Given hope and then taken away

I have still not received an outcome or solution for my complaint. I am awaiting feedback from a manager since 28 October 2020.

Good day,

My Cell: *** WIFI LTE Router, 50G: ***

“WITHOUT PREJUDICE”

Trust this e-mail finds you well.

RE: SR***

In reference to the above complaint that I Simon Brown (ID: ***) lodged with Vodacom in connection to being misled by your sales representative and Vodacom as a whole.

On or around the 30 September 2020 I received a knock on my door at 18 Stockside Road, Northpine, 7560. One of your sales representatives by the name of Abdullah/Abdul advised me that he was here on behalf of Vodacom selling fibre and asked whether I was interested. From the start, the first thing I told him was that I am interested in fibre, I am just waiting for my WIFI LTE router contract that I have with Vodacom on a 24 month contract for 50G to come to a end on or around May 2021 in order for me to upgrade to fibre. Abdullah/Abdul asked me to wait for a second and he went next door (where his colleague was busy) to ask his colleague to verify something and on his return he informed me that my WIFI LTE router contract would be cancelled by Vodacom if I take the fibre contract. He advised that as I am already on a contract with Vodacom that when the fibre contract is activated my Wi-Fi contract would automatically be cancelled. I asked him if there would be any additional charges or cancellation fees that I would have to pay and again he advised that the fibre contract would take over the Wi-Fi contract and the Wi-Fi contract would be cancelled by Vodacom.

Please note that I was still unsure of this and I repeatedly asked him whether my WIFI LTE 50G line would be cancelled if I take this contract as well, which he repeatedly advised me that it would. I informed him that I would not be able to afford to pay two contracts at any time, let alone during this pandemic . Once again I was informed that my WIFI contract would automatically be cancelled. When I completed the application (bear in mind this was in my own home, which honestly I feel very violated, saddened and disappointed that I was **** to in my own home), it was still the sales representative (Abdul/Abdullah) suggestion that I take the month to month contract which I completely agreed with as I work in the legal field, I know how often people can be misled, it was the safer option, as low and behold I am now currently stuck in two 24 month contracts by Vodacom, the exact thing that I did not want. I ticked off the month to month contract for fibre as I would be able to cancel it should I have had any problems/issues. It was just the smarter and safer route to follow.

Never the less I trusted the sales representative and entered into the fibre contract completely thinking that my WIFI 50G contract would be cancelled. I was so happy and excited as I have been waiting to get fibre for a while. I finally thought something is going my way and there is hope in the world. On Saturday 03 October the team contacted me to come install the fibre line, they were very professional and I am grateful for the work that they did. I asked them if my contract would indeed be cancelled and they were unsure as they were only contracted by Vodacom to install the fibre line. On 05 October 2020 at 14:56 I contacted Vodacom whereby a consultant informed me that my WIFI LTE 50G contract would not be cancelled and she would refer me to the fibre department (call ***) whereby I spoke to Cindy Nakatisi where I explained my story and she also confirmed that there is no possible way that my WIFI LTE 50G contract would be cancelled and she informed me that I am on a 24 month contract so my fibre contract would also not be cancelled. This came as a shock to me as I did not understand how could it be a 24 month contract if I ticked off for a month to month contract. Cindy informed me that she can see the month to month box was in fact ticked off, however it was scratched out and made into a 24 month contract. I informed her that I had not taken that option and she asked me to hold while she spoke to her manager who then confirmed if my signature is not where something is scratched out then there would be a problem as my signature has to be by any scratched out marks on my application, which it was not as I had taken THE MONTH TO MONTH contract. This was very upsetting as this means that the sales representative without my knowledge or permission changed my application and committing ***** in the meantime. I informed Cindy Nakatisi that this was completely unacceptable and I refuse to pay for two contracts. I demand that my WIFI LTE 50G contract be cancelled as I was informed by your representative. Cindy advised that she would send a e-mail to the sales department for feedback and come back to me.

