Easy to subscribe. Not so easy to cancel

I have to give Vodacom credit for one thing: they've made it incredibly easy to subscribe to a new service.

I was using the Vodacom app to purchase data with my airtime when I selected 4GB for R149.50.

I only discovered that it was actually a monthly recurring charge , when I saw the same R149.50 charge on my bill the following month. And at R149.50 for 4GB, it's certainly not something I would have knowingly chosen as a recurring purchase.

Okay, mistakes happen. I accepted that I had accidentally clicked the wrong thing. What I didn't expect was that undoing that mistake would be considerably harder than making it.

There is no obvious option in the app to simply remove or cancel the bundle. So I contacted Vodacom. My first attempt didn't resolve the matter, and I eventually spoke to someone again on 5 June 2026.

I explained that I had accidentally added the bundle, hadn't realised it was recurring, and never intended to have it added to my account every month. I was told that because I had selected it, Vodacom couldn't backdate the cancellation and remove the previous charges. I was also told that my account needed to be up to date before the cancellation could be processed, so I made a payment while dealing with the consultant.

Fine. I accepted the charges that had already accumulated and just wanted the recurring bundle stopped.

I was under the impression that it had finally been cancelled.

Apparently not.

I'm now still being charged the R149.50, and I'm receiving calls and emails from Collections regarding the outstanding balance.

So the experience has essentially been:

Add a data bundle: one click. Discover it's recurring: wait for the next bill. Cancel it: phone calls, payments, follow-ups and patience.

My issue isn't simply the additional R149.50 per month. It's the principle.

If a customer can accidentally purchase what appears to be a once-off data bundle with one click, surely there should be an equally simple way to cancel it once they realise it is recurring.

And if I've already contacted Vodacom an was assisted with cancelling the service, why am I still being billed for it months later?

Vodacom: if subscribing can happen with one innocent little click of a button, surely cancelling it shouldn't require a small administrative expedition.