MTN is still assisting the last few customers who have billing troubles, following a complaint by yet another client with a R20 000 data charge.
A local small business owner contacted ITWeb this week in frustration, saying MTN had overcharged the company's two data accounts, leaving it with a bill of R22 141.26 at the end of March. MTN says it is aware of the situation and has been communicating with the client to resolve the issue.
The customer's billing troubles stem from MTN's nightmarish system upgrade last year, which caused havoc for MTN and its subscribers across SA. MTN clients were being debited up to tens of thousands of rands from their accounts for back-charges on data accounts.
One customer, Benzi Kornizer, rallied others into a class action lawsuit against the mobile giant, until his query was resolved by the operator.
At the time, MTN's executive for customer relations, Eddie Moyce, explained that customers were likely to be affected by one of three issues: double billing, under-billing or incorrect rate charges.
One client indicated to ITWeb at the time that he had somehow managed to run up R60 000 in charges, while an ITWeb reader said he had received a R91 000 bill.
MTN has defended the recent accusation by the small business owner. “MTN has investigated the claims and reported back to the subscriber, and passed the necessary credits where some data charges were duplicated. These credits were reflected on the subscriber's February invoice. However, the customer was still not satisfied with the resolution,” says Moyce.
The mobile giant has indicated it is still looking into the matter. However, the small business is dissatisfied with the way MTN has handled its case.
MTN says there are other clients who are still unhappy with their accounts. “We work tirelessly to resolve these issues as quickly and as amicably as possible,” adds Moyce.
Moyce has indicated the company will make more of an effort to educate customers on how data is billed, and perhaps help them to manage their data usage better. “Implementing this billing system has been a complicated situation. We have not had a similar situation in 10 years.”
He also indicated MTN would possibly implement controls on its side to prevent these kinds of billing issues; however, it did not say whether any controls have yet been implemented in its system.
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