rude, unfriendly call centre consultants. I'm starting to wonder if Cellc really trains their staff, Geez. I want a superior to follow up on following reference numbers, Consultant name Mvelo who refused to give me reference number who was the rudest of them all, Mr sue Albrey, Team leader Rozanne Banker, Lungelo reference number [protected]. Sinking service received in one day.

I have been trying to get help with a simca rd that is suspended, no one can help, transferred from pillar to post, rude, rude consults

a) We were not given the reasons for the first decline
b) Then you asked us to all the accounts etc
c) Then we were barred because we owe Vodacom R6000
d) Technically nobody is eligible for this scheme because we are all switching networks which is why we apply for the buyout in the first place and no matter when you do it you owe your service provider money
e) You looked at credit stuff prior to asking our permission

So basically we are stuck between networks and the buy - out deal has been suspended – despite the fact that your TV add still runs the offer.
I know that you looked at credit history without prior permission but all I want to do is get this resolved

You cannot expect me to believe that people get their “gift cards” and run off to Vodacom to pay their contracts. We have been with Vodacom for twenty years and finally had enough when we got a bill for 27k that they then told us to ignore.

Everyone that ever goes for this deal is indebted to their service provider because they use the money to pay off the contract which is exactly what we want to do.

I have been messed about all week. I phoned and got told I could not speak to the md

See order, Sale Reference: SPI006114681, attached.

I am rather disspointed in CellC. You are very quick to phone people to sell your products but you can't respond to requests like this and you cannot answer your phones.

I've been trying to contact the Durban customer care, nr [protected], since yesterday afternoon without any success. They just don't answer this phone which Samantha Samuels phoned me from. I also left voice messages for Samantha to phone me but still nobody called me. I also phoned 084 140, without any success. I don't give up easily on a phone call but to hold on for more than 5 minutes is ridiculous.

I would like to change the phone, P8 Lite (as per the order) to the P8 (colour gold) with a nano sim card.

If I don't get an answer from CellC within an hour from sending this email, I will cancel the order, though I have 7 days to do so, I will do it after an hour from now

I cannot Believe that for an organization as big as yourselves or claim to be...is capable of delivering such poor service.

Last Month I had taken out a new line with Cellc and to my luck the device had a fault as the microphone does not function then within the 7 day OBF period I had booked in the device at Cellc Canal Walk...After more than 14 Days I called in for a follow up and still no information i then went into the store and spoke to the manager there. I was then told that the OBF was successful and I would need to have the device replaced I spoke to him about having to pay pro rate fees for the upgrade the once off activation fee including the month...for no device at all I was not offered a loan phone...no follow ups was made at all. all I was told was that its unfortunate..."the managers" words and today may 12th 1 more week then it will be a full month I still have no contact...i have no phone all I have is the bill I need to cover.

He said that because the device I had taken out was no longer in stock and that an alternative option would be applicable...phone of sAme value or something like that I had still not heard anything from Cellc Canal Walk. By far the worst customer service experience I have had.

i once had a contract with them for a phone which i was paying R189 per month. In february 2016 i decided to go to cells store at OR tambo international airport to request a settlement amount. After paying the settlement amount i requested cellc to cancel the contract and to block the number which is [protected]. I also requested a paid up letter and i was told that i must requested it after 5 days. I did request it and i was told that they only send smses to confirm cancellation. I received the sms but cells still debit my account every month. When i call them they say i must open a case or lodge a complain. Please help my credit status is under threat.

Last year August my dongle came to a close. Two years was finally up yet the salesperson just sold it to me way back then. I realised living in a remote part of south Africa that its useless to me. So I called customer service to inform them of the poor reception on dongle and that I couldn't use it..never made any connection at all... and you all know how that story goes an how cell c reacted towards my problem.
Well that was just the beginning...
As this useless 2year dongle contract came to a close last year in august, the contract got automatically upgraded to A iphone6 .
I phoned them after about a month realising my debit orders are way overboard, like 548.00 over!
Went in store and found out I have a Iphone6 account? What?

They said that I should submit a affidavit and copy of ID to cell C.
I did that in beginning of December...2015
Stating on affidavit that its fraud on my account and that I want to be re-immersed for money.
The first time they didn't receive the affidavit?I mean really...
Well Towards Jan I found a T.Nkosi which gave me her personal e-mail to which I could send the 2nd copy of my affidavit and Id copy which I did.

A week went by and I phoned them again asking what is happening because the debit of 548.00 was still going of and I yet have not seen the mysterious iphone.
Finally my case was logged and the affidavit was loaded on the system.
Next debit order went off and I started to get agitated..
I phoned again and this time there was no affidavit on system. How can this be and the case was closed yet nobody told me what the outcome was or what happened to my fraud on my account involving the iphone.
Everytime I phoned there after they said to submit another affidavit.
If I did that that would have been no.3 I submitted in 2months time.

