Pathetic service and admin

I would just like to voice my utter dissatisfaction and disappointment in Vodacom. I have been a loyal Vodacom customer for over 22 years now but would like to break this relationship because I get the feeling they don’t care about customer service at all and their admin leaves much to be desired for.

I am trying to upgrade my contract and get a new device. I was offered a seemingly good Black Friday deal by Vodacom which would include a Samsung Galaxy A32. The consultant who phoned me was very efficient and it took about 20 minutes to conclude this deal telephonically. However, I never received my phone. Only a sms with an order number and the Vodacom customer care number (082111), should I have any queries.

Firstly, when I tried to phone this customer care number – it does not exist. Lol. So much so for customer care.

Secondly, because I cannot phone customer care, I went to the nearest Vodacom shop. Only to be told by the consultant that he cannot help me because customer care would not talk to him since he is not the account holder. How ridiculous! The Vodacom shop cannot help and was not interested in helping me either. The consultant gave me the latest secret customer care number which changed from 082111 to *** about 2 years ago. But Vodacom still sends sms messages to this day with the nonexistent customer care number. Pathetic admin and service to say the least.

Thirdly, I phoned the “new” customer care number (using option 2 as instructed by the Vodacom shop) only to be told that my contract was recently upgraded (Black Friday special in November 2021) and therefore an upgrade consultant would not be interested to speak to me. How absolutely ridiculous.

Fourthly, I finally managed to speak to a customer care consultant, only to be told that they don’t have stock of the device that I ordered and hope to get stock on 14 January 2022 only. However, when you browse Vodacom online deals on their website there is absolutely no indication that the Galaxy A32 devices are out of stock. Other devices are shown to be out of stock, but not the Galaxy A32. Pathetic admin and service. How can they sell devices if they don’t have stock.

I am extremely upset with Vodacom and wish there were better alternatives available. Be warned.