***** and ******* in form of another unauthorized contract upgrade

This is an update on a serious complaint I published on 27 January 2020 (https://www.hellopeter.com/vodacom/reviews/unauthorized-contract-upgrade-6570ad1aa768d4b14834b874a922595cd0e6ad80-***) and I hope that people with similarly bad and ********** experiences with Vodacom will benefit from this in their decision making about cancellation or upgrades with Vodacom.

Vodacom has not allowed me to cancel contract and for the second time within a few months changed my contract (possibly **********) to an upgrade I did not request, nor authorize.

The experience with the Vodacom customer service over the last months was absolutely terrible. I live overseas and despite multiple calls with the Vodacom call center, all the Vodacom call center agents ignore my request to cancel my contracts (expiry in December 2019) and to transform it into prepaid contracts. Out of the blue, Vodacom somehow blocks my phone for international calls (after it has been actively working for almost a year) and I cannot enquire any further about my contract. My husband was in South Africa in Janaury and walked into a Vodacom shop and was declined assistance in my contract matters. After persisting on his side, he found out that my contracts were “upgraded” to airtime contracts (without my consent) and that it would be impossible to unlock my international phone block. While in the Vodacom shop, my husband called the call center (as advised by the Vodacom assistant) and after explaining the case, the call center agent asked to speak to the assistant in the shop. Then, the call center agent tells the Vodacom shop assistant to hold and just hangs up?!

The Vodacom staff in the shop then dismissed my husband without and resolve of the case or any advise on what to do next, except for a “they will call you soon”. After a continued back and forth in communication with Vodacom call centers and their customer care, I have been informed by Vodacom about the following:

"On Tue, 28 Jan 2020, 18:07 , <***> wrote:

Good day.

We acknowledge receipt of your email. First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere apologies for any inconvenience that you may have experienced.

Kindly be advised that as per our records, all these ********** upgrades have been canceled/ reversed today as per your request and your request for the activation of Vodafone International Roaming is still pending as we are experiencing a system downtime.

However, we have just escalated it to our Admin department for further assistance and it might take up to 48 hours. ..."

I rep**** the following:

"Jan 28, 2020, 7:52 PM to ***

Good day,

Kindly provide a written notice of the ********** activity on my account and the resolution thereof.

Many thanks"

I was informed through a call center agent that Vodacom doesn't send confirmation emails but SMS and the same day, I have received an SMS stating:

"Dear Vodacom Customer,

We trust you enjoyed the service experience. Your query with the reference number - XYZ - has been closed. We value your continous support as Loyal Vodacom Customer."

As a result, I imagine the email stating that the ********** upgrades are being reversed and my international roaming to be activated as confirmed via email and SMS. However, Vodacom managed to surprise me once again and I am finding out yesterday that Vodacom has again upgraded my contract, is billing me for these upgrades and is acting in reverse of what they confirmed in the messages above. When calling the call center today, I was once again informed that the upgrade is indeed false on their side, but they cannot take action now and I need to follow up on Monday.

It's enough! This is just getting more and more ridiculous and this case displays transparently that the customer care of Vodacom is no care, but rather exploitation and **********. To me, this feels like Vodacom is openly robbing me and not even caring that I know.

In short:

1. Multiple Vodacom call center agents do not allow me to cancel my contract/transform it to prepaid 2. Vodacom “upgrades” my contract without consent 3. Vodacom blocks my phone for international calls outgoing and I cannot enquire further about my contract 4. My husband is not allowed to unblock my phone for international calls outgoing and Vodacom is also not calling me to rectify the situation. 5. Vodacom confirms on 28 January 2020 that "all these ********** upgrades have been canceled/ reversed today as per your request" 6. Vodacom again upgrades my contract without any communication or authorization from my side and I only find out through my bank statement now in March 2020 7. Every month, January, February and March 2020, a significantly different amount has been deducted by Vodacom from my bank account, without an invoice or a clarification for what services I have been billed. 8. I contact the Vodacom customer care and they cannot resolve the problem that they confirmed they solved and then re-created without any contact or communication with me

The way it looks now, Vodacom holds me “hostage” to my contract and simply deducts money from my bank account without consent. In my definition, this is *******.

I hope this case serves as a warning to all possible customers from Vodacom, as they are simply robbing me as a customer.