Cell C
Reviews and Complaints

I have tried to get service with regards to my complaint for over 5 months. I have spoken to supervisors, call centre agents, branch put complaints on hello peter but still nothing. I took out a contract with cradlestone cell c and adrian and I (tania) made it clear that we only want to pay the contract fees as that was the budget. the second month running my bill went over and I contacted them and asked why and they told me that it was an open line, I made it clear that I don't want it to go over. again it happened and again I called, then the following month it showed that my data (3g) was up in 3 days and I told them that was impossible. after a while they told me there were downloads that I am positive I never did but besides that I told them that I don't want it to go over my contract. again it went over and they tried to take of over r4000 (my contract fees is r1399), I was so shocked and again I called and still was promised they would get back to me and will make sure it does not go over. I then paid the r1399 and the following month they tried to take off over r7000 and again I called. when I called they told me the case was closed but I again told them I am not even fighting the data (even though I don't agree) but that I instructed them not to go over my contract fee. I still had no response as promised. when I spoke to cradlestone, the manager peter told me that the store is no longer a franchise but been taken over by head office and that the previous people no longer work there. so unfortunately they cannot assist me. he went to head office and they told him they won't pass credit. I am so upset because I don't have that type of money to spend on a cell phone and that is why I took the infinity package. (believe me I am also not happy with certain things that were promised but get charged, that's another problem) I then called again on the 6th of november at 10h55 and after an hour got hold of ms nompumelelo zungu (supervisor) and she promised to get back to me that afternoon and again no response. I then call on the 11th of november and the call centre agent told me there were no notes of my conversation with ms nompumelelo zungu and gave me her e-mail. I have now contacted the consumer protection act, again put another complaint on hello peter. what does a person have to do to get service...;...

I have been experiencing terrible network coverage in my area for over a year. It improved slightly this year and so I renewed my contract. Beginning of July I started experiencing problems again and could only get Edge, no 3G. Submitted complaint in hellopeter on 17 July. Took until today for them to tell me that their tower is too short and they have to break it down and rebuild it. ?! So where does that leave me? Do I get to pay a reduced rate for the reduced level of service from cell c? Their customer service is shocking as well! My phone is used for business purposes as well as security for when my shop alarm goes off. I'm losing phone calls, emails, messages etc because cell c couldn't be bothered to rectify the problem in my area...

Good day, please can someone came back to me regarding this enquiry.
Veronica
To: '[protected]@cellc.co.za'
Subject: FW: Re: Final payment after change of ownership.
From: Veronica [mailto:[protected]@vodamail.co.za]
Sent: 08 July 2014 10:33 PM
Subject: FW: Re: Final payment after change of ownership.

2nd Request – enquiry

Subject: Re: Final payment after change of ownership.

Good day, see attach as well check your bank statements this payment was done and account settled. Could you please inform me why this show on the credit bureau R129-00 as written off.?This was the detail of the account it was paid into as well as the proof of payment which was send through as proof as payment after it was done.
Beneficiary name CELL C
My reference CLC: 978521
Beneficiary reference CLC:978521
Bank name NEDBANK LIMITED
Account number [protected]
Beneficiary branch ( IBT ) [protected]
Payment confirmation method E-mail
Recipient name Cell C ref: [protected]
Recipient email address [protected]@cellc.co.za

Send payment confirmation for my
future dated payment
Beneficiary group

Most recent payments (up to three)
Date Amount
2014-03-04 R 200.00
2013-12-17 R 785.31

Payment receipt

Beneficiary name: CELL C
Bank name: NEDBANK LIMITED
Beneficiary account number: [protected]-[protected]
IBT number: [protected]
My reference: CLC: 978521
Beneficiary reference: CLC:978521
Amount: R 200.00
Payment date: 2014-03-04

Could you please get this sort out and inform me what the outcome is and let me know if it was taken off from the credit bureau, I would need a letter confirming the outcome.

Regards
Veronica
[protected]

On tuesday evening at 20h00 I did
A balance check, approxiamately 8 hours of talk time, 300 sms’s and 600 mb of
Data were available. Wednesday morning
At 09h00 all were zeroed. Problem was
Reported to cell c at 10h00 and since then no suitalble solution were given and
Still waiting after 60 hours because the technical department apparantly could
Not resolve the problem.
We had to phone them several
Times a day and plea for a response, evertime referred to a new call centre
Agent and team leader.

