SOFT-LOCKED?

I am abroad for a few months. My vodacom contract was supposed to expire/upgrade in October. I phoned (from abroad, at very high rates), to make sure that Vodacom converts my contract to a prepaid one once it expires. The operator told me that all is fine and that my account will be adjusted.

I also informed them about the fact that I'm abroad, meaning I am not available to take phone calls, only emails.

On the 31st of October, I get a very blunt email from vodacom stating "MANDATORY ACCOUNT LIMIT REACHED-SUBSCRIBERS SOFTLOCKED" with no explanation of what that even means (honestly - please at least tell me what is happening so that I can fix it). A link in the email only takes me to a Vodacom page on Email Acceptable User Policy, which does not seem to have anything to do what is happening here.

I tested my sim card and lo and behold it is completely blocked and cannot connect to a tower.

The next day I receive two emails - the first one tells me that my sim has been unblocked, the second one tells me that I have reached some kind of limit, and that my sim has been locked.

So yes. My sim card has been locked completely, and Vodacom provided no explanation as to what is happening.

NOTE: I CANNOT ACCEPT CALLS ON MY VODACOM NUMBER RIGHT NOW. PLEASE CONTACT ME VIA EMAIL.