Vodacom Blacklisting Wrong Phone

Let me share my experience with you all.

On 27 June 2018 my handset suddenly stopped receiving network service, so I took it to iStore to check if there was any hardware issue. The consultant did everything from restarting, to wiping out all my data, etc.. Eventually I was told that they had to check it into their repair center for further diagnosis as they were stumped as to what the problem could be.

They came back with the diagnosis a few days later informing me that the phone had been black listed and that I had to contact my service provider. At this point, as you can imagine, I was rather perplexed! I mean I did not lose my phone, nor had I blacklisted the handset. So off I went to MTN, yes my service provider is MTN, so they could shed some light on what was happening. MTN confirmed that indeed my phone had been blacklisted, not by MTN, but by Vodacom! What!! (Insert shock & horror). They were not sure how they were able to do this because apparently it's impossible to blacklist someone's handset that is on a different network. Well Vodacom just proved to them that impossible is nothing!

MTN attempted to unblock the phone, but could not because this had been initiated at Vodacom. I went to a Vodacom store to see if they could assist. They could see that this had been initiated by them, but could not see the reason why, nor could they reverse it at the store. Instead they asked me to call the CEO's office to lay a complaint and hopefully get a resolution to my problem. I kid you not, this is what I was asked to do without mentioning the store name of cause.

So I called the CEO's office and was promptly transferred to a resolution's/solution's department to assist the poor sod that is me. They advised me that I need to complete an Un-Blacklisting as well as provide an affidavit confirming that I've recovered my phone. Yes, you heard right. I proceeded to let the lady that was assisting me know that I never at any point lost my phone nor did I blacklist it. Further more I felt it was just down right wrong that I have to take time out of my busy schedule to go do an affidavit on top of the time that had already been spent pursuing this matter. All she could say to me was "Sorry sir, but these are our processes." Sigh!!

So I went to SAPS to complete the affidavit, completed their unblacklist for, asked for the invoice from my insurance broker (It's a replacement phone) and provided all other documentation they had requested and submitted to the blacklisting team as requested.

Now you need to understand that it's going on to two weeks since this handset has been blacklisted. You can only imagine the utter inconvenience that has been caused by Vodacom through this incompetence.

So anyways a day after submitting the requested documentation i got feedback from the blacklisting team informing me that the handset had been blacklisted by the Vodacom Accounts Team reason being bad debt and that I should contact them through ********** (For anyone else who may have the misfortune). Bad Debt?? How?? I'm not a Vodacom customer, so how I could I possibly deemed under bad debt.

At this stage I am beyond disbelief and frustration is an understatement! I decide to call the CEO's office to try and get some traction o this matter. Eventually I was put through to the collections team where I regaled my frustration at the sheer incompetence of Vodacom and what they have put me through. Poor sod! To his credit he tried to stand up for his organisation, but once I took him through every single painful point I'd been through he agreed with me, took down my numbers and promised to escalate the matter.

Today (12 July 2018) I got a mail from Vodacom notifying me that the handset had been un-blacklisted.

Was the an apology from Vodacom you may ask? None whatsoever!

I am very disappointed in how Vodacom has dealt with this whole matter. As corporate of your magnitude you should have stringent controls in place to avoid situations like this where you inconvenience customers, no the general public because I am not your customer, the way that you have inconvenienced me.