Vodacom makes a mistake and punishes the client

I have been loyal customer of Vodacom for a number of year. This however is about to change.

About two weeks ago I received a call from Vodacom mobile partner. They tried to sell me a phone which seemed to be a very good option at the time. Critical elements are the phone specs as well as price. My instructions were that I wanted something better that I currently had but I did not want to pay more.

I went through the entire process and agreed to the terms and conditions. I received confirmation for my order, but no specs were specified. The very next day I went to two different Vodacom stores in Tygervalley to view the phone. In both instances I was told by Vodacom that this phone with specifications as described does not exist in South Africa. I was furious and immediately called the Vodacom mobile partner to cancel the order.

This was apparently done. I requested confirmation of the cancelation. I was told I will receive confirmation soon. The next day I went to a third Vodacom store in Tygervalley. I was told that I am not permitted to do an upgrade (I am however eligible to do an upgrade since April 2018) the account however was apparently locked by Vodacom as a result of the order / cancelation.

Again, I was furious and immediately called the Vodacom mobile partner to confirm cancellation. Still no confirmation. A day later I received a call from the Vodacom mobile partner warehouse telling me my order was ready. I explained that my order was cancelled twice, two days ago. It was then explained to me that no cancellation is indicated on my order. I then cancelled the order for the third time. Again, no confirmation received.

I waited 5 working days and then returned to the Vodacom shop to upgrade my order. I was told my account is blocked by Vodacom. I then proceeded to call Vodacom directly. I called Vodacom cancellations, upgrades and general info. I have lost count how many times I called them and each and every time I explained what happened and was told something different. In fact, I was again told a phone like I described does not exist (according to gsmarena) and what’s more the specifications were so low on gsmarena I would never have even considered such an option. Vodacom then insisted that I place the order with them directly over the phone (as this would be the only way for me to place an order again). I explained that I would NEVER do that again. This very outcome was a result of a call order, I have no intention to do a call order again and I would strongly discourage anyone else that is considering to do so. The last feedback I received from Vodacom was that my account will only be unlocked in the future when the investigation has been concluded. Who knows when that will be?

What I don’t understand is that Vodacom and Vodacom partners fails us as the client, yet I (the client) am punished. I am inclined to cancel everything with Vodacom now and move to another provider that won’t punish me for their own mistakes.