HOW VODACOM *****S YOUR MONEY!

If you are one of Vodacom’s “Selected Clients” then this is how Vodacom is *****ing your money! (This is not for all Vodacom clients just their “Selected Clients” using Vlive! APN) 15 March 2019 Missing Airtime and Data from Vodacom

A while back I realized that when using My Vodacom App, my data and airtime was been used every time I use it. I use the App quite frequently during the day. I reported this to Vodacom Customer Services on numinous times and all I got back was denial. They would eventually refer the matter to Technical Support, but the the tickets got close with a SMS stating that the matter had been resolved (You have all experienced this I’m sure). Vodacom insisted that My Vodacom App was “Data Free”. I was told this on numerous occasions, and I was told that it was “Other Apps eating my data” Sure you have all heard this before from them if you were lucky to get to talk to one of them. So I downloaded and installed (months ago) an App call Datally designed by Google from Google Play Store, to block any apps downloading data in the background and for data management. Well after using the app for a couple of weeks my data was still been eaten up. My Datally App show me that no background data was been used including My Vodacom App. So at this stage it was a bit confusing and I was gat-fol, because all data had been block but my data was still depleting on a daily basis with airtime even though I had data. I could clearly see which apps used which amount of data. But there is never a way to see where your airtime is going to. (I’m on Pepaid) A week ago Vodacom released an Updated version 10.4 for My Vodacom App. I downloaded the app and it crashed. The App did not want to open so I reported it to Vodacom Support again and waited. I also reported this in my feedback on google play store and gave them a star rating of 1. This seems to spark a little bit of attention but not much.

Prior to the update on My Vodacom App had used about 4.7GB (last time I cleared the Cache on the 4 Dec 2018) of data according to the Properties – Data usage, but unfortunately I did not capture a screen shot of this as I did not know that I had paying all this time for the data been used as Vodacom stated and insisted its “Data Free”. (Prior to this I had contacted Vodacom on numerous occasions and advise them that My Vodacom App was eating my data and they disputed this). All of my calls should be on Vodacom’s records (if they haven’t deleted them of their system). You will see later how they delete airtime charges from our bills and it undisputable and ********. The screen shot below taken beginning March 2019. From 4 Dec 2018 until the beginning of Mar 2019, My Vodacom App had used up 1.38GB of data as you can see below which was not “Data Free” as you will find out further down. Regardless of how much airtime has gone missing (amount unknown). I don’t think I will ever know.

Ok so two days pass and still no response from Vodacom. I then decided to uninstall the faulty app and reinstall it. Once I had done this My Vodacom App seem to work except when I had not data or airtime. Three days later I got feedback from Google play store and they advised me to do another update of their app as the first release of Version 10.4 update did in fact have a problem (as per picture below) or go check on google play store reviews.

