Professional ************

My most recent experience with Vodacom started in August 2017. I have been a customer of theirs for many years on various types of contracts. I decided that I needed more data on my cellphone contract each month and so was going to upgrade the package I currently still have to a bigger one. I visited the V&A Vodacom store to upgrade my package. I was assisted by a sales consultant and after some time it was sold to me that taking out a contract for an internet ****le would be more affordable as well as meet my data requirements better than upgrading my cellphone contract. I ultimately took a 10GB contract out (5GB for day time use and 5GB for night owl use between 12pm and 5am). This contract was sold to me in such a way that the night owl portion of the data could be used for updates, downloads, streaming etc. The sales consultant confirmed that I could set my iphone up in such a way that it would automatically use the night owl portion of the data without having to be awake and action it myself (bearing in mind that the night owl portion may only be used between 12pm and 5am); during the day I would only have access to the other 5GB portion. I questioned this as had never heard of this before. The consultant then confirmed this with another colleague in front of me and so with a number of staff confirming this was possible I proceeded to take the contract out. They supposedly know the product, represent the Vodacom brand and do this ethically right? Well so I thought…. That same evening I tried to action the night owl data on my ****le. The way the consultant had explained it to me didn't seem to be working. The next day I visited the iphone store in the V&A waterfront to learn more about why this wasn't working. I assumed it must have something to do with the device as Vodacom connectivity had been sold to me by this stage and so the way it worked must be true and correct. The sales consultant at the iphone store then confirmed that it was definitely not possible to set up any iphone to automatically use the night owl portion of any data package without having to action this oneself (this means being awake at 12pm to action the night owl data). I then went to the Vodacom store immediately after this (next door) to confirm that the package that was sold to me would not be enough data each month as this means I would only have access to the 5GB portion and the night owl portion would hardly be used due to its’ constraints. I took this concern up with Shanaaz Enos, who was one of the store managers at the time. I believe she also discussed the issue with Keagan (another store manager) and provided feedback along the lines of either upgrading the package for more money every month (which I was not happy to do as the amount was far more than my allocated budget for extra data per month) or simply trying the allocated 5GB portion of data for a period and if this was not sufficient the contract could be cancelled/upgraded to a bigger package for the same premium. I expressed my concern around not having enough data and then being faced with the issue of not being able to cancel the contract since I had a cooling off period to work within. Shanaaz confirmed that she always thinks optimistically in these types of situations and said they would make a plan either way. This sounded promising and I thought I was in good hands. Why would I question a store manager who supposedly had free reign to deal with these types of matters? Low and behold I returned a week later to see Shanaaz and confirmed the 5GB would not be enough data for me on a monthly basis-now outside of the cooling off period for cancelation. She acknowledged my feedback and then told me that she would look into upgrading my internet contract to a 10GB/10GB (night and day time data) for the same price of R199pm (the cost of my contract). This sounded fantastic to me however I once again expressed my concern in the risk of this not being possible and then I would still be stuck with a data package that doesn’t meet my requirements along with not being able to cancel it. She confirmed here that she thinks optimistically about these type of situations and made it sound like this was a high probability (being able to upgrade the contract to a 10GB plan and have the premium stay at R199 per month). I left the store very impressed and feeling very relieved that the situation would now be resolved and I would be getting a higher value for money product. For the next month I called and emailed Shanaaz as well as visited the V&A store on many occasions (I counted my visits to amount to 17 over the period of August and September 2017) just to learn about the progress being made on the upgrade of my contract. Every time I visited the store I was met with the same response. At times Shanaaz was not in and so I also started dealing with Carlo Cloete (also one of the stores front management staff) regarding the matter. Every time I discussed the situation with either one of them they confirmed that they were simply waiting for the upgrade to be processed and approved by head office. This then also continued for the whole month of October 2017. I took the contract out half way through August and alerted them to the data allocation issue the day after I took the contract out. They had this amount of time to fix the problem. If only I knew that this was simply the beginning…. By the end of October I decided to visit the V&A store for the last time. By this time I had had completely enough of the unprofessionalism and nonchalant attitude of all the staff and managers I had dealt with at the Vodacom V&A store by this stage. Without surprise I arrived to make a final complaint with Shanaaz about the three month long wait, endless phone calls, emails and store visits with absolutely no progress; and I learnt that she was no longer working at the branch and had been moved to Cape Quarter. Carlo Cloete confirmed she had been moved to the Cape Quarter branch but he also confirmed that he would now deal with the issue going forward- after all he was aware of how patient I had been and about the numerous times I tried to tie up the loose ends of the upgrade. I had met him, along with many other members of staff in the same store during this whole debacle. Carlo said he would contact head office and follow up on the upgrade/cancellation. Another month passed. By this stage I had lost complete faith in the Vodacom brand and all the staff that work underneath it. No-one gives a damn and nothing was being done to speed the process up not to mention the lack of communication and lack of control over the matter. I had been waiting for an answer for months and every time I entered the store I was faced with the same response. They had, and still have, absolutely no idea how to do their jobs correctly and run around like chickens without heads; confused, unprofessional and lost. Phones ring endlessly, people queue hopingly and NOTHING gets done. Another occasion I visited the