Cell C
Reviews and Complaints

I had a contract with Cell C for many years. Could not afford paying the bill for a few months for which I accept responsibility.

Cell C terminated my contract 2 months prior to it ending. Then they invoiced me for way more than my actual contract amount for the 2 months for a service which I could not use. They also network locked my phone making it impossible for me to use it.

I have sent emails to their escalations department 3 times asking for a payment plan as I am not going to fight about the overcharge. Clearly they do this often to people so I don't mind being robbed as they have already listed me on the credit bureau as a default.

Sent emails on the 09th July 2020, 07 August 2020 and 28 August 2020 with still no response from them.

I upgraded more than a month ago to an advertised deal online with Cell C for a Huawei P40 Lite with a Huawei Watch GT2. They approved everythin and said that they will probably have stock in the next week. It has been a month now and they seem to have no idea or clue where the stock is, if they will ever get stock or if stock even exists. They had the audacity to charge me pro rate for the upgrade las month and then my bill for this month is also charged for the full amount. They keep on using the same useless excuse that they dont know if and when it will come. Then I went in to the site again today to change the upgrade to a Samsung S20 with the Samsung Active Watch and then the same story again, they dont have stock, but now they said that the models has been discontinued. How can it be discontinued if literally everybody else has stock of it. I always used to like Cell C, but they have seriously gone down the drain with their service. They then called me last week after I started posting on Social Media and promised that I will receive an sms last week with the date for the delivery, which was obviously a tactic to try and keep me quiet. Still nothing to date. Please people, do not ever get caught in their ads and stories, they are useless.

I phoned on 29 June to cancel ALL 3 of my Cell C contracts. I was informed of the cancellation commitment fees. These were/are 0740753510 (R541.13); 083 643 1765 (Zero) and 0845860781 (R124.88). I paid these (Total R666.01) on 29 June.
I did not receive a July statement - so thought everything was fine.

On August 3 I received an August statement that showed that only 0836431765 had been cancelled.

I phoned the same day (was on the phone for over an hour in total trying to find out why the cancellation had not taken place and trying to get a credit for the August fees. Absolutely no joy... only extreme frustration! I was told someone from cancellations would ring me.

On 17/8 someone FINALLY called me (and I decided to proceed with new resolve and determined not to lose my temper I decided to forget the credit - simply get these 2 contracts cancelled). I was given new commitment fees (as the old ones had apparently been credited against my usual account) of 0740753510 (R457.88) and [protected].63). I was also very clear that I wanted these contracts cancelled before end August as I no longer have the sim cards and therefore cannot use the airtime/data and so paying for yet another month's usage would not be acceptable.
I paid them each separately and immediately. I sent the POP's to Cell C as instructed. I was also told to phone again on Wednesday 19/8 to check that these had been processed and the contracts cancelled.

I phoned on 19/8 and spoke to Wesley Adams who assured me that everything was taken care of. He indicated that the contracts had not yet been cancelled but that everything was in hand and that they would be cancelled before 31 August. he asked if I was happy for the August fees to still be taken via debit order. I agreed. I asked if there was anything else that I could do and he then said I could ring again in a couple of days to check.

I rang on 21/8 and spoke to Thami (who declined to spell her surname for me) and she indicated that in fact only 0845860781 was listed for cancellation on 3 September and not 0740753510. She could not find the payment of the commitment fee on the 074 number and put me through to customer service where I spoke to Thobile who found it immediately! She put me back and I was cut off. I phoned in again at 16.41 and 16.55 and on both occasions the call was not answered and I was immediately fast traced to the "service level feedback" loop of the phone call.

I am at the end of my tether - what should I do and how can I get these 2 contracts cancelled!?

