Vodacom *****

Account number N***-1 refers.

In August, or September 2019, Vodacom **********ly opened a cell phone contract on my elderly father’s account. They then proceeded to cancel the contract and, without authorization, attempted to deduct R24 545.34 from my father’s bank account on 30 September and 31 October 2020. On 15 November 2019, my father paid an amount of R400,00 directly into Vodacom’s bank account, as advised by the local Vodacom Chatz Store, in order to avoid service interruption. On the 20 December 2019 my Father received a SMS stating that his account will be converted to a Prepaid/TopUp package due to the amount of R24461.57 not having been paid. My father’s account was then suspended completely and was not converted to prepaid as indicated. This left my elderly parents alone on a Farm in rural KZN with no form of communication.

Both my father and I contacted Vodacom on several occasions with little to no response. A ***** dispute was lodged with Vodacom on 24 Dec 2020. Vodacom however did not respond to this until 23 Jan 2020. My father’s account was out of service the entire time. On 30 Jan 2020 Vodacom confirmed the dispute was removed and a credit note passed on my father’s account. We were told that Vodacom Subscriber Collections needed to be contacted. Numerous times we tried to contact them, but we weren’t successful in sorting anything out.

On 07 Jun 2020 my father received a letter dated 4 May 2020 stating that should he not pay an amount of R3503.66 within 21 days of the dated letter further action will be taken against him. Obviously by the time he had received the letter, due to no post coming in during the lockdown period, the time frame given had already elapsed. This notification was ONLY sent by regular post and not by registered post or by e-mail. Regular monthly statements that had been received via e-mail since March 2020 consistently showed zero balances.

My father, being the honest man he is, immediately attempted to rectify the issues. I tried contacting Vodacom Subscriber Collections as well as Vodacom Customer Care for the explanation of the letter. I was unsuccessful. My father then proceeded to ask for help at his nearest Vodacom shop. As previously mentioned, my father is elderly (over the age of 75), for him to venture out during the COVID-19 pandemic was a grave risk to his and my elderly mother’s health and in essence their lives. None the less my father was severely stressed about this issue and wanted to rectify it immediately, so he proceeded to go to the local Vodacom Chatz store to sort out the matter. The employee at the Vodacom Chatz Store told him what the outstanding amount was, and my father proceeded to pay the amount. The Vodacom store employee reassured my father that nothing was outstanding, and the matter was resolved. I also contacted Vodacom Customer Care and they told me that the amount had been received and in order to reactivate my father’s number he had to have the ***** alert lifted at his local Vodacom shop and they could then reactivate his number as a prepaid number. Vodacom insisted that he could only resolve the issue in person at a Vodacom store. He then proceeded to do this, but after two weeks the number had still not been activated as promised by Chatz Vodacom store. I then proceeded to contact them myself and was advised that Vodacom had deleted the number from their system and the number will never be able to be retrieved.

Then, on 11 September 2020, my father received an e-mail saying his account had been handed over to debt collectors. This despite his statement reflecting a zero balance each month since March 2020.

Vodacom’s ********** behaviour has caused severe stress for my father. In addition, Vodacom insisting that my father venture out to resolve an issue caused by their ********** behaviour, has put the lives of both my father and mother at risk as they are both over the age of 70 with comorbidities. I, therefore, implore anyone who can assist with resolving this issue to please help us. Whether you are a Vodacom employee, someone working at the consumer complaints commission, a lawyer in your private capacity or just a good Samaritan that can render some advice. Any assistance in this matter will be greatly appreciated.