So MTN Nigeria decided to increase their service fee rate on all airtime borrowed with their Xtratime service to 15% up from 10%, and the feedback from their numerous subscribers across the country has been everything other than positive. I actually got a message warning me of the imminent increase some weeks back, but the message was unclear and I didn’t pay attention to it until now. The message goes thus:
Kindly note that new Terms & Conditions for MTN XtraTime service will take effect from October 11, 2016. Please visit mtnonline.com/xtratime/terms for details.
I didn’t care about the message very much because I don’t use the service. Even though sometimes I’m tempted to borrow airtime from MTN when I’m in dire need of it, I always resist the urge and wait till I’m able to buy a recharge voucher physically, ‘cos I’m wary of these network carriers and their super hidden charges 😀 .
Yesterday, however, I got another message from MTN finally clearing the air on the Xtratime issue:
“YÆello! Please note that new MTN XtraTime service fee of 15% will take effect from October 12, 2016. Please visit mtnonline.com/xtratime/terms for details.”
Even the Yello was not spelt well 🙂 . This coming at a time when the economy is in recession and people are still struggling to buy airtime vouchers is not a bad good occurence at all. The 10% being charged before was bad enough; this just makes it worse.
In the first place, the airtime you borrow via Xtratime is not infinite; you have a maximum period of three days (or more, I don’t really know, but it’s too short 🙁 ) to use the credit before it’s carted away. Taking away 15% of that amount is not beneficial to anyone at all.
As I’ve always said, the speed of MTN’s data connection is the only reason I’m still using the network. Their call rates are high, the cost of their data plans and bundles are the most expensive in the nation, and now that they’re making it harder for people to borrow money from them, if tomorrow, Glo’s network speed equals that of MTN, the way I will drop MTN would be similar to the way a man would react when he mistakenly picks up the pot from the cooker without using an insulating material.
What’s your take on this issue?
