Forced and unilateral contract extension by Vodacom

I hold a contract with account I*** with Vodacom. The 24-month contract which I took beginning of July 2020 of an HP Laptop and a monthly 1-gig data allocation is coming to an end on the 30 June 2022 as per my contractual understanding. I have literally been winding down the clock since January 2022 when at the Vodacom stores they have been inundating me with requests to upgrade since I was due already at the time. June 2022 comes and surprisingly Vodacom seems to unilaterally have amended their records for the expiry date to now be 31 December 2022.

On the 15th June 2022 when I call the Customer Care I am referred to the Vodacom Accounts @*** for confirmation of contract expiry and I talk to a lady called Rudzani who informs me that I need to send an sms to 31050 with the phrase "STD" and to also indicated my required end date of the contract. This sms returns some nonsensical feedback and I realise she was just trying to get rid of me.

I called Vodacom Cancellations on the 18th June 2022 and I speak to a lady called Janelle Govender who informs me that part of the reason of the further extension to my contract is because of a Covid-relief that has just been activated against my account and the effect is that the contract gets extended by a 3-month period and you get 25% off your monthly instalment. I clearly communicate I have never benefitted from this as I have been paying my full instalments all along and I am not interested in anything that will unnecessarily extend my contract further. She informs I will get feedback in a 72-hour period and up to date I am still looking into the mountains awaiting such feedback of confirmation.

Conveniently so, I received 3 sms messages, one after the other, on my phone on the 9th June 2022 saying "Hi ☺ Your Covid-19 Payment Relief has been activated." Little did I know the canning sarcasm and the impact at the end of the day which was only known to Vodacom.

I am making my 24th payment tomorrow and that would mean I have made all the 24 payments for the laptop and anything beyond that would mean I am paying more than the device costs of this. Much as I wanted to upgrade to a modern cellphone contract I am now wanting full termination of my contract as per contractual agreement. The gross non-professionalism I have experienced at the hands of the consultants is quite enough for me at this stage. To think that I have been a long-serving client of this company is a shame as compared to the treatment I am receiving now.