BAD SERVICE - VODACOM

<p>I'm at my witts end. I am upset and frustrated with the service that I've received from Vodacom. The problem that I have with this company spans over a period of four months. It started from a simple cancellation of a router contract within the required 14 day period (September 2016), but due to errors made Vodacom department/s it snowballed to into more isues.</p> <p>I bought a router from the Vodacom FOR U store in Cavendish Square - Claremont on 6 September 2016. I cancelled my contract and returned the router on the 8th of September 2016 t(within the 14 day period). I had to pay a restocking fee of R74. I was then told that the cancellation would take place between 2 - 7 working days and the debit order which was still to go off, would be refunded to me. Up to this day, it has never been done. I have not been refunded. On the contrary, the following took place. VODACOM placed an amount of money into my account erroneously into my account, debited it from my account in a few successive debit orders of R336, including my debit order , which incurred bank charges on my side. Adding to this, (being placed from pillar to post - a merry-go-round of incompetence/ put the blame pin on the cancellations dept/ accounts dept./ store/ - and around we go again) my cellular contract gets pre cancelled (with out my permission), R1998 is deducted from my bank account (precancellation fee), and I had to borrow money to cover my rent - . The nonchalant way in which my simple requests and query upon query upon "escalation after escalation was handled is pathetic. Each consultant with whom I came into contact, made broken promises from day 1 of following up the cancellation matter (getting back to me or forwarding the message to the relevant person to follow up and get back to me). I will never purchase any product from this store, in the future.</p> <p><br />Furthermore, as friendly and well intentioned as theircustomer care consultants from the call centre are, most of them don't know what they are doing, or basically, how to handle queries promptly - either than guiding you from pillar to post, and making empty or broken promises of following up, or letting the relevant person follow up on the matter and get back to me.</p> <p>.</p> <p>I was literally in tears when I spoke to one of their call center team leaders about this, a month ag. The bad service delivery brought me to tears of frustration. The Router contract was only cancelled then. Why did it have to get to that point? they messed with my livelihood by taking money that does not belong to them, from me. I had to struggle to stay afloat with my budget because of Vodacom's mistakes.</p> <p>To add insult to injury, (I finally got my cellphone line reconnected, loyally paid my monthly fee of R170 into their account, on the 25 of November) my account has been softlocked because: according to their records, I'm in arrears of R129! I'm in arrearrs?</p> <p>Now they are messing with my safety and security! Why? Well, to gain access to the complex in which I live, I have to remotely dial a number linked to my cellphone. I can't even call anybody from my phone to open the gate! Why? Because my cellphone is softlocked due to their incompetence.</p> <p> </p> <p>I now inconveniently have to spend money and buy another prepaid cellphone , in order to gain access to my complex in the meantime. </p> <p><br />How can a simple cancellation made within a 14 day period, become such a mess?? This is the fourth month since my request for the cancellation. I always had a very good view of VODACOM - up until now.</p> <p> </p> <p>I contacted theaccounts/ subscriber collections department to reconnect my line on Friday 9 December, was told that it would be reconnected within 2-3 hours after my call. Nothing happened for the entire weekend - no reconnection. I had reached my customer care call limit, and was unable to speak to a consultant over the weekend, or for the rest of the month (a first for me really). </p> <p>I called the accounts department again and went through 2 consultants who promised reconnection during the course of the day - nothing. The third consultant that I called within this department, late afternoon, told me that no reconnection was done She reconnected the line for me. I then asked her how long my line will be connected, and she rep**** that it should stay connected until I get a call from the technical department.</p> <p>Well, I'd been disconnected again that night- yet no one has called me - I had to call back again to follow up.</p> <p> </p> <p>Oh, and I was told that my matter that was escalated, yet again on Friday the 9th, would only be dealt with on 2 JANUARY 2017. This has become a real joke. My queries have been escalated for such a long time, and now I'm told that it going to be handled on 2 JANUARY 2017</p> <p> </p> <p>The disconnecting/ reconnecting saga went on for more than 2 weeks.</p> <p> </p> <p>I was also told, as recent as last week, that I'm liable to pay the R129( which has gone up to about R137). </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>I also do not want a credit limit increase, as I've been told that this is another reason for the delay.</p> <p> </p> <p>This was not requested by me. I want my normal cellphone account, that I had prior to this mess.</p> <p>I want my cellular line to be reconnected and that the money owed to me, be refunded asap into my bank account. Emphasis: I do not want a credit limit increase.</p> <p> </p> <p>The communication from the Vodafone store as well as the call centre is poor and unacceptable.</p> <p> </p> <p>There is so much more that I can mention regarding this.</p> <p> </p> <p>I have sent a few emails to their customer care email address - no reply, except for the immediate automated response, acknowledging receipt.</p> <p>I went as far as requesting the email of senior management/ CEO? someone who is able to assist. The address I received was: ********** I submitted my complaint to this address last week: 22 December 2016 - No answer.</p> <p> </p> <p>I really don't know what to do any more. </p> <p> </p>