Vodacom
Reviews and Complaints

Received an account from Vodacom for the amount of R8419.87. After confirming this with an agent in verbal and in writing Vodacom was willing to offer me an R5409.00 credit which I was grateful. 30 Days later I was yet again contacted by VC with an overdue account of R9000.00. On investigation the agent told me that the account was never on R8419.00 but R15000, 00. I requested an itemise billing on 7th September to be send to me to confirm the spend and dates I yet to received that as well. Although I am paying for itemise billing why don’t I receive these. Email addresses confirmed as I get my invoices but no itemise billing. I have an invoice confirming the initial amount of R8419.00 how is this possible that the account was all of a sudden R15000.00 This is ridiculous, the agent Given Mabthebula refuse to transfer me to speak to some sort of snr supervisory person. I ask to hold for Vc technical dept and se drop the line on me.
Secondly, I also inquire about the unresolved outstanding poor signal issue dated 7/09/2016 with Moddy Kwaaiman. To date no one has contacted me to follow up. Not even to mention about the advertisement about once calls drop. I was more than 35min on this call but with no luck. My question is this customer service, why do I get treated as just a billing number.

I have applied for a contract with vodacom, from my understanding and peer experiences, you get a same time response if the contract application is declined or approved, but no! Vodashop in Mall of Africa with a sales person called Lebogang, i have to wait for more than 3 days before i can get service. i have been trying to find help, but i am told my documents haven't been updated on the system yet, which took a full day, then i am told that the person who has to approve the application, has left or knocked off and there is no one who can go through my application and check if it can be approved or not. I went to the store on the 3rd of October 2016 and i still await assistance and my concern was that the device i needed was in the September catalog and if i don't get this through by the 06/10/16 then i miss the September deal.
I was promised first thing in the morning (06/10/2016) before 12:00 someone will assist me, but it's 12:40 and i still haven't received any assistance. no one is able to assist me about this application that i am trying to make.

Please help me. the reference number is was given is [protected].

Please help me because i don't know where to go and the device i am looking for is in the September/October Catalog.

On the 2nd of September 2016 I realised that my 2GB data bundle on a wi-fi router had run out, despite the device having been switched off and out of range at the time the data was being used.
I contacted Vodacom to query the usage and was informed by a call centre agent that Vodacom had problems uploading data at the end of the month, but same had been rectified and the data should be available now.
I was advised to reboot my device and then the data should be available. Despite having rebooted my device several times, the data was not available.
A second call to Vodacom put me in contact with another agent who advised me that my 2GB data was depleted on the 1st of September. According to the agent the first data transaction was at 8am on the 1st of Sep and carried on throughout the day until all data was depleted. Note: My device was at home (JHB) and switched off on the 1st of September, while I was in Pretoria that day (out of range).
After having spoken to multiple agents, I managed to log a complaint/investigation on the 7th of September (Ref: 1-[protected]). I have not received any feedback with regards to this query.

At the same time, I realised that I was being billed for out-of-bundle data usage on my cellphone. This was the first week of September and I had run up a R500 out-of-data charge, despite the having had 1.3GB of data available on my account at that time. I also noted an out-of-data bundle charge of R1400.02 for the month of August.
A complaint / investigation for this line was combined with ref 1-[protected].

On the 22nd of September I received a letter from Vodacom informing me that, pertaining to the second line, I am in the wrong, but Vodacom will refund me R1484.30. No reference was made to the first complaint / wi-fi router. On the same day I contacted Vodacom and requested an investigation report for query 1-[protected] (Ref: 1-[protected]) as the out-of-bundle data charges on the account are a real concern to me and I require feedback with regards to the wi-fi router.

I have not received any feedback from Vodacom after this date.

Vodacom is not providing a transparent service. Currently my hands feel chopped off, yet I am expected to pay for the "service" at the end of the month.

I've sent SEVERAL emails, phone one person to the other without success. I requested premature cancellation quotes ​for both contracts with Vodacom and did receive them, but the amounts charged was incorrect according to invoices received. Still after numerous attempts, no one answer the emails and if you phone you are put through from contracts departments, to accounts department to I dont know what department else.

