VodaBucks Store Black November ****

On Tuesday 24 November I tried buying several different products on the Vodabucks store, but each product I wanted gave an error when I tried to add it to the shopping cart.

The items were the Adidas Weekender Duffel bag for R200 and the Nike Large Duffel Bag for R300 (and a few others).

I reported the error several times via the app, but did not receive a single response.

I called the Call Centre several times (it takes at least 5 minutes each time before I even get to speak to an actual person). The first consultant was very helpful and said she had reset my line and that I should reboot my phone and then the app should work, if not, I should go to my nearest Vodacom Shop and they would be able to assist with sorting out the app or helping with the purchase through the Vodabucks store.

I waited a few minutes and rebooted my phone. The app still did not work - I couldn’t add the items I wanted. I went to my nearest Vodacom Shop in Lichtenburg - what a waste of time! They were incredibly unhelpful. I was told that they can’t help at all with the app and that the Call Centre tells people to go to the Vodacom Shop when the "Call Centre consultants don’t feel like helping a customer”. That is what your own staff are telling customers. The Vodacom Shop staff did nothing to even try and help. All they said is to try the call centre again.

I phoned the Call Centre again just after 2pm and they said they were aware of the problems with the app and that it would be resolved within 2 hours. I waited until just after 4pm and tried again. It still didn’t work. I kept trying until late Tuesday evening and every time the error came up, I reported it via the app. No response.

Just before 5pm on Tuesday, I contacted Flook (the website that was selling the items using the voucher from Vodacom) direclty. They were incredibly helpful and quick to respond. I asked them if I could purchase the items directly, but at the Vodabucks store price because the app was not working. They said they needed the Vodacom voucher number. Due to the problems on the app, I could not get a voucher. They said that they could not help and that Vodacom must fix the problem.

On Wednesday 25 November just after 7am, I went into the store and SUDDENLY AND QUITE CONVENIENTLY the items that were giving problems and that I wanted had all been removed from the store. Fortunately I have screenshots of the items, so I can prove that they were there. I cannot believe that instead of fixing a problem, they just remove the problematic items and no longer offer them to customers. In my opinion that is *********.

I immediately phoned Customer Care and explained everything. They apologised and said that there is nothing they can do. All I can do is to email my complaint. I cannot believe that not a single one of the 6 Vodacom staff members I dealt with tried to resolve or even help in any way.

I dealt with one consultant via the online chat that was very helpful and logged a service ticket (A2-KCL5-S7YSC). He even called back later to check whether I had received any feedback.

This morning (26 November) I received an sms to say that the ticket had been allocated to a consultant.

I can already predict what is going to happen: the Black November specials are valid until 30 November 2020. This will not be resolved before then and the excuse will be used that the specials are no longer valid.

I expect to have this sorted out as soon as possible. I expect to get 2 Large Nike Duffel Bags for R300 as stated on the app. When I dealt with Flook directly, they definitely still had more than enough stock, so DO NOT use that as an excuse. Nowhere is there any fineprint on the app stating that Vodacom reserves the right to remove items without informing customers. If there wasn’t stock available, I would expect that in the advanced technological age we live in that that would be pretty simple to inform customers of.

I have screenshots I took proving that the items were there and at the price stated. I will not accept any excuses. What you have done is truly ********* and you were hoping to get away with it without anyone noticing or complaining.

Schalk