1 reviews | Active since Oct 2013
Vodacom cannot treat customers worse if they tried!
<p>This week vodacom declined me for a new contract. After three days of phone calls trying to find out why it turns out I owe R20.66 on an old 4U account. They are AUTHORISED to debit my account for this, BUT because the transactions was so small (50c one month, R1.50 another) they have not. This is already absurd. They decline a new contract because THEY did not debit my bank account for the amount???</p> <p>So their account department informs me I'll have to visit a vodashop to pay the amount. When I go to the vodashop with the necessary account number, they cannot accept my payment because the system does not retrieve the account info because its too old??. Once again they refuse to take the payment. YET, they "want my business"! </p> <p>On top of it all the staff in the vodashop cannot help me sort thsi out because "Accounts department refuse to speak to us directly".</p> <p>I have never seen so much incompetence in a single company! This is beyond ridiculous!</p>
Dear Customer,
Thank you for making us aware of your complaint.
Kindly be advised that a consultant will make contact with you in due course to assist with your query.
***Please note*** Beware of phishing ****s.
Vodacom will not contact you via Whatsapp to request your personal details
Regards,
Vodacom Consumer Website Team
Dear Customer,
Thank you for making us aware of your complaint.
Kindly be advised that a consultant will make contact with you in due course to assist with your query.
***Please note*** Beware of phishing ****s.
Vodacom will not contact you via Whatsapp to request your personal details
Regards,
Vodacom Consumer Website Team
After being unable to pay at the Vodashop I phoned the subscriber collections department AGAIN. This time the person I spoke to advised me the account number which THEY GAVE ME needed a "-4" at the end. She then adivised me that I could also pay via EFT and send me a PDF with step-by-step instructions. I followed these instructions to the letter. Step 6 of the instructions stated "Enter your unique Vodacom reference number. Example: I123456 (Exclude the slash and last digit)."
Standardbank's system REFUSED to accept this because of an "INCORRECT PAYMENT REFERENCE FORMAT". I then added the slash and last digit and finally the transaction went through. Once again their instructions were incorrect. At this point I am still unsure whether or not the problem has now been sorted out. However, I am 100% convinced this company has serious issues.
This is how it SHOULD HAVE WORKED.
Option A (Best case): They should have debited my account as instructed and this would never have happened.
Option B (2nd best): Once the account was outstanding for long enough, THEY SHOULD HAVE DEBITED MY ACCOUNT AS INSTRUCTED or, write off the debt since they CHOSE to not debit me.
Option C: When I app**** for a new contract they should have been able to inform the vodashop consultant that I had an outstanding account, that it account number is I123456-7, and that the amount is R20.66. I should have been able to pay the account immediately and effortlessly.
INSTEAD: They wasted many hours of my time in a process that has started on Monday and is still ongoing where I was trying to give them more business.
The final thing that absolutely boggles my mind is: If you were going to refuse my request for a new contract due to an outstanding payment I knew nothing about, why on earth have you been calling me over the last few years to try to convince me to apply for a new contract?
After being unable to pay at the Vodashop I phoned the subscriber collections department AGAIN. This time the person I spoke to advised me the account number which THEY GAVE ME needed a "-4" at the end. She then adivised me that I could also pay via EFT and send me a PDF with step-by-step instructions. I followed these instructions to the letter. Step 6 of the instructions stated "Enter your unique Vodacom reference number. Example: I123456 (Exclude the slash and last digit)."
Standardbank's system REFUSED to accept this because of an "INCORRECT PAYMENT REFERENCE FORMAT". I then added the slash and last digit and finally the transaction went through. Once again their instructions were incorrect. At this point I am still unsure whether or not the problem has now been sorted out. However, I am 100% convinced this company has serious issues.
This is how it SHOULD HAVE WORKED.
Option A (Best case): They should have debited my account as instructed and this would never have happened.
Option B (2nd best): Once the account was outstanding for long enough, THEY SHOULD HAVE DEBITED MY ACCOUNT AS INSTRUCTED or, write off the debt since they CHOSE to not debit me.
Option C: When I app**** for a new contract they should have been able to inform the vodashop consultant that I had an outstanding account, that it account number is I123456-7, and that the amount is R20.66. I should have been able to pay the account immediately and effortlessly.
INSTEAD: They wasted many hours of my time in a process that has started on Monday and is still ongoing where I was trying to give them more business.
The final thing that absolutely boggles my mind is: If you were going to refuse my request for a new contract due to an outstanding payment I knew nothing about, why on earth have you been calling me over the last few years to try to convince me to apply for a new contract?
This query HAS NOT been resolved. I have STILL not been able to take out a new contract because your internal departments apparently do not talk to each other. However, the fact that you can unilaterally decide that the "query has been resolved" without once speaking to the customer only reinforces that you do not actually care about customer service. I was told by you in the first reply above that you will contact me to assist. I have not been contacted.
My problem was not just the fact that I owed R20.66 I did not even know about, but rather the fact that that caused me endless inconvenience and prevented me from taking a new contract. TODAY IS THE SEVENTH DAY SINCE I FIRST APP****, I AM STILL WAITING FOR THIS NEW CONTRACT TO BE APPROVED. If you can speed that up you would have "resolved my query".
This query HAS NOT been resolved. I have STILL not been able to take out a new contract because your internal departments apparently do not talk to each other. However, the fact that you can unilaterally decide that the "query has been resolved" without once speaking to the customer only reinforces that you do not actually care about customer service. I was told by you in the first reply above that you will contact me to assist. I have not been contacted.
My problem was not just the fact that I owed R20.66 I did not even know about, but rather the fact that that caused me endless inconvenience and prevented me from taking a new contract. TODAY IS THE SEVENTH DAY SINCE I FIRST APP****, I AM STILL WAITING FOR THIS NEW CONTRACT TO BE APPROVED. If you can speed that up you would have "resolved my query".