Vodacom not caring for customers on customer care and can't solve their own system errors! Fed up!

I have been a loyal and faithful client of Vodacom since 2002 July. However, I have seen their service deteriorate over the years. At some point I thought its probably because they do not want individual clients anymore. Because I am loyal to the brand that I choose for myself, I have not considered moving to other network providers. Most of my friends and colleagues did. I am writing my experience of the negligence I have frequently received Or let me say the "you are not important" feeling they give me when I report a service problem /fault. I will share just one recent one but I have more.

On Sunday, the 27th of October, 2019 I was departing for Europe. I remembered to send an sms to 31050, this was a ROAMON sms. I only got the confirmation on the Wednesday the 30th of October, 2019. (usually its instant or just a matter of minutes). I was happy that at least there was a confirmation. On Saturday the 2nd of November, 2019, Landed at OR Tambo and remembered to send the ROAMOFF sms at exactly, 09:20 hours in the morning. I only got the confirmation in the afternoon at 15:53. So I was stuck, I could not make calls (including 082111-to get assistance from Vodacom). Little did I know that i also could not receive calls, so when I got to my complex gate I realised that the gate is not getting through to me to let my shuttle in. Luckily the one option was able to open for me. So, I get home and call Vodacom from my other Vodacom line. I was told that it is because the sms I had sent had not gone through. So, at 11:31 I was told to send another one. But the phone was still not working. I went through the usual restarting, switching off and on after 5 minutes, then switching off and on after hour. Still the phone said my "number does not exist" to those who tried to call me and to me it said "not registered to the network". Now what, try it in another phone maybe your phone has a problem or try your sim in another phone maybe your sim card has a problem. (to me, if the sim is not working the system should have a better message than you are not registered, also if my phone is not working why will the system say you are not registered or number does not exist). So after all these, I am told well we have put it to the back office and so it may take an hour or so but sorry back office does not work on weekends. So, i was ready to put all on hold till Monday morning. Luckily later on the same day my phone rang and was excited to have it before Monday. All good and fine Vodacom is really trying to give a smooth service.

Friday the 8th of November, 2019, I headed towards KZN. Sometime in the evening I discover that my phone has the same error. "This number does not exist" to callers and "not registered on the network" to me when I call. I was stuck again as I could not even contact 082111. Mid morning Sunday I report the fault. So I go through the the usual, steps, syncronising on the system, switching on and off waiting 5 minutes and one hour and eventually getting told about the same back office that does not work on weekends but will attend to it on Monday morning first thing. I asked to speak to a Manager, was was told no managers around, so I ask for a supervisor but only one was available but in a session. I insist on speaking to them but was not successful. Surprisingly , I still believed the Monday story, I guess its because the previous weekend it had been fixed earlier (or rather it fixed itself earlier) so I was hopeful. 16:30 Monday the 11th, I call 082111 and refuse to speak to the person who took my call but asked to speak to the manager. Mangers knocked off at 15:00 I was told. Ok, so who is around, I ask, only supervisor , I was told. After 15 minutes SK comes on line and takes me through the same steps as on Sunday. After a lengthy chat during which I simply was not interested in anything but to know when I will get the service back, he then told me he has to find out who has the job at the back office and find out how long it will take them to fix the problem. What! I exclaimed, you mean you are not even started? No mam that is all I can do for you? And so I ask, how long roughly? I was told it usually takes 5-7 working days. I seriously did not expect this from Vodacom. Is this just for me or others have experienced the same? Is this the Vodacom way? Do they really take time to find out the route-cause of the errors or they just depend on shear luck? Same system fault within exactly 7 days. One was blamed on roaming the other I surely did not need to roam in KZN.