BAD CUSTOMERS SERVICE AT VODACOM GERMISTON

<p>Good Day,</p> <p><br />I write this email with anger and much disappointment .</p> <p><br />My story is of the poor service and carelessness shown towards my mother by Vodacom . My mother was called by a Vodacom consultant who sold her a phone. She was offered a Samsung J5 but she wanted a Huawei P9 lite. The deal was finalised and all seemed fine. A week or so later, my mother received her phone. The phone was delivered with MICRO sim card but this is irrelevant as the phone uses a NANO sim card.</p> <p><br />My mother then decided that she would go to the Vodacom store at Golden Walk Shopping Centre (in Germiston) and get a sim swap, to rectify the erroneous delivery. To her shock and dismay, she was told they cannot assist her as she did not buy the phone at that store. Disappointed, she came back home explained to me what had happened. I thought it impossible for them not to be able to assist because as far as I am aware, Vodacom is a franchise. To me, this means uniformity and unity – a store that operates as one nationwide.</p> <p><br />On the 14th of October I went personally to the Golden Walk Vodacom store and I explained to the lady that my mother had purchased a phone and she would like to keep the number that she is currently using but on her contract but she needs a Nano sim. The lady advised that the system was offline at the time and there was nothing they could do to assist us. I was understanding about the matter. The lady took down my contact details and promised to do the sim swap and call me once it was done.</p> <p><br />On the Monday, the 17th October, still no call was received from Vodacom store to notify myself or my mother that the system was still down or to reassure that they had not forgotten about her. My mother decided to go back, yet again, to check if the sim swap was done, only to find that the system was still offline. She went back again the next day and finally got her sim card at a cost of R70.</p> <p><br />She was told to wait a few hours before she inserts her sim card into her phone. The few hours went by and we inserted the sim card she used her phone.</p> <p><br />At the end of the month, my mother notices that the sim did not receive any airtime as per the contract agreement. I then called the Vodacom call centre to query this and the consultant that I spoke to told me that the sim swap was done but to a prepaid account and not contract. That was why the airtime did not come in. A few days later I went again to the Vodacom store to ask them why they did a sim swap to a prepaid and not a contract. The lady said it was what I instructed when I came to the shop. A few minutes later after I had argued with her, she said that that is what my mom wanted. While I was busy talking to her, disagreeing with what she was saying, she called another customer, ignored me and attended the other customer. This left me with no option but to leave because clearly she was not interested in hearing what I had to say, let alone assisting me. Obviously, no one will admit to the mistake that had been made and I believe that the reason why it took so long was because of the lack of urgency to get hold of us.</p> <p><br />I called the call centre for assistance because the lady at the shop was just rude and unwilling to assist. The lady told me that she will arrange for a Nano sim to be delivered to the address that the phone was delivered to then I told her that, that will take much too long. She then asked me for the sim card number and she confirmed that it is a correct sim card. She promised that she would arrange for someone to call me back since they had already allocated people to call customers. I waited for that call and until today, I have not received a call from anybody even though had given them two numbers for them to contact me on.</p> <p><br />I realised that it had been more than a week of me waiting for this call. I decided to phone the call centre again. This time around I asked the lady to assist and I explained thesituation to her. She advised me that the best thing to do would be to go to Vodacom, buy another sim card (which is an additional cost to me). Worst of all, I will be fixing other people’s mistakes. The consultant also says that the sim swap cannot be done anymore as 7 days have passed and my mother will have to keep the cell number that the phone came with. By this time, we had already thrown away the sim card as we were under the impression that the sim swap had already been done correctly as per our request.</p> <p><br />My mother and I have been to the Germiston Vodacom shop in Golden walk shopping centre a little too many times and until today, we have not been assisted on this matter that I would have thought is a minor mishap. I have phoned the call centre twice and both times no one was able to help me. I also refuse to pay extra money for a mistake that Vodacom has made. I don’t understand why we need to keep paying to fix this problem.</p> <p><br />I am highly frustrated and disappointed with this service from a provider we have come to know and trust. This is a terrible reflection on the Vodacom brand as a whole. I hope from this email my mother will be assisted accordingly and that we will no longer go in circles to get this matter solved. I also would like to confirm that we will not bear any further expense in the resolution of this matter.</p> <p><br />All that we would like for my mother is for her to get a Nano sim card, to be sim swapped to her old number ( ********** 310) ON HER NEW CONTRACT. where the airtime will be credited into.I would also like a refund on the extra cost that we adhered for buying the sim cards I would also appreciate a written apology from the Vodacom store in Germiston and I trust that the necessary action will be taken.</p> <p><br />I sent this letter to vodacom in the middle of November and till today I have not got any response from them</p> <p><br />Regards</p> <p>Nyeleti Sambo</p> <p> ********** 575</p>