Vodacom - Atrocious service during upgrade

Background • Vodacom advertised a 50Mbps and 100Mbps Black Friday special. A screenshot of the advertised offers is available.

• As I moved house on 1 December, an online order was placed for an upgrade of number *** *** 4384 on 27 November 2023. The upgrade was for the 50 Mbps option. A confirmation email was received for the upgrade, confirming the order number *** ). • I started following up on the upgrade and lack of delivery of the associated modem on 4 December after moving house on 1 December. Numerous calls were made to Vodacom to establish the status of the order. The following table lists calls made (not comprehensive as there were other calls made not available in the call register of the phone used.

Date Call from Call to Time of call Duration 2023/12/***95 082 135 20:07 10m 48s 2024/12/***81 082 135 20:19 17m 17s 2024/12/***81 *** 13:54 2m 16s 2024/12/***81 *** 13:57 6 m 21s 2023/12/****** 14:11 6m 43s 2024/12/***81 *** 15:22 3m 52s 2023/12/******95 08:50 15m 48s 2024/01/***81 *** 12:57 2m:39 2024/01/***81 *** 15:48 2m:18 2023/12/***81 082 135 08:48 9m 44s 2024/01/***81 *** 13:23 7m 48s • The issue was highlighted in every single call made. In none of the calls did anybody take ownership of the problem. I was also told to call other departments (not transferred; I had to make new calls). In every single call, I made it clear that I was expecting the original Black Friday offer for the 50Mbps package to be honoured as I received a confirmation number and was not contacted by anybody requesting additional information. I even offered to consider the Blaqck Friday 100Mbps offer should that solve the problem. I never indicated that I would accept anything other than the Black Friday offers for the upgrade. • It can be seen from the number of calls how frustrating this whole exercise was. • When I eventually found somebody who apparently could assist, it is possible that there was a miscommunication in that the person was talking about a 100 GB package, and I was talking about a 100Mbps package. It can, however, readily be established by Vodacom that at no time before this conversation had I entertained anything other than a 50 Mbps or 100 Mbps package as an option. I was not looking for an alternative to the Black Friday special; I had a valid order confirmation and was under the impression that the person at Vodacom was trying to honour the original order I placed. • The promised Alcatel modem that formed part of the Black Friday offer was delivered in mid-December. I had to make more calls to Vodacom to establish why the upgrade had not been activated, and I still only had the data under the original pre-upgrade plan available. It would be clear from the calls I made that I was disgusted with the fact that the upgrade would now only be actioned on 1 January despite the placement of the order on 27 November and the delivery of the modem and that I was still under the impression that I was still expecting a 100Mbps upgrade, as in my mind, that is what I was getting. • I received no formal communication confirming the nature of the upgrade before 1 January 2024. When I realized the upgrade was not what I ordered, I visited the Vodacom store at Festival Mall on 3 January, where I explained the problem and lodged a complaint. I was eventually handed a cell phone by the consultant after she consulted with the shop manager and asked to explain the saga to Salome Madira, which I duly did. During this call, I was adamant that I originally ordered the 50Mbps Black Friday and would only accept this package (or the 100Mbps package I thought was offered to me subsequently) and that if this could not be done, the upgrade should be cancelled. • It took two weeks before I got any feedback (despite leaving two messages for Madira). The final communication was that my request had been rejected as I apparently accepted a new offer. I reject this contention with the contempt that it deserves. Vodacom’s service was atrocious throughout this saga. I had to make over ten phone calls trying to get Vodacom to honour the original Black Friday 50Mbps upgrade. Even if there was confusion during the call with Karabo Mangena, this was caused by Vodacom’s failure to action the original offer and a bonafide communication error that I pointed out at the first opportunity after receiving written confirmation of what the upgrade actually consisted of. The excessive time taken by Vodacom to investigate the complaint was also unacceptable. • In view of the above history, I expect Vodacom to cancel the original upgrade so that I can cancel the contract on expiry, as I no longer wish to work with a cellphone provider that is as unprofessional as Vodacom. • This report is a shortened version of an email sent to Vodacom (***) on 29 January, as this is the prescribed procedure to escalate complaints (https://www.vodacom.co.za/vodacom/terms/code-of-conduct). The only reply I received was to use "Tobi"