Irregular debiting of my account: ID ***

I am forwarding to you a letter that I sent to Vodacom of Friday 08 May 2020. As I writing this I have not even received an undertaking that they will look into the matter. 48 de Jager Street Ficksburg, 9730

Mob: *** Email: *** 08 May 2020

Shameel Aziz Joosub Chief Executive Officer

Dear Sir, Irregular debiting of my account: ID ***

Please refer to my Vodacom Account, cellphone *** and the attached Capitec Statement for the months August 2019 – May 2020. Kindly assist me and refund the monthly instalment that you deducted unfairly from my account. Vodacom has debited my account for an amount of R2 116. 82, which is more than double the amount that is due May 2020. My regular instalment is R 932.98.

I allowed Vodacom to debit my monthly fees from my account. This arrangement does not mean that they have the right to debit any amount at any time that they wish to.

From January 2020, when I retired, I arranged with one of your customer care consultants to move my debit date from 25th to 07th. Unfortunately, due to my financial predicament, I have not been able to pay timeously, till today, 07 May 2020. However, as my statement shows, to date, I have not missed any month’s payment. I explained to your consultants on numerous occasion that although I have been paying my instalments late, I have not missed a monthly fee. The table below provides a breakdown of the instalment by date from August 2019 to 07 May 2020.

Date 26 Aug 25 Sept 25 Oct 25 Nov 27 Dec 20 Feb 17 March 20 April 07 May Amount 927.98 932.98 933.97 921.98 921.98 1022.86 1144.92 1022.86 2116.82

These dates corresponded with the times when I made payment to Vodacom. I have circled these dates on the statement. I must point out that when I pointed out that my instalments have increased, the explanation was that this was a penalty for late payments. The question, therefore, is why is there a penalty on my 07 May 2020 instalment because this is the due date?

On Thursday, 07 May 2020 at 08:05 just after you debited my account you sent me an SMS reading: “Your Vodacom account is in arrears. Payment of R1108.85 is urgently required to avoid service interruption. Please call or SMS*** to arrange payment.”

This message is unfortunate and hurts my family and me. Vodacom threatens us where the account is up to date. My account cannot be in arrears. I feel that this is harassment and invasion of my privacy as Vodacom owes me.

To add on this awkward predicament, my son, Mpumelelo Maqutu *** and have requested a transfer of contract ownership. I live in Ficksburg, and my son lives in Cape Town. Ficksburg does not have Vodacom Shop. As a result, I completed and signed transfer of ownership forms and forwarded them with certified copies of my Identity Document and a covering letter to Mpumelelo. Mpumelelo submitted this documentation on 21 February 2020. He explains that he has been to various Vodacom outlets and called Vodacom Customer Care numerous times in where they tell that he should get a call within a couple of days and said that they would confirm if it has been accepted or not. Every time he checks the progress with Vodacom all the stores and customer service agents say that there are no changes in their systems. It is like they have not begun the process at all. I can attest to this because I have made calls to this effect. Two Vodacom Ladies have called to this effect too.

Vodacom repeatedly tells me that my account is in arrears even when it is not in arrears. A typical example is an above SMS that I received immediately after getting confirmation of payment. Vodacom persists in hounding us for arrears even after they receive my funds. I call in every time to have then escalate the matter to change the account back to normal.

In conclusion, I would like you to refund the additional payment back into my account. Also, Vodacom must deposit a payment equivalent to a penalty you charge into my account.

I hope that you will find this correspondence in order __________________ Dr Tholang Z. Maqutu ***)