Very unhappy with the service of Vodacom across many platforms of their business.

<p>My name is Daniel Howard and i have been a Vodacom customer my whole life. I just started a new job and needed a phone that suited my promotion. I went to the Vodacom online site and found a Samsung S7 deal that i was interested in. Called the online number and proceeded to give the assistant my details. After the procedure she told me that I’d be contacted shortly. I received a call later approving my contract and that delivery would take place within 2 days or so. I was pretty excited until i received another call the next day, apologizing for the error and that the employee wasn't supposed to approve the contract. I was rushed off the phone and couldn’t even ask why it was disapproved.</p> <p>I decided to get all the required documents and head to Vodacom in Century City, Cape Town. When i could speak to the assistant, I told him what had happened with the online attempt and asked why it wasn’t approved. He told me it could have to do with my credit and that I might only qualify for a cheaper phone as I don’t have any accounts at other stores. My partner has all the accounts that we need and therefore don’t have any in my name. I had to submit a 3 month bank statement in order to take out a contract and surely it’s plain to see from it, that I could afford any contract I wanted. He looked over my documents and assured me that it shouldn't be a problem.</p> <p>He asked me to fill out all the forms and then when i was almost done he apologized and said he found my details online. He told me that everything was perfect although he just needed to get credit approved on my account and then we could continue with the application. He assured me that i earned more than enough and that I would only receive a call from him on the Monday. It was Thursday.</p> <p>This was an issue as I needed a phone before work on Monday. I decided to buy a cheap phone that I could use until I got a contract. Monday came and I didn’t receive a call. I called back on the Tuesday and was asked to come into the store as my credit was approved. I made the trip to the store to take out my contract and after waiting a long time, I was told that there was an issue with my account and that my credit was still pending. This was quite frustrating as this was the Tuesday now and is difficult to do my line of work with a terrible phone.</p> <p>I am a potential customer who wants to stick with Vodacom but at the moment i am unable to. I would appreciate some clarity as to why it is so difficult for me to take out any contract at this point as it’ll be better than my current phone. I would like to know how to sort out the credit issue to enable me to take out a contract.</p> <p>During the same week, this happened:</p> <p>My mother took out a contract at Vodacom in Pinelands last year and received a Huawei P9 Lite. The contract came with a one year free screen replacement plan. The phone was dropped and cracked the screen slightly. I took it in for her to be repaired under the screen warranty and was helped after waiting just under an hour. One employee kept interrupting the other employee with questions as he was clearly untrained. The other employee kept making errors with her customers and therefore service was bad.</p> <p>When it was my turn, I was presented with all the necessary forms when booking in a repair request as well as warranty form. I filled in all the forms and was assured that everything was perfect. I received an SMS stating my job number – ********** 2 on Monday 3rd April.</p> <p>The next day I received an SMS stating that the phone had been received by Vodacom repairs Tygervalley and that it would take approximately 2-3 days. Loan phones are no longer on offer which left me in my own unfortunate position again as I had to buy my mother a phone to use so long. Later that day I received an SMS stating that the repair would cost my mother R2, 233.82. I was confused by this as it was clearly stated that the phone was under warranty. I called the Tygervalley number, the lady heard about the issue and after chatting to someone in the background, apologized and told me to please ignore the SMS and that my repair is under warranty and that it would take 2 days. I was happy it was sorted.</p> <p>The next day I received another SMS saying the same thing, it will cost R2, 233.82. I called back and another lady answered. I had to explain the story again and she also reassured me that I should ignore the SMS and that they will sort it out.</p> <p>In total, I received the same SMS from Vodacom Pinelands and Tygervalley seven times, the last one being on the 11th of April. Eventually I got through to a manager at the Tygervalley branch and was told there was now a form outstanding and if I could go to the Pinelands branch to sign it. I went to Vodacom and explained the issue, the lady found out which form was outstanding and only to find my signature on it already. I had already signed the “outstanding” form. I was then assured that it was all sorted.</p> <p>I haven’t received any SMS’ since then although I haven’t received the repaired phone yet either and it has now been just under two weeks since I brought it in.</p> <p>I have never received bad service from Vodacom so I am requesting some assistance with how to deal with these matters. I wish to stay a loyal Vodacom customer but am finding it extremely difficult to do so after these issues. I am thinking of trying elsewhere if my mother is receiving poor service from Vodacom as well for a very different thing. I wish to be contacted by someone who can help.</p> <p>Thank you.</p> <p> </p> <p>Daniel Howard</p> <p> ********** </p> **********