"Money owed on closed accounts".... How Sway???

My mother was a Vodacom client for over 15 years, had multiple accounts with the cell phone provider and we were generally happy with the service. Over the years we have seen tariffs skyrocket and that did not shake our loyalty to the brand. Three years ago, my mother lost her job and was unable to make payments on the contracts she had with the provider. We contacted Vodacom to inform them of the change in creditor (from my mother to myself) as well as a preferable payment date and method from that point on. Once this was "confirmed" Vodacom continued to debit my mothers' nonactive accounts while receiving payments from me monthly as agreed. Because of the constant unpaid debits, the instalment inflated due to penalties incurred however Vodacom did not communicate this to either myself or my mother. At the end of 2017 my cell phone subscription was cut off due to a lack of payment for an instalment from February of the same year. The network did not inform either of us of this unpaid debt any time prior to cutting off my subscription and allowed the amount to almost triple every time they tried to debit the accounts we specifically asked them not to. Given that I was 6 months pregnant at the time, it was vital that I was always able to communicate with whomever necessary at all times. It was at this point that I decided to move from Vodacom as it was clear all they were far less concerned about their clients as they were with lacing their pockets.

I made inquiries about what I would need to move my number to a different provider and I was told that I would need to close the account, and have it changed to prepaid before they could open it up for migration. As unfair as it may have been to have to pay more money than necessary to restore my connection, I did so and promptly made plans to close my account with Vodacom.

I made notes of all calls I made to the cell phone network, many of which were blocked by the network due to "exhausting" my customer assistance time... When I finally went through by phone the very rude attendants told me how much I had to pay in full to close my account, so they could make the number pre-paid at which point I could migrate it.

For my cer*****y as well as my sanity, I went to Vodacom head office in midrand to ensure there wouldn't be any hidden costs etc. After repeatedly asking and confirming what I had to pay to close all accounts held in my mothers' name, I made said payments and even asked for a close of contract letter from the provider. I have since changed networks.

A few weeks ago, a Vodacom attendant called to tell me there was an outstanding amount on my account, I asked the lady to pull the phone conversations I had with multiple Vodacom attendants about this matter and she said she would log the problem. Now my mothers’ name has been handed over which further tarnishes her name. These so-called giants in the industry literally think they can get away with ****** these days and most likely took advantage because of my mothers’ age... Vodacom, if you are reading this, I am more than happy to go head to head with you in defending my mother from this kind of treatment. Consumers have so much power and need to exercise it to ensure major cooperation’s don't get away with ridiculous behaviour like this.