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Wed, 4 Nov 2009

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MTN wins customer service prize

26 COMMENTS | POST YOUR COMMENT

By Candice Jones, ITWeb online telecoms editor
Johannesburg, 4 Nov 2009

MTN's customers are at the very heart of its business, says MD of MTN SA Karel Pienaar.

A locally developed customer satisfaction survey, the Orange Index, compiled by market research house Ask Afrika, has found MTN to be top of the telecommunications industry.

This is the third year in a row the company has won in the division.

Karel Pienaar, MD of MTN SA, says – despite it having been a hard year – the company still holds the customer first.

“Our customers are at the very heart of our business – we exist because of them. And, although this has been a very challenging year for MTN in terms of the current economic climate, our own systems and network infrastructure upgrades, and the introduction of RICA, our customer-facing staff have not let us down.”

Accepting the award yesterday, at Melrose Arch, in Johannesburg, Ureshni Danilala, MTN's manager for operational support, said the company has eight call centres in three sites, taking in a total of 16 million calls per month.

“This has been the most challenging year in MTN's history,” she added.

However, she said the company had put in place several internal initiatives that help keep the staff on their toes, including an internal service charter and preferential call centre shifts for workers who are top of their game.

Pienaar says, as part of the ongoing support to the customer, MTN has invested billions this year on improvements and upgrades to its IT systems. ”While there have been some teething problems, we are now beginning to reap the rewards of our investment.”

Eddie Moyce, GM for customer operations at MTN SA, says there is still room for improvement. “While I am delighted with our position within our own industry, overall we have dropped 10 positions to 20th [on the Orange Index]. This gives us a useful barometer to measure how much we can still improve our service to our customers.”

Comments (26)

VERYFRUSTRATED said:

MTN Morningside "SERVICE" centre - Service? What Service?

	They are an absolute joke! I applied for a new contract over a week and a half ago and stil today - I DON'T HAVE A PHONE!!!! I think it is just outrageous. I have called them numerous times and noone calls back! If I don't hear from them by tomorrow -I'll take my business elsewhere.
	report abuse vote down vote up January 21, 2010 Votes: +0

MariusVB said:

What a Joke

	What a Joke!!!! MTN best customer service!! Please do yourself a favour, got to www.hellopeter.com and search for all the complaints on MTN. MTN doesn't have any customer service! Don't know how ITWeb could publish a lie like this!
	report abuse vote down vote up December 08, 2009 Votes: +0

gabrieldo said:

Candice Jones

	I would also like to Congratulate Candice for fixing up this story. Candice, maybe a bit more research next time. Social media rocks!
	report abuse vote down vote up November 12, 2009 Votes: +0

ToxicWazte said:

Thanks Candice for investigating further

	I just want to thank Candice Jones, the author of this article, for doing further investigations, and 2 follow up stories. You can read the follow uo articles here: - http://www.itweb.co.za/index.p...o-serviced - http://www.itweb.co.za/index.p...complaints ITWeb - you still keep your credibility with me. Thanks for listening.
	report abuse vote down vote up November 12, 2009 Votes: +1

Byebye MTN said:

MTN service attitude is atrocious

	The problem that MTN have is that they treat their customers as though they are doing them a massive favour to just have them as customers. For example, if you question an invoice accuracy you are treated as a potential thief and not a customer with a genuine concern!
	report abuse vote down vote up November 11, 2009 Votes: +1

Rhavi said:

MTN wins customer service prize

	Surely the respondents were not MTN SA customers. I do not see how MTN with its countless network and billing problems could possibly win such a prize. maybe AskAfrika have a long-term contrct with the MTN group. And finally i am one unhappy MTN customer
	report abuse vote down vote up November 10, 2009 Votes: +1

Gooffy said:

Most Terrible Network

What? MTN is the worst organisation in the world at customer service. Who did this survey? What kind of people were interviewed?
How much were the interviewees paid? Did the people interviewed understand the questions. You are not suppose to work from the back of the pack to give out prizes. I can not wait to terminate my contract.
There is still a lot of room for inprovement because there is none.

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November 09, 2009 Votes: +1

Mata Hari said:

MTN wins what??

	What? MTN have to be, without a doubt, the worst organisation in the world at customer service. Who did this survey? what kind of people were interviewed? How much were the interviewees paid?
	report abuse vote down vote up November 09, 2009 Votes: +1

ToxicWazte said:

Another reply Skyemad

Skyemad - you're missing the point.

Of course all companies will have problems. Of course telecoms companies deal with customers in the millions, making things more difficult (15M+ for MTN, 25M+ for Vodacom).

The issue here is that with MTN, it is IMPOSSIBLE to get your issues resolved. Just read all the comments below.

Now Vodacom have about 10M+ more subscribers, but they give better service than MTN, and they actually solve your problems! Not so with MTN. You can wait months, and even years!

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November 08, 2009 Votes: +2

I Golombick said:

Answer to Skyemad

First if was only once that they never attended to my problem I would accept it but this is how they operate never getting back to me and when I remind them I get told we are working on it. This is from Feb.
Second I had an account query and was ignored I got email adr"s and forwarded the query to five different "managers" one a day eventually I got an answer but they hide behind the fine print and the excuse was that they implemented a new billing system.
I could almost write a book about them yes it would be a comedy I even sent this article to Mr Goldin but no reply.

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November 08, 2009 Votes: +1

Which Company Should have won?, Lowly rated comment [Show]

ToxicWazte said:

Candice Jones - Please respond

	Candice Jones is the author of this article. Let's hope she will respond to us. I've emailed her - candice@itweb.co.za Maybe the rest of you can email her as well...
	report abuse vote down vote up November 06, 2009 Votes: +2

gabrieldo said:

SHAME ON YOU IT WEB!!!!