I realised that this was pointless and stopped my debit order.
Cell c jumped and called me not making payments...
well to tell you the truth I have nearly paid 4300.00 to this day...to something I have not seen or used. I asked them if their has been anything on the system of fraud to my account ..to which they replied NO! SO they wiped the eveidence.

I really think that we should stand up against these bullies because they will prob blacklist me soon.
I mean if there are so many of us with similar problems then they SHOULD be stopped.

Switch..Jose said about women?
Why do we let people like this ruin our lives...Life is so short on this planet and we let these monkeys run it for us.
Lets stand up!

Oh btw I did email the T.Nkosi asking her Why se not responding to my e-mails and have this day not heard from her back.

In May 2014 my service provider was Vodacom. I decided to move my account to Cell C after seeing their claim on TV that their call prices were the cheapest in the country. I retained my cell No and moved my account over to Cell C.
But I was shocked to find that they had over subscribed with new clients all moving their accounts to get cheaper call rates. Unfortunately their net work was unable to handle the load and I found that a lot of the time I couldn't make or receive calls and emails came days late.

I complained to Cell C that I was loosing business and that they were not providing the service to me that was stipulated in the contract I had signed with them.
They would not admit to me that there was a problem with their network and tried to put the blame on setting on the phone.
They promised me that all my needs would be met and that all the problems would be sorted out. I then received my first bill from them and was put into a state off shock ! As the bill was R 10 000 +_ I had never ever received a cell bill even close to that amount in my life ...my Vodacom bill was R 2 000 per month.

To cut a long story short this went on for three months or so. With Cell C promising to fix the the call, data and billing problems.

They never ever admitted their network inadequacies even though it was well documented in the media.

In July I informed the manager at the Menlyn Cell C shop that Cell C was not providing me with the service promised to me by them and that I wanted to cancel the contract and return to Vodacom.

He reluctantly agreed, so I requested my cell number be returned to me ...he obliged and I paid the Cell C account up to that date ...took my cell number and I returned to Vodacom.

Once back with Vodacom all returned to normal...I could make and receive calls data and my bill returned to normal.

But after a month to my dismay I received a bill from Cell C. I informed them that the contract was canceled and that I had taken my cell number and returned to Vodacom.
To cut another long story short they completely disregard anything I said ...even letters from my lawyer were completely ignored. They just continued to send bills and harassed with call centre calls.

They still do not admit that they had a problem with their network !

Last week I found out from my bank that Cell C blacklisted me.

Hi my name is modike i bought a phone last year December then get the phone to be insured at the later state,this year feb i was robbed i lost my phone and my money,i was advised to open a case which i did when i call c-surance they tell me they cant replace the phone since the sim was not inside the phone...the date i insured my phone the sim was not in the phone no one told me to put the sim inside the phone no signature that show i agreed to their terms and conditions.i need to know what can i do my business is affected because of all this things

In December 2016 a lady from Cell C Call Centre phoned me to inform me that I am due for an upgrade. I had a blackberry with a BIS Service Plan which mean my contract was always below R200pm. She introduced me to the Samsung J5 as they do not offer BIS services on Blackberry anymore. I then told her that before I do that she needs to offer me a deal that I pay more or less the same on my current contract, thus the data plan needs be more than 1gig. She offered me a data plan of 1gig. She neglected to tell me that the data plan is actually a 500meg and the other 500meg is for night surfing only. She also neglected to inform me that my new contract package will only take effect this year June 2016.I received the new phone in December. This means that I use a Phone on my Blackberry package where I cannot make use of the BIS services. If I knew this I would have never got rid of my blackberry. I need to buy Data Bundles all the time and my bill is now more than triple every month. I phoned Cell C about 2 weeks ago to complain and they gave me a case no. [protected] and told me that they will escalate the case to the correct department who will listen to the tape recording and will get back to me in two days. Till now nobody came back to me. I phoned again this morning and spoke to Fiona in the customer care department. She told me that the case is still open and that they are working on it and somebody will phone me back within an hour. Nobody phone be back as promised. I phoned 14h37 and spoke to Sephelele in the customer Care dept and he told me that I must speak to sales. I Phoned again 14H54 and spoke to Tsheiso and he informed me that he cannot not assist as this deal was made from the call centre and he will escalate the case no. He then told me that they will listen to the tape recording and somebody from Cell C will phone me by Friday 29/4/16. In the meantime I pay huge amounts on my contract and I know that this contract will not work for me.

