The worst experience of my life

<p>Last year November, I decided to get wifi because buying data was getting tpp expensive. We decided to go to vodacom in the middle of November and my father took out a contract for a 10GB Top up contract at R329 pm for 24 months. Little did I know what misery this was going to bring to our lives.<br />Problem 1: I went home and set up the router according to how the salesperson at Vodacom told me to but much to my and my father's frustration, it wasn't working when I tried connecting to the internet or my cellphone. I went back to the store the next morning and the salesperson informed me that she forgot to activate the SIM card the previous day but she's just activated it and it'll work now. Well, if she didn't forget then we wouldn't have had to go through all that worry and frustration.<br />Problem 2: I set it up again and it was working fine until the end of November. But around the second week of December started, I got messages on the mobile wifi number saying "Vodacom balance notification. For your information. MANDATORY ACCOUNT LIMIT REACHED _SUBSCRIBERS SOFTLOCKED." followed by another msg saying "your credit limit bar has been activated. To view balances, buy bundles and save, dial *111# or visit vodacom.mobi" ... thereafter, my internet stopped working and while the internet connection light on the router was green (showing good signal), I couldn't connect to the internet or any of my social media. When I opened my Brower, it took me to the Vodacom mobile wifi site and there it said that my connection status was "disconnected" with a red cross next to it. I was baffled so I phoned 082 11 and they said they're unlocking the SIM. After putting the router off for a few hours and on again, I could connect to the internet again. <br />Problem 3: Then my father got a bill of around R7000. My father was furious because we took a R329 contract for 10GB. Then after a few hours, I got the same msgs again and the internet stopped working again.<br />This time I went to the Vodacom store where I took out the contract and spoke to the salesperson that I took out out with. She said they "mistakenly" registered the contract as an open line and not a top up, but since I signed up for a top up, the fault lies with Vodacom and that it'll get fixed before January, but I must not use the mobile wifi router anymore and I must come back to the store at the beginning of January. <br />Problem 4: For the whole of December I didn't put the router on or use the internet but we got another Vodacom bill of around R2000. This was our only Vodacom account and I wasn't using it so it was impossible to get that bill. So we went back to the store when January started and at this point, I was highly frustrated and my father was furious bc he's a pensioner and he needs his money. How can he be billed for a service we're not even getting?! They told us that the Vodacom head office is still working on the problem and that we should keep the router off and come back at the beginning of February. So we went back when February started and they told us that they have migrated our contract from an open line to a top up, that they've refunded my father the +-R9000 and that I can put the router on again and use the mobile wifi. Finally some service! But then ...<br />Problem 5: I put the WiFi on again that same day and go onto the Vodacom website to view my contract details and see that I'm on a 10GB mobile wifi contract at R499 per month which is still NOT WHAT I SIGNED UP FOR.<br />Problem 6: Then again within a few hours (basically that same night), I get those same dreaded messages again and the internet stops working AGAIN. By this point, we're absolutely done with Vodacom and we go to the store to get the contract cancelled, but how lovely is it for Vodacom that we can't cancel it unless we have a reason. And the fact that we're being billed at R499 when we signed up for a R329 per month contract, or the fact that the account keeps getting softlocked and doesn't let me use the damn service I'm paying for don't count as valid "reasons" bc they can be solved (BUT IT'S BEEN THREE AND THE PROBLEMS HAVEN'T BEEN SOLVED). So they told us that we must wait for the bill that's going to come on the 3rd of March because it'll show there that we're actually being billed R329 per month even though the contract details says that we're on a R499 per month. She also removed the lock and said that it won't get softlocked again because it's now a top up contract and top up contacts stop once you use 10GB so there's no credit limit.<br />Problem 7: I went home and the mobile was wifi was working but once again, that same night I got those very same messages again and the internet stopped working once again. The status says disconnected but the router has all the green lights and I'm using mobile data once again.</p> <p>My father and I are now at our wits end. We set out to Vodacom simply to get the WiFi so that we don't spend so much money on airtime to buy data, but ended up being charged even more by Vodacom, not even having the mobile wifi service for three (almost four) months thus still having to spend so much money on airtime (which was the reason for getting the mobile WiFi), making endless calls and trips to Vodacom that never help, going through undue stress and frustration and still not having the service that we're paying for. So disappointed in Vodacom's service and products and basically everything. Wish I could cancel this pointless contract but I can't even do that. Guess we'll be paying every month for something we're not even getting. Word of advice: don't go with Vodacom.</p>