THE MOST PATHETIC CELLPHONE NETWORK

<p>Last year, August 2016, I went to vodacom in parow centre, Cape Town, requesting a transfer of ownership of my existing contract, which was on my father's name, over to my name.</p> <p>The branch struggled for 3 months to 'complete' the transfer, and in November 2016, vodacom debited both mine and my father's bank accounts for the same cellphone number. After a 3 week struggle, vodacom finally reversed my dads payment and said that it would not happen again and that only my bank account would be debited. My dad then put in a stop order for good measure. </p> <p> </p> <p>For months on end I continued to receive MMS's stating that account under my dads name is still being billed and is accumulating. I then went back to the Vodacom store at parow centre to inform them that my dad was still being billed and that it was accumulating. They told me not to worry about it, as my account was being debited as well and therefore the contract was being paid.</p> <p>I received smses stating the percentage that my account balance had reached, which had me really confused and I enquired about it at a vodacom store at the V&A Waterfront, only to be told once again, that if my account is being debited that I should ignore it. </p> <p> </p> <p>On 04 May 2017 at 6:10pm, I received an sms from vodacom stating that:</p> <p> </p> <p>'Vodacom Balance Notification. For your information. MANDATORY ACCOUNT LIMIT REACHED-SUBSCRIBERS SOFTLOCKED'</p> <p> </p> <p>Meaning that my line was now locked, and I could not make any phone calls or send any text messages.</p> <p> </p> <p>The following day, I went to vodacom in parow once again and they told me that they could not help me and that I need to email customer care, get a reference number and email it to the CEO to receive help. I asked them to please unlock the line as I live on my own and it is unsafe to not be able to contact anyone in case of an emergency. They could not assist me. </p> <p> </p> <p>I then went through a process of calling the call centre every single night requesting the line to be unlocked. It was then brought to my attention that the transfer WAS NEVER SUCCESSFUL, that there are two existing accounts, one on my dads name on the old system, to which my cellphone number belongs and one on the new system which is under my name and is being debited each and every month but does not have an assigned cell number. Therefore if the cellphone number of the contract was imputed into their systems in the call centre, it showed that my dad was the account holder, however if you put in my ID number an account popped up on the new system for me, but without a cellphone number. it was also brought o my attention that my line is continously being soft-locked because my account is 'in arrears'! How can my account be in arrears if my bank account is being debited each and every month to pay for my contract and how can my dad be in arrears if the account should no longer be on his name and HE SHOULD THEREFORE NOT BE BILLED FOR IT!!!!</p> <p> </p> <p>It was also brought to my attention that when you go into the store they log. 'service requests' to try and solve your problem, there was a service request which was logged on the 28 March and still appeared unresolved and on the system. So what is vodacom doing if they are not trying to help their customers? </p> <p> </p> <p>I was pushed from pillar to post, having to call the call centre each and every night to try and resolve this issue, I've been through every department and sometimes in circles, from subscriber collections, to pre-legal, to acquisitions, and yet the problem was not resolved, with many people promising to call me back, to some just placing me on hold for 20+ minutes and checking now and again to see if I was still on the line and eventually hanging up on me.</p> <p> </p> <p>NOBODY seems to know how to resolve this issue, nobody knows whose responsibility this is the call centre is absolutely useless. I am stuck without access to my cellphone which I've paid for each and every month and my father has now been black listed due to VODACOMS DISGUSTING AND *********** SERVICE AND LACK OF KNOWLEDGE AND WILLINGNESS TO ASSIST THEIR CUSTOMERS IN NEED!!!!!!</p> <p> </p> <p>I would like feedback from the head of vodacom, as a lack of leadership leads to sloppy employees and terrible workmanship and that is exactly what I have been experiencing and if I do not get this issue resolved I will turn this into a legal matter!</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p>