Vodacom: Billed for non-existent service for 7 years & making it impossible to cancel it

In 2010 my wife took out a small data contract with Vodacom which was to expire 2 years later. A few months ago she saw that they were still billing her for it. She should have picked it up years ago but she did not as she had other services from Vodacom which were deducted from her account – she thought the R99 on her bank statement was part of this. It was also difficult to notice if you do not study your bank statement closely as payment notifications for amounts under R100 aren’t sent. In any case, it doesn’t make it okay for Vodacom to have continued billing for it.

Having realised they were still billing her for a non-existent service for 7 years, she cancelled the debit order. Two months later she found out that they blacklisted her which then negatively impacted her credit score which has always been impeccable. So not only have they kept on billing her for a period of 7 years (to a total amount of approximately R8000), they have the audacity to blacklist her when she stopped paying for it. It seems they had every intention of billing her in perpetuity.

She has for the last three weeks been attempting get the account closed but Vodacom is making it impossible to do so. When you phone the cancellations department ( ********** ) their automated phone system gives two options; The first is to enter the number concerned. When she does so, their system says that the number does not exist – thereby confirming that they’ve taken money for a service that does not exist. The second option is to press hash if you are phoning from the number concerned. Firstly, the service doesn’t exist as per the previous sentence. Secondly, it’s a data contract so you she would not have been able to phone from it. They give no other options, making it impossible to get through to someone in the cancellations department.

During this time trying to cancel the account, she also spoke to other departments and they told her that the account was in arrears by around R300. Not considering (for the moment) the fact that they billed her for 7 years – for a service that does not exist, never mind not being used - she decided to just pay the outstanding amount so as the get her credit record clean. She paid the amount 2 weeks ago and was told that she could get a paid-up letter this week. Today she tried to contact them to get the paid-up letter and confirmation that the account was closed. It took me more than 30 phone calls today alone – not to mention the previous weeks’ calls - not getting through to the cancellations department, having been transferred from one person to the next and the line being cut off several times – only to be told that in addition to the amount they previously said she owed and which she settled, she owes them another approximately R100. She also went to the local Vodacom franchise and even they were couldn’t help her – also unable to speak to someone who could to sort it out. We refuse to pay them another cent and have every intention of claiming back all the money they took.

I can now understand how the Standard Bank customer reached a point of frustration that she rammed her car through the bank’s window.