Faulty handset, Contract cancellation and poor service resolution

It is very frustrating & disappointing and frustrating that I have to resort to this platform to complain about the poor service from a company I have been a contract customer with for over 12 & prepaid close to 20 years respectively.

Around the 3rd January 2025 I added a new line to my contract, converting the prepaid to contract.. A few days later (6/7th January 2025) the new phone was delivered. On the second day of using the new handset it started heating up uncontrollably, was worse when on a call. I immediately called the after sales support on ***. I asked how I would go about on getting this sorted and was told if returned within 7 days I would receive a new replacement handset (Same brand model etc). I decided I would monitor the device & if the problem persisted would call back the following day to have it replaced. Unfortunately the overheating continued & I called. I was assisted by Dimakatso, who explained that a courier company would collect the device and after 3 days I should call to find out if they have received & booked the device back. Then they would issue a new replacement device the same day to be couriered to me. I called after 3 days & the device hadn't been booked/received by Vodacom yet. The agent (Mpho) promised to call me back the following day if the device was received and cancelled. I did not make much of the cancellation she mentioned. Then I called once again the following day & was assisted by a Sheila ( if not mistaken) who confirmed receipt & said she was cancelling the contract as per procedure. I objected to the cancellation of the contract part and strongly advised her against it. I explained to her how I ended up returning the phone and was not interested in cancelling a contract taken out merely a week before. She said in no uncertain terms would I get a replacement handset without cancelling the current contract and applying for a new one. Then she continued to cancel the line while I was still on the phone with her and my objections fell on deaf ears. We got cut off, she didn't bother to call me back on the other number I have with them and I started getting texts of a cancellation. My subsequent calls to after support *** & sales ***4 departments went the same way. Spoke to several agents including Mpho, Priscilla to mention but a few. They promised to get a team leader by the name Keke to call me back but still I wait. She was always in meetings irrespective of the time of day. I asked the agents that I want their seniors to listen to all the call recordings from day 1 to establish what information (Dimakatso )gave me and hence my expectations. During the follow up calls when I asked for Dimakatso I was told she's on leave.

Now my problem is 1. I am not willing to re-apply and have my credit score tempered with when it was already done a few weeks ago. 2. It was not my fault that I got a faulty handset which they classified as an out of the box failure. 3. I did not ask & expect the contract to be cancelled but rather handset exchanged which I made very clear. 4. If their procedure or system doesnt allow them to replace a new faulty handset without cancelling a contract then they should immediately review and find ways to work around it because it is impractical, primitive, costly and disadvantages customers 5. They should listen to all the call recordings establish facts & deal with what seemed to be agents covering for each other. It is very upsetting that I had paid over a thousand rands pro rated fee as part of the line activation & a few days after when the contract was cancelled I was back on prepaid without warning or expectation. I do not work backwards and someone's misinformation & Vodacom's unprofessionalism terribly inconvenienced me. During one of the calls to after sales support, an agent suggested a contract re-instatement through the sales department when I told them I wasn't willing to reapply. This they suggested I do on my own as they couldn't talk to them on my behalf. I spoke to sales and they dismissed the suggestion. This just shows how disintegrated Vodacom is, there's no working together between the departments. Given the nature of the problem, I would expect some managers to talk to each other and sort this mess out to make sure I'm not inconvenienced any further. I have been with the network more than long enough and deserve better. They have went on to pass a credit from the pro-rata fee I had paid. But no one has picked up a phone to explain to me what really happened and how they will correct this. I am sick and tired of this and ready to port my numbers to any network that will appreciate my business.