MTN has confirmed its willingness to engage in talks with the FF Plus after the party announced its intention to take complaints against the cellphone company to Parliament. By Mpho Raborife, NewsAgency
Corporate Services executive at MTN SA Graham de Vries said although the company had not received any formal communication from the FF Plus, they were ready to meet and discuss the matter.
“MTN has not received any formal correspondence from the Freedom Front Plus, but has noted the comments that have been attributed to the party,” he said.
“MTN will be engaging the Freedom Front Plus on this matter with a view of finding a common solution, one that will serve the best interests of our customers.”
On Monday, the FF Plus invited people who had unresolved billing and administrative problems with MTN to come forward so they could ask Parliament and the Consumer Protection Commission for help.
FF Plus parliamentary spokesperson on communications Anton Alberts said they had received numerous complaints about unresolved billing and administrative problems at MTN and decided to help.
The complaints range from excessive data charges to unexplained amounts billed on dormant accounts.
They say they were approached after the radio station Radio Sonder Grense (RSG) was inundated with complaints about the company.
Alberts is on Parliament’s portfolio committee on trade and industry which oversees the Consumer Protection Commission.
He said the commission’s annual report back to Parliament on the complaints it receives always showed that complaints about cellphone and vehicle sales companies were sky high.
Although the campaign was starting with MTN consumers, he anticipated that customers of other companies would also contact them and they could see if there was a pattern with cellphone providers generally.
A dispute should be declared with MTN and the FF Plus would report it to the Consumer Protection Commission.
Next year when Parliament sits again, Alberts said he would present the complaints to the committee. – News24