I thought it was a good idea to borrow airtime and MBs from MTN, little did I know MTN refunds itself by force. From 767 “You are out of Data! Borrow 100 MB for 7 days at 1980 SSP Xtra time and pay later! You’ll pay 2178 SSP on recharge (incl. service fee 198 SSP). Reply OK now!” Without thinking twice, I replied OK and 100 MB got into my phone.
On the same day evening, I recharged 500 SSP and the merciless 767 agent snatched it immediately. When I phoned someone, a voice of whom I guess is a 767’s cousin told me, “Sorry, you have no credit to make this call”. There was indeed no airtime in my phone when I checked it. I almost slapped the airtime seller, but a message arrived shortly, “dear customer, 500 SSP has been deducted from your account to pay for 100 MB you borrowed. 767 still owes you 1678 SSP”. What a bombshell!
On Sunday, I dialled for Yellow Sunday bundles, but MTN ordered me to recharge at least 100 SSP for me to qualify for Yellow Sunday bundles. Damn! I gave the airtime seller just a hundred SSP, but guess what? 100 SSP did not come into my phone, MTN came running and grabbed it on its way to my account. Then 767 sent a message, gali, we still owe you 1578 SSP!
When someone urges you to borrow from him and he comes tomorrow to ask for a refund or takes what he sees as equivalent to the loan, that person has been wishing for you to have a quarrel with him, and now, you have fallen into his trap.
Has MTN been looking for me to quarrel with? If no, well and good, but if yes, what did I do to MTN Everywhere? My only mistake is that my phone stays for long without airtime. Is that the problem?
Is it mandatory to have airtime or MBs every day? Why is MTN sending me a message, on an hourly basis, to borrow airtime and MBs and I pay it later? What does it tell when one repeatedly urges you to borrow from him and when you borrow, he repays himself by force? This is a smart scamming! It gives a bad impression when someone you have borrowed from comes and takes your goat/cow by force for repayment. It looks like you are bankrupt and that, anything you get by luck should go into your owner’s account until the debt is settled. This is quite embarrassing.
On the other hand, someone might have a debt, but he/she has an urgent thing to coordinate on phone. So, if he/she recharges and the 767 takes the airtime on the spot, do you think that person is not hurt as the coordination would not succeed any more? Assuming the money he/she paid for the airtime was all he/she has, where do you think he/she would get money from, taking into account that the 767 Xtra time refuses to allow someone with a debt to reborrow? This may put someone in a miserable mood.
I’m of an opinion that MTN should send a 767 Xtra time message twice a day and when a customer borrows, MTN should not refund itself by force. It should wait for at least 10 minutes to repay itself because a customer who has an urgent thing to communicate would not recharge now and wait for 10 minutes or more to begin communicating.
MTN should not act as if it is an army General, why so hostile when the cessation of hostilities was signed a long time ago? This is an intra-peace period, business companies and customers are required to embrace peace. Above all, a business person should have a sweet tongue.
Thanks for reading “Sowing The Seed Of Truth”.