Unacceptable service

Dear Vodacom I am writing today to complain about the poor service I received from your company. My mom was contacted by a Vodacom representative (Zolfie) on June 9th regarding a contract upgrade which included a laptop. The contract comprised a laptop, Microsoft Office license, and a Huawei pocket router. The monthly payment as discussed between Zolfie and my mom was nowhere close to the amount that Vodacom is debiting. We were informed that the laptop would arrive within 3 – 5 working days. Instead, the router and Microsoft Office license arrived a few days later, but to this day, we have not received the laptop. The tax invoice we obtained when we received the router and Microsoft license stated that there was a back-order to follow (this being the laptop itself). We were not informed that the item was on back-order. In fact, Vodacom should not be selling products if they do not have the stock. Upon contacting customer care, we were told several times that the product is on back-order and it will arrive soon. The same issue was communicated throughout June. At the end of June, my mom was debited an amount of R1100 for the laptop contract. Again, in July, no laptop arrived and Vodacom attempted to debit an additional R1100. My mom has spent considerable time on the phone trying to cancel this contract and obtain a refund since she was debited an amount for a product she has not received. She gets told that she is on the “old system” and someone who can access the “old system” will contact her. This, however, never happens. She was recently told that she will have to pay a penalty if she cancels it. Whenever trying to deal with the above matter, my mom gets put through to so many different people who simply do not know how to handle this. She has even visited Vodacom stores and they are unable to help her since this contract was upgraded online. My mom has now been told that they will block her account and other contracts since the July payment did not go through.

As a result, I am bringing this matter to a social media platform so as to get something done about this! I am most annoyed by the service provided by Vodacom! My mom wants this contract canceled with immediate effect. Can someone from Vodacom please come forward and sort this issue out since this is completely unacceptable and unprofessional!

I trust this is not the way that Vodacom wishes to conduct business with valued customers. We have been with Vodacom for many years and we have never encountered such treatment before!