Problem to be resolved as quickly
As possible and all of the above balances should be reinstated. I would like an explanation of what happened
To my balances.

I did an upgrade and was told that my contract will include BIS and sine November 2013 they been billing me for it, I have been trying to sort this out since then, to ate the call centre cannot get anything right, they are incompetent and if ask for a manager they just give you their buddy sitting next to them, I had a passing of my sister 24th May 2014 MY CELL PHONE LINE WAS SUSPENDED I WAS ON THE line with Call Centre after 12 am as i needed to call my family members but no they said I never paid my account so it had to remain suspended why bse cell c billed me for BIS again every month it has to be part of my bill of R129 pm ? they unblocked the line after I shouted at them. I had to go make a cash payment since april because Cell C cannot bill me correctly and when i apply for another line they tell me i cant get another line because i have a bad payment profile i wonder why hey because of unpaid debits which
they are responsible for due to incorrect billings and charges, i want that cleared off my name, a Call centre agent changed my bank details to the historic bank details on their system and changed my debit order to the 15th ? Why would i ask to change my new bank details to my old bank details, why would I request a debit on the 15th when i do not have money, want those charges of return debit orders reversed and compensated for on my standard account, I want a copy of this call where i instructed CELL C to do all of this, im frustrated of dealing with the Call centre who is unhelpful and very unskilled, Cell C store westagte mall cape town have been trying to asssit me but the call centre just cannot get it right, I have paid in cash April and May they still SMS me to say no payment received you no why because the Call Centre Agent created a 3rd profile on my account - [protected] account number [protected] [protected] incorrectly charged for BIS where is my credit account number [protected] these two account numbers has my Nedbank details which is correct and the NEW PROFILE is loaded with my historic old bank details to debit me the 15th account number is [protected] I asked cell C store westagte to fix and correct but i want to know who gave Cell C permission to do what they want with MY BANK details and agreed date of debit order its breach of contract and I am a paying client I want this sorted out I have been struggling since NOVEMBER 2013 -

I just received a SMS that a Debit Order of R430.00 went off my bank account for a upgrade that I never done, spoke to customer agent and she tells me I took a upgrade the 4th of feb 2014 and I did not I actually cancelled 1 contract in January 2014 why would I take another contract out if I cancelled 1 really. I would like to see the contract that I upgraded and just want to inform cell c that I want my money back bank charges and all. They are a stupid network and I cant wait for my other contract to end. Cell C I will take this further if I don't get any feedback from Cell C and believe me a lot of people is so fed up with your very bad service.

Hi

I upgraded my contract from 5GB data for R299 pm to 2GB + 3GB Nightshift for R99 pm. My first bill was supposed to be R108 (R99 for the normal contract + R9 pro-rata for the last day of the month in which I upgraded) but got a bill for R500.56.
I contacted Cellc several times for them to rectify this billing mistake. Each operator that I speak to has a different reason for this error and tells me that they are logging a complaint. The waiting period for them to get back to me is between 24 to 48 hours but now I have been trying to resolve this issue for well over 2 weeks.

How do I get them to fix this error and can anyone help me with this?

I was thinking of changing my mobile network to CellC due to their lower rates but after this I will stay with Vodacom and rather pay a bit more for accurate billing and better customer care.

In October 2013, I had problems with the handset, was told to take it in for repairs, 21 days later got the phone back and after a week experienced the same problems. I was told to hand it in again and 2 weeks later was told I will be getting a new phone. Three months later I am having problems with this phone and also realised that it is a refurbished handset. The problems occurred within the guarantee period, why was I given a refurbished phone, I am paying a monthly fee that goes towards the payment of the handset which eventually becomes mine after 24months, and now I am given a 2nd hand phone. This is unacceptable, now I am told to take the phone in again, how many times must one have problems with the phone and be inconvenienced in this manner. If I purchased an appliance and had problems within the guarantee period and if they could not fix it, obviously it would have been replaced with a "new" one and not a second hand appliance, same applies in this case.