Re: request for payment for vodacom account your ref: i3870641

In response of your communications received via emails and sms’s I wish to inform you of the following :

First communication received from hammond pole attorneys from agent on 05th january 2016 at 3pm:

Good day
“with regards to the above mentioned account that was handed over to hammond pole attorneys, the closing balance on the account is r 18, 981.49
File has been prepared for a court roll and summons will be served by the sheriff of the court on the address provided on your file.
.
.in order to protect your personal information, I have not included your id number, and should you wish to settle the matter out of court without summons being served or litigation proceedings, e-mail me as soon as possible.

Regards
Innocent madisha
Hammond pole attorneys
 [protected] [protected]
 [protected]@hammondpole.co. za  www.hammondpole.co. za “

I immediately responded the same day at 4:17pm with :

“good day,
I stopped paying this account as vodacom has blocked the cell phone and it is of no use to me.
I only had the phone for 2 months and these are the reasons for non-payment.

1. I called vodacom and asked that there be a limit to the cell phone bill of r200 - I was told that it was done and that the account would stop at r200.

2. at the end of the first month I received a bill for r6000 +-

3. I called vodacom to query and they advised that it was for data charges and that they were not willing to accept payment terms on the account
4. I could not afford to pay off r6000 at once for a cell phone bill even though it was not my fault as I did put in a cut off to the account.
5. I paid what I could afford.
6. the second month the bill again came to r4000 +-
7. I then broke off the sim card and opted to make payment arrangements to settle the total bill
8. here again vodacom had refused to accept arrangements as the account needed to be up to date before they could accept arrangements
9. they have been extremely unfriendly and unhelpful in the situation.
10. a week after the 2nd month of the contract they had blocked the phone and it no longer works.
I do not see why I am liable to pay the full amount of the contract and for the phone when I cannot use the phone nor did I receive the service for the full 24 months of the contract.
If vodacom is will to accept payment for bill that I have used – then I am willing to settle that.

But I am not willing to pay for a phone that has no use to me nor for a service that I have not received. I only received 3 months of service from vodacom.

Best regards,

Since the above response I have never received further communication nor a reply on my email.

Thereafter on the 16th of february 2016 I received the below correspondence:

Good day
Love to have an updated credit record for the future?
Settle your outstanding balance including costs on your vodacom account by the 25th february 2016 and benefit with a 20 % reduction.
Your ref: hp3085604
Respond to writer via e-mail for further details.
Kind regards,
Thabang ndlovu
Hammond pole attorneys
 [protected]@hammondpole.co. za  www.hammondpole.co. za

I did not respond to the above, after which on the 18th april I received the following email :

Our reference: hp3085604
Vod_m_1p //
Good day

Despite our efforts to make an arrangement with you in terms of your overdue vodacom account, no agreement is in place.
This account has been handed over to hammond pole attorneys with an instruction fromvodacom to start legal action against you.
In order to settle this matter out of court and to prevent further costs and penalties, we need to secure a repayment arrangement which is acceptable to our client.

Please make contact with us immediately to finalize this agreement enabling us to pend any further legal action.
Also note that all legal fees are added to your account and you will be held liable for same.
Please treat this mail as urgent.
Regards,
Kegan govender
Hammond poleattorneys

To which an official response from me was sent on the very same day within an hour as below :

Good day,
Please do not use my work email address, forward all correspondences through to.
Further to the above – I have sent numerous of emails and letters through to vodacom with no response.

My failure to make alternate arrangements has been through the fact that vodacom has been charging me over r18000 for a service which was not and is not bring provided and also for a device which is black listed and cannot be used.

I am not willing to pay for something that is blocked and for a service which is not being provided and the amount which was given to me by vodacom is beyond reason as it is more than the value of the device.
With all of the letters and emails being my proof of trying to settle this matter amicably with vodacom I do not have an issue taking this matter to court as it seems that a large enterprise such as vodacom should not be threatening individuals just because we seem insignificant and small as compared to a large corporation.

I will also request that the phone recordings of my complaints that were made via their call centre at the time of my account being in order also be presented in court as proof that I tried to come to a resolve and vodacom nor their employees complied with the basic consumer rights act.
I request that on an immediate basis you send me a statement of what is owing to your client in order for me to verify those charges.

Best regards,

I then received a statement and no further responses from your office.
I would like to then ask the question? how is the above failing to respond on my part. i have responded to every attempt made to me and hammond pole has failed to answer any of my concerns raised to vodacom and the charges I am being asked to pay for.