I have had a problem with My Vodacom App for a long time. Ever since I can remember. I could not do any top-ups or refresh the app once I had run out of data and airtime. I found this to be very strange and frustrating because I could not top-up with airtime or data at all. If the My Vodacom App was in-fact “Data Free” then it should work when I’d run out of airtime or data? Correct??? But instead I realized that when my data ran out the My Vodacom App used up my airtime at out of bundle data rates! This brought me to the conclusion, that the in fact my phone needed data or out of bundle airtime to work with My Vodacom App. I was mad about this! I realized that I was not crazy and I was been charged to use My Vodacom app on a daily basis but it was denied by Vodacom on every single occasion. I was 100% sure after investigating that My Vodacom app was not “Data Free” for me. On the 9th March 2019 my airtime was been depleted once again. I called Vodacom another time to complain and log another ticket with technical support. I mean who really calls in to complain about a few missing Rands or Cents? (Me)! Most of the time, it’s really not worth the hassle. Right? The first time I called 082135 and reported the problem to customer support I was advised by a lady that their system takes up to an hour to update and she would call me back 30 minutes. She called me back in 30 minutes later and said that the system has still not updated and she would call me again. An hour and a half passed and I realised that she was not going to call back. So I called 082135 again and after numerous attempts I finally got through to a “human” another support lady. I ask her to transfer me to the lady I had spoken to earlier and she advised me that this was not possible as they cannot transfer calls (load of BS if you ask me). So I had to explain to her the whole scenario again. I asked her to please log a call with Vodacom Technical Department to investigate this matter. And then the call got dropped. This second call lead to nowhere except for my wait of time. She did not even bother to call me back. She had my number! I called back again after about 25 minute I finally got though to another customer support agent. This time is was a man. I spent over 45 minute with him on the phone and I can assure you that he was not friendly at all and everything I explained to him he denied. I pretty much begged him to log a call with Vodacom Technical and after a lot of frustration and ass licking, he finally logged the call. (This conversation did no go well with this man as he accused me of trying to de***** Vodacom for extra airtime and data!) On Monday morning 11 March 2019 I got a phone call from Vodacom Technical Assistant by the name of Maxwell from Vodacom (Ref Nr A2-FDP1-9TRXD). A well-spoken friendly guy. I spent time on this call trying to explain to him what was going on and that My Vodacom App need data or out of bundle airtime to work. Maxwell told me that he believed what I was telling him and led me straight to the problem. He said that we need to check my Android APN setting see which APN it was using. I was unable to check at that moment because I was busy with a call. I was advised by him to change the APN setting to “internet” and that he would call me back in a while. This is the important part. So I proceeded to my APN setting and I saw that my APN was set to Vlive! as this is the default APN on Android 6. I then set it to the second APN called “internet” as advised by Maxwell and rebooted my phone.

Maxwell call me back a about 10 minutes later and I told him that I my APN was set to VLive! (default APN). He then proceeded to tell me that the VLive! APN would use my data and airtime. (This is what I have been trying to tell support all along). He advised me to test and that he would call me back very the next day to confirm that it was working and that I could access My Vodacom App without my data and airtime. So for the rest of the day everything seemed to work as it should. My data was not been used up while using the Vodacom app or was my airtime been depleting. Great now after many years of fighting and complaining with Vodacom my problem was finally resolved. (So I thought again!) On the 12 March 2019 Maxwell called me back, as he promised to do and I confirmed with him that all was working fine and seem to be sorted. I then asked him “What about all the data and airtime I have lost over the years due to the default setting of the Vlive! APN. He offered me back the 1.38GB of data used by My Vodacom App version 10.2 as I had a screen-print of the usage,

but he disputed that the app used up my airtime with out of bundle (OOB) I told him that 1.38GB was an insult and then he offered to top me up 5GB data, which he loaded onto my account right there and then (But this 5GB data was also an insult too). I did not want to, once again get in to an argument with a Vodacom technician because Maxwell was the only person in Vodacom to be able to pin point long ongoing problem. He said to me that “VLive! APN” is free and there is no way that I have ever been charged airtime for using it (I beg to differ and the proof is below). So I left it as it is, and finished the call.

I then decided to do a bit of research on the “Vlive! APN” AKA GPRS Vlive (Phone Number Tracker) and this is what I came across, it was published in 2014. (To clearly understand about Vlive you must check out the first two links) The 3rd link is if you want to know extra about GPRS Vlive.

https://mybroadband.co.za/news/security/113037-vodacom-exposing-your-number-to-every-website-you-visit.html https://mybroadband.co.za/news/security/113107-vodacom-number-leak-update.html https://www.wired.com/2014/10/verizon******a-cookie/

In short….It turns out that this “Vlive! APN” is a Phone number tracker on our phones if you are using this Vlive! APN (GPRS Vlive). The full explanation is in the above link. Report was done by myboadband.co.za back in 2014 and this story ran cold. So I’m not going to get into the full details of “Vlive! APN” but it turns out that this “Vlive! APN” is in fact your phone number tracker. It broadcast our phone numbers and information to international websites we visit. Also known as “GPRS Vlive”. This raises serious questions and privacy issues!