On Tuesday 06 October 2020 I received a call from Jonathan who informed me that he was sent to install my fibre router to the fibre line which was installed on Saturday as previously mentioned. The first thing I asked Jonathan was whether my contract would be cancelled, before he installs this router I would like confirmation. Jonathan contacted his supervisor by the name of Rosa ( I may need to be corrected) who was in charge of my Vodacom sales order : Sales Order SO*** (See attached). Jonathan’s explained in detail that I had a Vodacom Huawei B315 4G Router business contract as I still have the box that my LTE 50G router came in and again she informed him that once my fibre is installed my WIFI contract would automatically be cancelled and the fibre contract would take over with no cancellation fees included. The fibre contract would replace the WIFI contract. Jonathan then proceeded to connect the fibre router to the box, tested the line and activated my fibre, which is working nicely. As I was informed again by a Vodacom representative that my WIFI contract would be cancelled I believed it to be true and perhaps there was some miscommunication with the fibre department that I was calling into.

I had not heard from Cindy so I called again on 06 October at 13:29 and spoke to Liezl who I explained the situation to and she advised that Cindy would give me a call back. I also informed Liezl that RAM had also come and delivered a fibre router to my home that afternoon after I informed them that someone from Vodacom had already installed the router. Liezl advised that she would ask RAM to come collect the fibre router by me again as now I have two fibre routers. Which by the way is still at my house and nobody has come to collect the spare router (WHAT THE HELL IS VODACOM DOING?). Cindy contacted me back awhile later and advised that she had not heard anything back from the sales department yet and as soon as she receives feedback on what Vodacom is going to do she would let me know.

08 October came and I had still not heard any feedback. I contacted Vodacom again on *** at 13:18 and spoke to Gugu whom I had to explain the whole story to again and she once again advised that my WIFI LTE 50G contract would not be cancelled and I was misled (**** TO), furthermore I was in a 24 month contract with fibre as well. She also confirmed that my application was altered and that if I was in a month to month contract it would not be such a difficult situation as they could just suspend my fibre contract until my 24 month contract with the WIFI LTE 50G was over. But she is now not sure what Vodacom is going to do. Gugu lodged a complaint for me and provided me with ***-737927. She advised that she would forward same to their sales department and the person who handled my Sales Order. I called again on Friday 09 October at 12:46 and was advised that my complaint had not even been assigned to anyone yet. The consultant advised that he would escalate the complaint and have someone assigned to the matter. To date I have still not received one call from Vodacom with a solution or to even a apology. I am very shocked, outraged and disappointed in your service and how you treat your customers. This is not the first time I had a issue with Vodacom, I tried to purchase a laptop for my wife and had such a bad experience that I had to go to MTN to purchase a laptop for my wife. You should be ashamed of your selves. I have been a Vodacom customer for a number of years now, I am fond of Vodacom and have always been a loyal supporter but if this is how you treat people then you should just cancel all my contracts so that I can move over to a better service provider. Which I will definitely have to consider.

I demand that my WIFI Huawei B315 4G Router, 50G ***) be cancelled as I was advised by two of your Vodacom representatives (inside my own home) would be done if I took out this fibre contract. What must I now do with 50G Wi-Fi if I have uncapped fibre. I have been straight forward with you from the start. Imagine if I waited till end of the month for both of these contracts to go off of my account. How can you play with people’s lives and livelihood in this manner, it’s disgraceful. I am now tired of waiting for someone to call me with a solution as to me it seems as if you are just trying to ignore this issue and hope it goes away. This is not going to go away and I will refer this matter straight to the National Consumer Commission and get my attorneys involved if my WIFI LTE 50G contract is not cancelled before the end of the month.

This is honestly disgusting to think that you allow these sales agents to go around neighborhoods, come into people homes to be misled by them and to not have the proper training and relevant knowledge when it comes to what they are selling and how your contracts work. I demand that my 50G contract be cancelled immediately.

I trust you find the above in order and I await your urgent response herein.

Kind regards Simon Brown ***

This is the only help i received from Vodacom and not one call from a agent, manager or employee to discuss the matter and come to a solution in order for the complaint to be resolved:

Hi Peter and Team

Please find in the attachment the Email sent by Simon Brown regarding his Sales Contract Dispute.

Client requests that this be read thoroughly as to understand the Financial Predicament this has put him in.