I'm very much disappointed with the customer service provided by Cellc
I have been sent from pillar to post probably spoke to 10 consultants and no one can assist me.
A 3rd contract with router 10gig 10 night was added without my request, I only requested a router and the consultant assisting me said she will add the router only on the existing contract I have which was the 2nd Sim with 10 gig 10 night and that will be R189

According to my knowledge I have 2 contracts with cellc namely
1. P30 phone
2.10 gig 10 night then later added router on this one July 2020

When I received the router I noticed that theres a Sim card and I emmediatly called customer service and told them I didn't order a Sim card only router and the consultant did confirm that the router will be added on the existing 10gig10 night and I can dispose the simcard I just received. ( calls are recorded cell c must make use of those recordings )

Cell c now tells me about a 30day notice for cancelation. I refuse to pay for something I didn't not agree on /order .
Reference no0081802139

To whom it my concern
Good day my name is zainodien Damon I'd number [protected] I've opened cell phone contract with cell c August 2017 paid my account every month for 6 months then my account went into arrears in 2018 but then by 30th October 2019 I settled my account in full and closed it and was told by one of cell c agents that my information will be sent to the ITC and my profile will be updated which never happend I've checked my credit report recently and cell account is stil active and reflecting badly on my credit report please help me as I've been struggling with this issue for all over m almost a full year please advice and revert back to me thank you please check attachments for documents related to this issue.
Regards
Zainodien Damon
Contact no [protected] [protected]

Good day

This email serves as a complaint to Cell C collection/billing department, I have an account that I opened on the 04 January 2020 and axactly on the 15 July 2020 there insufficient funds on my bank account in order for the debit order to go through and I did pay my cell c account an amount of R 448.00 via EFT service using my banking app on the 17 July 20 to this CELL C BANKING DETAILS :

Nedbank
Cell C Serves Provider
Acc No 1454037059
Corporate Client Services
145 405
Ref : My Account No Or Cell Phone Number

After doing so it was brought to my attention that the funds does not reflect on Cell C side the cause of that could be the wrong recipient but the Account Number is correct meaning I did pay Cell C SP PTY Ltd and to support this I did forward the proof of payment to Proofofpayment@cellc.co.za and custserv@cellc.co.za. I then instructed the operator to reallocate the premium which was done successfully on the 22 - 23 July 2020.

On the 23 July 2020 another premium of R447. 99 was debited in my banking account which resulted in double payment for the month of July 20, I then consulted on the 23 July and instructed to get my money refunded since its two payments in one month and was notified its going to take 7 working days to be refunded back to my banking account. Waited until the 31 July 20 (7 days) nothing, then on the 03 August 20 I enquired about my refund was told its going to take 24 hours depending on the bank am using.

Then today on the 05 Aug 20, I enquired once more only to find out that the notice to refund me (the client) was not made in the first place, meaning if I did not call or enquire I was not going to get the premium back because there was no notice to pay me back whatsoever.

Am lodging this complaint because I was treated unfairly and lied to by Cell c operators, I will like to have my call(s) recordings from the 16 July 2020 with cell C operators for further clearity /findings/investigations and to assist my legal team with the matter since well Cell C is failing me.

Since well you (Cell C) can not stick to your own time frames am giving you 14 days counting from the 23 JULY 2020 to resolve my matter because that is the day and date I brought this matter to your attention my case number/reference no is [protected] and [protected] failure to do as I instruct, like wise its unfortunate I will be forced to lodge a complaint against you to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa with the assistance of my legal team to combat and resolve this matter.

Thank you.

Mr TJ Baalt
[protected]
[protected]
[protected]@gmail.com

Your response in this matter would be appreciated.

Good day I was very insulted by a staff member at zevenwacht mall cell c shop. Myself and my husband needed new phones so we went to that shop. Before we even entered we were stopped at door then the guy asked me what we wanted to do at store. I informed him that we wanted to look at the phones. He told me that their phones are in locked up and that all their phones starts from R5000 and up. He also told me that's its unnecessary cost to buy a phone during this time. I looked at him and asked him does he think I can't afford to buy a phone their. I felt insulted and very angry and decided to go to another store. I then went to mtn in same mall got good assistance and bought 2 Huawei Y9 cash and spent over 7000 in that store. It's so sad that I didn't look like someone tht can afford to buy a phone although I'm a registered nurse and my husband engineer. So stop judging ppl on their looks and I will never go to a cell c shop again as well as my family members

Please I need this sorted out I do have this code on my beneficiary for Cell C I cannot load any airtime on my phone. 1st they cancelled my contract which they said they will not. Was fully paid. I did buy airtime last month no problem. I phone them to ask why Cannot tell me and put the phone down in my ear. I do need better service to get to the point of it. All my other beneficiaries work perfect. I bank at Capitec Bank cannot be them.

