Vodacom One Number - Negatively Affecting the Apple User Expedience

I am a decades long Apple user and Vodacom customer. Received on the 2 October 2024 a new Apple Watch series 10 (GPS + Cellular model). Set up quickly the watch via the Watch app on my iPhone 14 Pro and was using Apple Pay on the watch by the next day. However it was a different story with regard to the Vodacom One Number. When I tried to register for Vodacom One Number via the iPhone Watch app, the setup was unsuccessful and received message - “Could not Set Up Mobile Service Open the Apple Watch app to finish setting up mobile service”.

After not being able to set up my watch to make and receive phone calls without my iPhone contacted Vodacom by phone and was advised on the 3 October to go to a Vodacom shop. Went to Eastgate and sat with a lady in the Vodacom shop who stated she needed to cancel my initial One Number application and to create another. She told me after about an hour all will be in place to complete the set up. Stayed in the Shopping Centre to return to the Vodacom shop after over an hour to ensure correct set up. On return to the shop was told at the Tech Bar that my current Vodacom contract for my iPhone did not qualify for One Number so they could not help me! Naturally was dejected after driving several km to the store after being directed by Vodacom to visit a store, and hanging around for over an hour in the shopping Centre. On return home the person at Vodacom who in the morning had advised that I needed to go to a Vodacom shop contacted me late afternoon by phone to see if all was now in order. After I explained my experience he apologized about the poor service from the Vodacom Eastgate shop. He informed me that my current sim only contract with Vodacom for my iPhone certainly did qualify to have One Number for my Apple watch. He informed me he would call back after further investigation.

A few days later after no one called me back from Vodacom so called on the 8 October to Vodacom and was told by a lady that my sim only package for my iPhone certainly qualified to obtain One Number. Went to another Vodacom shop in Rosebank that day to set up my Apple Watch for One Number. On arrival at the shop they appeared to be more helpful than at Eastgate. However a lady at the Tech Bar took my watch into a back room and then told me that my new Apple watch was not the cellular model that’s why I could not set up my watch. I showed her the invoice that it indeed was the cellular model as confirmed in the Watch app on my iPhone, on my Apple watch in About (in Settings) and from the Watch model number via a Google search. She then tried to go through the Watch app setup as I had tried previously. She assured me that my Vodacom sim only contract for my iPhone was valid for One Number and eventually she wrote out a service request and I then received via an sms a service ticket with ref number and that Feedback would be provided within four (4) days.

So now one week in to trying to set up my new Apple watch for One Number. On return home conducted some Google searches and noted the poor service several others had documented with regard to setting up an Apple Watch for Vodacom One Number and also complaints about the poor service provided by staff at the Vodacom Eastgate shop.

Now Thursday 17 October over two weeks after trying to set up my Apple watch for One Number and several days without feedback after the Vodacom sms on the 8 October which stated that feedback would be provided within four days.

My experience with all aspects of the Apple Watch series 10 has been very satisfactory apart from what can only be classed as appalling customer support by Vodacom for the watch. Considering the company Vodacom was launched some 30 years ago in South Africa in 1994 and their One Number service was launched over five years ago, why are they still offering such poor customer support?

It would appear that a large retraining program on One Number by Vodacom is required to address serious issues in their customer support. The company should also arrange an outside audit, perhaps by Apple, with the aim to generate recommendations to improve their services for Apple products as they are currently negatively affecting the Apple user experience.