APPALLING SERVICE

21 April 2023 I contacted Vodacom contract cancellations to cancel a 20g data sim card for which I was paying about R229 per month but had ceased to use due to fibre being installed at my home. A lady by the name of Laura persuaded me to not cancel the contract but rather upgrade to a 15G card for R79. She further persuaded me to upgrade my main cellphone contract which was due for upgrade in June this year, with an attractive Red Flexi 185 deal which was offered with the Samsung A54 phone. The price quoted for this deal was R1002. I was advised that at the end of may I would pay R1081 plus a further R280 for the phone that still had one month to go in the existing contract. I should have known this was too good to be true. I received the new phone on 02 May 2023. On 03 May I noticed that the amount owing on my account was R2125.46. On viewing the billing document I noted that I was charged for the old package, pro-rata data and voice minutes for the new contract plus the cost of the new phone and the existing phone. This was not my understanding of what I would be paying from my conversation with Laura. I phoned Vodacom contract cancellations again and spoke to Shivaan , whom I indicated to that I wanted to cancel the upgrade contract with immediate effect because there was no was I was going to pay over R2k for a cellphone bill. After chatting to someone in the background he advised that Laura would contact me in half an hour. Needless to say this did not happen. I contacted Vodacom again and spoke to a Nonjabulo. I was very clear with her that I was unhappy about having to phone about this matter again and insisted that the upgrade contract for the cellphone, R79 data sim and the existing R229 sim be cancelled. She assured me that this would happen in 48-72 hours and that I would be contacted by RAM couriers for collection of the new phone. Today, after not hearing anymore about this cancellation I contacted Vodacom again and chatted to a Delene. She advised that none of my previous requests had been logged and that she would do so. The trouble in doing this was that the phone call kept getting cut off. She explained that there was a problem with the line, but after the 6th time or so I wondered if this was not a ploy to not log the cancellation again. I did not answer the phone when Delene called back again because it was pointless trying to get the cancellation done with the call being cut all the time. Hence my complaint on this forum. I will be reporting this a matter to the relevant Ombudsman for resolution. It is sad that I will have to terminate a relationship with this service provider that spans nearly 20 years. Service is appalling.