No one will help with my complaints

don't actually know what else to do.

I have been trying to sort out two problems with my father's account since June. I have spent hours on the phone to your call centre and I've been made promises of escalations, investigations and results. None of which has happened.

Please bear with me and the long email.

Earlier in the year I started managing my father's accounts, as he is an elderly man with Parkinson's disease. I noticed that two amounts were being debited from Vodacom, which was strange because he only has one number. I called on a day that the accounts department was closed so I didn't get to the bottom of it. I then wasn't able to see my dad for a few weeks, so I couldn't call because the account is in his name.

In June I visited my dad and noticed something very strange with his phone. There was an SMS stating that he had a new number, also his phone was not working. When trying to make a call it said not registered on network. So I called 111 from my phone. The man I got through to, unfortunately I didn't get a name or a reference number, said that my dad had gone over his limit so his line was soft locked and that's why it wasn't working. I told his about the strange sms, he said it must have been sent in error or something. I asked if perhaps there had been a SIM swop on his line. I was told this can't happen on a contact number. The guy said he would raise my dad's limit by R50 and the line should be working in a few hours. I had to leave because I have two small children, so waiting a couple of hours was not possible. There was another issue that arose during this phone call, which I will detail later.

It was the following week, when I visited my dad again that I saw his phone was still not working. I made arrangements with him to take him in store, to your East Rand Mall branch. I explained the problem there. The consultant, Mariam, took my dad's SIM card out of his phone to look at it. First she said it looks like someone cut it and that's why it wasn't working. Then she looked something up on the system and said no, my dad's line was still soft locked because he had gone over the limit again. I asked how he could have gone over the limit when his phone was not working (still not registered on network). She said she didn't know. She said the way to get around this was to lift the limit and then come back next month to migrate to a different type of contract. She said the phone should be working in half an hour. I asked her about the SIM card, if it was damaged shouldn't we do a SIM swap to a proper SIM card. She said she can't while the line is locked, but the SIM card was not the problem in her opinion. She said the phone should be working by the time we got home. I asked for her number in case it was not. I had to drop my dad off but I kept his phone to see if it would work. Two hours later it was not working, I called and smsed Mariam but she didn't reply.

At the end of July my dad was debited over R3500, his usual amount is R1200. I could not phone immediately, because I was not with him. On the 9th of August I called and had another lengthy conversation. The consultant said she would reset my dad's line and escalate the matter. She said I should get a call in 3-5 days and she would phone in 7 days to see if it has been sorted out. I never heard from her again. Later in the month I called and stated the reference number regarding the matter. They would not help me because my father wasn't with me. At this point I completely lost my temper. The next day I received a call. After 30 minutes the consultant said he would call the line, he said the phone was ringing. But in my end it was not. He asked me to take the SIM card out and tell him the number on it. The SIM card in my dad's phone was a prepaid one. So someone took his SIM card and left a prepaid one in the phone. Do I blame Vodacom for the left? Of course not. However, I do blame Vodacom for taking so long to figure this out. In my initial phone call in June I told the consultant about the strange SMS saying there was a new number. He never told me to look at the SIM card. Mariam at the branch looked at the SIM card, and didn't pick up that it wasn't the right one! Since June when I started trying to sort this out, Vodacom has debited my dad over R8000. He is a pensioner and cannot afford to be taken advantage of like this. If all of your people knew what they were doing, this should have been figured out on the first phone call.

Regarding who may have ****** my dad's SIM card, I have no proof unfortunately but I highly suspect a woman called Delia at Chats Connect Eldridge. My father had done all his dealing regarding his phone and contract through her. She went to visit him at his old age home the day before I noticed the problem with his phone not working. She said she was visiting customers to update their phones. I have never heard anyone do this, it is very suspicious! Which leads to the other problem with my dad's account, which may also be caused my Delia at Chats Connect as my dad did upgrades through her. So she would have had the relevant documents and information.

When I called in June, the consultant told me there was another number on my dad's account. A number my father not I had ever heard of. He did not sign for a second contract. This is the second debit I mentioned in the beginning of my mail. The consultant put me through to a person who deals with *****. She told me to email and affidavit and my dad's ID to **********

I did so at the end of July. I called to follow up on the 9th of August. I was given another reference number and told I would be called in 7 days. I heard nothing. Phoned, could t be helped because I wasn't with my dad. The man who last week figured out that my dad's SIM card was in another phone, said he had sent the matter through to the relevant person and I should get a call the next day. The next day he called and I told him no one from ***** had contacted me, he said maybe she wasn't at work today and she'll call tomorrow. That was last week, and nothing!

I said I can't blame Vodacom for the theft of my dad's SIM card, but I definitely blame Vodacom for this ***** case! How can someone open a contract under another person's name and bank account? I don't know how many thousands my dad has been ********** in this case. And no one at Vodacom will help me. Yet at the end of every month, they certainly take the amount for this line off my dad's account. It's shameful to treat any customer this way, but especially an old man who has been a Vodacom customer since his very first cell phone.

I would just cancel both of these contracts, but I was informed that if I do that, the matters cannot be investigated and my father would t get his money back. I have tried everything to fix this now. So is a 77year old man just supposed to cut his losses? Is Vodacom the kind of company that allows a loyal customer to get completely taken advantage of and **********? It would appear so.