Has anyone had to file a complaint against a supplier / company thought the new Consumer Protection Act?


Where, how do you log a complaint?

And how did it go?




Here's the story:


My retired mother in law can't send or receive MMS on her sellphone. So we gave her a new one (spare phone lying around), which I kwow can send and receive MMS. But, with her SIM card it was a no-go. She also got a new Samsung slider phone that week from Autopage in the Kwagga Center, Pretoria West, on her way back to the farm. The phone is a bit too technical for her, but we have tried it just to make sure it's not the phone. My SIM card can send & receive MMS in both phones. So it's something on her account.


We phoned Vodacom who said "speak to Autopage, they're your service provider". Now, my in-laws live on a farm, 120KM from Rusternburg between nowhere and nothing. Their Telkom lines have been stolen so many times already and Telkom won't put in new lines anymore.


So, we spend about 8 hours in total on the phone with Autopage - and every minute costs us money. Everytime I speak to someone, they give me the same crap: "we have enabled MMS on your account, please give it 1hour then switch the phone off and back on". And no matter how many times I tell them we already did that, they keep telling us the same BS. I got fed-up, especially since my mom's money was used up and phoned Vodacom. The lady insisted I spead to Autopage again and I explained this to her, so she checked the account and see that MMS wasn't actually enabled. She then enabled it, but told me that the SIM card was also an old one and we may need to swap it out. But, first check and see if the MMS setting which she enabled works. No go, we actually waited 2 days to retry. And everytime it cost me money to send an MMS, and make the phone calls to Autopage.


So, my mother-in-law decided to go back to the Autopage shop in Kwagga Center and the gentelman (Richard was his name) insisted that I send her an MMS (he's not allowed to) so he can see what's wrong. 8 MMS's later, and it still doesn't work. By this time I'm furious, cause she has to phone me from her own sellphone everytime, and ask me to send her an MMS. Richard simply refuses todo it from his side.


He then sells her a new SIM card, and guess what: it's now 4 days later - and it's still not working.


I logged a complaint on HelloPeter (here) and got a call from Raul late that afternoon. I couldn't hear a word he was saying and even though I asked him 3 times to speak up, he just rambled on about something. I faintly heard "hellopeter" and "your mom", but nothing more. Then he put the phone down and emailed me telling me he was cut off due to poor reception. I had full signal on my phone. I then tried to phone him, but no one could put me through to him.



This is his email:




Dear Mr. Ehlers,



Thank you for bringing the matter to our attention.



Please accept our sincere apology for the poor service rendered to you and your mother in law.



I have tried making contact with you however we were cut off due to poor signal.



Kindly assist me with your mother in law’s contract cellular number and the make and model of the handset she is using in order for me to assist.



I trust that the above is in order.



Regards,

Raul Arendse



I have replied to his email 3 times with ALL the contact details, but still NO REPONSE from them



There are some shocking posts on HelloPeter about AutoPage (look here), and I'm thinking of taking this much much further. It's sickening how bad they treat their clients.


So if anyone has some pointed on the Consumer Protection Act for me, I would appreciate it.