Vodacom Eastgate

<p>I have been a loyal customer of Vodacom for the last 10 years or more. I have had previous contracts only with Vodacom in my name. I recently converted to prepaid as I had a perfectly working phone and didn’t want to pay contract rates. I have never bounced around networks. On Friday the 12/05/2017 I went into the Vodacom shop at Eastgate as my phone had suddenly died on me. The technical staff told me my phone wasn’t worth repairing and I should get myself a contract again. I spoke to a lady who told me to bring my ID only to reinstate my contract.</p> <p>I went in to get my contract on Saturday and dealt with Andile. Andile was not very interested in helping me but I did the paperwork and completed the necessary formalities needed to reinstate the contract. He told me that Vodacom was checking my profile and that it would be done in 3-4 hours at most. He gave me his number to contact him to make sure it was done before I came in to get the phone. He assured me he was working and would be at the Eastgate Vodacom store the whole weekend to help me secure the phone. He said I could go straight to him when I came to collect the phone.</p> <p>I phoned Andile on Sunday morning to see if I had been approved to get the contract. He told me I had been denied and asked if I had been blacklisted. I said no as I have never been and couldn’t understand it. I decided to go in to Vodacom to ask Andile why I had been denied. When I arrived I asked one of the support staff to call Andile for me so I could follow up. I was told he was not working on Sunday. Once I heard this I instantly asked to speak to Thierry (the manager). The lady who helped me was not interested at all and I told her I was unhappy and needed to speak to Thierry (the manager). She said she would call Thierry (the manager) but insisted I take a ticket to wait in the queue which I was told the previous day I didn’t need to do. When we addressed this with her she ignored us and went and hid in the back room. Thierry (the manager) was on the floor attending to clients and didn’t even acknowledge that we were standing waiting for him. Once he was finished with the customer he was busy with he still didn’t acknowledge our time in waiting or even that anyone had told him we were there. I asked another lady who Thierry (the manager) was, to confirm that he was in fact Thierry (the manager) as I did not expect Thierry (the manager) of a store to ignore a customer that had requested to speak to him. She confirmed he was Thierry (the manager) and so I asked once again if she could get his attention as by now I was very agitated. He turned around to us and rudely told us that he was busy and we must wait in the queue as he was very important and imp**** that I, the customer was wrong and that his time was more important than ours. We were never told that there was a queue to see Thierry (the manager), we were told by the original lady that he was busy with someone but would see to us next.</p> <p>Thierry (the manager) shouted at us that we have to wait our turn and he would help us once he was done in front of a store full of people. I have never been spoken in that way by anyone in a client facing position in my life. We waited a bit more and he didn’t even apologise for the wait or explain what was happening. By now we were highly irritated by the lack of willingness to help or even be told what was going on. We decided to give the ticket back to the manger and leave the store.</p> <p>We went to another Vodacom store in Greenstone where a very nice gentleman helped us and said I would have to go back to Eastgate Vodacom as they needed to release the application. The consultant from Greenstone Vodacom tried to phone Andile who originally helped me. He got hold of Andile and asked for help but Andile put down the phone twice on the consultant from Greenstone. He managed to get a name and number of another consultant at Eastgate called Fani who then also put down the phone on the Greenstone consultant. After this he told me that without their cooperation I would have to go back to Eastgate for the 4th time in 4 days.</p> <p>On Monday I went back to Eastgate and waited in the queue to chat to a regular consultant. He couldn’t find out why I had been rejected so I asked to chat to Thierry (the manager). The consultant specially went to call the manger to speak to me. Finally the manger emerged from the back of the store and then he decided to help another unhappy customer before me, even though I had been waiting. I waited at least 10-15 minutes patiently for Thierry (the manager). When I finally got to see him he asked what was wrong and I asked if he remembered me from the previous day. He said yes, very well and that I had been very rude and didn’t wait my turn to see him. He told me he would get Andile to call me back to apologise about the mess he has created. Andile never contacted me and Thierry (the manager) didn’t tell me why Andile was not at work on the Sunday or Monday and he said he couldn’t do much about it as he was probably sick</p> <p>He said he knew what to do to help me and would sort it out. He told me I would be done latest Wednesday or Thursday and he would contact me. I waited until Wednesday and I had to phone Thierry (the manger) to ask about the situation. I couldn’t get hold of him. Finally on Thursday after phoning multiple times I got through and was told Thierry (the manager) would call me back in 5 minutes. He didn’t so I called again and then he left me a voice message saying it hadn’t been done and it would be done by Friday.</p> <p>On Friday Thierry (the manager) told me it had been resolved and I could now get a contract. I asked for proof and he assured me it was solved and that when I came in I must remember to get a ticket and wait in line but he wouldn’t be there to assist me.</p> <p>I went in on Friday evening to apply and spoke to a wonderful consultant. I filled out all the paperwork again from scratch and she told me my profile was not cleared properly and I was not able to get my contract on my number.</p> <p>I was extremely irritated as this was now the 5th time in 8 days I had been there. I had dealt with a very rude and *********** Thierry (the manager) who assured me it was done and I could get my phone, but yet again there was a problem not created by me but by the *********** Thierry (the manager) and original staff I had dealt with. I asked the nice consultant to get hold of the manger who was not at work. I spoke to him and asked what was wrong. He said he was at church and that I could get a new contract on a different number. I told him that isn’t good enough and he was again very impolite and rude and told me I was in the wrong and I have to get a new contract and not keep my original number when I specifically asked to port my old number the first day I was in the store. I told him I was very unhappy with the service and he told me to calm down and listen to him and to not be rude. Remember this is Thierry (the manager) who didn’t send me proof that all was sorted before I came into the store. I said I was going to complain to the head office about the service and he told me he would then not help and that I would have to go to Midrand to be helped. I told him to sort out the problem he had not sorted out for me and he got very short and told me I was in the wrong again. I asked when the problem would be resolved and he said maybe another week.</p> <p>Unfortunately the poor consultant had heard me talking to the manger and as I put down the phone she said she was very sorry to hear I had been through all of this and she would sort it all out without the mangers help by the next day. True to her word I got my phone on Saturday afternoon.</p> <p>I believe it is important for me to write this long story to expose the horrific service and genuinely rude management of Vodacom Eastgate. I have to name the individuals and hope to hear back from someone as to how this will be dealt with as Vodacom customer this was just now on. I would just like to ensure that this does not occur to another individual in future and also make you aware of the fact that the service and attitude received from 3 different individuals in the same store (Thierry, the manager, included) was horrific enough to put us off doing business with Vodacom in future. The only reason you still have my business is because your value for money on this one occasion was better than the alternatives.</p> <p>Please advise how you intend to rectify this as I may have a contract now but I am still extremely unhappy with the service and general attitude I received, especially from Thierry (the manager).</p>