CONSTANT poor customer service from Vodacom Eastgate.

Go to Vodacom Eastgate if you don’t want like not even 1% of customer service.

Super store? LOL

I am BEYOND FUMING because of how terrible the service has been since I actually opened my contract and yesterday, oh yesterday they drew the last straw and saw the wrath of Keren Crosson because I am DONE being pushed around by them and them thinking just because they work at a phone store, that they know it all. Today I showed them that they, in fact, do not know it all.

Anyways, I’m not here to gloat about how right I was, but instead to now speak out on how Vodacom has taken me (a student) for a ride since the 31st of January 2020.

On that day, my consultant had just won a Huawei for having the best sales or whatever, throughout this process you could see that that was the only thing on her mind because that’s all she spoke about.. anyways, I had opened my first independent contract and I wanted to port my number from Cell C to Vodacom, we had discussed it before the process of opening this contract, and now it being my first contract I didn’t know what the process was etc, anyways after receiving my phone I had asked her if she ported my number, she said no, and that eventually lead to her telling me that there’s nothing she can do and I can try sort it out the next day. At that time I had been sitting in Vodacom for quite some time, so I said fine and that I’d come sort it out the next day, got there the next day, I firstly got asked by another consultant who had helped me the previous day and even that consultant had said that the consultant that had helped me was on a different planet. Anyways, he eventually said there’s nothing Vodacom can do and that the consultant that had helped the previous say should have given me forms to fill out before this whole process even began and wait for that to be approved. The SAME day, I was not allowed to choice my price plan. She did not discuss my options with me, only once I had asked what are my options, did she tell me that the option she chose for me was a certain package and that it cannot be changed. The third thing happened the same day, well a week to be exact. I asked her for a scratch resistant phone cover, that was apart of the top 2 main things I asked for in a phone cover, she threw a cover on the table and told me the price, that it’s scratch resistant and it’s the best cover on the market, so I said that’s great, if the cover is going to protect my phone and if it’s going to last, then cool.. I kid you not, not even a week later the cover was getting scratched, I had wiped the cover with a cloth and the scratches where going away, so I thought okay cool but as weeks went by, it got worse and worse. I honestly could not take the cover in because I was busy with varsity and I knew it had a 6 month warranty, so I knew I had time. Anyways, then COVID happened, lockdown didn’t allow it and so on. Oh just ya, the cover stayed in my phone box, unless I had taken it to other stores, but really until today it’s been safe and looks worse than ever.

Soooo after going to a couple of Vodacom’s in the beginning of level three and last week (Vodacom East Rand, Vodacom Sandton City) and them both telling me that I HAVE to go to Vodacom Eastgate and get them to exchange it because Vodacom is a franchise and that they will exchange it because it’s still under warranty. So I went all the way from Fourways to Eastgate, only to get told that there’s nothing wrong with this cover, they will not be giving me a refund or exchange, that there’s NO SUCH THING as a scratch resistant cover (even though the cover I have on my phone is scratch resistant), and that it is the best cover on the market. Anywho, after arguing back and forth with the manager, after him telling me about 20 times, that scratch resistant covers don’t exist, I told them that they have the worlds worst service, I told them that this is not the first time I’m having a problem with this particular store, I told them that I’d be escalating the matter further and stormed out.

To prove I was right, I called Vodacom Sandton City, my mom was at Vodacom Fourways, so she had asked the sales consultant and I had called Vodacom East Rand, All for them to, guess what?, say that there is such thing as a scratch resistant cover, they said the price and what brands there are and they all sent me the Customer Care number and email addresses because they all said that I’m right, the consultant that helped me on the day is liable, this manager at Vodacom Eastgate is wrong and that I have every right to escalate it further.

I called the manager at Vodacom Eastgate and told him that now I have proof that such exists, told him again how disappointed I am with that Vodacom’s service and he again told me there’s no such thing, even though I consulted other Vodacom stores and just carried on arguing with me. I eventually told him he either gives me the refund or exchanges it like the other stores said or I escalate it further. Which leads me to this post.

There are words I’d love to use for Vodacom right now but that’s not professional and I have family on here. Lol.

My first Hello Peter review dates back to the 10th of February and again over a month after that, only to get a response saying that they’ll call and sort things out. It’s July!!!! And still nothing.

Lessons I’ve learnt from the whole thing:

1. Don’t use Vodacom. 2. Don’t use Vodacom. 3. If you’re in need of an upgrade or would like to change your service provider, rather change your service provider from Vodacom to something else or choose MTN or Telkom from the beginning. 4. There’s no rush. I recently just got an accessory on contract there because of my phone being on contract at Vodacom and they needed to link the cellular part of it but I should have waited. So look at all your options, make sure the consultants make you aware of them, don’t let them woo you into something that you only finding out what it is once the process is completed. 5. Make sure your consultant is in the present day and on this planet. 6. ALWAYS read before you go into anything or read what the products about before you purchase it. 7. I am serious, it’s not just me, it’s a whole lot of people and if I can do anything to help someone out, it’d be to tell them NOT TO USE VODACOM!

Other experiences that I haven’t even mentioned:

• My phone is 5 months old, it’s supposed to have the best battery life in the world. I charge my phone only when needed, I’m never ever running multiple apps, only in the past week has my Bluetooth been on all the time and everything that you need to do to save a battery is what I do, but yet last week Monday I took my phone in for a battery that’s deteriorated into something quite terrible. I got it back last week Friday, been testing out the battery and it’s still doing the same thing. So even that, they just send your stuff in and I’m pretty damn sure it doesn’t get checked and I’m sure that (even though it’s probably not true) I was given a demo phone and that they just wrapped it up back in the box..

•A relative has almost been blacklisted because of ***** on her account, a Vodacom account and this person’s a Cell C user and funny enough, it’s from a branch where they handled all her accounts years ago when they were at Vodacom and the number has changed every 2 years for the past few years because it’s to be believed that it’s someone at Vodacom and every time that they need to upgrade, they just use the account details and change the number.

I am to my wits end, I don’t know what to do anymore and if anyone can help here, I’d like to port my number to another service provider. I know it can be done through the right people.

All I’m saying here is please don’t trust Vodacom.