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Samantha P

1 reviews | Active since Mar 2013

20 Jul 2023, 09:56

Unfulfilled Online Order and Misleading Advertising: A Complaint against Vodacom.

I would like to lodge a complaint regarding a promotional sale conducted by Vodacom, advertising a Huawei watch GT for R150. I placed an order on the Vodacom website, for the advertised Huawei watch deal, but the site did not make any reference to stock limitations. Despite the successful order placement and the debit of the payment from my account, I did not receive any SMS from the courier for order delivery arrangements within the specified timeframe of 2 business days as stated in the email I received for my succesfully accepted order. Furthermore, I cannot track the order online since the options are limited to Vodacom customers, and I placed the order as a guest.

Many of my family members and colleagues also placed orders for the same deal, with payments processed and orders approved. However, some of them received SMS notifications stating that the stock is depleted, and in some cases, the promotion is no longer valid, and refunds will be issued. This situation appears to be a deliberate attempt by Vodacom to exploit customers' eagerness for a good deal, as they have held the funds from numerous customers for over 5 days, potentially earning interest on the money, only to later inform them that the orders cannot be fulfilled as advertised.

I perceive this conduct as a violation of the Consumer Protection Act and view it as a **** orchestrated by a well-known South African business to take advantage of customers.

According to the CPA, if a supplier accepts an order and receives payment from the consumer, they are generally obligated to fulfill the order as agreed upon. Acceptance of payment creates a binding agreement between the consumer and the supplier, and the supplier must deliver the product or service as specified in the agreement.

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Replies (2)
Vodacom
Vodacom's reply20 Jul 2023, 12:07
Official
 
Dear Customer, 
 
Thank you for making us aware of your complaint. 
 
Kindly be advised that a consultant will make contact with you in due course to assist with your query. 
 
***Please note*** Beware of phishing ****s. 
 
Vodacom will not contact you via WhatsApp to request your personal details. 
 
Regards, 
 
Vodacom Consumer Website Team 
SP
Samantha P's update21 Jul 2023, 10:02
Reviewer Update
This feedback is generic and unhelpful. I have not received any calls, tried phoning the call centre and was informed that they can't help me because I'm not a Vodacom user, the Whatsapp line is only for Vodacom numbers only and the emails I've sent are unresponsive. I recieved my first SMS feedback on my order yesterday, 4 days after I received my email to say that my order was succesfully processed and that the courier company will be in touch. The message I received yesterday was to say that my order was cancelled and to phone a number if I did not cancel the order (by which I called and could not be helped as I'm not a Vodacom user). This morning only (5 days after taking my money and sending acceptance of my order) I receieved an sms stating that my order can't be fulfilled because of no stock. How is it possible for Vodacom to take so many people's money and not realise that they don't have the stock to fulfil these orders. Judging by the amount of people that have complained about the exact same issue as I have, it would seem Vodacom is making a hefty amount of interest on the money they willingly took from people and not fulfilling their orders. Their website also states that they will process refunds within 21 days, in that time, on the amount of people they have fooled to pay them it seems they will be reaching their financial half year by the interest of innocent consumers. For a "Tech" company, surely the online system allows you to only process orders untill the stock limit is reached and not take everyone's money for orders that can't be filled? I will be reporting this to the Consumer Complaints commission and taking this furhter. Vodacom knew exactly what they were doing and they are making money off people, this is ********* business practice and is extremely *******, seems much like a Ponzi scheme. It's not even about the stock anymore, it's about the ********* business practice of a large corporation taking advantage of consumers to line their business pockets *******ly. This will be taken further.