They'll get their money - but are still holding my number for hostage

Vodacom are holding me in a hostage situation.

My contract has been on a month to month for a year now. It's R200 per month. About 2 weeks ago, my phone started having trouble. It's not worth repairing, so I looked at upgrading to an iPhone. When I was comparing prices, I noticed that across the board, for all iPhones, MTN was WAY cheaper. For the iPhone 13, it's about 28% cheaper. This goes for Samsung and iPhones. To put that in perspective, for the plan I was choosing, that's almost R8640 over 36 months (and the MTN plan actually gave me more airtime).

So I call to cancel my contract, and I was told it can only be done end of October. I was hoping that I could start a contract with MTN in the meantime, and change my phone number over at the end of October (SIM has to be on prepaid to port the number). Unfortunately, not possible.

So I call Vodacom again. I ask that I pay my contract out (R200) - they could debit me immediately. And the SIM be moved to prepaid immediately so that I can port the number. What difference does it make to them if they get their money?

I spoke to a call attendant, who tried to persuade me that Vodacom is cheaper (the person I spoke to to cancel the contract had checked all prices for me - they are not - not even close). He tried to persuade me that Samsung is cheaper with them - it's not. I have checked. Do I not know the difference between R618 and R859? And he kept interrupting me.

So now, either I have to wait out their hostage period to be able to keep my phone number, or I have to get a new number with MTN.

Honestly Vodacom, what difference does it make if I pay off the contract? You get your money. I'll even forfeit the airtime that comes with it. I just want my phone number.

So it comes down to: 1. ****py service to a client of over 20 years 2. Holding my phone number hostage 3. Price gouging and trying to gaslight me that they're not ridiculously more expensive.