VERY DISAPPOINTED IN VODACOM AFTER 29 YEARS AS A CUSTOMER!

On the 29th of January 2025 I called the upgrade centre and spoke to Tshegofatso. My contract on cell number *** had ended and I wanted to renew my 24 month contract and get a new handset. After helping me check out several options I decided on a i-phone 16 pro that would have been marginally more than what I had paid on the last contract. I told her that I needed the same data and airtime that I am currently on including the value adds. She told me that she couldn’t confirm that from her side but gave me the impression and the comfort that it would be done in a couple of days. She said that I should take out the new contract and that she would call me on the 31st to make it all happen. In the event that she didn’t call me, she asked me to call instead, which I did at around 11:30 am on Friday 31 January 2025.

I got through to a call centre consultant, whose name I didn’t get. He was not helpful at all telling me that what I was requesting was not possible and that there was nothing he could do. I was surprised because the last time I spoke to someone in retentions (4 /5years ago) they were extremely helpful to the extent that I spoke to everyone I knew about what customer service should be like. When I realized that I was going to get no joy from this gentleman and that I was getting frustrated, I asked for his supervisor, hopeful for a different result. Jermain came on the line. I explained to him that had Tsegofatso told me two days earlier that it would be impossible to get the same discounted value adds on data and talk time, I wouldn’t have taken out the same contract! Jermain was a more polite version of his subordinate but equally unhelpful. I tried to explain that Vodacom (not Tsegofatso or anyone else who worked there) did not explicitly tell me that my request could not be fulfilled. He said that he could help me with a 45% discount as opposed to my original 75% on the value adds which would have meant me still paying more when I explicitly ask Vodacom that I wanted to the same airtime and data as I’ve always had at the same price. Had I been told at the point of purchase that I would only get 45% I would have chosen a cheaper handset so I didn’t pay more than I currenty am. Now I have a new handset already delivered and a contract that is not what I wanted from the outset. In my view, that’s a shortcoming by Vodacom, not me the customer. I decided to cancel my contract with Vodacom and Jermain was only too pleased to help me do that… in the retentions department! The irony is not lost on me, I hope it isn’t on you.

I even asked Jermaine if there was another package that would get me closer to what I wanted so I didn’t have to cancel, to which he said I now need to get the phone returned first (±14 days) and only when it is returned could I cancel. No attempt was made to resolve an issue that Vodacom caused. And that is very disappointing.