VODACOM: AN ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE OF A COMPANY

If I could give ZERO stars, I would. My experience with Vodacom has been absolutely disgraceful, and I genuinely cannot understand how a company can have such a complete lack of accountability when it comes to taking customers' money. I requested the cancellation of my contract at the beginning of June 2026, because the contract was ending at the end of June. I was told that Vodacom requires one month’s notice, meaning my final debit would be at the end of July. I have the cancellation confirmation email, as well as multiple recordings of Vodacom representatives explicitly confirming that the contract would be cancelled at the end of June and that the final debit would be processed at the end of July. So what does Vodacom do? They debit me AGAIN in August for R358.02 for something called “Airtime Advance.” An Airtime Advance that I DID NOT TAKE. I spoke to a manager about this and checked the historical advances myself using 135082#. Guess what? NOTHING. There is no advance. I then went onto the Vodacom app and checked the exact same thing. Under my advance history, Vodacom themselves state: “You have not taken any advances. Once you have taken an advance it will display here.” So Vodacom has somehow decided that I owe them R358.02 for an advance that their own systems confirm I NEVER took. HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN? This is beyond poor customer service. This is completely unacceptable billing. I have now spent OVER AN HOUR AND A HALF ON THE PHONE trying to get this ridiculous situation resolved. An hour and a half of my life wasted trying to convince a telecommunications company that I should not be charged for a service that does not exist in their own records. And the most frustrating part? This is apparently a common experience when cancelling Vodacom contracts. Everyone I personally know who has gone through the cancellation process has had problems with Vodacom continuing to debit them, adding unexplained charges or making the cancellation process unnecessarily difficult. At this point, cancelling a Vodacom contract feels like trying to escape a hostage situation. You give notice. You cancel. You get confirmation. You pay the final debit. And somehow Vodacom still finds another reason to take money from your account. ENOUGH. A company should NOT be able to randomly debit a customer's bank account and then expect the customer to spend hours proving that the charge is *****ulent or incorrect. If the charge is legitimate, SHOW ME THE ADVANCE. Show me when I took it. Show me the transaction. Show me where it appears in my history. Because right now, there is absolutely nothing. The app says I haven't taken an advance. The USSD history says I haven't taken an advance. My cancellation was confirmed. The final debit was confirmed. Yet Vodacom has still taken R358.02 from me. This is the kind of experience that makes you completely lose faith in a company. I would strongly advise anyone considering a Vodacom contract to stay away. The real problem isn't just the money. It's the complete lack of respect for customers' time, money and intelligence. I shouldn't have to spend 90+ minutes on the phone fighting over a charge that Vodacom cannot even substantiate. Vodacom's customer service is atrocious, their cancellation process is a joke, and their billing practices have left me with absolutely zero confidence in this company. Never again. If you're thinking about signing a Vodacom contract, save yourself the headache and DON'T. Once you're in, getting out seems to be a never-ending nightmare. Absolutely appalling. Absolutely unacceptable. Absolutely pathetic customer service.