Monday, 27 July 2020 I requested a fall back from cell c with regards to upgrading my contract. Tebogo called back and advised that the special I wanted was over but he could still help me with the device. We were going through the process and the call cut. I tried calling back but was advised that he was busy on another call and would call me back. Today, 30 July 2020, I am still waiting for Tebogo to call back. I called cell c and was pushed from dept to dept only to speak to Kgomotso who advised that my order has already been processed! Now that would be ecstatic news if 1) Tebogo had gone through the terms and conditions of sale with me, the buyer, 2) I accepted these non existent terms and conditions and 3) I was advised when I woukd receive my device. Kgomotso in all is wisdom decided he would rather transfer me to another department to cancel my order and then we can start the process again! When I asked to speak to his manager, his response was that he cannot do that as he is working from home. All he can do is tranfer me to cancellations. When I insisted I wanted to speak to his supervisor, he said he will email her to call me back as he cannot provide me with her name or contact details. Lets see how long 'she', whoever she is, takes to contact me back and waste more of my time and infringe on my consumer rights!

Good evening

I'm so angry I hope and pray I don't swear. I've had a contract with you since 2015 with no problems. It all began in 2018 when your cellc sim with the abovementioned number kept on with a "not registered network" error message. I've tried contacting your technical department, went to your store, spoke to consultants but no help was done but you kept on deducting. I paid off the phone I had from an upgrade in march 2020 but you have kept on deducting after i've paid for the data and airtime I never received with that useless sim. Do you realize what cellc has been doing is more or less the same as stealing from me? To make matters worse on the 23 july 2020 you deducted r228 twice which is r456 and again this morning r114 was deducted. You tell me where am I [censored]ting the money you have been stealing from me ever since and I think you actually have to refund me for the data and airtime I paid for the past two years but didn't get because of your time wasting sim swops and endless stories other than fixing what I pay for.
Go to your technical department and check when was the last time 0616564707 was actually active and bring a detailed report why you keep on deducting my money!
I expect to hear from you before the end of business day 27 july 2020 unless you want us to go the legal route, you can't just deduct r570 from my account more especially when I don't even owe you anything instead it's vice versa! Sort it out immediately
While at it process the contract cancelation procedure!
Regards
Sipho

Please assist

I have been trying to do a Sim swap via the call centre, the option has been blocked as i failed 4 times. I did not take the emergency recharge as an option as it's not me going it to buy airtime and loading

Nevertheless, I tested positive for corona and I cannot go into the store to process a SIm swap, nor can I wait 30 Days, I live alone, there nobody I can send out to do the Sim swap nor can I go out . In the condition I am in, i need to be able to make contact with family, my doc ect

I need assistance with this, and honestly 30 days, i cant wait so long, what if i die here or i need assistance. how do i connect with family. i need supplies to be dropped off at my door as i stay alone.

please assist and yes i understand they following procedures but they need to chang especially in this pandemic

Please contact me on : leslya.[protected]@gmail.com

Regards

My Cell C contract expired in October 2019 after the 2 year period has ended. I didn't want to renew the contract as I took it out for my son, but in the meantime he has found work and could take out his own contract. My account number is [protected]. My son phoned them asked to cancel the debit order, however Cell C simply keeps on debiting my account fraudulently, with different amounts. The last time they debited it was 22 July when the amount was debited twice! Cancel this debit order now!

I have tried to get hold of the legal department for a week now to get my paid up letter that i settled a year ago. All they give me is reference numbers and telephone numbers that does not work. I am tired of this ridiculous service from cell c. Remove my name from itc immediately. Also send my paid up letter to [protected]@gmail.Com. I need this done as a matter of urgency, i have 2 reference numbers that i can find [protected] and [protected].

Hi, my name Phathu, i had 3 contracts with Cellc, 1 is full paid on the 1st of this month, now im remaining with 2 Active Contracts, I've been a good customer, never missed a debit order, payments always on time. I'm in the process of deciding which other device to take now that my other contract is ready for upgrade,

Here's my disappointment, I'm on suspension at work for 7 days and I'll be having troubles paying my bills this month end, called Cellc to at least help out and not debit me this month, whatever charge they can start again the next month billing me, but they refuse and told me its too late, i should've told them last month.
Its really disappointing that they'd rather see their customers credit score suffers than working together and keep both of us happy.