I am confirming in this letter that I am willing to settle in full the amounts of the cellphone charges on the phone which incurred during the months I have used this cellphone (which I did not receive a statement for). I am also confirming that I am willing to pay for the months in which I have used vodacom’s services. what I have an issue in paying is from the time that vodacom has blocked the sim card resulting in no services rendered. I am also disputing paying for a cellphone which was blocked resulting in no use for the cell phone.in essence there has been no services rendered and I have no since used this cell phone infact it is of no value since its blocked and I will gladly return the “almost brand new” cell phone back to vodacom as it is as good as thrash from being blocked in any event.
I still have the original packaging and the phone is as it was when delivered.
If vodacom can review the charges that they have billed to me then I will without challenge settle their account in full with a once of payment within 3 working days of my acceptance of their charges.
I trust this letter will be handled and channeled through to the correct division as it seems that every time I respond someone ignores my responses until my file accumulates more charges and is then handed to the next person. note that I have all the emails correspondences as proof that I have indeed been responding and that no responses have been returned.

Regards

To date I have not received any response regarding my emails and letters all I get is increased bills and demands to pay.

I opened a top up account at game garden route mall to the value of r200. account no i445783/4. vodacom went and add a subscriber mr tsepo mathebula to my count after he did not pay his account. I do not know this man and my account is r13000 in a arrears. I went to vodacom garden route mall and they can tell me who gave permission to add subcribers to my account.

For last two month they told me they will block the account. my top up account is blocked and I pay my account every month even tho I can use my phone. nobody at vodacom comes back to me to remove this fraudlent subscriber from my account.

They also not very helpfull in assisting me in this matter.

Any person that can advice me on how I can vodacom to reply to get my account to normal

On 7 June 2016 I visited the store in order to change the ownership of my contract from my spouse's name to my own name. The person who attended my request indicated that the proper paperwork had to be completed, and what personal documentation had to be submitted to action the process. I immediately proceeded to obtain the correct documentation and on the same day, the transfer documentation was filled out, signed and my docs added. Everything was checked and in order. I was told that the transfer take about 30 days and therefore the contract will be on my name from 1 August 2016. On 3 October 2016 my spouse informed me that the contract has still not been transferred to my name and requested me to follow up on it. on 5 October 2016 I contacted the said store and asked to speak to the store manager. A woman answered and asked me my details and number in question which I provided. On confirmation of my info I stated my problem, I was placed on hold. Then another female staff member came on the phone and explained that the there is still outstanding paperwork. When I asked who she was and where the store manager was, I was back on hold. When the store manager came back online, she rather rudely told me that she doesn't work with that and that I must speak to the lady in charge of admin. This one explained to me that the documentation was only forwarded to Vodacom on 25 August 2016. When I asked what happened between 7 June and 25 August, long drawn out silences followed after which I was told that the consultant who originally attended me no longer work for Vodacom. Needless to say that my question regarding who is ultimately responsible for the continuation of the workflow still hasn't been answered. When I asked to speak to the store manager she was all of a sudden in Johannesburg and the one that a spoke to earlier was only a supervisor. When asked for the manager's details, it was refused. When asked to speak to the supervisor, I was placed back on hold and then cut off. For the next 8 minutes I tried to call the store, but no answer. After another 15 minutes I again called the store. Call answered, asked for their admin lady, answered, informed that Vodacom never received the original documentation, but that it was resend to them and that it will take about 24 hours to action. I requested feedback by end of business on 6 October 2016. The service I received was not only appalling, but the inconsistencies place a serious question mark on the quality of service rendering...!

A few months ago with good riddens Autopage cellular closed down and handed all their contracts to the varied networks so I was quiet happy with.Autopage then had a debit order going off my account and when it moved over to Vodacom, my debit order got cancelled as I didn't even bother to check because my phone connection was still all in order. In June suddenly my line got cut off and when I phoned Vodacom they advised me that I am suddenly in R4000+ arrears which was a complete shock and that it was all data charges.

so I went over to Vodacom both Ballito and Gateway no one was able to assist me, they kept giving me numbers to call yet I told them I am looking to get the amount to pay no shop can tell me this

Now I require Vodacom to contact me simply because I am willing to make arrangements to pay but the service from both stores is extremely poor.

Vodacom must be the most incompetent organisation I ever dealt with.

