Oh Vodacom

On Christmas day, I was fortunate enough to be able to recharge my account with R55 Vodacom airtime, on my brand new phone.

Eager to learn about it and tell my friends, I loaded a R12, 200mb data bundle and a R5, 40mb bundle (data prices stayed the same but I got less for my money, way to go Vodacom. Weren't data prices going to decrese?) Much to my dismay, my data and airtime had been depleted in a matter of hours, my WHOLE R55 airtime/data had been depleted and I had not seen where it had went. My background data was off, I wasn't glued to my phone as I was with family.

I was extremely disappointed as my airtime has continuously been nabbed from the R12 and R29 vouchers and let it slide. This time I've had enough.

I called Vodacom customer care and spoke to Aubrey Smit. I was always told that if I don't have anything nice to say about a person, one shouldn't speak at all so this will be a relatively short conversation.

Aubrey spoke over me, told me what I was asking was irrelevant, wouldn't listen to what I was saying, asked me rhetorical questions, dealt with my claim in an unprofessional manner and I could go on and on... he then hung up on me (That's right, Vodacom consultants just -blip- hang up). I was not rude, did not ask him anything not related to my claim and certainly do not believe I put a damper on his day (he said something along the lines of me being grumpy and having a bad day). How rude. I am the client and trying to rely on my chosen service provider to assist me. He blatantly disregarded the fact that I called him out for his atrocious service and said I'd report it.

If this is the service delivery provided by Vodacom and CUSTOMER SERVICE CALL CENTRE, I hate to think what goes on undercover or unmentioned.

Aubrey, I am extremely disappointed in your service. I sincerely hope that you do not advertise that you work for Vodacom as that would only further degrade the Vodacom standard and project poor training. And your telephonic manner towards clients is poor. I'd hate to imagine how you project yourself in public. It must be embarrassing. I demand a formal written apology from you and trust that you undergo an attitude adjustment.

Vodacom, congratulations on finally having an option for customers to select which department to be sent to if they have lost airtime. But you know it's a problem and you get complaints about it only to lower your company rating. Why not be the first to come up with a way to prevent it? Save everyone the trouble. Save everyone time and money.