Vodacom - Deceased Accounts

I am speechless.

I have just recently lost my husband who was the account holder on our Vodacom contracts. My attorneys (and I) sent through the necessary death certificates etc. on the 18th February and asked that the contract be transferred into my name. No response until yesterday, 24th February, when they said I needed to go into a Vodacom store to fill out the necessary paperwork for credit checks etc.

No problem, I went and did that. Not 24 hours since their email and Vodacom have now locked both mine and my late husband's phones!!!

Despite my explanations that I now live alone and need a cell phone in the event of an emergency, not to mention to attend to my work, they are adamant that nothing can be done to unlock the account until such time as the transfer has taken place. The Vodacom store tell me this could take up to a month!!!!

The February invoice is not due for payment for another two days but as my husband's bank account is now frozen I have offered to do an EFT for the amount owing but Vodacom will not accept my money as I "am not the registered owner of the account".

We have had a Vodacom contract for years and never missed a payment - how much of a risk can I really be???

The call centre lady that I spoke to was totally unmoved, despite my emotional state, and simply said that there was nothing at all that they could do until "the system showed that the death certificate, etc. had been received". When I said they were sent a week ago she said clearly not as the system would have flagged that. When I asked her to please check with the Deceased department she simply refused saying that they would flag the system once they received the paperwork.

Isn't it enough that my world has fallen apart with my husband's death; isn't it possible that companies such as Vodacom could extend some sympathy to circumstances such as these? I'm not asking for anything for free, I'm offering to pay the account while the paperwork is finalised........ I just don't get it.

Shame on you Vodacom - treating newly widowed women this way.