They sold a mobile phone to my retired mother of 80 that does not even know how to turn a mobile phone on due to altzheimers. DISGUSTING!

When you speak to the customer service they keep on passing the bucket from one department to the next. You can never even hear any of the customer service advisers due to background noise.

Do anyone know a senior management no or contact detail at Vodacom I can speak to?

I received a quotation on 13 September ref:1-[protected] which I made payment for on 14 September and sent back the quote. To date, my contract has not been converted to pre-paid.

I have called Vodacom more than once. I received an email from Katleho Mokoena on 19 September advising that he loaded the cancellation.

I called the contact center on 23 September to query if the number had been cancelled and they advised that it had not been done so and would log a service request i.e. INC000004956271.

I called on 26 September and spoke to Tshego from the Retention & Canx department who advised that the number had not been cancelled and he would log a request for the refund i.e. 1-[protected].

Katleho emailed me on 27 September advising that the cancellation did not go through on 19 September and he loaded it again that same day.

I've contacted the Retention & Canx department today and spoke to Vuyo. After she put me on hold for quite a while, she advised that there was a technical issue on the system and that she therefore could not log a cancellation. Her manager would email the technical department and once they reply to her, she would attempt to cancel the contract at which point I should receive an SMS advising so.

What in the world is going on?

Since Monday 26 September I have been contacting Vodacom every single day for an upgrade on one of my lines.

To date, a week later, the upgrade has still not been done. They promise to return your call but never does, you have to constantly call them for an update and their managers/supervisors are never available to address your concerns.

The deal I was interested in, was only available for the month of September, now it's the 3 October, meaning the deal is no longer available if it was not processed within the month of September. Was told early last week that the device is out of stock, colours and stuff were confirmed at some point and that it would be placed in back order to be delivered around 7 October, which I was fine with as long as I had the deal secured. Charl the consultant I have been dealing with promised me several times that he would get back to me so we could finalise the deal. On Friday 30 September I made my daily call, conveniently Charl was not available and had left for the day. The consultant who asssisted at the time, now advised that the device is not available for online clients and only available at Vodacom stores. Furioulsy after a whole week, I escalated the matter and was promised again that a supervisor/manager will call me back...still waiting.

If I was told from the first call on 26 September, I could have upgraded my line through a Vodacom outlet but instead I have been continually lied to and still with no device.

About two weeks back I called in to the Vodacom sales centre and opened a new Smart S contract on a deal that Vodacom was offering and which included the Apple IPhone SE 16gig handset for R399.00 per month. This was a Gift for my Mother whose Birthday was on the 29th of September. The 29th being a Thursday, we arranged for a family event on Saturday the 01st of October 2016 at which time we would present her with the new gift. We arranged the event at my home as we had access to Wi-Fi to update all software if necessary and to download various apps etc. for the new handset. The entire process with Vodacom was quite amazing, super efficient and exceeded all expectation. The day after the order was processed and contract opened, the goods, including new handset, sim card and copy of contract, were delivered to our offices, again, super efficient service. On Saturday, when we present her with the new Gift, great excitement, surprise, surprise, a Duo Sim Card was supplied, no Nana Sim. So after all the planning and preparation, we still cannot get the phone working and sorted out. This I do not understand, Vodacom supply the correct handset, they know very well what sim card each handset takes, yet supply the totally incorrect sim with the handset on a brand new contract! So off I go, race done to Centurion Mall to the Vodashop, only to be kept waiting for almost 50 minutes, for no queue at all. I arrived at the shop as the Rugby Test was starting, so the entire mall, including the Vodashop was empty, completely quiet, yet I was kept waiting, all Vodashop employees sitting around doing nothing, seeing me standing waiting, but totally unwilling to assist. Eventually, my number was called and the person told me that I had to do a "sim swap", for which I had to pay R70.00! So I had not even started the phone up, Vodacom had already deducted a pro-rata payment, and here I have to pay for a sim swap due to Vodacom's useless service! This is totally unacceptable and I seek compensation for their (Vodacom's) wrong doing.

