******** incompetence

I am writing a review here because I am fed up. I just want this nightmare to end.

I have been a prepaid subscriber for over a decade. On the 10th of October 2020 I went to the Vodacom shop here in Wellington and took out a contract, for the sole purpose of being able to use the eSIM in my Apple Watch. This service is advertised on Vodacom's web site. At the same time I also took out a contract for my wife's phone number so that she wouldn't need to keep buying airtime.

The same afternoon I phoned the call centre to activate the eSIM. I was told that because the contract was new I would need to wait some amount of time.

I waited few months and phoned the call centre again. I was told I had the wrong kind of contract. I had a Flexi contract but I would need an open line contract for the eSIM to work. I have no idea what "Flexi" or "Open Line" means.

I went back to the Vodacom shop in Wellington to change my contract. The clerk who assisted me didn't know which contract I needed. Her colleague told a story about another customer who had a data package on a Flexi contract. The clerk tried to get me to sign up for that. Or some Red thing. I phoned my friend who had managed to get the eSIM on his Apple Watch activated. He was using a "Smart S" contract or something. I asked for a "Smart S" contract. I have no idea what a "Smart S" is. This took three calls to the call centre and two visits to the Vodacom shop. I was told I would need to wait a month for the contract to be switched over.

I waited a month and phoned the call centre to activate the eSIM. Three times. I was told by three different consultants, on three different calls, (to quote verbatim) "Sorry, no one here knows how to do it. Goodbye." Yes literally that.

I reached out to the in app chat. I was told that eSIM activations can only be done in store.

I drove to Century City, which is an hour away by car. I was hoping that someone at the Vodacom shop there would have some experience, since the Vodacom shop is next door to the iStore. I hoped they would have handled at least one Apple Watch eSIM activation, and would know what to do.

I was assisted by a consultant who was clearly not eager to help. After some huffing he said he had activated the eSIM service on my number. I opened the Apple Watch app on my iPhone to activate the Mobile Data plan. After logging in, to my absolute horror, I was greeted by a message saying (to paraphrase) "You are no the primary account holder. Contact the primary account holder to enable this service", followed by my wife's phone number.

I registered a Vodacom account for my wife and logged into the Vodacom app on her phone. My wife has both her and my numbers listed on the Vodacom app. She can see my banking details for the debit order that I pay the account with. She can also see the invoices and statements.

My Vodacom app shows none of these things. I can only see my own phone number. I cannot see the bank details. I cannot see the the statements and invoices.

After recovering a little from the shock I began to realise what had happened. Someone at Vodacom has erroneously set up my wife's number as the primary account holder.

This has serious repercussions on how I conduct my life. Some things can only be done by physically going to a Vodacom shop. Activating the eSIM is one of those things. Vodacom's mistake means that not do I have to go through the ordeal of organising the logistics of travelling to a Vodacom shop in the middle of a viral pandemic, but now I also have to juggle the logistics of finding a time that is convenient for my wife, which effectively also means organising around my son's schedule.

So I can't just "pop out" for a few hours on Monday, which effectively means taking a day off work, which is in itself an absolutely ludicrous demand by any measure for something as banal as a phone contract, but now I need to organise around my wife's appointments and our child's school and meal times.

So you can imagine how I felt after I mentioned this cute tidbit to your unhelpful, impatient, undertrained staff member at the Vodacom Shop in Canal Walk, and he responded by laughing in my face. I went berserk. I have been insulted a lot in my life, I have felt helpless.

After months of waiting, pleading, negotiating with you over something so simple, yet something that no one has any clue about how it works. After suffering the humiliation of months of patient waiting, only told to go to one of your stores, just so I can be ridiculed in person.

No. None of this is acceptable. I cannot accept being told to wait months to activate the eSIM, when that is the sole reason for having the contract. I cannot accept being the person who has to tell your staff which contracts are needed for your services to work. I cannot accept having to phone your call centre while I'm standing in your shop, to tell your staff what they need to do. I cannot accept having to travel hundreds of kilometres so that a person can press buttons on a computer, when they could have done the same thing over the phone. I cannot accept being ridiculed and insulted, after having to fight for the basic service I have been paying for.

I want to cancel my contract. I want to cancel my wife's contract that I signed up for and that I am paying. I am not paying the cancellation fee. I just want to cut all ties with your company. You can try fight over the money. I am 100% convinced a judge will not be sympathetic to your excuses.