eSim service activation
I purchased a Apple Watch with Cellular from a third party vendor. All I needed from Vodacom was a contract to pair my iPhone with my Apple Watch with cellular.
Last Saturday 13/06/2020 I visited the Vodacom store in V&A Waterfront to sign up for a open ended contract, as I was told that eSim will only work with an open line contract. The consultant couldn’t find the deal on the system as I wanted a 12 month contract only. I was advised to call the online sales as some contracts are exclusive to the online platform.
I called Vodacom online sales once I got home. Was assisted by a consultant Fezile Ngobane. I asked her if 12 month data contracts are eligible for eSim service which she confirmed as long as it’s an open contract I’ll be eligible. The call was dropped before we could complete the transaction. When I tried calling back I was met with a voice prompt to say the offices are closed.
Sunday 14/06 I called online sales again and got hold of the same agent. We managed to agree on an open ended 12 month 5GB contract. I asked her to activate the eSim service and was told that I would first have to wait for the contract to be activated with 24 - 48 hours before this will be possible. Once I receive a text from Vodacom welcoming me and loading my data plan then I know my contract is activated and I could proceed to store for the eSim activation. This eventually happened on Monday 15/06.
Tuesday 16/06 I visited Vodacom in Parow Centre and spoke to a consultant by the name of Jody. She advised me that if the sale was done online the eSim service needs to be activated online as well but unfortunately due to it being a public holiday I would have to call the next day.
Wednesday 17/06 I call Vodacom customer service and speak to Ernest. He is unfami**** with the activation of eSim but helps me to the best of his ability. He eventually seems to get the one number service activated on my profile and I receive a QR code via email to scan in order to setup my eSim profile. The QR code didn’t return any data when I tried scanning it with both my phones camera and through the QR scanner section on the my Vodacom app. Ernest asked me to go to a Vodacom store to check if they can assist. I then visited Vodacom canal walk. The consultant who assisted me was unable to solve my query either and asked me to consult the iStore.
I then took a walk to the iStore and with 2 minutes the consultant showed me how to setup cellular on my Apple Watch. I was asked to open the Apple Watch App on my iPhone and click on cellular. This took me to a Vodacom login page. I logged into my Vodacom account and I followed the on screen prompts. I received a message to say it will take a few minutes to setup my eSim profile and will receive a text once activated. To date I’ve not received the text message and I’ve tried twice to follow this process. When I go into my Apple Watch app it states the network carrier as Vodacom and cycles between “loading plan” or waiting. Eventually this process fails and I have to go through the setup procedure again.
Thursday 19/06 I call Vodacom customer care again and speak to Kagiso. She is none the wiser on eSim service, she escalates my matter and says it would take around two days for me to receive a call back.
Vodacom I switched back to your network for the main reason that you are bringing eSim service to South Africa. I understand that this is new to your organization and the country however none of your consultant, whether online sales, customer service nor store agents and competent and proficient in eSim service and the activation process. This is very frustrating as I now have to wait for a further two days for someone to either get back to me or not. This after I’ve being sent from pillar to post for 6 days trying to activate my service. I need Vodacom to step up to the plate and resolve this query ASAP.