I called vodacom upgrades in August to have my contract upgraded. To date my upgrade has not been processed. I have made several calls. Been promised call backs and stayed on the line for up to 1hr 15 mins and still not been assisted. Supervisors were to busy to take my call and when I finally asked for a manager my call was cut. I have been a loyal client for years. This is completely unacceptable on every possible level. No one can even explain why the upgrade was never completed. Vodacom had no problem debiting my bank account yet they cannot provide what I want. It's really sad that service no longer matters to Vodacom

I am a Client from Vodacom for over 5 years now.
one of my monthly contracts is ending (end of contract) in October '16. when I went to Vodacom shop in Middelburg end of August '16 for assistance in upgrading the line to a WI-FI line i was informed that i can not that i had to take out a new contract.
I then took out a new contract end of August '16
due to the time period I was informed by the sales consultant that a debit order for the connection fee and pro-rata usage of the WI-FI will go off and I agreed that it was in order
on the 9th of September '16 I received up to 4 sms's a day to notify me that my account is in arrears and I must pay before the 25th or the line will be suspended
I am in JHB with training and went to Vodacom shop nearby to make payment and I was then informed that the Vodacom shops does not accept cash and was referred to another Vodacom shop that might be able to assist. On arrival at the second store I was informed to make payment at the "bank" I asked which bank and the sales person said "any bank". due to the time delay I was not in time to make the banks and then phoned Vodacom customer care, the gentlemen I spoke to on the 17/9/16 was very helpful and I was informed that the debit order was scheduled to go off on the first and no need to worry. I kept on receiving messages which was according to the Vodacom procedures. On the 30 September 16 I phoned to cancel the line which I then decided not to upgrade due to the service that I received from Vodacom. I was shocked to find out that Berryl at Vodacom customer call centre informed me that I could have kept my excisting contract and it was not nessasary to open a new contract. Due to the payment that did not reflect I could not cancel the contract and the payment must reflect first before I can cancel the end of contract. this morning 3/10/16 I received another text message from Vodacom to say "your debit had been removed due to multiple unsuccesfull payments. I need to phone Vodacom to set up a new debit order. I then phoned again this morning 3/10/16 11:00 find out what is going on as I was told that the debit order was scheduled to go off...then to receive this sms it is alarming. I am a Customer from Vodacom for years and to be treated like this is not on. I phoned and spoken to Trevino at Vodacom accounts department and he apologized that even though the debit order is scheduled to go off on the 1st and it is over a weekend the debit order will only go off on the 3rd which is today.
He also checked and then stipulated that the debit order did go off and the system will be updated shortly
I then phoned 0821958 to cancel the contract which is now to cancel due to the month notice for October '16. the Lady that I've spoken to was short, ubrupt, interrupting me, and short tempered.
I am not happy with the service that I received from Vodacom and due to Vodacom who made the mistake by not letting my debit order go off as I was informed it would be and been sending back and forth. I was also informed that I will be listed as a bad payer and record will be influenced

Why must I be penalized by a mistake that Vodacom made. surely the staff gets send on coursed and thinking they working in Customer service it will be of high quality and information supplied it will be correct and true

Very disappointed, and if I could cancel my 3 x contracts that I have with Vodacom I will without thinking twice
Nicolette

Hi vodascam,
Some background before I tell you about vodascam's poooor customer service.
I have several contracts with vodacom and one of them was on the uchoose smart s plan. And because of the poor default data bundle you receive standard with this contract, I added on an additional 2gb's data bundle to be given to me every month as well, at a cost of r249.00 ontop of the standard uchoose smart s plan.
This contract was due for upgrade in nov 2015, which I did telephonically. I advised the lady from vodascam that I want everything to remain the same, i. E. Contract type, my additional 2gb's, etc. Just the new phone is the only thing new to my upgrade.
All was well besides the phone becoming faulty within the next couple months, which becomes tricky to hand in for repairs when I can't back up my data when the problem is with the usb port and vodascam can't help you with that... None the less, I have managed to live with it and have now got an uncapped, unshaped ftth line at a fraction of the cost of what vodascam offers it at, so I am now able backup it wirelessly, enabling me to finally get my phone repaired... No thanks to vodascam.
Now that I have an uncapped line, I now no longer need vodascam's ridiculously priced additional 2gb's data which I had added onto my uchoose smart s contract. Come the day I want to remove the additional 2gb's added onto my contract, I am told that I cannot because the contract itself is a uchoose more data 2gb which doesn't make sense at all... Because that is not what I asked for when I had upgraded my contract?... I was told that it's very quick and easy to change the plan, I thought oh wow... That's great... Only to be told that I first need to fork out r399.00 (Migration charge). Which I think is absolutely ridiculous seeing that I specifically asked for my contract to remain the same when I did my upgrade?...
I logged a call in may 2016 for this to be investigated, it was closed with no feedback.
I had a further two service requests logged to have it investigated again, see calls logged below:
A7-dbmy-yfsk
1-[protected]
1-[protected]
They were all closed with no feedback. When I call customer care to advise me on what the feedback is on my calls logged, they advise me that there is no feedback, the calls are just closed. They try "assist" me by trying to get a hold of the back office to provide feedback, giving empty promises to call me back once they have received feedback from the "back office".
Sadly no one ever contacts me back... This is a never ending story, stuck in one big circle!
Your stupid sms system doesn't either work... Where you reply "no" and someone will call you back?... Lies!

