Really Vodacom, seriously?!

<p>I have been a loyal Vodacom customer for well over 10 years, with multiple accounts. I am travelling in Europe and had a problem accessing emails so couldn't access my bill from them for last month. My spend is always between R1700 and R1800 a month so I simply paid R2000 to be surethat I would cover the bill.</p> <p> </p> <p>Early this morning my wife and son received a curt SMS saying that R167 was outstanding and should be paid immediately. I managed to open their new bill and saw that last month had indeed been R2167. The total for this month was a little over R1800, including the shortfall from the previous month. I paid this before 9 am only to get a distraught call from my son a few minutes later to say that his service had been discontinued. He had called their "service" centre and was told that I should send proof of payment to a certain email address, which I did immediately. My wife had meanwhile also contacted them and was told that they couldn't help her because only I as the primary client could ask for information. She explained gently that a) I was out of the country and b) she wasn't asking for information but asking them to check their records to confirm that payment had been received. This is when things start getting really funny. She was told that I should send an email to another address, confirming that they could give information to my wife. I would receive an autoresponse with a reference number which she should then call back and give to the "service" agent. That duly happened but then - wait for it! - she was told that the reference number was incorrect! She explained carefully that it was their number and read it out carefully from their email but they insisted that she had got the number wrong. Needless to say several hours later nothing has happened.</p> <p>To conclude a brief summary of our Vodacom experence:</p> <p> </p> <p>1. They care nothing at all about clients of long standing with exemplary payment histories</p> <p>2. They cut off a phone over an accidental short payment of LESS THAN 1% of my annual spend with them</p> <p>3. Nobody who is authorised to make a decision is allowed to speak to a client, EVER. This would apparently result in their immediate dismissal</p> <p>4. If something goes wrong they do everything in their power to make it impossible for the problem to be resolved. I bet the "service" agents are presently having a good chuckle in their canteen over how miserable they have managed to make us</p> <p>5. You cannot call ther 111 number from overseas. Their website says to call 027 82 111 but it doesn't work</p> <p> </p> <p>Well done Vodacom. I hope you are REALLY proud of yourselves. You really excelled this time</p>