(Vodacom is providing information which uniquely identifies you as a subscriber to every website you visit while on its data network. This was revealed by an online tool created by security researcher Kenneth White)

The mind blowing part about this discussion of the “GPRS Vlive! APN” is that NOBODY seems to mention that the “Selected Clients” have been billed for this! How often you are billed? I can’t say as Vodacom refuse to provide me with full itemised billing. This is where the plot thickens! On the 12 March 23:14 - I was still testing my App and for the first time ever I was able to access my Bill (Normally it’s just a blank page) As you can see clearly below Vodacom charged me for the use of GPRS Vlive -R0.53 for something that was triggered (Vodacom Number Tracker) on the “GPRS Vlive APN”. This charge is now been disputed and Vodacom tell me this charge was for OOB charges and they have refunded me R2.64 (another insult to injury). But the question is why they refunded me R2.64 when they should have refunded me 0.53 cents. Can you see where I’m going with this? I asked Maxwell on back and forth emails this same question and I can’t give me a straight answer. I have sent him 4 emails asking him to explain and he just not reply to it now. How often this is charged to our bills and then hidden??? BEFORE As you can clearly see the charge for GPRS VLive –R0.53 cents. Ok here is the mind blowing part of all of this. AFTER “The GPRS Vlive –R0.53 deduction vanishes” I have no proof left what so ever of this deduction! Except for my screen shot. Transaction removed from their system R0.53 cents ******!!! How often this amount has been deducted? Unknown! Think about it for a second, Vodacom can take R0.53 cent from 1 million or even more of its “Selected Client”, that will be equal R 530 000. This amount of money they get in a second and nobody says anything. When you do say something, you are made out to be the fool. How many times a day, month, week or year did they deduct –R0.53 from my account while been connected to Vlive! APN (GPRS Vlive phone number tracker) and blatanly hide it our my eyes. This is *****! Proof is in the pudding! 13 March 2019 07:36- the very next morning. I open my App and went back to my Bill. Amazingly the -R0.53 has been removed off my billing. No record to be found of this -R0.53!!! Gone, vanished into cyber space. I have been waiting 2 day for a reply about this but Maxwell has not come up with a believable and credible answer. I mean how can he??? My Bill has been tamped with by Vodacom as you can clearly see in the above 2 screenshots. They think that if they remain quite ever thing will go away. But not this time round! If your airtime and data is going missing then you could be one of the selected prepaid clients that have been connected to Vlive! APN (GPRS vLive Tracker). Check your APN settings immediately and change it because you are been tracked, your privacy is at risk and you are paying for it in hidden cost as I have proved above!!! Please notify your friends and family about this. At this stage nobody knows what this Vlive! APN (GPRS Vlive) has cost us Vodacom clients. The picture below is an SMS from an international company. I have been receiving tons of them from different companies and never knew how they got my number. We now know because the GPRS Vlive Phone Number Tracker is the cause behind it all. This international company got my number from Vodacom and I had to pay for this spam ********** cent a pop. So who gets that 0.53 cent? Vodacom? The companies that got my number? There a lots of questions to be asked but it hard to get them answered. If you are on Vlive! APN then your are one of the so called “Selected Clients” and you are a victim of this *****.

Just another point I would like to make. When sending emails to Vodacom (Maxwell) I get these replys from Vodacom Postmaster. If any one could shed a light on this it would be highly appreciated. They obviously have a word filter on they SMTP server. What I was discussing with Maxwell about Vlive! and GPRS Vlive. I don’t know because it's very strange!

Disclaimer: I am no news editor, just another customer and victim of Vodacoms theft. See full report with screen shots and pictures download here....

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w-hvhXi8R55-udazZ3Md-b5CnIRp***uiUxEsq5Dc1I/edit?usp=sharing