Terrible custom service. Customer lost.

I have been a Vodacom customer for 20 years. This month, a debit bounced by mistake, I made up the payment via EFT as per their instructions, expecting to carry on as per normal. Then I received a call from an aggressive, curt member of their collections department.

I was told to EFT the missing about (already done) and pay an extra ±R100 to reinstate the debit order that had been stopped as course of action.

If I did not accept these terms, I would have my account suspended. I said that of course I did not accept these terms and my account was suspended.

Is this how a customer of 20 years is treated when there is ONE issue with a debit? Why not simply double-debit the following month or call, politely, to see what the issue was?

I went to their branch in Blue Route Mall and spoke to a clerk who quite clearly didn't care either. He asked me for proof of payment right there and then and wouldn't even look on their system to check if the payment had been received. When I said that this is not how I would have expected a loyal, long-term customer to have been treated, and that I would probably look elsewhere for service, he happily gave me the Vodacom cancellation phone number.

I don't usually take to the internet to rant, but I feel that Vodacom has displayed poor conduct and disinterest in their clientelle. I'm now investigating how to cancel my contract (no doubt this will be a mission too) but I don't expect Vodacom to care much about that either.