I went to upgrade my contract and was not informed that my blackberry internet of 2 g will not cared

Over to my samsung contract after I ask him. Then I went back to ask about my phone geting hot and once again asked about internet as it said warring by data usage. Then once again was told not to worry I have more then enougth as I still have 2g. Olny now to sit with a bill then is way out my budget. Still no answer from cell-c as I have e mailed the store and cell-c them self. Quick to take your money be not help.

I took out a contract 1 June 2013. On 20 December 2013 I took the phone to Samsung as it was a Samsung. On 30 December 2013 they reported that they cannot repair it as it need to be replaced by Cell C. They phone was taken to Cell C 30 December 2013. It was booked in for repairs. On 15 January 2014 I received the phone from Cell C. All they did was a software update. A day later the phone gave the same problem and on 17 January 2014 it was again taken to Cell C. It was again booked in for repairs and on the Repair Requisition Form it is stipulated that the handset was assessed by Samsung and need to be replaced. Up to date nobody at Cell C can assist in having the phone repaired / replaced. The handset is booked in under R 756730. Many Thanks. Cora Theron [protected]. [protected]@wesbank.co.za

I called a cellc call center today and requested to do sim swop. Only to find that u only do sim swop when you remember the last day you recharged and how much. That it is ridiculous. I'ne been using cell c for 5years now and I was loyal to the brand only to find that you suck, you dont deliver services as you promise. I mean if you want to know if im the real owner of the number, what is the significance of knowing the last date I recharged and the amount. What does that prove. What if I have a memory problem? Than i'm not catered for? You will lose customers with these stupid policies you have. Im moving to another network! You suck!

Since going onto prepaid at the advertised rate of 99c per minute in January 2013, I have had the impression that I am being ripped off. I have, however, not been able to find the time to check and then the Cell C website was not available.

A spot check in August revealed the following discrepancies:

25 July 2013, call to [protected]: Duration 53 seconds, amount billed R5, 09
25 July 2013, call to [protected]: Duration 1:17, amount billed R3, 76
30 July 2012, call to [protected]: Duration 1:29, amount billed R4, 28
14 August 2013, call to [protected]: Duration 1:07, amount billed R3, 23
18 August 2013, call to [protected]: Duration 1:42, amount billed R2, 24
21 August 2013, call to [protected]: Duration 3:20, charge R9, 55

It is clear that the advertised and agreed rate of 99 cents per minute is not being applied and that Cell C has been overcharging me consistently for some time.

I insisted on a full audit of all calls made by me since conversion to
prepaid and a full report of the results.

To make matters worse, since my charge rates have been adjusted in reaction to my complaint to the local Cell C shop in August, the system is regularly deducting money from my account for no apparent reason.

For example, these figures were taken from the Cell C website, set to show all activities:

On 26 Sept 2013 my credit was R36, 64. At the next chargeable activity on 28 Sept, I made a call which lasted 46 seconds, which was correctly charged at R0, 76, but thereafter my balance was R29, 88, i.e. reduced by R6, 76, so R6, 00 was stolen.

On 29 Sept I made a call for 7m 16s, charged at R7, 20, but my credit was reduced from R29, 23 to R10, 03, i.e. reduced by R19, 20, so R12 was stolen.

The only reaction from Cell C to date was in reaction from my complaint submitted via Hello Peter: they credited my account with R100, seemingly in an effort to get rid of me cheaply. They have been ignoring me ever since, despite numerous further requests via GetResponse and Hello Peter and e-mails to their customer services dept.

According to my calculation, they owe me another R400 to R500. An audit of my account will reveal the correct figures. I have repeatedly requested to see such an audit, but they are nt communicating with me about the matter. My complaint reference with Cell C is [protected].

Cell c is to credit my fathers account since April its almost October and still nothing. I tired of calling customer care who is totally hopeless and unhelpful. Please follow up asap as we are now prepared to take legal action against cellc we have had a talk to our lawyer and we stand a very good chance to expose cellc for there disgusting service

Cell C is cheap and c***! I woke up this morning with R26 and 44MB on my account. I was surfing on my mobile phone and it stopped working. I thought it was their CellC network hiccups as usually but after trying to reset my connection and also to power cycle my phone I found out there was 0.0 balance on my data and call balance. I called the CellC customer care service and was told that at midnight I used up all the data and then they billed my airtime too.