*I took out a new contract on the 19.04.2016, the adviser i was speaking to advised me the i will have to pay R250 monthly and i will receive R150 worth of airtime to use how ever i wish to use it .i advised her she must make sure she puts me on a plan where i will not go over my allowances because i don't want to end up paying extra as i cant afford to pay anymore money she said yes after you have finished you 150 allowance you will not be able to go over that .
*2days later i called cell c customer service as i could not make any calls, they advised me i have i am on a open line, reached my limit and went over by R230 but i told the adviser i do not want open line .
*I'm very disgusted with cell as i have been given wrong information, i cant afford to pay 230 extra, i would not recommend it to anyone because clearly i don't care about customers they just want to milk money from our pockets.

I have a contract with cell C, off which I struggled to port one of my number to cellc, after several visit to their offices I gave up and I lost all the data bundle that I was suppose to be receiving for eight months. I let go of that issue.

Now two three months ago they charged me R370 off which they claim is for late payment which I have no idea instead they debit the account twice per month, for Feb. and March I paid on time infect before time, they also charged me for short payment, . the contract was for R.300.00 per month, I don't know where does the short payment comes from.

They promise to refund me last month, now they are changing the story, they say I now owe them for short payment .

kindly look at this case as it looks like somebody is not doing his/her work on their accounts department and it is coursing me dearly

Last year November (2015) I had upgraded my cell phone contract with Cell C. Firstly receiving the phone took over a month due to incompetent staff who had cancelled the upgrade which took a further 2 weeks to rectify. Upon finally receiving the handset (Sony Xperia M5) it took a further 2 days just to get a sim-swop complete. Next the airtime and data that I had accumulated had not been carried over in excess of R300.00, and it continues not to be carried over each month as it should be, after 6 months there is still no resolution. To add to the frustration the handset heats up and shuts-off. When I had spoken to the customer care agent to report the problem he (Skhumbuzo Ndhlovu) had stated that they have had many reports of the handset (Sony Xperia M5) having that very same issue, he did admit that it was a know fault on this particular phone yet it is still offered on the contract and the customer is not informed of it.
the handset has now gone in for repairs for the second time and the feedback from Cell C is that they will not replace the handset if Sony does not find a fault. My contract is not with Sony, it is with Cell C. I have requested many times that I switch to a different handset with a different contract. Trying to get any feedback or help from the customer care is impossible, it is like speaking to mindless repetitive recording programmed to only say the same thing. The problem had been reported in January 2016 as I had been on holiday in December. it is now the end of April 2016 and there is still no resolution. I am beyond frustration at this point and not seeming to get any help on the matter from Cell C. I have went further and posted a complaint on Hello Peter which again was just brushed under the carpet and took almost a week to get a response.
I am constantly paying every month for a handset that I am unable to use and cannot get any help from Cell C as to a resolution.
The Handset had went in for repairs the second time and despite being promised it will be prioritized it took almost 3 weeks for me to receive it back with the same fault. the Handset itself comes up with an error that the camera will heat up and switch of while being used.
There is a known and obvious problem with the handset yet I am being forced to continue and pay for a contract that does not serve me.
I believe that my rights as a customer are being immensely violated.
I am beyond the point of frustration with the gross disrespect I as a customer am receiving. Attached are emails I have sent to Skhumbuzo Ndhlovu as well as the messages I have been sending to the Cell C Facebook page.

I requested closure of my Autopage account in Feb 2016, a few months after the end of contract term. As per 30 day requirement the contract was only cancelled on 27 March 2016 and number converted to prepaid since then. Auto page was paid in full till date of termination. We have been using the phone on prepaid since then. In April 12 2016, Glocell (who have taken over the autopage contract customers) billed me R157.26 for the month of April contract that hence does not exist. I called them a few times, sent them emails but got no response or feedback to rectify the situation or even an apology from them. I am now left with the only option of taking legal action against them for such a simple issue, which they refuse to fix.

Just received my April 2016 bill from Cell C only to find that the amount due is now R129 and not the contracted R110. On querying with their call centre was told that it was due to an upgrade (which I have no idea about). I have not requested for any upgrade neither have I received anything extra e.g. handset, more airtime, etc. So what have they upgraded?

I am still awaiting for them to resolve this issue and cannot get anyone to accept this responsibility. It's a mission to get in contact with someone who can assist. I think the best option is to cancel my debit order with my bank and watch Cell C jump!