I have wasted several hours on the phone with your useless customer care, going in circle after circle...
I am sick and tired of this! What the hell is so difficult about providing your customers with some feedback, some assistance?...
The problem that vodascam has is that they invest heavily in providing great network coverage, but verrrry pooooor customer service! I am done with your rigmarole games. I have contacted your cancellation department to inquire of the cancellation fees for all my vodascam contracts and I am going to cellc this weekend to inquire of buying me out. I know that their network may not be a good as vodascam's but I would rather put up with that and receive some service compared to vodascam!
Relying on your network will only last so long... Your customers are growing tired of the poooor service...

Commiseration
Customer lost

I emailed Vodacom to confirm that my contract - which had expired - would not be continued. It took multiple attempts to find a way through to them, eventually an email of complaint did the trick. I got an email back from Vodacom Customer Care. It said the following:

"Re: WSSE-Complaint Ref: 001D8aBPGUR8N0QY
Jun 22 2016
[protected]@vodacom.co.za to marisa.kolver
Dear Marisa

We acknowledge the receipt of your email.

I tried calling you today but was unsuccessful.

The cancellation of [protected] has been loaded for the 29th July 2016. Please recharge within 48 hours of cancellation to keep your number on prepaid.

The last invoice of [protected] is payable via debit order on the 1st August 2016.

Sim card not working

Please take the sim card of the affected number to the nearest store for testing.

Regards,
Kabelo Mogorosi
Customer Care
eService Team"

I discovered in late August that I was _still_ paying despite this. On 12 September, I managed to get hold of someone via cancellations - a subcontractor webster.[protected]@bytes.co.za - who let me know that my contract was never cancelled and that he did it just then. I told him that, no, I won't be using the money on my phone. I expect my money back.

I forwarded my correspondence (that I noted above) to him on 12 September. He told me that he would forward it to management. I've yet to hear a word. I've emailed the subcontractor, I've tried to get hold of Vodacom, I've even put a message on hello peter with absolutely no response whatsoever.

I'm attaching the correspondence to date - which includes the reply above and my complaint which had been added to the email.

I made my intention clear and got confirmation. I expected that to be upheld. I see no point being penalised for this.

Marisa Kolver
marisa.[protected]@gmail.com

On the 8th May this year I tried to upgrade my contract. 1st time, I wasn't informed, but it was cancelled because I chose a package that expired 2 days AFTER I upgraded. 2nd time, they supposedly cancelled because I was unreachable... I work from home... nice try... 3rd time, they didn't have stock of the phone I wanted. Since May I have been paying for my old handset, which I paid off and a new handset which I haven't received. I have called almost daily since then. I have been promised that it would be sorted out by numerous people. I have had the phone put down on me countless times. I've had assurances, but nothing. I want this fixed today or I am escalating to the Consumer Council.

I have been a vodacom customer since 1997. I have always paid my vodacom account religiously. The last yeas was a bit challenging and my service was suspended. I made arrangement with a call center agent to have my account paid up to date before en of June 2016. There was a total of R1800 outstanding. I made a payment of R900 end of May 2016 and R1000 on the 27th of June, bringing my account up to date. They phone me and told me that they see my account is up to date and said i must please go to the nearest Vodashop and fill in the reactivation papers before 28 August 2016. I went to the Woodlands Vodashop on the 27th of August and filled in all the papers and the Vodashop confirmed that they have sent the document that same day to vodacom. after approximately a week or so i received a call from the vodashop to say that my numbers have beer redistributed and that can still do the reactivation but i will get different numbers. I accepted the terms. Yesterday i phoned the vodacom customer care who put me through to the credit department. I spoke to a gentlemen by the name of Zolili Mbunge. he told me that my account has been handed over to VVM for collection. I asked why has my account been handed over when i paid what was owed by me and when i have done all that has been requested. He told me that they never received my reactivation papers. And now there is nothing they can do, i MUST pay the R14000 owed to them now.
So basically he said sorry to hear about your problem, you must pay irrespective if you have done your part r not.

