Tough call to get answer on airtime switch

DOES MTN force its subscribers to forfeit their accumulated airtime and data when they migrate to a different contract within the network?

It seems like a very straightforward question, but my word, what a runaround the network gave me when I sought a definite answer.

Last November, an MTN spokesman told me – after I’d taken up the case of a subscriber who had “lost” his accumulated airtime minutes when he migrated to a cheaper MTN package – that MTN would be “amending its rules to make provision for customers to carry over balances when they do upgrades and migrations, and this will even cover migration from pre-paid to post-paid”.

Back in August, I asked MTN whether the rules had in fact been amended, because I’d received a complaint from another MTN subscriber about a similar airtime grab when he migrated from a post-paid to pre-paid contract.

That question wasn’t answered, as I pointed out this month.

The media office said they did respond, and attached a response which didn’t answer the question. At all. So I asked again. This time I was prompted by the case of Lunga Kalashe, who wrote to me earlier this month to say that his two-year MTN contract was about to expire, and having elected to keep his handset and switch to pre-paid, he’d been told that he’d have to use all his data and accumulated airtime within a week or lose it.

“The data is not even contractual – I've loaded it using cash,” he said.

“Even if it was, it’s still my money, I paid for it already at R499/month – this is really ridiculous. And nowhere in my contact can I find a clause that says I will lose my airtime and data if I switch from contract to pre-paid.”

On October 5 I emailed MTN’s media office to ask: “Did that network spokesman speak out of turn (about airtime and data balances carrying over)?

“Was the policy changed and then changed back again?

“Are you able to produce Mr Kalashe’s contract and point out the clause that stipulates (airtime and data forfeiture on contract migration)?”

Two days later I was sent a statement from MTN SA’s chief customer experience officer, Ideshini Naidoo.

“MTN has revised its carryover policy and now customers are allowed to carry over their value when they migrate from pre-paid to post-paid.”

That begged my next question: “Does that mean that when someone migrates from post-paid (contract) to pre-paid, they are forced to sacrifice their accumulated ‘value’?

“Is that value only migrated from prepaid to post-paid?”

When I’d had no response at all six days later, I sent a follow-up email.

And the next day I got this: “Customers get to carry over their value even when they migrate from post-paid to prepaid”.

Finally I have that on the record. Luckily I don’t give up easily.

Clearly the next question was, if that is indeed MTN’s policy, why was Kalashe told, this month, that he had to use his airtime and data before his switch to prepaid became effective, or it was be “lost”?

My promised response hadn’t materialised at the time of writing, but Kalashe told me that MTN has since assured him that his data and airtime would be transferred to his pre-paid SIM. As it should be. It’s patently unfair for a subscriber to be forced to forfeit airtime or data they have paid for, when they switch between packages within a network.

When subscribers owe networks “value”, they are hounded to pay up, and if they don’t they are handed over to collections agencies, and the interest and fees pile on.

And for extra punishment, there’s a negative listing on their credit record.

So it’s patently unfair for a network to deny a subscriber the benefit of airtime and data they have paid for, when they remain loyal to the network but exercise their right to move to another package.

Data and airtime costs are high enough in this country without being made to forfeit what we’ve legitimately paid for.

On the back of #datamustfall, there’s a growing sentiment among South Africans that the practice of premature data “expiry” must fall.

Putting a “use by” date of less than three years on any pre-paid goods or services is a contravention of the Consumer Protection Act. But the networks do it routinely, and I’ve yet to hear a justification other than variations of “when it’s downloaded, it’s consumed”, which makes no sense, and “we have to do it that way for accounting purposes”.

A couple of decades ago the networks thought it was fair to charge people call rates to listen to their voicemail messages.

Imagine them trying to justify that today. Data expiry after a month or two or three – or anything less than three years – will continue until enough consumers say enough.

If subscribers owe networks ’value’, they are hounded to pay up

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