1. At midnight I was asleep
2. There was only 80kb space on my SIM and 19MB free space on my phone for apps, so where could almost 300MB data enter like CellC claimed?
3. As at this morning I still had airtime and data and I am a prepaid customer. If as at midnight I was 00 balance as CellC claimed, how could I still use the service as at this morning.
4. This is a mail from CellC customer support ... Notice the tome (17/09/2013 00:13:06)

Please be advised that your airtime as well as data has been depleted on the following usage:
17/09/2013 00:13:06
SmartData Internet R26.31+ 217.64MB
SUPACHARGE Data=17.55MB
The above simply states that you were billed fisrtly on your available supa Charge data (17.55MB) Then the available da ta as well as the R26.31 airtime that was available
Customer Care
www.cellc.co.za

During may 2013 I applied for a 2nd contract with cell c with which I am with for the past 7 years - on 26 june 2013 I made payment of r166 + r422 to cell c, however only on the 1st contract reference number as I thought that cell c would notice the 2 exact payments for the same customer who have 2 contracts with them. Not much brain teaser here to take notice of this, however to my surprise cell c kept on phoning me with the confirmation that I am in arrears with the 2nd contract. Which I am technically not - I requested them to journal the credit which was obviously for the 2nd contract as I paid in the exact amount due on the 2nd contract and they refused - saying that they are not allowed to journal any payments, even though it was for the same client. After numerious telephonic attendances to the cell c call centre and still not getting anywhere, I visited the cell c shop in the kolonnade centre in pretoria and they also could not help in explaining to the incompetent personell at the cell c accounts department and I just got a "sorry" from them.
On 26 july 2013 I once again made two exact payments of r261 + r150, which was the exact amounts due on contract 1 and contract 2 and once again I am not in arrears, still cell c refused to journal the credit to the correct contract (Same client remember), even though I once again paid the exact amount owing and due. My 2nd contract was suspended.
I registered a formal complaint at hello peter.com on 6 august 2013 and I was contacted by a team member of the cell c escalations team on 8 august 2013 who promised that she would organize the credit to be journalled to the correct contract and activated my 2nd contract again.
Much to my surprise my 2nd contract was suspended again on the 12th of august 2013 due to the fact that I am in "arrears".
This company is the most incompetent company I have ever been in business with and I would never refer any person to do business with cell c. What other entity would refuse to journal a credit to help a client.

Cell C is the worst service provider there is. On the 01/07/2013 I phoned Cell C, becuase I want to stop the contract and pay it up. They gave me a amount of R692.65, I asked if that is the full amount due for this contract, yes they said. I paid it the same day, email the proof of payment and cancellation of contract to customer service Cell C. No reply, after two weeks I phoned Cell C again just to find out if they got the payment. Yes they do, but I still owe them one months money R159.00. I asked how is that possible if I paid the full amount for the contract and query it. I phoned there head office and later Sidefree Valoyi phoned me and said he listened to all the tell conversations and Cell C is going to credit my account and it will be 0. On the 07/08/2013 I phoned Cell C just to find out did they credit my account, no they say I owe them now R674.26, service fees. I just lost it, because how can you pay the amount you are given and then they will credit the other amount and then there is service fees that come later. Sidefree phoned me again, no I do not have to worry everything is going to be credited. I asked him, please send me a email where he just stated what he told me over the phone, so I can have proof, he said he is going to send me immediatly a email, that was this morning and no email yet, it is after 15h00 already. He said why did I not contact him, did he know that when you phone, you will hold for more then half a hour and still nothing. He gave me a number, his direct number, well this number is engage all the time. All I want is the proof what I was told over the phone by Sidefree is the truth that I owe Cell C nothing.

hi I had a contract with you guys years ago which has been settle according to my knowledge, how today I received a call from j.m.attorneys stating otherwise .Please inform me as to how and why this has happened as that contract was settle.i admit I have had many issues with cell c .In which I have sent many faxes to you guys .Now im not sure if this is a way of cell c trying to extort more finance from customers . I want a complete statement as to how and where this extra cost came from ?

