Vodacom has the absolute worst customer service on earth

Around March\April 2024 I received a call from Vodacom offering to increase my data on my Home Internet contract which was R399 per month, and send me a new Router all at no extra cost on my current contract; they would even throw in a gift voucher of R1000 to sweeten the deal, since i’m such a loyal customer.

At the end of the month my invoice and debit order did not reflect the agreement, I was being billed more, approx R500++ I immediately called to query this & they said they needed to listen to the recording to confirm my story, and they came back agreeing with me & promising to credit my account and they requested me to send back the device (Router) and they would take me back to my original contract amount which didn't happened.

After numerous calls to Vodacom, they credited my account around July 2024; I was relieved that the matter was finally solved. Until end of Aug when I started being billed /debited R1234.56 for the same number and I further discovered from speaking to a Vodacom staff that I was still paying for the router I returned since April 2024. I have had a hundred different conversations with different departments of Vodacom each blaming the other, which eventual resulted in me being promised a resolution & refund.

Towards end November I called for the umpteenth time, this time to cancel the contract and I started a new 100mbps data contract for R479 that was supposed to be effective from 01 Dec, but come month end I was still billed R1234.56 once again. I called Accounts and they escalated my complaint & kept me abreast of all developments. Then a very bored /uninterested lady called on 29 Dec and after our conversation & her double checking my info, she offered to refund/credit me with approx R3800+ but they would deduct the R1000 gift voucher I had received and I told her I wasn’t willing to pay for a gift voucher I hadn’t asked for nor informed it was coming out of my bill. She then said she would escalate my complaint, and someone would be in touch.

Whilst waiting for someone to get back to me regarding the escalated matter, Vodacom credited my account with R2800, withholding the R1000 for the voucher. The last conversation I had with them, was about escalating the matter and waiting for someone to get back to me, and no communication has come from Vodacom since. Instead, they have now suspended my CELLPHONE line (not the data line) in an effort to force me to pay the R1000 for the gift voucher; whilst I was waiting for someone to get back to me.

I haven’t heard anything from Vodacom since the last time I called them on 17 March and they allocated Jabu Kiliko to my query who hasn't bothered to call me back yet and my attempts to reach him/her have proved futile . I am at my wits end; I have spoken to so many different people and spent so much time on this I’m exhausted. What will it take to get Vodacom to resolve this matter and refund me? I am so tired of having to start this story afresh with each person who answers the phone and being transferred to so many different people. For the amount of emotional distress and anguish, they have caused me, they should be giving me a substantial voucher as compensation & apology, instead of trying to squeeze R1000 from me for something they never told me was for sale.