****med out of R7,600

A salesperson from a Vodacom-affiliated company (Rewardsco) randomly called me one day. I politely listened to what they were selling, even though I was extremely busy at work, and agreed to them sending me a ****le (just to get them off the phone), which I was under the impression was a new promo that was being sent for free - to activate on my side IF I wanted it. (Telkom did something similar a few months before which they never charged me for, so I was not suspicious). Once the device arrived at my office, I had to sign to say it had been received. Fair enough.

I'd been thinking of moving from Vodacom to Telkom Mobile for a while as my Vodacom bills were astronomical, (over R1,000 every month for basic phone use!). A month after I'd finally managed to cancel my Vodacom account, I saw they were still charging me R317,00 monthly for what, I was not sure! (Vodacom bills have a few random entries and amounts, not all debited off your account, so it's never quite clear what it is you are paying for).

I went in to the store to explain this and found that I had been locked into a 2 year contract paying for a ****le device that I had never even opened, much less activated or used. I called Vodacom and RewardsCo to get this cleared up, and apparently according to them this is all "above-board" - my signature saying I RECEIVED THE PRODUCT at my office is apparently all the proof they needed to show that I agreed to a 2-year contract. No one from Vodacom or RewardsCo is able to provide the telephonic conversation I'd had with the salesperson to prove that I'd AGREED to being locked into an expensive, useless 2 year contract. I was planning on leaving the country at the time, and wasn't happy with Vodacom's prices anyway, so I would NEVER have agreed to this additional contract with them if I had been properly informed.

No one from Vodacom or RewardsCo is able or willing to assist or clearly investigate/prove to me how this happened. I am unemployed and travelling at the moment and can't afford extra expenses off my account, much less a massive lump sum to get me out of this complete **** of a contract. I am shocked and appalled at their complete/cold nonchalance in dealing with this incident.

COMPLETELY DISGUSTING from both companies.