Good day

Trust you are well
I would like to log a complaint about cellc, the network provider, on the 29th of may I upgraded to a Samsung galaxy s4 for R399 which comes with a gig but chose the straight up 50 by mistake I only realized that when the 1st top up that I was on straight up 50 so called cellc to change the package to straight up 100 for R399. The upgrade was done in may and we only got the first top up on the 1st of July and realized the package I’m on, and I was still billed for June.
I have been calling since last 2weeks going for 3 now without any assistance, I first spoke to Zama on Monday 1st July 2013 who logged a call and told me I will get a ref number via an sms and feedback in 4-5 business days and nothing happened, then spoke to Mantshebo who did the upgrade and advised to speak to her team leader and still haven’t heard anything. I know the error was on my side and I’m willing to continue with cellc but not with the package we not happy with, emailing you is my last resort as the call centre is unable to help. I again called Mantshebo who I did the upgrade with on the 5 July 2013 to find out if she has escalated with her team leader, she told me these things take time and that he will call me, up until now she has not, I had to go to the store at Carlton centre for assistance and send emails to their customer service email address.
I then was advised by a consultant at the cellc store at Carlton centre on the 13 July that I might be charged for migrating before the new contract is 3months old that I accepted, I would like to be migrated to a straight up 100 for R399pm, Yes I was upgraded to a straight up R50 for R399pm and I didn’t know I have to pay R349 meaning the R97 goes towards the data and sms’s?

And I also enquired at the store if the if the straight up R100 is a special and he said that is the original price and the special has been on the entire time as I’ve been trying to change the package and it’s still advertised at R399pm. And I also saw on your ads that R449 is a price for a straight up 200 so will I be on straight up 200 and getting straight up 100 benefits? Because on a straight up 200 they offer 200 minutes, 200 smss and 200mb + 824mb they want to put me on a straight up 100 but pay the amount on a straight up 200, is this fair? Currently I’m on straight up 50 I get 50smss and 50mg for R399pm. The staff is very unprofessional and don’t do follow ups with the customer and I don’t feel I did a big mistake by upgrading with them.
Please assist me with this matter if it’s possible.
Regards.
N

I had a sms today from a place called pholosa telling me a cellc acc has been handed over to them for debt collection, I must pay this amount before 06 june 2013. Today is the 19 june 2013. I called this number very confused as I do not have any cellc contracts with anybody. The lady on the other line on behalf of pholosa collections agency called melody was very ignorant, I told her I will not give out my personal information as I do not know this pholosa place and I do not have a cell c account, I asked her to send me the proof she has that this account indeeds belong to me she kept on asking me what proof must she send. I asked to speak to a supervisor she told me first she cant put me through and that I must not shout at her and then she said no the supervisors are busy. I asked her again to fax me the proof that this account is for me, she again asked what must she sent as she has a lot of information. I told her I will contact cell c myself and find out what this is about.

I took out a new contract with cell c on 24 may 2012 at the blue route mall store. The phone I wanted was on a blackberry casual chat 100 contract, where I would receive 100 off peak minutes (I can only make calls after 8pm and weekends). The subscription would be r169 per month, which includes the off peak minutes, itemized billing, and bis. As, I was not happy with this, the consultant (Nikita) informed me that after 4 months I would be able to convert the contract to a top-up, where I would pay r175 and receive r175 airtime per month. This would include bis.

After 4 months, I went into the store and asked whether I could convert the contract to a top-up contract, as I was earlier informed I could do by the consultant (Nikita). She then told me that cell c no longer offers that option, as their structure had changed since the last time I was in the store. The only option I had was to pay my & ldquo;commitment fee” (Which I was never informed of) plus bis, plus one of their new contracts, which would give me (For example) 50mb data, anytime minutes and sms’s for an additional r50. This would total over r200 per month. I also informed them that I was being billed for internet, when I am paying for bis. They said that they would contact their it department and get back to me, however, months later I am still awaiting their response. I was told that I need to contact their area manager earl moses. I had to call their regional office, which I would be billed for, as I would only get hold of them during office (Peak) hours. I called the regional office several times and earl was never available. Eventually earl called and listened to my dilemma, said he would escalate my problem to johannesburg, and get back to me as soon as he could. This took place months ago, and to this day I am still waiting for earl moses to follow up and get back to me.

