"VODACOM" OR "WHAT A CON"?

<p>1. I'm on a Red Advantage contract - this equates to 700 minutes of free calls and unlimited smses. The subscription cost is R 1 317. 99 per month.</p> <p>2. Just so one gets a sense of my phone habits and usage, my call and data usage reflected in the bill I received in December 2016 was 80c. The bill for the month before that showed my call and data usage amounting to R1. 30.</p> <p>3. When I went to the Vodacom outlet at Midstream on 4 January 2017, I was advised that my phone had been soft-locked on 31 December 2016. My bill at that point was R 28 672. It included R 6 379. 08 for data usage on 27 Decmber 2016 and R 20 643. 16 for data usage on 28 December 2016. </p> <p>4. Besides being completely anamolous to my normal usage there are other problems with this account:</p> <p>4.1 Before I went on holiday abroad from 24 December 2016 till 3 January 2017, at no stage did I ask Vodacom to give effect to the roaming facility. I'm quite comfortable with "***gy-backing" on wifi in hotels and wherever else I can access it. I took over this contract from my previous employer. Then, I would always advise Vodacom when I was travelling abroad to effect the roaming facility. But, since I left that company I've never asked for the facility to be effected.</p> <p>4.2 The call list also implies that calls were made from Oman and on the same day also from Bermuda - a few thousand kilometres away. </p> <p>4.3 I've always been wary about bill shocks. Originally, the contract was required to be soft-locked as soon as the free minutes were used up. When I transferred the phone to my name it remained so. I later gave notice of a limit of R 100 on call and data usage. In September 2016 I asked Vodacom to increase my call and data usage limit to R 500 BUT ONLY FOR ONE MONTH. It was supposed to revert to R 100 in October 2016. Instead of R 500, Vodacom records show that the limit was set at R 853. 00 in September 2016. Even that incorrect limit is a far cry from the latest bill. And, apparently even the credit limit of R20700. 00 was exceeded. Their cop-out now is that they had set the call limit but not the data use limit. So, whose fault is it that they didn't take instructions clearly? </p> <p>4.4 Now, the bill is relayed as close to R 35 000. Yet, for most of January 2017, my phone has been soft-locked. Every day last week, I went in to the outlet, to have the phone unlocked - but I barely a few hours later it gets soft-locked again. </p> <p>4.5 This is despite Vodacom undertaking on 4 January 2017 (followed by two further requests being logged in this regard) to look at the complaint. On Thursday last week, I was told that Vodacom would revert to me within 5-7 days but that I would have full use of my phone in the meanwhile. Someone named Niyo promised yesterday that I would not have a problem again. Today, a completely unhelpful individual (first he said that his name was Quinton and then he said that that was not his name) said that I should pay an amount of R1 312.00 to get the phone unlocked (at the same time he also said that my account was not in arrears). He then passed the query to his supervisor who said that her name was Nombeko. She said that the request was declined and that I would first have to pay R 20 000 before the phone would be unlocked.</p> <p>5. Vodacom should not have effected the roaming facility and alternatively they should have soft-locked the phone once it reached the stipulated ceiling of R 100 of use. That it didn't do either makes them responsible for the inordinately high amount. And, If it won't unlock the phone by tomorrow morning then they might as well take their phone back and consider the contract cancelled.</p> <p>6. As a matter of interest, Vodacom supplies an email option for complaints - but one must only wonder why that option cannot be activated. And anyone wanting to phone them to complain would be better off leaving the phone on hold while watching a 5-day cricket test match. </p> <p> </p> <p> </p>