Friday, August 25, 2006

MTN sends SMS spam and breaks the law


I can't tell it it is MTN or MTNSP, and their call centre doesn't seem to know what it is doing, but today I got an SMS spam message from my cell phone company. The sending number is +27831238763 and the message refers to a call centre number 083 123 3667. It mentions limited stock, terms and conditions apply, E&OE and valid until 28.08.06. It's a special offer on a Nokia 6111 phone.
What they don't mention is what you need to do to stop getting stupid messages like this in the middle of an important meeting when you are waiting for another message to arrive. Because they don't mention how to unsubscribe, the message is ilegal. See section 45 of the ECT act.
So I phoned them and told them to stop sending me this junk. The orc on the other end of the phone didn't even bother to listen, and rattled off something about it being a limited offer. DUH
Then I visited the WASPA web site at www.waspa.org.za but of course MTN isn't a member. Neither is Cell-C or Vodacom. What a bunch of hypocrites. Then I looked up the number on www.smscode.co.za, which confirms that WASPA can't match 0831238763 to any of its members. When will these fools learn that it isn't a good idea to make a special offer to someone who renewed his contract a few months ago. Are they stupid or just incompetent? In this case I think they are criminals who need to apologise and hire some decent lawyers.

1 comment:

ncedo said...

MTN WHEN YOU ARE TRYING TO LOAD AIRTIME THERES NO NETWORK COVERAGE, YOU CANT MAKE CALLS,YOU GET CROSSED LINES, ON WEEKENDS THERES NO NETWORK COVERAGE, ON COLD DAYS AND RAINY DAYS IS THE SAME... MTN IS KAAK NETWORK, THE CONSULTANTS ARE SO RUDE ESPECIAL THE ONES SPEAKING ZULU & XHOSA .I'M MOVING TO VODACOM OR VIRGIN MOBILE