Sunday, 26 May 2013
How MTN Scammed Me – Final Outcome
By Victor Olapojoye
This is a follow-up to my earlier piece "How MTN Scammed Me", and its purpose is to communicate the outcome of the issues I raised in my earlier piece to my brothers and sisters on SR. I also want to apologize for the delay in reporting the outcome, because I believe we will not only be showing the results of the great work that SR is doing, but will also educate Nigerians on the need to exercise their rights when these rights are being trampled upon.
Well, I got a call from the MTN Regional Office in Ibadan, less than 20 minutes after the piece was posted on SR. I will also like to say that I was surprised by MTN’s very cordial tone, and I will like to commend MTN for the prompt action. MTN also advised the dealer BODLINKS, to suspend the Office Manager involved pending their investigation into my complaints. I was asked to come in and meet with one of their Regional Execs. The meeting was very cordial, and I was pleasantly surprised, against the backdrop of people’s comments that MTN will not listen to me. People, MTN not only listened to me, I was even offered cold water to drink. Additionally, my N10,000 was credited to me, I thanked the MTN Exec and went my way.
Here are some take-aways from this experience and my meeting. First, MTN actually has a budget to take care of legitimate customer complaints, needless to say that this budget always goes unspent, because Nigerians never complaint, because we think nothing will come out of it. How long will we ordinary Nigerians continue to subsidize a multinational like MTN? Food for thought.
Secondly, I noted that MTN has done a shoddy job of communicating the appropriate channel of settling customer complaints to their dealers, for instance, I realized that MTN dealers did not even know that MTN will pay for legitimate customer complaints. During our meeting, the MTN Exec showed me a dealer training program that they were planning to roll-out. Hopefully, this training has been completed, and MTN dealers are now better informed on how to handle customer complaints.
The third point which I argued with the MTN Exec is the decision of MTN to have the very expensive Pay-As-You-Go as the default option for its internet service, while expecting the customer to activate the service they have paid for. My suggestion to the MTN Exec is that the customer should be prompted to activate whichever service was paid for, and the service should not work until it is activated. All that needs to be done is a simple change or addition of a line of code in their billing system.
The fourth point is an appeal to customers of service companies like MTN. Without our patronage, they cannot and will not exist, and if we all do nothing in the face of injustice, these companies will continue to take Nigerians for granted. I understand that a lot of Nigerians are so disillusioned about their country, to the extent that they do not think they have any rights to exercise, but I also believe that to change that, Nigerians must be willing to ask questions and seek to exercise their rights, even when it is not convenient.
Comments
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cordial
Submitted by kolio (not verified) on July 23, 2012 - 10:34.
. I was asked to come in and meet with one of their Regional Execs. The meeting was very cordial, and PPI RefundI was pleasantly surprised, against the backdrop of people’s comments that MTN will not listen to me.
Got some interesting
Submitted by star09 on March 5, 2012 - 10:35.
Got some interesting information and would like to give it a try. Appreciate your work and keep sharing your
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MTN is truly a rapacious and
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on August 19, 2010 - 23:55.
MTN is truly a rapacious and unethical company. It is a corporate con artist which constantly dishes out lies about its services, pockets your exorbitant and disappears until the next payment date. I have the internet service, sorry correction, I thought I had n internet service. But alas the service is characterised by long periods of stupor and inactivity, punctuated by 9 second bouts of frenetic activity. No more MTN, unlike our happy friend, I am sceptical and un believing. I am now an ex customer.
@Noble Saint
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on August 11, 2010 - 09:31.
Noble,
In reference to your post, please be informed that you are ROAMING on another network which is why you are being charged for receiving calls. And definately your caller will also be charged cus he is also making calls.
Roaming is quite EXPENSIVE !
Submitted by sola steve (not verified) on July 14, 2010 - 00:00.
MTN is the worst. I use Visafone now and am glad.
Submitted by Bendel on July 8, 2010 - 00:00.
