Carry-over data scam carries on

When upgrading, ask whether your accumulated data or airtime will be migrated -if not, ask for it, writes Wendy Knowler

Do you know the difference between a classic, hybrid and converged plan when it comes to cellphone contracts?

Have you even heard of those terms when discussing cellphone contracts with your service provider?

I hadn't until I started pushing the networks for answers on the forfeiting of data and airtime when subscribers migrate from one plan to another within the same network.

It's an issue that many subscribers complain to me about, incensed that they have their paid-for data or airtime - usually worth many hundreds of rands - "wiped out" on migration.

It took me repeated attempts recently to get MTN to confirm its policy as this: "Customers get to carry over their value when they migrate from one contract plan to another or from prepaid to post-paid (contract) or from post-paid to prepaid."

But having published that policy in October, I heard from several MTN subscribers who had indeed been made to forfeit their data and airtime on moving from one plan to another.

Shimon Kleitman said that when he inquired about downgrading his MTN package at an MTN branch he was told that he'd have to forfeit his R1900 worth of accumulated airtime.

"I showed them your column in The Times but I was told it means nothing to them - they only go by e-mails from management and they hadn't received one about this issue," he wrote.

So naturally I asked MTN what was going on.

In confirming the network's carry-over policy, chief consumer officer Larry Annetts said since last December - a full year ago - "airtime or data that has been accumulated by all customers migrating from prepaid to hybrid or converged plans is carried over to the new contract, and customers on classic, hybrid or converged price plans migrating to either prepaid or a new contract can carry over accumulated airtime or data."

Technology industry analyst Steven Ambrose, CEO of Strategy Worx, said the industry faced a massive logistical challenge in integrating old and new products with its billing system.

Classic contracts are older contracts, mainly voice and SMS; hybrids are a mixture of the old and new types of contract, often with "bolt-on" data; and converged contracts are the most flexible and are "custom made", he said.

And this is clearly what MTN is grappling with. Annetts said the network had "experienced challenges" with implementing its data/airtime migration policy, "due to system application".

"In such instances, MTN credits the customer manually.

"We are at an advanced stage of resolving these challenges. In the interim, MTN is heightening internal awareness for all customer-facing staff and consultants on how to resolve these matters with the customers."

I've also had complaints from Vodacom subscribers about data/airtime forfeiture.

Guy Kankwenda said that when he decided to cancel his Vodacom contract and move to prepaid from August, he was told that he had to use all his accumulated contract airtime, data and SMSes by the end of July because they could not be transferred to the prepaid plan.

"But, on the last day of my contract - July 31 - I could not make phone calls or use SMS or data, and when I queried this all they said was that they'd already migrated me."

Vodacom responded by crediting his prepaid account with 1GB of data as a "a gesture of goodwill" and confirmed that its policy was this: "When a customer moves from a plan with integrated allocations to one with airtime, they will forfeit the allocated bundles as they are managed on different systems."

So why didn't I lose my accumulated airtime and data when I migrated from a Vodacom contract to prepaid?

"You were on a 'top-up' hybrid contract, which is structured to allow for airtime to be transferred because the systems are similar to that of prepaid," I was told.

Kankwenda was on a Flexi contract offering only airtime, on a different system from prepaid airtime.

Who knew?

But MTN appears to be finding a way of ensuring that no subscriber ever has to forfeit any accumulated airtime or data, no matter which plan they migrate from or to, so why not Vodacom?

"We periodically review our product propositions to ensure that they are in line with the needs of our customers and that they make financial sense to the business," the spokesman said.

Telkom Mobile does allow subscribers to keep their accumulated airtime and data when migrating to different plans.

But with Cell C, it seems data/airtime capture is the norm.

"For any migration you lose any unused benefits," said Cell C spokesman Karin Fourie.

WHAT TO DO:

When signing a new contract with a network or "upgrading" your existing one, ask if you will be able to migrate your data and airtime.

If you're wanting to upgrade your present contract, Ambrose says, talk to a consultant before you sign, and if your accumulated airtime and data can't be automatically migrated, ask for it to be done manually. It can be done.

CONTACT WENDY:

E-mail: consumer@knowler.co.za

Twitter: @wendyknowler