There are insidious ****s afoot, be afraid, be very afraid . . .
In 31st December I ran out of airtime on Vodacom. Thought OK might be those silly season stuff that one get sent that time of the year. In Feb my airtime was disappearing rapidly and I must have bought R300 extra air time which disappeared over the month at about R20 a day. Upgraded to a new contract in the last week of the month. Airtime still kept on disappearing. I goggled possible reasons and read about WASP that apparently might be the reason for the use of one's airtime. The website gives you details to go about opting out of this "system" Still was losing air time daily so I popped into Vodacom on Tuesday the 3rd March and they also again went through the WASP cancellation process and registered an inquiry.
Got messages from Vodacom on 28 Feb. "You can keep enjoying Vodacom's Fantasy League Games and race for R300 000 cas at R3/day Click http etc To opt out, reply Cancel." Never ever subscribed so did not take any "cancel" action on the sms.
Yesterday sms's "All 3rd Party services have been blocked from your phone" Followed 4 minutes later "we have cancelled and blocked Content Service subscriptions. (Bubble though Indeed exactly how did I, as a client, subscribe to those ??) The charges are correct as they were initiated from your sim and device. ( Really by who ? since I would never have ever subscribed to any "service" that was going to cost me money on a daily basis) As a gesture of goodwill we have refunded you with R234 airtime. We are not able to block Fantasy League ( !!!! - ?????) We recommend that you refrain from using this service (which I never have : don't see it on my phone and hence have absolutely no idea what this service is so how can i refrain from using a service I know zilch about)
Follow up sms same day : (remember Vodacom's feedback re "we are not able to block Fantasy League." ?) Followed by "you have been unsubscribed from Vodacom's Fantasy League. Thank you for your interest in our service." (What specific interest do they refer to since there is no-ways that I would ever have subscribed to anything that was going to cost me R3 a day.)
Sms at 2.40 a.m. today "your subscription to Game Mine has now been terminated." My God what was that other unknown subscription costing me per day. How many of these services exist on my subscription ? !!!!
So imagine Vodacom customers who are blissfully unaware that they are paying R3 a day just for a Fantasy "game" that they don't know anything about. Let's do the Math just on this R3 a day : Quarter of a million subscribers over a one year period puts R27,375,000 in Vodacom's pocket. Half a million subscribers = R547,500,000.
Now add the airtime that customers are forced to buy to accommodate these "3rd Party services" and try to get your head around the mega-bucks Vodacom add to their coffers.
Instead of using the word that this type of practice actually is I am going to be kind and accuse Vodacom of gross and exorbitant exploitation of their clients. What happened to transparent honest dealings in this country ? Why did this kind of service offerings become so ******* and become the norm ?