Easy for ********* to *****, but a nightmare for the owner to get back

<p>During Monday the 10 July 2017 a message was send to my phone from Vodacom informing me that a sim swap has taken place on my account. Guess what I am stuck in meetings and can only read the message as 6:30 pm that evening. At stage my phone has no signal, some ******** out there has gotten access to my phone number by simply phoning the Vodacom call centre and providing them with some random personal information.</p> <p> </p> <p>As I got home I grabbed my wife’s phone and called the Vodacom call centre. After speaking to 3 different people I eventually got through to a person who could actually assist me. After spending almost an hour on the phone the sim swap reversal request was created and my phone blocked, as it takes up to 24 hours to process the reversal, yet it only took the ******** minutes to get access to my phone.</p> <p> </p> <p>I gave it up for a bad day. Eventually at about 6pm the 11 July 2017 I received a phone call from the person who assisted me the previous day. He informed that the reversal was successful, but there was however ********** activity to the value of R3 600 on my account. Me being the causes person I am put a limit on my account just in case something like this happened. Due to the ********** spend my account was over this limit and my phone was on a soft lock. What does this mean, I can receive call’s and messages, but I cannot make any call’s or post any messages. He assured me he would sort it out, but it would probably only be done by the following day.</p> <p> </p> <p>Again, I gave it up for a bad day. At about 9am the 12 July 2017 after hearing noting back I decided to give Vodacom call centre another call. Again, after speaking to several people I was informed because there was ********** activity on my account they cannot assist me and I will have to go to one of their stores in order to verify my Identity.</p> <p> </p> <p>So up I went to my local Chatz dealer. After spending two hours there they managed to get my phone to make outgoing calls again. I however could not get access to the mobile data service, but they said they will log a call for this.</p> <p> </p> <p>I got all exited back to the office, as I would be able to phone my wife from my cell number and inform her that I can now again make calls. What a disappointment, sure as hell in the 10 min it took me to get back to the office Vodacom locked my phone again.</p> <p> </p> <p>So here we go again. I phoned the Vodacom Call centre again, explained the situation again, but they insisted I go back to the shop as they cannot assist me. Luckily for me I took the person who helped me at Chatz phone details. I phoned him and asked if he could not assist me from his side.</p> <p> </p> <p>He honestly tried, after several calls he eventual came back to me around 4:30pm and told me that he was able to unlock the phone. That I should switch off the phone for a short while, re-start it and it should work. So, I did as he said, but guess what it did not WORK. By this time, he had already left the shop and there was not much more I could do.</p> <p> </p> <p>Another bad day. The morning of the 13 July 2017 when I got to work I decided to restart my phone and see maybe I am lucky for one’s. Surprise, surprise, I could phone out, but my mobile data still did not work. So I call the Vodacom call centre again. I explained the whole story again and thank them for the fact that I can call out again, but asked if they can sort out my mobile data problem. The response I got was, sir your phone is still blocked and you should not be able to make any calls.</p> <p> </p> <p>After again spending in excess of a half an hour on the phone, they assured me that they have increased my limit and that I should have access to all my services by the next day.</p> <p>At 10:20pm the 14 July they un-blocked my phone and I now again have access to all my services. A week later and I can bet you they still expect me to pay my full subscription this month.</p> <p> </p> <p>The moral of the story is, it pays to be a ******** in SA. The corporate businesses in SA “Vodacom” has deigned their process in such a way that it is easier to *******ly obtain property/services then it is legally.</p> <p> </p>