Over selled, under delivered

My experience with Vodacom has been absolutely horrible.

I had recently decided to obtain a cellphone contract at Vodacom and have been treated abysmally since the moment I walked into the Grove Vodacom branch. First of all the sales rep who attended me was very unfriendly and impatient. Second of all, I was told the product I wanted to purchase is out of stock (iPhone 6 with a smart plan valued at R299 per month which includes 120 min, 120MB and 240 SMS) and therefore I would have to take the iPhone 7. This of course would cost me more R599 and I then would only receive R150 airtime with the contract. After agreeing the sales rep told me that they would receive stock within the week and I would be notified when I could collect the phone.

A week passed and I received no phone call, I then proceeded in contacting the store and was then told THERE IS NO STOCK AVAILABLE IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY AND THAT THE MODEL I HAD PAID FOR HAD BEEN DISCONTINUED. This was told to us by the presumed storage manager who also then said they DID HAVE iPhone 6s, the phone and contract I originally wanted to get, it was in storage a level BELOW the store I was in. So far I had been **** to and forced to make a more expensive purchase.

At this point we had had enough, we contacted the branch owner and head office, after much difficulty they contacted us and said they had found the last 2 iPhone 7s, one was in Cape Town, the other in Melville. Vodacom then said they would have the phone couriered to us. We thought we were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

WE WERE WRONG

We then received a call informing us that because the phone is at another branch we would have to go there personally to sign for the phone. WE LIVE PRETORIA EAST. I could not take off work so then my boyfriend offered to drive to Mellville to get the phone. It took him a total of 3 hours to collect the phone as the staff was not prepared, neither was the contract in order after we were promised by vodacom that he would only have to walk in , sign and leave with the phone.

After all this, driving at our own expense and countless hours on the phone we thought it was over.

Still no.

I then received a notification from my banking app that R246.00 was subtracted from my account with the reference name : Vodacom.

Completely confused I phoned the customer care line to enquire about said subtraction. I was then informed it was a type of admin fee that was to be subtracted and that the consultants should have informed me.

WE WERE BY 2 STORES! WE HAD TO REDO OUR CONTRACT! WE HAD SPOKEN TO CONSULTANTS, MANAGERS AND OWNERS AND THIS WAS NOT MENTIONED ONCE. At this time it was the final week of the month and due to many unforeseen circumstances I had insufficient funds in my account and therefore the money could not be subtracted. I told the lady on the phone this and also explain all the troubles we had in obtaining the contract and she told me, because the money could not be subtracted on the day, I would be FINED AN ADDITIONAL R100.00! I thought this is ridiculous and of course if they look at the contract and reference they wouldn't actually fine or charge us this ridiculous amount after all the inconvenience they put us through

This morning a total of R346.00 was subtracted from my account with the reference: Vodacom.

I am not someone to complain or discredit anyone or their business, but after everything we had been through, driving hours, burning petrol at our own expense, taking off work, being **** to and being forced into a contract that was more than my living could actually afford (my previous phone was damaged and started showing signs that it would soon not be working at all and my job requires me to always be reachable via cellphone), we would think that to correct their atrocious service they would offer some kind of leniency or offer a fee be subtracted for inconvenience.

This was not the case and as a new client I am very disappointed and insulted by the lack of customer care and service I received.