Cancellation Penalty more important than helping clients survive Covid-19

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, I have been financially affected in that I lost a substantial portion of my income in March, in April I will lose even more and for May I will not get paid at all.

In a desperate attempt to cut unnecessary costs, I called them to request the immediate cancellation of two of my lines which are not connected to any device and therefore I have no handset or device to pay off on them. I am merely paying a fixed monthly fee for airtime and data. I also have a third line which I did not ask to cancel because I still owe Vodacom for the actual device itself and therefore did not feel it fair to cancel that particular line.

In response to my request, the customer service lady was adamant that I would be charged a penalty cancellation fee on both lines equivalent of nearly the entire remaining amount of the contract. This, of course, defeats the purpose of me trying desperately to cut unnecessary costs.

I think given the current financial climate that this is in extremely poor taste on Vodacoms behalf. Under normal circumstances I would never have cancelled any of these lines, but I am desperately trying to save every rand which could mean the difference between feeding myself and my son and starving.

Vodacom should be truly ashamed of themselves!