Client Logged an SR on the 08/10/20, after speaking to numerous agents who advised him of all said and pertaining in the attached document.

Client has not received any communication back regarding this.

Client is desperately trying to seek resolve on this.

Could you please acknowledge receipt of this email and confirm that Client will be contacted regarding this.

Any feedback in the interim will be appreciated so I may keep Client abreast of the status of his query.

Client SR Details Refers

Good Day

May you please assist

Customer is complaining about being misled at sales.

1. He was told that his contract will be automatically cancelled, but has been advised that cannot be 2. Wanted a month to month but 24 month. On application form month to month is scratched out. Customer says he did not authorise that edit, and there is no signature (his signature) He is disputing the contract term and wants month to month.

He says he wanted month to month because he suspected he would be told that 1 cannot happen. Customer wants the month month also so he can be able to suspend billing as he cannot afford to pay fr his lte and the fibre.

SO*** SIMON BROWN OWNER (ZE2***1)

My first choice and option was for my LTE 50G 24 month contract to be cancelled as i was advised it would be Vodacom gave me no choice but to go to the month to month contract as i was advised that my LTE contract would not be cancelled. Please bear in mind that i was informed by the agent that my LTE contract would be cancelled even if i was in the month to month contract. SO i am not disputing being in a month to month contract i am disputing not having my LTE contract cancelled.

After i lodged my first complaint on Hello Peter i received a call from Clinton who advised that the sales representative did not lie to me (Apologies if this is true) but that i had to call in to Vodacom and request them to cancel my LTE 50G 24 month contract and request the quotation for the cancellation fee. Clinton then advised that they would then deal with the cancellation of the contract. SO this gave me hope. See below:

"Hi Clinton,

Kindly see attached quotation for my LTE 50G 24 month contract.

On the phone I was advised that it would be R3154.28, so not sure how it doubled. It is now R6365 to cancel the contract.

Please provide feedback and confirmation that contract will be cancelled.

Kind regards Simon "

I sent the above as requested by Vodacom and nothing has happened. I have received no feedback except Clinton advising me on 29 October that they could only cancel my LTE contract if i was in a 24 month contract with Fibre. I informed him that i only went to the month to month contract because i was advised that my LTE contract could not be cancelled and Vodacom was not communicating with me or giving me any options. They are just leaving me to pay for two contracts. Clienton advised that he would respond to the e-mail and request Vodacom Fibre sales to contact me. To date i have received no response or communication as per usual from Vodacom. See below last e-mail i sent on 02 November 2020:

"Hi Clinton,

Trust this e-mail finds you well?

Kindly confirm whether there has been any feedback with regards to the cancellation of my LTE 50G router and from Vodacom Fibre.

My first request was:

1. That my LTE 50G contract be cancelled as I was informed it would be if I took out the fibre contract. And now later confirmed by you that this is indeed the case if I obtain the cancellation fee quotation. 2. I was advised that option 1 was not possible which is why I was upset that I was also in a 24 month contract with fibre and requested it to be changed to a month to month contract in order to suspend the contract until my LTE contract came to an end in July 2021. As I am unable to afford to pay two contracts until July 2021. 3. I did not receive a call or any communication from Vodacom with regards to my options, all I received was the attached e-mail stating that they changed my contract to a month to month basis without even discussing the complaint with me.

If I was informed from the start that the LTE contract would be cancelled I would have been quite happy staying in a 24 month contract with fibre. And I will still like to remain in a 24 month contract with Vodacom fibre.

Please can I have someone from Vodacom contact me to confirm that my LTE 50G contract is going to be cancelled and that they may keep me in a 24 month contract with Vodacom fibre?

I trust you find the above in order and await your response.

Kind regards Simon "

I dont understand how the Vodacom departments and teams are not updated and informed on how their systems work. Why was i not advised from the start that i had to send the cancellation quotation for my LTE 50G contract to be cancelled. All of this could have been avoided if your teams were aware of what the other departments functions are. Please can a manager from Vodacom contact me to discuss my complaint and so that we can come to a amicable solution. I dont know why i have to beg Vodacom to assist me with my complaint.