Refuse to refund credit

<p>After being unable to receive an owed refund i will now lay charge against Vodacom at the National Consumer Commission. This is my statement:</p> <p>Statement to the National Consumer Commission of South Africa</p> <p>28/05/2017</p> <p>I Johan Waldemar de Beer , ID no: ********** 045082 and residing at Orange Grove 2526 Ferreira Road Bloemfontein, make the following statement:</p> <p>I had a contract package for a cellular phone line with Vodacom number ********** .</p> <p>After the contract term expired the same subscription was charged monthly by Vodacom and I received the same data and airtime as previously. I received no other benefits that i was aware of and decided to convert the line to pre-paid as I had calculated that it will cost me much less. I did this around the end of July 2016. This conversion did turn out to save me enormous amounts of money as my monthly costs went down from roughly just under R1000 per month on average to less than R200 and even under R100 lately.</p> <p>At the time of the conversion I did not regularly receive post anymore as the house to which my post was sent was sold and I had no alternative postal address because I live on a farm. I used my cellular phone with the self help option to request the last outstanding amount on the contract and paid it.</p> <p>After some time I got a phone call from a lady claiming to work in the legal department of Vodacom informing me that there were outstanding monies on my account. I asked how much and she rep**** that I must first identify myself by providing her with my ID number. I rep**** that I will not give out my ID number to a person that phones me and that she must tell me how much the amount is so that I can pay it. She refused and asked for my ID number again. I asked her to then rather send the information to my email account which they have on record. She refused again and said that they will now take legal action against me. Afterwards i tried to use my cellular phone with the self help function to see if any monies were outstanding, but could not access the old contract account as my number was already converted to the prepaid account. I received post from the new owners of the house that was previously my postal address and decided to pay the value of the last account (R844,79)again in order to avoid possible legal action if there possibly was money owed by me. This payment was done on 23/10/2016.</p> <p>Some time at the end of 2016 and after I paid the money I phoned the Vodacom call centre and asked for the balance of the old contract account. I was informed that there was a credit of R712,33 on the account due to an overpayment. I have a document that was emailed to me and dated 05/05/2017 to prove this credit and it is attached hereto as Annexure A. The operator logged some information on the computer and informed me that the money will be paid back into the bank account from which it was paid. I did not receive a reference number.</p> <p>This did not happen and I again phoned the call centre a few times repeating the process of trying to get a refund. None of this was successful. During one of these calls I got a reference number namely 1- ********** ********** </p> <p>On 04/05/2017 I spent more than one hour in a telephone conversation with the Vodacom call centre to try and resolve the matter, but It was not successful.</p> <p>On 05/05/2017 I again phoned the call centre and this time made audio recordings of the conversations. These conversations lasted approximately 1 hour and 35 minutes and are attached hereto as Audio Files 1, 2 and 3. I was again unable to resolve the matter and was transferred between departments. I was also informed that the service request with reference number 1- ********** ********** had been canceled. During these conversations I asked to be transferred to a manager but according to the operators it was not possible. (audio files 1 and 2)</p> <p>Lastly I phoned a landline number of Vodacom (audio file 3) and asked to speak to a manager. I was transferred to Mr. Mashubuka. I informed him of the matter, gave him the reference number and also informed him that it is my intent to lay a complaint against Vodacom at the National Consumer Commission if this matter is not resolved within 14 days.</p> <p>On 05/05/2017 Mr. Mashubuka requested proof of payment from me via email. I sent a bank statement reflecting the payment to him. The complete email conversation is attached hereto as Annexure B. No communication from Vodacom were received afterwards and also no payment.</p> <p>On 22/05/2017 I sent Mr. Mashubuka an email informing him that 14days have passed without the matter being resolved and that I will now lay a complaint at the South African Consumer Council. Proof thereof attached as Annexure C.</p> <p>I received no reply on the email, no refund from Vodacom and no explanation why the matter can not be resolved.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p>