Terrible service from Vodacom to a client of more than 25 years

1. Below is a copy of a letter of complaint that I delivered to the Vodacom shop today, which speaks for itself. 2. I received a Mecer laptop on August 13, 2021. This was after a salesman from Vodacom had contacted me earlier in the week with a so-called special offer. I explained to the agent my requirements and he assured me that the computer comp****.

3. However, the computer did not meet my requirements and on 25 August 2021 I dialled the customer service number, 082135, to cancel the contract within the cooling-off period of 14 days. The person I spoke to, Wendal Mokone, informed me that the contract would be cancelled and that the computer would be collected from my home. I initially made the call at 13h35 but only finalised the process by 14h12. The reference number is 1 ***. I mentioned during the call that I was leaving for Kenya on the evening of September 3, 2021, and that they needed to make sure that the computer was retrieved before then.

4. However, this did not happen. I called again to 082135 on 27 September 2021 at 12h28 after my return to South Africa. I spoke to Kemano at first but was cut off. I called again and then talked to Wesley. He told me that he would escalate the case to a manager, but that a service request had already been issued. Wesley also promised to call back to report back to me. That never happened.

5. On September 30, the increased debit order went off my account. I called the bank and had the debit order returned. On October 6 at 13h41 I called the account department and spoke to Nsizwa and explained the situation. She confirmed that I may only pay in the correct amount (without the additional contract's costs) on my primary number on the Vodacom app, which I did.

6. I also sent an email (attached) to *** on October 6 explaining everything that had happened and asking for the matter to be escalated further. To date I have not received an answer, not even a reference number.

7. After that I got a call from Vodacom about 3 times a day about my "overdue" account. I answered the call but was always diverted to a voice message that informed me of the options I could exercise to correct my "overdue" account.

8. On October 14, 2021, I called again on 082135 at 09h02 and spoke to Dimakatso. The line was cut off halfway through the conversation and I decided that Dimakatso could call me back, I've already spent well over an hour on the phone in total. I wasn't surprised that I wasn't called back.

9. On October 20, 2021, my wife got a call from Ntokoso Ncube on her phone (which is also on my account). This call was received around 10h06. Fortunately, I was in the same room, and she put the phone on loudspeaker, and I spoke to Ntokoso. I gave her the reference number and explained the saga to date. She confirmed everything I said regarding the computer, promised me that the matter would be rectified, that the additional costs charged because the debit order had been returned, will be reversed and that the matter would now be rectified.

10. Nothing happened and at the end of October the debit order with the cost of the computer, the so called overdue amount and costs went off from my Standard Bank account, which I reversed. I also changed two of my contracts that was passed the final date to pay as you go numbers on 6 October 2021 at 13h12 (the call lasted until 13h34). The reference number is 1 ***.

11. I was going to pay the amounts for the two remaining numbers, *** and *** over the weekend, but my laptop and cell phones were ****** Friday night and subsequently I stopped all payments from my bank account. I did pay an amount R1 065.97 for the abovementioned accounts *** and ***) today (11 November 2021).

12. The Mecer laptop has not been collected yet and I accept no responsibility for it, should it get ****** from my house. My account shows that there are R2 702.83 outstanding, which I suppose are two “outstanding” payments totalling R941.98 and the rest must then be so called costs (ridiculous!).

13. Please correct this situation immediately but first provide me with a reference number for this complaint so that I can escalate it to the ICASA complaints division if the matter is not resolved to my satisfaction.

14. For the record I want to point out that I am a Vodacom client effectively from 1995 (it was not Vodacom then, but the company was bought out by Vodacom) and I am shocked by the customer care that I have been receiving