I called the call center about 3 times in the past 3 months, looking for a detail statement, they say they mail it to me, but nothing.
Normally data is enough for 1 month, now 10 gig is not, and i want to see what the usage is.

ALSO, double debit order with the same amount.

Call center agent is useless. still dont know why i was debited twice, and no statement.
Also asked for Afrikaans, and still put through to the English one

NOT ON

I've been calling for 3 weeks to get my account updated and my credit report updated and no one has helped. I've been trying io get a loan and the need my credit report updated and they refuse to help me. They did not allocate my payment to my contract and my credit status on experian shows up in arrears. I have been trying to call customer service and I don't get through and when I did get through they just gave me a reference number and did not get back to me. I need a paid up letter allocating my amount so I can finally get that loan I so urgently need. 3 weeks is too long!

[protected] tumelo
Upgraded my device on the 20 may and was told that it will be delivered within 7 days. Up to today I have not received anything. When I first inquired I was told that the was no stock. The agent who assisted me with the upgrade was not honest. She told me that it will be delivered within 7 days. Why did she not say that there was no stock? I waited until I inquired again last week when I was told that they have started with the deliveries and I will receive a call. Up to today I have not received anything. What pisses me off is that they don't give us an update. It is us client who have to call and inquire. I have since requested that the the upgrade be cancelled because it is clear that they are not willing to assist me. All they care about is making sales. Today marks full 47 days and I have not received the device. I will also be cancelling all my contract with cellc.

My contract is on my husband's name. We decided not to upgrade as there were no upgrade options that were to our satisfaction. As the primary contact person, my husband received notification on the 2nd of June from the retentions department via email that the cancellation was going to be implemented on the 30th of June 2020, and that all benefits will be lost from that day forward with the cancellation. We made provision for an alternative month to month contract also on Cell C from the 22nd of June (and paid the overlap as a safety measurement so that I would have coverage in time) on the new monthly contract.
On the 30th of June I emailed a Cell C direct consultant who promised to assist me to port my number and did not receive a response, I followed up on the 1st of July 2020 and did not receive a response, again.
On the 2nd of July (which would have been 30 days, instead of a calendar month, to give Cell C the benefit of the doubt), I emailed the same direct sales consultation, another consultant who assisted with the cancellation and the cancellation contact person and copied my husband in the email to inquire why the cancellation was not carried out and for them to supply feedback as soon as possible and they were all three directly involved with the cancellation process and received no response from any of them. Today I decided to contact them telephonically, I phoned the customer care number and because I have authority on my husband's contract (except to request the actual cancellation) I explained what the problem was, went through a security check and was told that I would be transferred to the cancellation department after a ten minute conversation only to be cut. I phoned in again, only for the same thing to happen to me, again, again after a ten minute conversation. I then tried to phone cancellations direct, and the phone just rang, for more than ten minutes, then I tried the contract number, however there is no cancellation option, just again customer service, which ended up twice in a cut-off conversation so I was not going to take that route again. Lastly I phoned cancellations one more time, and no answer.
I then emailed the three contact people again to say that I am going to report Cell C to every complaints boards, in the hope that they would then act to supply a response and cancel the contract, so here I am, waiting for a response.

I cancelled my contract which was coming to an end on 30 April 2020 with cell c. It was a lot of struggle to finally get hold of cancellation department as lock down had recently started and each time I called, customer care would tell me that they had sent an email to cancellation department to get in touch with me as they are working from home. Finally after many attempts of following their process, I got hold of cancellation department who then assured me that my contract is canceled. After this process, my last debit order date was supposed to be on 15 May 2020 with the amount of R241.00.

On 15 June 2020 Cell c debited my account with the amount of R504.08 unauthorized, I then reversed this amount which cost me R40 for charges as at this point I don't have a contract with them. They went again to debit R504.08 on 25 June 2020. Then I called them on the same day and was told that my account is active. At this point I an confused because cell c told me my account is canceled then they come back again and tell me it's active and they will not cancel it as I am owing them (the money is not cleared), what? I asked the agent to please get the phone recording of my conversation and reverse my money. At this point it seems like it is so impossible to do that, he tells me that he has escalated my query to the relevant department and he gave me a long reference number (only to later find out that number is not even reference) and tell me another reference number will be SMS'd to my alternative number I gave me.

