Vodacom Contract (Data and Minute) Predatory Practices

Hi,

This review is something I still feel shell shocked in writing, but I am doing so in order to warn those who may have experienced this or those who are not in the know and should be weary of cellphone contracts and how unacceptably predatory they are, specifically those 24+ months on them. - As my experience feels ******* to a degree, and extremely unjust.

I have been a customer of vodacom's for over a decade plus at this point, and have always made it a point to pay off my contracts on time and with no issues.

So for the first time in my life, I find myself going through a period of financial instability and in an attempt to call in to cancel a contract I have with them, with the express purpose of mitigating the financial strain I am under, so as to not be a person who has a contract they will no longer be able to afford in the coming 2 months, and having made this clear to the cancellation person I was speaking to.

I sought to cancel the contract I was under that provided only data and minutes, called RED 6 or something like that.

Anyhow I call and get a support person, named Ntokozo, who was perfectly helpful and professional, who informs me, even after I made mention of the above financial situation I am in, who informs me that the contract I have would be charged R8000+ to cancel a 24+ data and minutes contract (With no device of any kind mind you), simply data and minutes.

And tells me that I cannot simply cancel a 24 month data and minutes package, where I will not be using the data and minutes, but am going to be charged R8000+ for, so after making mention that the R8000 price tag that I am being charged is simply something I cannot afford, I am then informed that I will be able to change my contract to a lower charge contract, but I will be charged close to R4000- for the downgrade.

Meaning that I now have to pay R4000, that I cannot afford, on a simple data and minutes package, that I have to cancel, due to my not being able to afford the monthly charges any longer and this feels extremely harrowing, as now I find myself heading into debt, on something that feels predatory and has me now warning people to stay away from Vodacom, as this predatory behaviour on long time customers, has left what was a long time customer with a bad taste for your business practices.

I am going to contact their customer support desk to see if I can get further assistance with this matter, and will update this review with my experience from there, but for the time being, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND (For all consumers, both new and especially those like me, long time) on not getting any package from vodacom, as this is unacceptable treatment of a long time customer.