******* don't honour contracts!

Avoid these *******! The contract for my number has been open since about 2006. It was opened by my mother so that I had a phone when I was in boarding school and has simply carried on since. In June of this year I took the contract over so that my mother would no longer be responsible for my cell phone (in fairness I've paid her back each month for the last 3 years, but I decided it was time to remove the responsibility from her shoulders).

Well what a mistake that was!

On the 27th of June I went into my local Vodacom shop - my mother hadn't renewed the contract since I got a new phone 3 years ago so the 18 month contract was well and truly over. Changed the contract into my name, and paid the admin fee for the change. I was told that my mother would still be debited in July for the June airtime allocation. This seemed reasonable and I thought all was well. I had downgraded my package to ensure that I, a student with a part-time job, could afford the debit order. I signed a contract saying I would be debited R258.99 a month. I expected to start paying this R258.99 from the 1st of August. I wasn't charged in July, but my mother was charged the usual amount. All seemed well.

Boy was I surprised when, today, the Vodacom debit order goes off - R621.64!

I immediately went into my local Vodacom shop! A lady asks if she can help, so I say "sure! Explain why I signed a contract for R258.99 and get charged R621.64?" Her response? "Who did you sign the contract with? Only they can help". I need to wait for Siya to deign to see me (another worker, in the same shop). So I wait. He eventually deigns to step out of back room. Sits at his little desk and plays on his phone (I assume waiting for the "system" to work. Now this is customer service!). He looks up the account. No he can't explain. He turns to the lady I first spoke with and chats to her (in a language I don't understand - fantastic customer service right there: discuss the customer's problem so they don't understand!). Siya then phones customer care. He lets them know he is with a customer. He listens for a few moments and hangs up. I am flabbergasted! Customer care wants their in-store representative to phone back in an hour because they can't help him right now. HOLY SH**! I don't believe it. Siya tells me to return in an hour. I've lost it at this point and ask if he is REALLY asking me to miss my work day so that I can query a charge I can't afford! Does anyone else see the irony??? In total, I have now been in the Vodacom shop for about 45 minutes. I get the "customer care" number from Siya and leave, irate.

I phone "customer care" a few hours later. Apparently I've been invoiced for June (because any reasonable business works 2 months in arrears! Because being told my mother would pay for June in July was a lie!) Apparently I received double airtime in June (you know the 210 from my mom's version of the contract, the 175 from my version of the contract). To clarify my confusion: airtime allocation happens on the 1st of the month. How did they give me 175 airtime for my contract that I opened on the 27th of June on the 1 st of June? Needless to say, I received one airtime allocation in June, on my mom's version of the contract, which I was told my mom would close off payments for in July. In July, I also received one airtime allocation, this time for my version of the contract. Alas, "customer care" can't help me because "the system shows you got the airtime". Well, I have to say the system is a **** (how many ***** is that now? 2 out of 2?). How can I have 2 contracts open for 1 number??? Can someone please explain? How can 1 number getting 1 contract's value, pay for 2 contracts?

Now, let's have a quick look at the maths. I'm apparently paying for 2 contracts - one is a R210 airtime contract (for which the bill says I pay R182.61), the other is a R175 airtime contract (for which the bill says I pay R152.17). Now these values exclude VAT (an additional R81.08). I pay R64.35 for the handset. Now I'm no mathematician, but 183+152+81+65 DOES NOT EQUAL R621.64! But can anyone explain why it does?

My "query" has now been escalated to the billing department. Which can take 7 business days to contact me regarding my "query". So I must just sit and wait. No one really cares that I have been debited nearly triple what I signed a contract for (a contract I carefully considered due to my student status - I signed for what I could afford: no more. I can afford R258.99 end of story).

So I have to ask, why bother with contracts if the company doesn't give F*** about honouring them? Why bother signing within your means if you're going to be charged triple the contracted amount? Had I known I'd be **********, I would've kept it on my mom's name and just kept paying her back - it would've cost me nearly R400 less! Sadly, I highly doubt I will receive my money back for this month - I know R400 is a relatively small amount, but in my budget that's about a week's worth of food, or a month's worth of electricity, or a month's worth of transport to work/university. How do you pick which one you forfeit because Vodacom cannot honour a contractually agreed upon charge? Pathetic service, and pathetic ethics!