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Cape Town - Many people dream of owning the latest smartphone, but that dream can turn ugly if you don't watch the data bill.
It's a nightmare that will terrify you: You've signed a smartphone contract for around R400 per month, but the bill is over R1 500 - and despite the call centre acknowledging it's their mistake, no-one fixes it.
This scenario is one that affected Fin24 user Anton Mostert who decided to buy a Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone on contract through Nashua Mobile for R390 per month.
He particularly liked the deal because it came with 1GB of data for the duration of the contract.
Mostert accepted that he would pay a pro-rata rate for data in the first month because of the time he took up the contract but was confident that as soon as the bundle kicked in, the costs would be easy to manage.
High bills
That dream became the nightmare.
After the second consecutive month of bills of around R1 200, Mostert called the call centre in exasperation to demand answers. At least two different agents explained that it was a simple oversight that the bundle was not active on his contract.
As a result, he was billed for data out of bundle and because of network policies, would regularly be cut off because of the monthly bill.
However, despite the assurances to the contrary, the bills kept on coming - with Mostert even considering retreating to an old feature phone because of the lower cost of ownership.
He reached out to Fin24 to help resolve his issue. Enquiries to Cell C were promptly answered with the mobile operator saying that the Nashua Mobile account was out of their domain.
However, soon after Cell C made enquiries about the problem, Nashua Mobile on Wednesday sent Mostert an SMS indicating that the bundle was active (and, in fact, that he had exceeded his allowance).
Online complaints
While he is happy that the problem is being handled, he is still concerned about whether he will be reimbursed for the months that he paid far more than he should have through no fault of his own.
The case highlights the importance of prospective smartphone owners to carefully review the costs associated with buying a mobile device, and particularly, perhaps that dealing with one service provider is a better, especially when problems arise.
Despite having a number of complaints on HelloPeter, Nashua Mobile appears to be pro-active in responding to customer complaints.
Do you have a problem with your cellphone contract? Let us know.
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