Vodacom Blacklisting

Last year when COVID came into our world and disrupted and destroyed many lives, I was one of those unfortunate people who could not get work. Left with an under sufficient pension (long story), I had to decide, besides food, which of my debts I was going to pay and which ones I would put on hold. My Vodacom account, ***, was one of those I put on hold, not expecting COVID to go on as long as it has. By September, I was forced to put my house on the market and I had indicated to those who I could not pay, that I would bring my account up to date as soon as the house’s funds came through. I had been contacted a few times by call centres representing Vodacom and I indicated to them that I would bring my account up to date as soon as my funds came through. If there is anything I learned during this COVID period, is how useless call centres are. Those people are programmed to read out a story and what-ever story one gives them, does get back to the client. What it actually boils down to, is that they try and nag to death or pay up. Now what they need to understand is that you cannot pay what you don’t have. Enough about call centres, let me get back to the target of complaint, Vodacom. In my opinion, I believe that the company is too big and they cannot handle the size. They have so many departs that handle customer issues, that it gets to point where the one finger does not know what the finger next it is doing, never mind, the one hand not knowing what the other is doing. When I was in business, we had procedures for ever thing we did. Surely, Vodacom has a procedure for Blacklisting. If they do, no one working there knows about it, as you will see from the following. On 22 October 2020, Vodacom “Black-listed” two of my cell phones, my wife’s and mine, without any kind of warning what so ever, which at the time I thought was very callous of them. Nevertheless, I accepted it. I quickly found out why you need to keep your old phones. I changed the SIM cards to our old phones and we were back in business. My house money finally came through and on 24 December I paid all my outstanding accounts as well as Vodacom. At this point I think it is only fair that I praise a couple of companies for being kind hearted, professional and understanding, during this COVID period and they are NEDBANK and ABSA Bank. When I paid Vodacom, it was at their Craighall outlet. The lady that assisted me, Pearl, told me that my phones would be switched back on within 3 working days. Seven days later, I went to the Rosebank outlet, where I was told that Vodacom requires a completed form as well as an affidavit from the SAPS stating that the phone was not ******. Go figure??? They Blacklist it, then they want proof that it was not ******. I supp**** them with the documents and they confirmed that the phone will be switch on within 7 working days. After 7 working days, no joy. I started making phone calls and going to see Pearl, those that said they would get back to me, are still getting back to me. Every time one is dealing with new untrained person. Here’s the best. We are now in February and I am withholding my next payment, because I am adhering to my end of the bargain, but they are not or they can’t. Cutting a long story short, I was forced to pay the instalment and guess what, my phones have still not been switched on. Not even Pearl had any success. Now we are in March and they will want another instalment paid before they do nothing. Go figure again??? One cannot speak to a manager because they are not reachable and apparently working from home. The person you are speaking to promises that a manager will phone before 17:30. The thing they don’t tell you is which day or year. They honestly do not have any method in their madness. They know how to Blacklist a phone, but they do not have a clue how to unblock a blacklisted phone. I do not know what else to do. Please help HelloPeter.