Pathetic Customer Service and 3 Months For A New Business Contract

This is by far, the worst experience with a service provider. We already have 2 existing contacts with Vodacom for the past 5 years and requested a new contract on 26 January 2018. Since my first request (on email), the consultant, Merrisha responded many days later and most often, never responded until I sent follow up emails due to no response.

Since the initial request, I sent follow up emails and then called through to Merrisha asking why this is taking such a long time. On 14 February, ( already 3 weeks later), Merrisha requested the necessary documents which were then sent to her. These were supposed to have been requested immediately when the application was made. After sending these documents, she then asked for our account number (again, all of these requirements should've already been requested, which tells me that she did not even begin with our application requested in January).

I then had to call her as I received no feedback on the status of the application. Many times when I called, she did not return my call.

The phone finally arrived but it had the previous member's ID number even though the correct and current CK documents were sent to Vodacom therefore RAM did not allow us to accept the phone. I emailed this to Merrisha and there was no apology for the inconvenience but she intstead said it was not her fault. Merrisha then advised us the next day that the phone was unfortunately returned to Vodacom and she will have to process it again.

I then continuously followed up on the next delivery for the phone up until 19th March at which point, Merisha was not returning my calls and always busy when I called and left my name.

We finally received the phone the following week. In my initial application request, I requested for a sim swap as the owner of the number will need to use the same number and she was fully aware of this especially after me calling and explaining. She then told me it's called a port and not a sim swap therefore I emailed and asked for the port.

Since this request on 28th March , we have had no follow up calls from Merrisha or anyone at Vodacom confirming if everything is in order and if the port/sim sap has been successful. We have had to switch the phone off and on daily and make numerous calls to Merrisha requesting the port to please be sorted out as it is costing us alot of money and inconvenience.

Last week, after calling for Merissha many times and being told she is unavailable but still did not return our calls, I asked to speak to someone else. I was put through to Rhea who argued that it is not their fault but my fault for requesting a port that was meant to be a sim swap. I explained that I didnt not even now what a port was and that Merrisha told me that it is a port I need and not a sim swap(which I initially requested). There was still no apology or empathy from Rhea, but she kept arguing that Merrisha was not at fault and showed no care for the inconvenience and frustration we were experiencing.

I then asked to speak to someone higher. Rhea gave me the email address of Verona Soobramoney who she said was the "Head of Department".

I emailed Verona immediately on 13th April 2018 and advised her of the problem we need fixed and expressed our frustration. She did not respond via email or telephone call.

On Monday 16th March 2018, I emailed Verona once again saying that the phone is still not activated and I will be posting my complaint on HelloPeter. She then decided to respond to the email saying it will be sorted by close of business and asked to please not post on Hellopeter as we have her full attention in this matter.

It is now Thursday and I have not heard from her since. I also emailed her yesterday and she has not responded. Neither Rhea, Merrisha or Verona have made a call to us to find out if the problem was resolved especially after promising us that they will ensure it is sorted out.

It is now 19th April 2018 and the sim is not active. The reason for our frustration is not only because this is just completely pathetic service but also because it is costing us money as a business. We are a business that requires our General Manager (Mr Subramoney) to make many calls throughout the day to both cellphones and landlines and the VIP contract would save him thousands of Rands compared to the airtime it is costing him now. If we received the contract and activated sim card within the usual turn around time, it would have saved us alot of money.

We are also utterly shocked at the manner in which your employees handle customer requests and complaints. There is no sense of accountability or responsibility. We have not received an apology or a sense of urgency. We have not even received follow up calls since the beginning of the process. This is a pathetic experience with Merisha, Rhea and Verona and if they are a depiction of the culture of Vodacom, it makes us question whether we are using the right service provider.