Vodacom & "Ignition Contact" -- Unwanted Upgrade forced upon me!!

Wish I could give negative stars for the shocking service I've received, and the worst part is, it's not even from Vodacom, but from the "service partners" they use to **** customers into upgrading.

I have been sent from pillar to post trying to cancel 3 data lines that I never wanted upgraded in the first place, but I am stuck dealing with third-party service agencies that can't accomplish anything.

I was contacted in April to take up a reduced rate on 3 data lines that I have with Vodacom. I had ZERO interest in upgrading any of these line as I actually lost the SIM cards a while ago and don’t use the data - a fact that I made known to the agent on the call. I requested that he cancel my lines right from the start of the call, but he said he couldn’t help me with that, and I needed to contact *** (Later it became clear that the call was made ON BEHALF of Vodacom by an agency called AVRAGYSTIC LTD).

He said he would send me the contracts for the new deals in the meantime. I maintained that I wanted to cancel the contract, and he made it seem as though I could cancel at ANY TIME.

The April billing cycle ran, and this reminded me to follow up on these contracts that are costing me money for no reason. I contacted the call center on the 3rd of May, only to be told that I’ve actually been UPGRADED(??) and my contract term has been renewed and I can’t cancel for another 2 years! It's important to note that 2 of the contracts were not even due for an upgrade (according to Sabelo Dube), so they shouldn't even have been able to upgrade me – nobody can explain that one to me. Anyway, you can imagine my surprise (and disgust) as none of this was made apparent on the call. The "contracts" I received also asked for a signature, and I did NOT sign them or send them back – so a normal person would assume that the agreement should default to a month-to-month plan until a contract is signed and agreed to…but that is not how these guys operate.

I asked that agent to cancel them ASAP and they “logged the request” and told me to expect a call within 72 hours.

I followed up on the 9th after no call came. Here I spoke to an agent named Cassandry. She had no record on her side of the request, a recurring theme throughout this story. Again, she promised to escalate, and told me that I would definitely get a call this time.

No call.

I called again on the 17th and spoke to Saisiel Bhikran – same story, no record of the cancellation request – he said he would escalate to his manager, and I would receive a call within 72 hours. Again, no call ever came.

I called again on the 23rd and spoke to Sabelo Dube (Employee code: ***) – he told me it was an EASY fix, and the other agents just “didn’t know what they were doing”. He would escalate for me and get me sorted out and PROMISED to personally call me that same Wednesday with an update. Would you like to guess what happened?

I called again on the 30th and spoke to an agent named Ayanda – she also had no clue. She put me in touch with a Team Leader named Lisa Rambharose from a company Ignition Contact (NOT Vodacom), who, after another week of following up on email, came back to me today saying that "They have done a call investigation which states that you did agree to the upgrades performed [sic] I have requested for them to contact you with the findings of that call." I requested copy of the recording of the exchange between me and the agent who handled the “upgrade” and I never received it. So they can claim whatever they want to.

So many issues with this entire situation. Firstly, I maintained from the very first call that I did not want the contracts. I should never have been automatically upgraded after expressing my wish to cancel.

Secondly, at no point was it made clear that the price decrease was linked to a renewal of the 24-month term. That is incredibly dishonest!

Thirdly, the agreement must enter a month-to-month state unless the upgrade is agreed to, which it was NOT. I should be able to cancel this without any issue or penalty. NOW it seems the only way to cancel is to pay penalties for the unwanted lines that were upgraded without a contract and off the basis of whatever they consider "consent" from the telemarketing call - which they WON'T send you despite your right to receive a copy. I want these unsolicited upgrades CANCELLED!!