Complaint Regarding Unresolved Issue and Unauthorised Use of My Personal Information

I am writing to file a complaint again Vodacom for failing to help me resolve an issue involving the unauthorised use of my personal information by someone I don't know to conduct a *****ulent activity, which involved opening a Vodacom account to purchase product(s).

On Wednesday 17 July, I received an SMS notification on my phone from one of the credit bureaus about an enquiry that was conducted by Vodacom on my credit profile on Tuesday, 16 July.

Upon contacting Vodacom, on 17 July immediately after I received this notification, I was informed that an active account has been opened to obtain some Vodacom product(s) on credit using my full details, including my ID and banking details.

I confirmed will all the call centre agents I spoke to on that day that the person who opened that account was not me and I have never contacted Vodacom (or spoke with anyone from Vodacom) before seeking to obtain Vodacom products on credit or to seek purchasing any of their products on contract agreement.

I further confirmed that I was not aware that my personal information had been leaked and that someone (whom I don't know) used them to obtain Vodacom product(s). Furthermore, I am unaware of how these individual(s) obtained my personal information as I had never authorised anyone to use my information to acquire any products on credit on my behalf.

One of call centre agents and call centre team leader named Sipho advised me on the phone that they were escalating the issue and that they were going to flag the account for *****ulent activities and they were to stop any planned deductions from going off from my bank account.

The call centre agents pretty much couldn't help me resolve this issue, and it was upon phoning Vodacom a couple of times that day and that someone from the their side phoned me back to advise me that I need to send an email to their ***** Disputes Department to file a complaint, and submit a copy of my ID, 3 signatures, and affidavit in the same email.

On Thursday, 18 July, I filed a complaint with Vodacom and submitted all the required documents they needed attached in the email. I sent the email to the following email addresses: ******** and ***.

On Friday, 19 July, there was an attempted transaction of R118.19 that went on my bank account from Vodacom. However, the transaction failed as I had already moved all of my funds from my main banking account. Upon seeing this, I again immediately emailed Vodacom with screenshots to report it (on the very same email I used to first report the incident) and requested that the deductions should be stopped.

On Thursday, 1 August, something similar occurred again whereby there was another attempt to deduct funds of R219.07 from my bank account, which also failed again for the second time around. I again immediately reported this to Vodacom with screenshots using the very same email chain that I used to report the incident, always quoting the refence number (EC-1TU6-2JF552) I was initially given in the first email on the subject line.

From the first email that I sent Vodacom on 18 July, I got their response on the same day stating that it would take them 7-14 working days with the investigation process. This is the only response I have ever received from Vodacom ever since I filed this complaint with them. Even after sending them follow-up emails (on 30 July and again on 1 August) to request progress update, I still haven't received any response or feedback. Instead, I see on my banking app that there's another planned deduction coming for the 19th of August from Vodacom. My bank is also unable to assist me to stop these debit orders and had instructed me to report the issue with Vodacom.

I haven't received any satisfactory assistance, attention, response, and feedback regarding my complaint from the Vodacom ***** Disputes department. They also misled me by indicating that their turnaround time to resolve the issue would've been 7-14 working days, which ended on 6 August and yet I still haven't heard any feedback. I'm also not happy that they haven't deactivated the account and are still trying to deduct funds *******ly without my consent from my bank account, even after I have requested them on a number of occasions when communicating with them that they need to stop these payments as I haven't authorised them. Lastly, the enquiry that was done on my credit profile has affected my credit score.

The lack of response and action from Vodacom is unacceptable, especially considering the seriousness of the situation, which I have also indicated the first time when I phoned them to report the issue. Not only has this affected my financial security, but the *****ulent inquiry made on my credit profile has also negatively impacted my credit score, which I can't stress enough!!

Since I have not received any meaningful response or update, since my initial complaint to Vodacom, aside from a single email stating that the investigation would take 7-14 working days - a timeframe that has already passed without any communication or resolution - as a resolution, I demand the following from Vodacom: 1. Immediate cancellation of the *****ulent account(s) opened using my personal details. 2. A stop to any further attempts to deduct funds from my bank account. 3. Deletion of all my personal information from their systems, and ensuring that it is not shared further with any third parties. 4. Removal of the *****ulent credit inquiry from all credit bureaus and restoration of my credit score. 5. Provision of a detailed report of the investigation, including proof of the *****ulent activity and the steps taken to resolve the issue.

I expect a prompt response and resolution to this matter from Vodacom.