Bad service!!!!!

My dissatisfaction with Vodacom right now is unmatched. I bought a phone on contract in March and a few months later it started giving me issues saying it can't read my sim card. I went back to store where I bought it and I was advised to take the phone to a repair store or alternatively use it like this, as long as it's connected to the wifi. So thinking of the inconvenience taking the phone in would cause me, I removed the sim card and put it in a different phone and continued using this phone using wifi. So fast forward to a few days ago, I lost the phone and when I went to claim I was told the claim was declined because I haven't used the phone with a sim for a long time or the claim was not put through in the allocated time. I am not claiming for the sim card slot which is not working, I am claiming for the loss of device which happened a few days ago. Vodacom please do right by your customers, I need my claim to be approved. I have been paying religiously!!