Empty promises and cheap tricks

On Monday the 3rd of December, I phoned Vodacom to activate a phone contract – sim only and using my existing pre-paid sim/number and smart phone. Smart Top Up S+ at R229 pm, as seen in the Vodacom book, November 2018 edition.

The lady helping me took my details over the phone. When I asked about caller line id (after almost getting caught on a previous attempt when I wanted a uChoose Flexi contract in July 2018), she mentioned it was normally R9.50 and if I wanted this service, I had to call customer care after the contract service was activated to request caller line id. After we settled the deal, she said that she would keep an eye on when it gets activated and then also activate caller id for free.

Well, caller id was not activated and once I had a few arguments with various people I spoke to at Vodacom, I asked them to activate it for me. On the “bill-so-far” on the website, it shows the service cost as R9.58 not R9.50 as mentioned by various Vodacom staff.

I am not crying about paying the R9.58 for this service, my complaint is that Vodacom is pulling a cheap trick to get customers hooked on empty promises and then charging them afterwards.

I would like Vodacom to bring out in the open that conversation we had on Monday so we can all hear the empty promise that was made. How can you promise a free service on Monday and charge for it on Tuesday? How can a Vodacom employee offer this service as free if it is not? Maybe it’s a case of some people getting it for free and some people paying.

Another matter relating to this. The lady I spoke to on Monday never mentioned anything about an “insurance charge” getting added to the R229 pm. This is also not in the book. So, an extra R6.99 gets added for some obscure service I have never heard about or even agreed to pay.

Vodacom, you stink. Hooking people with so called “deals” only to discover once the invoice gets revealed or money gets taken out of the bank account, the price you see is not the price you pay. At least have the common decency to discuss these extra costs.