Vodacom disregards customer queries

I am absolutely disgusted with Vodacom and their total disregard of handling a query. I have called Vodacom's customer service (135) on numerous occasions for a period of over 2 months to report poor network signal, frequent dropped calls and sometimes I cannot receive or make calls from my residential property which is also currently my work place.

The consultants that log the query are quite friendly and efficient but that's where the query seems to stop. I received a call from Chantel/Shantel on the initial logging. She was also helpful and pleasant and called to enquire about my issues and was told that my query will be escalated to the network division. On the 3rd attempt (after almost a month) I had called the customer service again to enquire about my query and when can I get some feedback. I was told that my query was closed and she could not give me a reason. She however had me on hold to speak to the network division and advised me that she would log another query with Ref No. ***. I advised the consultant that because of my issue if the network department cannot get hold of me because of the poor network then they should communicate via my email or via wifi call. I also contacted customer service on their email address but no response on that channel. Chantel called me after this new logging and I reminded her of our previous conversation and she had remembered and told me that she will escalate my query again to the network department.

On the 21 September 2023, I called the customer service again for the 5th time and spoke to Zelda (Customer centre). I had explained to her my repeated attempts to receive assistance and attention from Vodacom but it is frustrating and that I cannot work from home because of not having a proper phone connection and numerous dropped calls. She had me on hold whilst she spoke to the network division. She then indicated that I will get a call within an hour from the network division and she will follow up to check if they had me. I then received a call from the network division (Dino) and I explained the problem to him. He fully understood my query and then he asked me how much do I pay monthly for my Vodacom contracts. I told him that I pay R2100 p/month but I still cannot understand its relevance to my query. I told me that he will escalate the query and someone will call me soon.

Needless to say that 21 days have passed since the last call and I have still not received any call or attempt to resolve my query. As a long time customer for over 20 years and always on contract, I have decided that if Vodacom doesn't care and cannot provide a service that I pay for, then it leaves me no choice to engage with the Ombudsman and to stop paying my account. I am fully aware of the repercussions and I would rather receive numerous calls from the accounts department or attorneys that Vodacom engages with to recover the money so that I can explain to them that "no service no pay".

I hope there will be a response to this review before I attempt to take those drastic measures.