Misrepresentation Of Contract Upgrade, Unauthorized Device allocation

Dear Vodacom Complaints Department,

I am writing to lodge a formal complaint regarding the misrepresentation of contract upgrades on my Vodacom account, the unauthorized allocation of devices to my contracts, and the subsequent cancellation fees I have been told I must pay.

At the beginning of last month, I received a call from one of your sales representatives regarding upgrades on my contracts. During this conversation, I made it explicitly clear that I did not wish to upgrade to any devices, as I am actively trying to reduce my monthly costs.

The agreement discussed and accepted was the following:

- Two contracts would be upgraded to airtime contracts only, allowing me to receive monthly airtime while continuing to pay my monthly subscription, with the option to upgrade to a device in future if needed. - One contract would be upgraded on a data basis under the same arrangement, with the ability to upgrade to a device at a later stage should I choose to do so.

At no point was it disclosed to me that these upgrades would involve any device allocation or that I would be entering into a new 24-month device-linked contract.

Towards the end of the call, the consultant requested my address in order to send me earphones, which she described specifically as a “free gift” for upgrading. I queried this, and I was expressly informed that the earphones were complimentary and that I would not be paying for them. I even indicated that I did not require the earphones, but the consultant insisted that they were simply a promotional gift.

I have since discovered that two of the contracts were in fact linked to devices, and I was informed by another consultant that I would now be required to pay cancellation fees if I wished to reverse these contracts.

This is entirely unacceptable.

Not only was I misled into accepting what I believed were airtime-only and data-only contract upgrades, but by linking these contracts to devices without my informed consent, Vodacom has now removed my future ability to upgrade those contracts to actual cellular devices when I may genuinely need to do so. This directly contradicts the terms that were explained and agreed to during the sales call.

This conduct appears to be in direct violation of the Consumer Protection Act, 68 of 2008, including but not limited to:

Section 29 – Misleading or Deceptive Representations Consumers have the right not to be subjected to misleading, *****ulent, or deceptive representations concerning goods or services. Presenting earphones as a “free gift” while linking them to a 24-month device agreement constitutes a misleading representation.

Section 41 – False, Misleading or Deceptive Representations A supplier may not directly or indirectly express or imply false or misleading representations concerning a material aspect of a transaction. I was never informed that accepting the earphones would result in a device-linked contract.

Section 48 – Unfair, Unreasonable or Unjust Contract Terms Consumers are protected from unfair or unjust contract terms. Charging cancellation penalties on agreements that were not properly disclosed or agreed to is unreasonable and unjust.

Section 14 – Expiry and Renewal of Fixed-Term Agreements Any renewal or amendment of a fixed-term agreement must be properly disclosed and accepted by the consumer. This did not occur in this case.

I therefore demand that Vodacom immediately:

1. Reverse the unauthorized device-linked upgrades on the affected contracts; 2. Remove and waive all cancellation fees related to these contracts; 3. Restore my contracts to the airtime/data-only upgrade status that was actually agreed upon; 4. Confirm that my ability to upgrade to cellular devices in future has not been prejudiced; 5. Investigate the conduct of the sales representative responsible for this misrepresentation; 6. Provide written confirmation that this matter has been corrected without financial penalty to me.

This is not the first time I have experienced serious service failures with Vodacom, and it reflects a troubling decline in transparency and customer service standards. It is unacceptable that customers are being locked into contractual obligations under misleading circumstances and then expected to bear the financial consequences.

Should this matter not be resolved urgently, I will have no option but to escalate the complaint to the National Consumer Commission and consider moving all my services away from Vodacom.

I expect urgent written confirmation that this issue will be rectified without delay.