Due to the fact that the matter was not being resolved, and the bad service I was receiving, I decided to post on hello peter on november 28 2012. Within hours of my posting, cell c responded by stating that one of their consultants sisa would contact me shortly. I did not receive the above mentioned call after 3 days, and then wrote on cell c’s facebook page. I received a response within an hour. I was instructed to do all kinds of things and was again told that sisa would contact me shortly.
After almost 3 weeks I eventually got the call from sisa. He would not listen, kept giving me the same story that everyone else did. After being on the call for while, I eventually agreed to pay my commitment fee (Mentioned earlier) and to take the top up 30 option. Sisa said that he would guarantee that I would get my bis for free for the remainder of my contract. He instructed me to stay on the line while he makes the changes to my contract. He dropped the call a few seconds later, and did not call back. I waited for a while for his return call, which never came. I later checked my balance, and found that I only had 20 talk time minutes. When I had over 100 minutes before sisa called. He failed to tell me that when the contract changed my existing minutes (Which I had paid for) would fall away.

I went back to the blue route store on tuesday 11 december 2012 to speak to the store manager & ndash; she was smoking, I waited about 10 minutes for her to get back. Eventually qonita effendi got back from her smoke break. I explained my situation to her. She said that she would escalate the matter to johannesburg, and call me first thing the next morning. Qonita called at 11am on wednesday (12 january 2012) morning, and said that the refunded airtime (To replace the minutes that fell away) should be ready for collection by friday 14 december. I also asked her to please get their regional manager (Rethaai asmaal) to call me, since the area manager was incapable of properly dealing with the matter, I never received that phone call.

I emailed blue route store to ask for feedback on the reimbursement. I received a response saying that I need to refer to a list of numbers, which was all. I went back to blue route store on thursday 20 december 2012, as I had not received any feedback. The consultant who spoke to me said that the qonita effendi the store manager had already left, she went to call on her cell phone, but there was no answer. She took my details and said that she would sms me later that evening to let me know whether she got hold of qonita or not. I did not receive an sms.

Qonita called me at 2pm the friday (21 december) , a week after she said the matter would be sorted out. She informed me that the replacement airtime was ready for collection. I asked her why she did not follow up and communicate with me, she got nasty on the phone, did not apologise or acknowledge her lack of service.

I then called the regional office, and was informed that they do not deal with customers; I was not even allowed to go to their offices. I called their customer service centre, who directed me to the customer service call centre, where I was told that they do not deal with complaints over the phone. I was given an email address to which I could email my complaint, as & ldquo;no one deals with complaints over the phone”.

I went back to the blue route mall store on friday 21 december 2012 to collect my airtime. I asked one of the consultants to please call the store manager qonita (Store manager). She came out 5 minutes later, barely greeted, said she’ll get my airtime. She then sent one of the other consultants to bring the airtime to me. I asked the consultant to please call qonita, as she was the one handling the matter. I was told that she was on a call. While waiting I asked the consultant to please check my account, so that I could know how many minutes fell away, which were to be refunded. I was told that I needed to log onto my account via their website as they do not have access to such information (I did so at a later stage, after leaving the store, but the website does not allow one to view such information). Qonita made me wait for over 10 minutes before coming to the front of the store. I asked why she hadn’t called me with feedback, she said she did and that the matter was resolved. That was not the case, I received terrible service, and all I wanted was to be kept informed about the progress of the matter. Qonita was extremely rude, would not allow me to speak, she kept shouting over me, in a store full of customers on a friday evening. She eventually stopped interrupting while I was speaking, she stood behind the counter, with a look of disgust on her face, and kept saying & ldquo;er, er” while I spoke.

She was extremely rude and unprofessional. As I said to her, communication is not only about the words you say, but body language plays a big role. Her body language spoke volumes. She slouched, looked disinterested, frowned. This was the worst service I have ever received and it filters down throughout the business. Regional managers (Rethaai asmaal) do not get back to you, area managers (Earl moses) do not follow up, store managers (Qonita effendi) are just plain rude and unprofessional and consultants (Nikita) are not adequately trained. All I wanted is what I was told I could receive, and in trying to obtain that, received pathetic service.

As I was a student in 2012, and have just started working, I am unable to get myself out of the contract. My faith in cell c has been totally destroyed and my wish is to sever all ties with your company. Regrettably I am bound by a contract, to which I did not agree, based on false promises.
I am sending a copy of this letter to various consumer-rights columns in the media, as I have received absolutely no customer service from cell c.