How can you expect a customer to pay the outstanding money of R14 000 if i have done my part and when i have done all that you asked me to do. and the dont care attitude that was shown. Not even an attempt to assist me to resolve this matter.

So after 19 years wit Vodacom this is what you get in return... n big fat Fu%7 you.

I have a Uchoose Flexi 110. I can top my account up ONCE only with R110 a month. The maximum amount they should deduct from my account is R295 a month. Last month they deducted over R400 claiming that I have requested instant top-up twice. Today they have deducted R630. They don't even know that you cannot top your account up more than once or with the limited of R110. I have logged a enquiry with them last month and they have not even resolved this one and now this second shock today. I want the money refunded to me withing 24 hours or I will take legal action against them and will report them to the consumer board and media. My vodacom number is [protected].

I have worked as a Service Manager in call centres of a much larger nature than Vodacom, and I would grade this call centre as very very poor quality. This is not the first time I've had issues with them. The 3rd party/Managed Service running it needs serious reviewing.

So here's my experience this afternoon...

My sister who is on a 24 month contract to me is currently traveling, received a text from Vodacom stating that she has 99mb data remaining on her contract and provided her with steps to follow to top up. She took these steps but unfortunately the actions failed. She goes into a panic, as this is new to her. So I thought I'd help being the family tech support.

Rang up the call centre and was greeted by a very tired agent, who was clearly nearing the end of her shift, so zero willingness to help. First response to me was that 'you are not the account holder, so I can't talk to you'. Me: Ok, I get that, then could you clarify why you (meaning 'you' who represents Vodacom) would send steps to top up to a contract that does not allow you to top up.
Answer: 'Firstly, I didn't send anything' and again, 'I'm sorry, but I cannot provide information on the account, as you are not the account holder.' Hmmm, I think we may be on completely different levels here, but let's move on with my experience.

Me: Can you please try a bit harder and at least contact her and tell her what to do. I lose my mind because she just goes on repeating the same thing over and over. I know what agents are trained to say, but is it necessary to just keep on repeating and repeating? I had to shout at her because she was talking over me and not listening.
Her Answer: 'Ok, I'll try, just don't hang up while I get the information from your sister'

Now think about this, we have a traveling customer here who has been with Vodacom for maybe 10years or longer, never moved to another provider once, average spend is much higher than my R1000 per month and simply needs to top up data. The questions that this agent has asked to verify her identity when she calls her are absolutely ridiculous. What date does your direct debit come off? and what is your Vodacom account number? Seriously! everybody would fail those questions. What happened to Your mother's maiden name or your ID number or Address/Date of Birth? Even if I was at home I would need to search through files or log in to my online banking and Vodacom accounts to retrieve such information. People can barely remember their mobile phone numbers nowadays, who memorises trivial account numbers?

So, of course I waited patiently, and she came back saying 'Sorry your sister could not answer my security questions, so I cannot help'. Me: Ok hang on, please don't hang up, let me call her to see how I can help. Well she conveniently 'drops' the call, and no call back whatsoever...Not sure whether I'm more annoyed about the 'I don't care' attitude or the lack of experience here, but I know what I would be doing if I was her Team Leader.

We would refer to that as 'call avoidance' in a professional environment. This agent would be receiving a written warning and sent back into training immediately. All calls are recorded remember, so hopefully there is a Compliance team reviewing all the complaints posted.

So what do we do with our 6 fairly large personal contracts in the immediate family for many years plus a pool of very large business contracts, all of which I have decision making power over? I have avoided using capital letters as per guidelines, but the way I feel right now, this whole complaint should all be in Bold Caps. If I was only spending R100 a month, I would just keep quiet and let this go. Lowercase words cannot express how I am truly disappointed with the Vodacom call centre experience.