	IT WEB - YOU ARE LOOSING ALL CREDIBILITY WITH ME BY PUBLISHING THIS KIND OF ARTICLE. SAME ON YOU! EVERYONE KNOWS THE TRUTH ABOUT MTN.
	report abuse vote down vote up November 06, 2009 Votes: +3

Service? said:

Lets hope heads will roll soon

	If I was Karel Pienaar I would'nt dare to show my face so boldy. Shame on you Karel and the rest of MTN. You absolutely do not deserve this award. MTN service is just 100% useless!!!!!
	report abuse vote down vote up November 05, 2009 Votes: +4

Swift said:

WHAT?

Who gave MTN this award??? This is utter BULL! They are so useless they cannot even help themselves, how on earth are they going to help their customers?! If ITWeb takes any pride in their awards then they will do the sensible thing and REVOKE it ASAP. Or this award will soon count for NOTHING in the future. You cannot award a company that is arguably one of the worst in AFRICA.

Everywhere you go on the NET you reed about how useless MTN's Customer service is. I have and still am experiencing it first hand.

Nothing but Stupid Monkies I tell ya!

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November 05, 2009 Votes: +4

TooLongWithMTN said:

It should read: MTN wins worst customer service price

What a laugh!!! HAHAHA

Eversince I first joined MTN in 2001 or so, their service went from failry Good to BAD to the worst ever. They cannot even do a simple thing like a sim swap anymore. Our Company, wich is quite a big client of MTN as it is, has been struggeling to get simple thing like sim swap sone for over a month now. They just simply cannot do anything anymore. It is as if they are brain dead.

I still have a pricate contract with wihc I wanted cancelled in the beginning of the year already. No matter where I go or to whom I speek to . They just seem in capable of soing anything. They cannot help anymore.

MTN = UTTER USELESSNESS.
I PUKE ON THEM!

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November 05, 2009 Votes: +4

kizito said:

kizito

Mtn makes me sick; they are not what they think they are. I am having a problem which nobody at mtn can solve even after I visited their office at Fairless still nothing is done. They promise to come back to me in the next hour now is two months nobody have ask whether my case is resolve or not all they care is your money and their ego. When you ask for there complain desk they will give you their warehouse number. I am mtn subscriber who pays them monthly subscription fee and calls that I made but they can’t resolve my problem.

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November 05, 2009 Votes: +3

ToxicWazte said:

ITWeb - Put your credibility where your mouth is!

I would like to take this opportunity to challenge ITWeb, its journalists, and editors to do some investigative journalism into the the poor, pathetic, terrible, and sometimes non-existent service that MTN provides to its subscribers.

All I ever hear is bad things about MTN. You only have to look at all the complaints on HelloPeter.com, MyBroadBand.co.za, GetClosure.co.za, and other sources, to see how terrible MTN is.

So I, as a regular ITWeb reader challenge you - put your credibility where your mouth is, and do a follow up story.

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November 04, 2009 Votes: +2

ChrisR said:

MTN Morningside is pathetic

	Give up with MTN Morningside completely. They might as well close down that service centre as they have NO idea about customer service whatsoever - from the most Senior Manager all the way down. A year later they left me with no choice but to lodge formal complaints against them with ICASA and ASA. Though we'll see where that gets me .... I live in hope.
	report abuse vote down vote up November 04, 2009 Votes: +4

ToxicWazte said:

MTN you suck!!!

The only thing that MTN can do now to save some face, and show a bit of honesty and credibility, is to decline this award, and hand it over to Vodacom.

MTN your service really sucks, and the worst part is that you don't give a damn. And I say this as an MTN SHAREHOLDER.

MTN - you're a disgrace to your customers, to South Africa, and to Africa as a whole.

I can't believe that you are an anchor sponsor of Fifa 2010.

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November 04, 2009 Votes: +4

Lellens said:

YOU CAN'T COMPLAIN ABOUT THE SERVICE BECAUSE THERE IS NONE!

	My Word! What a crock of &%$#! Service at MTN is non existent! This award is a joke and we all want to know who the hell voted for them to get it as it certainly wasn't any of their customers.
	report abuse vote down vote up November 04, 2009 Votes: +4

JanBoland said:

Huh?

	This is obviously not the same MTN that I am dealing with ... one im dealing with has the worst service I have ever had the misfortune to experience.
	report abuse vote down vote up November 04, 2009 Votes: +4

ToxicWazte said:

eMpTy N - Service from HELL!

JOKE OF THE CENTURY!

MTN provides the WORST service ever. I've had 2 MAJOR problems with MTN, that nobody at MTN could help me with.

Read here for more:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=197496

MTN treats its customers like, dirt, utter filth. Their call center is like a fish market.

Read the following comments from MTN subscribers, the HEART of MTN's business:

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=199829

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November 04, 2009 Votes: +5

JPH said:

Unbelievable

"Customers are at the heart of our business" - blah blah blah vomit!

Recently switched over to MTN from Vodacom - biggest mistake ever. They cannot even get the BASICS right - I have been trying since 23 October to get an itemised bill out of them.

Where to turn?

808 Customer Interaction Center = useless

MTN Active self-help portal = useless

MTN Service Center Morningside = useless

Submitting a complaint via mtn.co.za = pointless

I hate MTN - Most Terrible Network

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November 04, 2009 Votes: +5

I Golombick said:

What??????

	This MUST be some kind of joke MTN wouldnt know what service is even if it was in red lights.
	report abuse vote down vote up November 04, 2009 Votes: +4

Belinda said:

Joke

	I am not sure who they pay to receive this award - but it is totally not true their customer service stinks!
	report abuse vote down vote up November 04, 2009 Votes: +4

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