Pathetic Service and Disgusting Customer Care Attitudes

<p>Where to begin! It began in September when my old data contract came to an end. I simply wanted to upgrade the contract from 1GB to 2GB. However, upon visiting the accredited Chatz Cellular branch (Arcon Park Vereeniging) closest to my convenience I found that they were barely had the knowledge of how to do this. Had i known this earlier, I would never have visited the branch. My upgrade was on a top up basis but, without my knowledge let alone consent, the contract was changed to an open line contract, beginning October. As soon as I became aware of this I phoned customer care to change this. After much back and forth and debate about whether the comtract type could be changed, I was notified that alas the contract could be migrated, however this would only be effective in November.</p> <p> </p> <p>After racking up a bill of almost R1500 as a result of the UNNECESSARY change to an open line contract, during mid November I experience a complete block of service on a friday night with a message that I had exceeded my credit limit. Now it must be noted that no one informed me of the credit limit - what it was how it worked. I had never experienced this before either. Upon calling the call centre I was met with an extremely rude, arrogant and condescending lady who advised that an immediate payment of the R1500 should be made for service to resume at least 12 to 24 hours later. This despite the monthly debit order for the contract having already gone through and scheduled for the end of the month a mere week away. It was a highly inconvenient time as I was in the middle of writing exams and could neither do without a phone nor easily make the payment. The duration of the phone call comprised admonishment from the advisor as if to say why accumulate a bill you cannot pay. Followed by tedious explanations of the invoicing system which makes no sense for such a large company. Ironically constantly during this phone call the advisor requested I move around to obtain better signal strength.</p> <p> </p> <p>The day after eventually making the payment the issue was not resolved within the stipulated time and required yet another call to customer care to be handled by yet another ******** and unhelpful consultant.</p> <p> </p> <p>Another particular experience between October and November, I received an SMS notification that my 100MB contract had begun and I was allocated 100MB of data. Upon checking my balance, my airtime of around R80 was now nil and I had 100MB of data to use. I immediately contacted customer care to be met with an infuriating lady who repeatedly said "airtime does not disappear" and imp**** more than once that I had used the airtime. I found it utterly disgusting that she spoke to me as if I was a child who did not know how to use a mobile device. Eventually a man acknowledged that the SMS was an error but failed to explain how this "error" resulted in a change in my balances.</p> <p> </p> <p>I am utterly defeated and no longer possess the vocabulary to articulate my digust and distaste toward Vodacom. It is unfortunate that I am obligated to continue with the service. I strongly advocate against Vodacom as a service provider and believe that any prestigious title maintainef are indeed hollow.</p>