I received a call from a Cell c consultant(Thando) on the 31/03/2016 regarding a R99 contract for a LTE WIFI router. I was unsure about the contract and required the consultant to call me back on the 01/04/2016 which she did and not a minute too late. We concluded the contract as normal and she promised delivery will take place on the 04/04/2016. I waited till the 05/04/2016 as no delivery took place but no consultant bother to contact me. I spoke to Annelesa and she said that the current router is out of stock and I required waiting for a week but as I mentioned above no SMS or call was made to me. I then spoke to Warren on the 05/04/2016 and he explained the same that the router is out of stock and that the LTE router is much faster but they can provide me a 3g router. I declined the offer and requested to wait for the LTE router. I then followed on the 12/04/2016 and spoke to Anjela and she stated that I require waiting an additional 2 weeks for the LTE Router and at no point did I say I wanted the 3G router. I received delivery on the 15/04/2016(15 days after conclusion of contract) and the ZTE MF65M 3G router was delivered. So I phoned Cell C once more and spoke to Nondu, she stated that the consultant has changed my order from the LTE router to the 3G router, this was done without my consent as I waited 2 full weeks for the LTE router so why would I change my mind for the 3G router. This is a lack of customer service and I am really frustrated with the consultants at Cell C. The client has to follow with a service Cell C is providing. Consultants will follow up timeously to ensure you take the contract but no after care after the contract is concluded. I have logged a complaint and the reference number to pick the 3G router is: 0bf184972. I require some action to be taken and I require that I get the correct router now as this contract is almost a month overdue.

I was at Cell c in Somerset Mall in Cape Town on the 09/04/2016 to apply for a new Laptop contract, the sales consultant that assisted me took my personal details ( Id copy, Payslip and 3 months bank statements). She advised me that she cant assist me on that as her PC kept on being off line, she promised to call me on Sunday to give me feed back on my application since then she has never called me i also called the number she gave to me i'm not getting through. I'm so disappointed with their service.

I had to upgrade my children's phones. My son wanted a Samsung Gear S2 for his birthday, but as they were not available yet, I asked the salesperson who attended to my upgrade, if there are specific phones compatible with the Gear, they told me all smartphones with android 4.4 and higher 1.5 GB RAM will be compatible. As I was looking at the Samsung J7, they told me it will be compatible. He also told me that I will be able to get a contract on the Gear separately once they do have stock. Now a month later as I enquire about the stock, they inform me that the Samsung Gear S2 is only compatible with the Samsung S6 & 7, and you need to do a contract on the two together. So now I sit with a phone without a Gear and my son without his birthday gift as I can not afford the Gear on prepaid.

18 March 2016 - Received a call from a CellC consultant regarding an upgrade on a contract I have with them. The last upgrade was done in February 2014 and a Samsung Galaxy S4 was received. The consultant told me she is phoning about an upgrade for a new handset on a 2nd contract I have with Cell C. According to her the contract with the Samsung Galaxy S4 was already upgraded telephonically with a CellC call centre in KZN. I reside in Gauteng. According to the records under my name and ID number the new handset, a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge (Gold in colour) was despatched to Kopane Hospital, 2 Casino Road Vereeniging. I don't have any family or acquintance living in Vereeniging. This handset was already despatched on 3 October 2015 and was signed for under my name at 10:25 am on 6 October 2015. They even gave me the cell number of the person who signed for it. Obviously my Identity has been compromised and used to receive an illegal upgrade. The cellphone was despatched with a sim card as well, which means this individual has a duplicate sim? Now Cell C want me to send them a copy of my ID again plus a copy of my Bank Statement ... BIG JOKE! THROUGH CELL - C MY IDENTITY WAS ALREADY COMPROMISED ONCE!.

I took a contract out via Call Direct. I specifically asked the sales person about the phones capabilities as I am a National Financial Manager and need to receive emails on my phone etc. I was assured that the phone he was recommending was better that my current phone. When I activated my new handset I found in fact that it was not the case. The phone does not have the functionalities I require and actually reboots itself when you try to open 2 apps. I logged a call and complaint with regards to this and have been waiting since the 17th of February 2016 for someone to resolve my issue. if I need to upgrade I understand but surely I should have been contacted to resolve by now. I keep phoning the customer care / helpline and get the same response every time. What do I have to do? do I cancel my contract with Cell C? Do I contact my attorney to sue for false advertising? do I file a complaint in relations with the new consumers protection act? I know there is a recorded call. I know that should you listen to that call, you will hear the sales agent tell me that this handset is capable. Please advise what I should do.

In August 2015 I upgraded my contract that would have expired in 2 months time and received a new handset. The very next day I returned the phone because of battery issues. I was told to wait seven days. I was not able to do so and asked the contract to be cancelled. I was told that I must e-mail customer care and request cancellation. That same day I mailed customer care whom then responded that I can only cancel the contract 30 days prior to contract expiry date.
30 Days later I mailed again and now they started passing the buck. Customer service refer me to the shop and the shop refer me to the customer care. 4 months down the line I get told that the contract cannot be cancelled. When I started making an issue I ended up speaking to a Funilwe whom then with her managers permission indicated that the contract is now cancelled and the last payment will be deducted on Feb 2015. Now when I phone for confirmation no one can assist me and apparently the contract is not cancelled. I have been paying a contract now for the past 5 months of which I have not receive a upgraded handset and all contact is being rejected. I also do not seem to get this process escalated.