SWAZI MTN IS ROBBING US

 Sir,

I feel I need to voice my displeasure with the way Swazi MTN is treating us as its customers. This new 40 per cent more data bundles promotion is nothing but fraud. I am asking the Competition Commission to investigate if this is lawful. I really don’t understand why MTN wants to tell us how and when we should use our money.

First I don’t see any difference in this new promotion. For example 1GB has always been E230 and in this new data promotion it is still E230. Maybe I need clarification here. But this is not the real issue.
The real issue is who gives MTN the powers to tell and set deadlines for us as consumers, how and when we must use the data bundles which we have paid for? Once I pay for the bundles, it is no longer MTN’s business how I use them and when I will deplete them. It’s my business.

Just imagine if SEC were to tell us that if you load 100 units you must use them within 30 days or they will be wiped out and you will have to load new ones. Would this be fair? Just now, I have bought 1GB data bundles. Where does MTN get the authority to tell me that in 30 days I must have used these bundles or I will lose them? Just imagine, again, you load 1GB and after you have used 250MBs you fall sick and you are admitted to a hospital for 29 days and released to go home to recuperate.

While at home you remember well that when you went to hospital you had 750MBs as your balance. With this new arrangement you can’t even ask your relative to load a few bundles in your number in order to extend their validity because the 1GB you bought before you fell sick is strictly for 30 days. 

To Swazi MTN this is fair and it makes business sense that because you fell sick and were admitted to a hospital for a month and were unable to use your bundles you must lose the 750MBs you had before going to hospital. How fair is this?
I consider this to be nothing but sheer fraud and I think the Consumer Forum should take this matter up. I don’t mind making a donation in order to stop MTN from defrauding us our money.

B B Nkosi

RIGHT TO REPLY

Sir,

First, we would like to appreciate the feedback which you have shared with us regarding one of our data offerings which is scheduled to be rolled out on December 1, 2016.

Your feedback has allowed us an opportunity to share the following points which should clarify some of the concerns you have raised.
Swazi MTN provides data bundles to meet customer needs, which, different as they are, shaped by their unique circumstances.
Some customers use a small data bundle over a long period of time, while some use huge amounts of data in short spaces of time.  To meet both customers’ needs, Swazi MTN has introduced multiple options for data bundles.

 From the outset, it is important to indicate that data bundles are inherently discounted and quite naturally come with terms and conditions.
Some customers are aware of how much data they need in a period of 30 days. Swazi MTN has provided relevant data bundles for these customers through the MTN standard or legacy bundles.

These bundles allow customers to buy data cheaper and spend it within a month.  Swazi MTN has once again seen most customers using a certain amount of data and depleting it in one day, for instance, there are indications that we have customers who consistently use 20MB per day.
For this customer, MTN wishes to provide a cheaper bundle to use within her/his timelines. To provide for this need, Swazi MTN is to launch the MTN Reloaded Bundles, which gives these customers even more value for their money.  However, the company will not remove Standard bundles with 30 days validity.

Swazi MTN has allowed the next two weeks for engagement with its valued customers on why and how daily bundles can benefit customers, and which bundles become relevant to which customer.
Customers are provided with three options, if not more, to select the best internet package that suites them (Out of Bundle, Standard Bundle, WoW Reloaded Bundle).

The data education is also to cover aspects of making customers understand the difference between data and many other services that customers might want to compare data with.
Data is ACCESS, and access to services is more expensive if not timed (validity). A relevant example of an ACCESS service is DStv, which you pay for and is valid for a specific period.

This is done to control capacity from time to time, avoiding network congestion. There is a cost attached to having access maintained (active) over a period of time, hence the need for timing.
In the region and the world at large data validity has gone from monthly, to daily and now hourly basis.

This is to accommodate, and give more value to customers who need large amounts of data to use for a specific, often brief time.
An example would be a customer who wants to download a video which needs 1GB to be downloaded.
This customer would prefer an hour bundle just to download the video in less than one hour.

However, that notwithstanding, customers are still at liberty to buy a package that best suits their needs.
Kindly see below prices for 1GB on our bundles. NOTE: on standard bundles we only have 1.2GB.

Reloaded WoW        E230
Current WoW (outgoing)    E250
Standard Bundles (1.2GB)  E314

Mandla Luphondvo
Corporate Affairs Manager
 

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