Taking Money and Data from clients

I recently bought a 2GB Data bundle from Vodacom on the 25th of February 2019 through my banking app - I had to do this since all my current data and airtime balances dropped to zero while Vodacom was having network problems. The R249 was deducted from my bank account along with the standard R1.20 top-up fee. So Vodacom has my money, but they did not give me the 2GB. I gave them leeway to see if I would get it when the network issues were fixed, but I did not. After a few hours, my previous balances were returned, but not my newly purchased 2GB.

I called them the next day to see what the story is, and they told me that the 2GB I bought does not show on their side. I offered to send them the proof of payment for the data purchase, and they denied this saying that they do not allow customer emails and that I should visit my bank to get the money back. The money that Vodacom already has, mind you.

The same thing happened in late December 2018 - I logged a complaint on Facebook saying that I did not receive the R80 airtime and R149 1GB data bundle that I purchased, and they told me to contact my bank. I did not go to the bank then because I knew they would not be able to help me. This time around, I thought that I would humour them and I went to the bank. And as I told the Vodacom consultant, going to the bank will not help. Vodacom already has the money and the bank has nothing to do with the purchase and cannot take the money back from Vodacom.

So, I am out of R249 (or R478 if you count the money I lost to them in December) without any service delivery or useful help from Vodacom. They take your money, then do not provide you with what you have purchased, and then refuse to let you provide them with proof of your purchase so that they might fix the problem. This is utterly infuriating. You would think that after the data-theft scandal of 2017 they would at least attempt to clean up their act.