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Philna M

1 reviews | Active since Jul 2011

10 Oct 2022, 17:38

Impossible to exercise right to cool off

I was stupidly talked into contract changes (for 4 of my 5 lines) by a Vodacom direct marketing caller on 13 Sep. I was not in a place where I could take notes and I was assured multiple times that all the info would be e-mailed to me. I got one of the contracts 5 days later and it was not what I was led to believe over the phone. The specific number to cool off was also not provided in the e-mail, which I asked about more than once. The other three contracts never came. Given the already-broken promises, I immediately started trying to exercise my right to cool off these upgrades. It has to date been impossible. And now it is getting complicated, because I am past the 14 day cool-off period. I have been trying to cool off since 4 days after the sales call. I walked into a branch (who told me direct sales are blocked from them and to phone the call centre). I phoned 082 135, who scheduled a call-back from someone who should be able to help for a week later, which was just past the cool-off period, but I was told that's fine. The call never came. I then e-mailed *** with the whole history - no response. A few days later I tweeted @Vodacom. Next day I got a call-back from *** who transferred me to *** (the cancellation dept?). This person told me to phone ***. Today, *** (after sales service?) transferred me to ***4 (online upgrades?) who transferred me to *** (?upgrades?), who then told me to call *** (after sales service?) - which I had tried an hour earlier...! So - a perfect circle and no one can help. I will be taking this up with the National Consumer Commission, as I think it is rather pointless to pretend to comply with cool-off legislation and then make it impossible to exercise this right. (For the record, all the service staff - after the duplicitous sales person, who also just followed a script - have been very friendly and genuinely trying to help. The system prevents them though and I can't get to anyone who can sort this out.)

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Replies (2)
Vodacom
Vodacom's reply11 Oct 2022, 07:50
Official
 Dear Customer,  Thank you for making us aware of your complaint.  Kindly be advised that a consultant will make contact with you in due course to assist with your query.  ***Please note*** Beware of phishing ****s.  Vodacom will not contact you via Whatsapp to request your personal details  Regards,  Vodacom Consumer Website Team 
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Philna M's update10 Dec 2022, 00:19
Reviewer Update
Dear Vodacom Consumer Website TeamI ask for your assistance again, as no other means of contact results in any action from Vodacom. I have been trying to get this issue fixed for 83 days and have spoken to 9 people at Vodacom.My problem has not been resolved. I was contacted after my previous HelloPeter post, and things happened, but were not completed. I am now slightly worse off than before.I was contacted on the 13th of Oct (I think - this time I didn't save all my call records) and the person kind of again tried to sell the bad deal to me, basically explaining that it would be difficult to undo it now. I declined and asked that the upgrades be stopped. He said he will have to do some sort of reversal - cumbersome but possible. On the 18th of Oct a courier came and collected the three (unopened) routers that were part of the deals. I received SMSes confirming that they were successfully returned on 20 Oct (order refs K***, K*** and K***). (The fourth unwanted upgrade didn't have a router, but was also part of my cool-off request.)This seemed very encouraging and I hoped that would be the end of it. But 1 Nov came and went as did 1 Dec. My Vodacom app says that I still have (and pay for) the four unwanted bloated contracts that only expire in Sep 2024 - except I now also don't have my free routers anymore, because that part of the reversal was successful. PLEASE SORT THIS OUT ASAP. I am losing my last shred of patience. Please restore my contracts to what they were on 1 Sep 2022 immediately.
I have been a Vodacom customer for about 25 years, but I will 100% take this to the National Consumer Commission and newspapers (if they are interested) and I will port my five contracts to MTN. I will also take you to small claims court if you try to penalise me when I 'break' these contracts that I should not be tied to anymore. All of this will take a lot of effort on my part, but I am quite determined to see it through. How is it possible that such a simple task (and a legal requirement) cannot be fulfilled?