Vodacom: Incompetence by any other name

<p>In June 2016, I went to a Vodacom shop and asked to transfer a contract from my name. I explained to them that when our organisation started I had to register the work phone in my name because the organisation was in the process of getting registered. I asked them to transfer the contract from my name to the organisation’s name. I asked for a list of required documents. Going to Vodacom was not my idea. I had been told that Vodacom would not do anything until I went there in person to sign the documents. On Monday, I went to the office and proudly explained that my bit was done. All that was needed was the list of documents that they had asked for. We sent the documents.</p> <p><br />June - October, numerous e-mails from our side to Vodacom asking for an update on the transfer. Nothing. No response other than odd requests for more documents. We comp****. In October I decided to go back to the Vodacom Shop to find out what was wrong. The explanation I received was that the contract was not transferable. I had asked to retain the same number. The transfer of the number seemed to be the problem. What I understood was that because I had been using the number they could not just transfer it to another user. It needed a ‘cooling off’ period. After a series of unhelpful phone calls to the customer care centre, some of them made from my phone, we came to a resolution. I’ll cancel my contract and the organisation will enter into a brand new contract. The transfer will not be a problem anymore. We’ll just do a sim swap.</p> <p>I cancelled the contract and I stopped using the contract at the end of November. I used the phone as pre-paid for a few days. In a matter of days, the new contract was approved. The sim swap was done. We had a new sim card and we were able to retain the same phone number. The phone worked! I made and received calls.</p> <p><br />A few days later, I tried to make a call and some woman said I had insufficient airtime. Me! on contract? With one of those XXL packages. How? We called Vodacom again. They said it was impossible to transfer the old number because it needed to ‘lie low’ for something like a month. I had been on pre-paid. The old number had not been transferred. In December I used the phone as a pre-paid while waiting for a transfer.</p> <p> <br />In January 2017, we went back to Vodacom. We were on a first name basis with the branch manager. We were texting and e-mailing. He was sorry, embarrassed and apologised on behalf of Vodacom. He personally undertook to deal with this. Our branch manager could not solve the problem. He couldn’t transfer the old number to the new contract. We needed to wait for the number to become ‘transferable’. He asked for more time. January ended. We made another deal. Let’s get a new contract number so that we could use the new contract.</p> <p><br />I grudgingly took the new sim. I had to run around with two phones. On a weekend, I was met at the airport and given my new sim as I had to leave again. At least, roaming will be possible again. The SIM had been activated and had been set to roaming, so I was told. Of course, roaming did not work. Of course, the phone sim card did not work at all. ‘Hi peeps, how did we get *****ed again?’ Call dispatched to our new BFF, Branch manager. He promised a new sim card upon my return. When I got back the phone was fine. I could text and receive calls. There was no need for a new sim card. Roaming was not activated although it was requested. That was the problem.</p> <p><br />Next trip, day 1 - day 3 no roaming. ‘Hi Peeps, I have sms and call roaming but no data.’ Nothing. After country B I moved to country C and then the phone worked. Finally. I had everything, calls, texts and data roaming.</p> <p><br />Then something strange happened. The old phone number, the pre-paid, stopped working. Just stopped. ‘No service’ it said. At least the new phone is working. No one has this new number except for the two people who have been part of this running around.</p> <p><br />On Sunday, February 19th, I arrived at O.R. Tambo in Johanneburg. There was 'no service' on both phones. I asked a friend for his phone and called Vodacom. From the airport to home, I was on the phone.</p> <p><br />The call about the contract phone went down like this: I need to transfer you to business ma’am - holding music - did you deactivate roaming? did you switch your phone on and off? please hold ma’am - holding music - ok, there’s VGE roaming on your phone, only the company administrator can take it off - my phone does not work, is this VGE the reason? - there’s VGE on your phone - I heard, is this the reason why the phone has no service?- I don’t know - Ok, what is VGE roaming? What does it do? That’s the reason the phone does not work? - Yes. I know that this is not true because our office admin called Vodacom to check on the roaming situation. </p> <p><br />The phone call about the pre-paid phone went down like this - my phone does not work - give me your ID. No, can’t find that number here - I told the long story about how number used to be o contract- Ok, you need to go to contract then - I told the story again - oh, you are on pre-paid - Yes, that’s what I explained. - Please hold - Holding music - When did your phone stop working? - On Wednesday - Did you switch it off for two minutes? - NO! - That’s the reason there’s no service - You should have switched it off for two minutes and then waited for 24 hours - Why? - Your phone was transferred from contract to pre-paid on Wednesday. - That’s not true. I cancelled the contract in October 2016. I have been using the phone as prepaid since November 2016. - On our system the transfer was made on Wednesday, 15 February 2017. That’s why your phone stopped working. Switch it off now for two minutes. - Can you check on your system when the cancellation and transfers were made. - No, I can't see anything anymore from this side. Everything about your contract has been wiped off so you need to call cancellations. - Bye.<br /><br /></p> <p>Monday, the 20th I am sitting here with no phone. It's raining in Johannesburg. Traffic is a nightmare and I can't connect with my uber driver. I can request the car from the flat but in this crazy traffic, I can't connect with the driver. How is he going to call me? </p>