On 26 June 2020 I received a call from cell c only to request my ID number and when I asked the lady about the status of my query she told me that she is going to investigate and will come back to me, just that.

Now yesterday, 02 July 2020 when I followed up customer service told me that on29 June my contract was cancelled effective from 25 July 2020, what? So what happens until then? Are you gonna continue to take my money forcefully? They way she was so rude with no remorse to my situation, she then said call cancellation department as they sent you an sms that you must call them for further details. At this stage I am more confused, what sms? She said an sms was sent to you data number that was forever on the router and that is canceled, how would I see that? she said, well that is your responsibility to insert the sim card to the mobile cell phone device to check sms's, call cancellation because I will not even transfer you, yoh!

I again called cancellation who confirmed what Customer service lady said. They will debit my account again on the 15 July irrespective of the fact that the contract was canceled as per their terms and conditions of the cancellation clause. They told me the call record is still not been sourced, they apologies for the inconvenience. At the moment they cannot do anything for me, I must again call then after receiving statement to query the invoice, this call took an hour to just get this outcome.

This is the worst form of abuse I have ever seen in the entire 38 years of my life. I am financially inconvenienced, calling them drains me emotionally, like I am forced to continuously go back to the abuser. They do not take any responsibility for this mess, clearly someone did not do their job properly and I am being punished for that. I just want my money please.

Date Of Incident : Aug 2019
Client Name : Ms Lungile Mnyandu

In July 2019 I took out a contract with Cell C at the Galleria Branch, with the two agreement numbers : [protected] & [protected].
Account Number : [protected].

I was called by an agent from My Assist in August 2019, who had introduced me to the product she was selling. I informed her that I would need time to speak to my partner who is the payer of this contract before taking any decision. She then proceeded and eventually closing the sale, which after listening to the recording which was provided to us by Moses Mofokeng, it is clear that the sale was a forceful and unlawful one, as the agent doesn't request for the banking details to be debited for these services.

My partner then went to the Galleria branch to speak to the dealer who had sold the contracts to us and never got the help.
He was then left with one option of contacting Cell C's customer care centre and report that the services which were activated on one of the numbers.

He was refered to contact MyAssist directly and never got any lucky from multiple attempts. He then called Cell C again where he was informed that Cell C has no powers of deactivating this service.

The next move was to request for MyAssist's email address in order to cancel the service and unfortunately that email was never responded to.
Monthly debit orders continued going off including this fee, which lead to my partner in taking a decision to revise these payments, since even Cell C and the Quality Assurance personnel couldn't assist in this case and his intention was to cancel this service.

Cell C then took a decision to cancel the agreement/contract and handed over the account to the debt collectors (Blakes and Associates) and was never contacted regarding the contract being cancelled or request for information pertaining to the non payments.

We were extremely shocked when my partner called earlier on the year with regards to the account and was informed that the account had been handed over with a balance of +- R 9 100.
My partner then requested for contact details of the relevant division that handles these cases within Cell C, he was transferred to that division where he spoke to a gentleman who adviced him that nothing can be done but to pay the third party (Blakes and Associates).

Arrangements have been made with the debt collectors. My partner then took the matter to twitter where he was assisted by a gentleman, by the name of Moses Mofokeng, who was really helpful at start. Moses then gathered as much info required in handling such a case. He unfortunately felt that this case was beyond his capacity and would escalate the matter to his supervisor and that was the end of the story between us and Moses.

We have been sending whatsapp messages as this has been the mode of communication between the two of us, to basically request Moses to copy us as he did when he sent a request of a call recording to MyAssist and unfortantely we never heard from him again.

We are pleading with this office to please review the decision taken in this case, as we still find ourselves paying for the full contract (devices and benefits (data and minutes) but not enjoying those benefits, which would sound as clear theft.

I have not provided names as I don't recall the names of the agents who I dealt with, I hope with the contract number, all call records, should still be saved under archieves.

I have given my partner the rights to deal with this matter.

So should you not get hold of me, please contact him on [protected].

Many thanks.