God Bless You my brother for sharing the outcome with forumites. MTN should do more publicity on its policy as it pertains to legitimate customer complaints as this will automatically increase subscribers base. Who wants to go to any company with shitty customer service?
Good Customer Service and Policy is the key to unlocking potentials in any business settings
Submitted by Noble Saint (not verified) on July 7, 2010 - 00:00.
MTN always charge me when I receive calls while I am out side Nigeria and also charges my callers.Is it right?
Submitted by Poni (not verified) on July 6, 2010 - 00:00.
;D;D..i already said innocent mtn subscribers are always the victims paying for all the lavish "ogunje" mtn is spraying on our Govt officials. mtn...where all your money goes.
Submitted by Drudge (not verified) on July 6, 2010 - 00:00.
The company bought the right to scam Nigerians by giving Senators, MPs and government officials perks. My friend you are not the only one being scammed. Helpless Nigerian citizens are scammed by these companies by way of exorbitant and unregulated calling rates.
Submitted by New Dimension (not verified) on July 6, 2010 - 00:00.
They wanted you to come back and give us the result. But what is the difference 105,000,000,000,000 - 1 + 10 more they may be anticipating from this forum.
For the first time I almost jubilated when my MTN Line was stolen, before I remembered that my handset went along with the line.
Always keep a record of your contacts somewhere because one day MTN will make you angrily throw away you phone.
WATCH OUT THEY ARE SCAMMING YOU BY THIS PR JOB.[b][/b]
Submitted by Gam (not verified) on July 5, 2010 - 00:00.
If you have problem of pursuing your rights, bring it to this forum and the defaulter organisation will get in contact with you. This is the power of SR and the service it renders to the poor masses in addition to the being on the toes of the government for a positive change. Let us keep the pressure on and intense. God bless Nigeria.
Submitted by JOHN DIOKA (not verified) on July 5, 2010 - 00:00.
Modest Sam, you simply have advertised your ignorance. No network in Nigeria charges customers for accessing their voice mail. Always check your facts before putting them in a paper before people begin to take you for a fool.
Submitted by clem (not verified) on July 5, 2010 - 00:00.
MTN is just like the Bad government we have in place right now, well the truth is i don't even load it, unless on my every month blackberry payment which these guys collect 5k.
I do use my celtel when making calls, which is far better, than those good for nothing MTN.
can't remember the last time i made calls from my MTN
Submitted by onifade on July 5, 2010 - 00:00.
why are you doing this great PR for the useless network called MTN?
MTN has been charging me for voicemail since God knows when, and I have never heard a voice mail once using my MTN number. How many Nigerians leave a voicemail anyway?
What MTN does is train their staffs to frustrate you, and get you out of their sight as fast as possible.
I still use my MTN, as it's my business line, but i load more money on my Etisalat, away from the prying eyes of the thieving MTN.
Submitted by joke (not verified) on July 5, 2010 - 00:00.
i had such experience of losing 10000 naira in a second just because i clicked the wrong button on my MTN FAST LINK. i complained, nothing came out of it. i have since started using the more freindly GLO
Submitted by shaks (not verified) on July 5, 2010 - 00:00.
Its good to hear this from MTN. Howver, let me say that MTN is just in Nigeria to make all the money they can without a fuss about developing the country.
MTN just did what most corporations will do when thier image is badly dented. They reacted rather than being proactive. ask your self why it takes so long to get your complaints on 188/180 to be resolved. If you have gone to thier office without the help we gt fro SR you'll see how they will toss you arround
During the pre per second billing MTN made us believe that it was impossible to have it unitil GLO came in to force them out.
I am a user of thier postpaid package for more than 4 years now (company
Submitted by Alkatutu (not verified) on July 5, 2010 - 00:00.
I have a complaint against MTN too. How can I start? Where will I start from? On the other hand, I hope that this is not PR for MTN after settling you.
