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Johannesburg - Businessman George Prokas has won another battle in his fight against mobile network Cell C as the TransUnion Credit Bureau is not reflecting him as a slow payer anymore.
This is according to Prokas’ attorney Raymond Druker who on Thursday told Fin24 that this development paves the way for further discussions between the businessman and Cell C.
Prokas has shot to fame for putting up a banner on a busy Johannesburg road that slammed Cell C as a “useless” network provider. Prokas resorted to putting up the banner after a dispute over a handset, belonging to his daughter, allegedly accumulated a R5 754 bill while still in repair. The unpaid bill then resulted in Prokas getting a bad credit rating.
Cell C subsequently lost an urgent application in the South Gauteng High Court last week to remove the controversial banner.
However, Prokas’ attorney Druker said that while Cell C has moved to change Prokas’ profile on TransUnion, a dispute over the unpaid phone bill has not been dealt with yet.
“We haven’t actually got that far,” Druker told Fin24.
“He (Prokas) said he’s not even going to talk about anything until that listing is removed.
“But now discussions will progress,” said Druker.
On Friday, Druker sent a letter to Cell C's lawyers Webber Wentzel demanding that the mobile network follow through on a previous undertaking for the outstanding amount to be expunged. Druker also demanded that Prokas be removed from the TransUnion list by Tuesday.
The removal from the slow payers list does not mean the banner will come down yet, Druker further explained.
“As things stand he’s entitled to keep that banner up,” Druker said.
Earlier this week, Fin24 reported that the City of Johannesburg intended sending the WorldWear Mall a notice ordering it to take down Prokas' Cell C banner. A City of Joburg official told Fin24 that neither Prokas nor the mall, which is along Beyers Naude Drive, handed in an application to put up the banner, thus breaking a by-law.
‘Prepared to pay for what he used’
Cell C has previously told Fin24 that its own forensic investigation "confirmed that while the handset was sent in for repairs, the SIM card was still being used but in a different handset".
Prokas, though, in his answering affidavit to Cell C's court action last week said a phone number associated with the handset being repaired was used by somebody else and not by his daughter.
Druker also said that the R5 754 also consists of other services: although he did not break down this amount.
“As far as the other amount is concerned, his attitude has always been that he’s prepared to pay for what was used," Druker told Fin24.UPDATE: Cell C responds
In response to the changing of Prokas' profile on TransUnion, Cell C issued this statement: "Cell C has been engaging with Mr Prokas, and both parties have agreed that until the matter is resolved, the discussions will remain confidential in order to facilitate the negotiation process”.
* Follow @GarethvanZyl on Twitter. For more tech news, follow Fin24tech @Fin24_Tech.
