Extremely Disappointed with Vodacom’s Roaming Support – Costly Mistakes and Unsafe Situations

I recently travelled from South Africa to Europe for just 7 days to attend a conference. Before I left, I did the responsible thing: as a contract customer, I checked the Vodacom website and phoned customer care for clear instructions on enabling international roaming.

I was told to load airtime, purchase the relevant bundle, and then activate roaming using the code ROAMON. I followed these exact steps. Once I arrived in Europe, roaming didn’t work. I had no signal or data, and ended up travelling by bus without any connectivity — a deeply uncomfortable and unsafe situation, especially as a woman travelling alone in a foreign country.

My husband had to call Vodacom on my behalf, and only then did we find out I was given incorrect instructions. I should have used TRAVELON, not ROAMON — a critical difference Vodacom’s own consultant failed to mention. Even after trying TRAVELON, it still didn’t work.

Later I was told there was a third step: I needed to manually activate roaming through the Vodacom app as well. So apparently, activating roaming requires three separate steps:

Messaging a code, Enabling it on your phone settings, and Activating it in the app. This is absurdly complex and was never communicated upfront. With the help of a competent consultant, it eventually started working — but by then, the 5GB bundle I had paid R350 for failed to load. Instead, my airtime was depleted through incredibly expensive rates (for WhatsApp use only) while we were trying to get help. By the time the bundle failed and refunded, I didn’t have enough airtime left to repurchase it. I had no choice but to buy the smaller R150 bundle for 1GB — which has now run out, with two days left on my trip.

Vodacom not only caused me significant financial loss, but put me in a dangerous position without connectivity through inaccurate, incomplete information and poor systems. A consultant even called me — and I was charged for that call too, despite it being about their mistake.

I demand a refund for the R350 bundle I tried to purchase. The failure of your system and incorrect guidance led directly to its non-activation and the loss of most of my airtime. Vodacom may never be able to account for the risk I faced while disconnected in a foreign country, but the very least they can do is refund my airtime and data costs.

This experience has been unacceptable for a major mobile provider. I expected far better.