Vodacom International Calling Activation

<p>I have family overseas that I would like to call so I went on to the Vodacom website under Services to activate International Calling Services. I activated it but it was still saying Not Active. I did this several times and nothing changed so I called the call centre. A lady named Lydia told me that customers are not supposed to activate it on the website. So I asked why it is there if we cannot use it. She had no answer for me. One of the key reasons for having the website is to make things easier for customers to do. So this was illogical to me. She then tried to activate it and said it is not working because I have to cancel the activation on my side so she can activate it on her side. I asked her how to cancel it, if it is still saying Not Active? She said she had no idea and put me on hold for quite awhile. She then came back and said the issue has been escalated and she would call me once it was resolved. She called me a day or two later and said it was resolved and she had activated it, and it would work once I turned off and restarted my phone. I did so and it still didn't work. So I called the call centre again and got a different lady who told me that it is saying international calling is active on my number and it should work. So I told her it isn't working. She put me on hold for ages then returned and said it's sorted out now and that she would put the phone down, that I must make an international call to check that it works, and that she would call me back in ten minutes. It's been days and I have not received that call. I then went to a store today to see if they could help. It was shocking to hear from these Vodacom employees, that they have no idea what's on their company website . I am currently using the website online chat talking to Mpho who has assured me it is active. So I tried making an international call again and it is not working. So he has now done something else and said it should work. So I asked him to please stay on the line while I check but he ended the chat. So I started a chat again and got Sakhile who has now also ended the chat abruptly for no reason. This is not the first time that Vodacom has failed miserably to carry out a basic request. Surely I am not the first person to want to make an international call? Why is almost impossible for them to do a simple task without me having to troll their website a million times, make several calls to their call centre, send several emails and go to store after store just to get something done. Why do they give customers the run around? It often takes them months to handle the simplest of tasks. And the request I made is something they offer. I am not going to Vodacom and asking them for an unrelated service, like fixing my car. They exist to provide these phone services. And if they are failing at their main task, why is it worth paying them? I still do not have international calling services on my phone, and I wonder if Vodacom will drag this out for months like they previously have done with other requests.</p>