store, after an even longer wait now, Carlo said I should bring the ****le package in and hand it over for the cancellation to be processed and the package upgrade to be done. I thought we were making headway; finally! The next day I returned to the store and handed over my ****le, charger and packaging box to Carlo. I thanked him and was looking forward to the end of a very frustrating period. I left the store. A couple of days later I still hadn’t heard back from Carlo regarding the upgrade. Again, I returned to the store. In between all of these store visits I emailed and called a number of times to hear about the outcome of what was now over a three month debacle. None of this worked. On my entry I saw Carlo immediately and headed over to receive the good news. This wasn’t the outcome. He simply said the cancellation was not going to be processed and handed my ****le package back to me. I questioned this and was extremely angry on his general stance as well as his lack of concern, explanation and complete disregard for the time I had spent up until this point in trying to cancel/upgrade the package. I asked for proof of emails that had been sent between the store and head office requesting the upgrade/cancellation. Carlo printed out two pieces of paper with a total of three emails on them. One was from Carlo to a so called ‘Melody’ with Roderique Lategan cc’d in the mail. He typed about three lines explaining that I had a connection issue and for this reason wanted to cancel my contract (completely incorrect! There was never a question about connectivity but about being sold the package on incorrect terms having used false information and being promised something that was a complete lie from the get go). The response to Carlo, from Lategan, was “Hi Melody/Carlo; I have checked the details of this request- we cannot proceed with a dealer cancellation. Besides the request falling outside of the 6 week period, there were no connection issues reported to the network or billing team. In addition, the sim card is being used in the router (that was issued with the contract) and there are numerous and ongoing connections being made since inception. Regards RL”. I then entered into discussion around this reasoning behind the cancellation and what could be done at a higher level to process the cancellation but over and above that to give me a more fair answer on the way forward. I was livid! Carlo gave me the contact number of the call centre agent called ‘Melody’ who I should ring about the cancellation. So here I am faced with a situation that will require more of my time and more of my money, unfairly! I called ‘Melody’ on the number Carlo gave me and learnt there was no-one by this name and that the cancellation would not be possible over the phone, unless I paid the cancellation fee which at the time was around R2200. The call centre agent I spoke to confirmed this. This did not make the situation any better. I decided that going back to the V&A store was no use and a complete waste of time. Everyone I had dealt with up until that point had either **** to me or misguided me completely on the way forward and that my contract, which I had been trying to cancel/upgrade since August 2017, was not going to be cancelled, unless I paid a hefty penalty fee for factors completely out of my control! I decided to visit another branch in the hope someone else may be able to assist. I then started dealing with Alex De Lucchi at the Cellu City store in the V&A by chance. I met him by chance and for the first time during the whole debacle I was faced with someone who genuinely took an interest in trying to resolve the issue or attempt to at least. I explained the whole story to Alex who immediately started making notes, sent emails and made phone calls. There were signs of progress and the possibility of getting the contract cancelled through some connections he has within Vodacom. Everything once again sounded very promising. We exchanged details and I hoped that Alex would be able to solve the issue. He confirmed that should this scenario had played out in his store, he would have dealt with it immediately and agreed that the level of unprofessionalism from Vodacom’s front was embarrassing. Ultimately, the festive season came and went and Alex was still waiting for feedback from his ‘connections’ on the cancellation of the contract. Due to the fact that the contract was not taken out at his store in the V&A he confirmed he could not process anything fully from his side and that the cancellation would need to be processed by the initial store I was dealing with. He did however contact Shanaaz at the Cape Quarter, Keagan as well as Carlo regarding the matter however no-one could assist and no-one was interested in doing so. I was back at step one. Even although Alex was the only Vodacom representative I had dealt with up until this point who showed any concern and urgency around the very obvious urgent matter, he was still not able to action anything and I am still, to my dismay, therefore paying for a device each month which I am forced to use but don’t want. Vodacom are quick to take one’s money and are non-existent regarding any kind of customer service/support after the transaction has been processed and the contract signed. I will never again take any kind of contract out with Vodacom and expressed this anger and frustration to Alex every single time we spoke. I have reached a point of utter dismay and am now ready to take this to my lawyer. It is not so much the money I pay for the contract each month but rather the principle behind the manner in which it was sold to me, the non-existent customer service thereafter as well as the utter cheek and rudeness of most of the Vodacom staff I have dealt with throughout the six month period. Alex, after two and a half months, confirmed he too could not assist me. He tried to get the cancellation/upgrade processed through various contacts he has within Vodacom but none of this seemed to work. I am now half way through January 2018 and I am stuck with a product I never signed up for in the first place. Vodacom are professional *******, they practice this dishonesty on a daily basis and are conveniently never able to offer customer support/service when needed. I have sent over 40 emails regarding this matter, made over 60 phone calls collectively and spent hours trying to make headway- nothing has worked! I have constructed this email in the hope that someone in the higher ranks of Vodacom learn about what is happening at store level. HelloPeter is my first entry on a social media platform but most definitely not my last. The company need to realise that this type of treatment is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. More importantly, I can only hope that the contract that I am still paying for is looked into and something proactive is done in amending the injustice I have faced. I have alerted my lawyer to the case and look very forward to handing it over to someone else to deal with.