Vodacom out to entrap South African consumers

<p>I've being a loyal Vodacom customer since I started working in 2000 and have signed contracts with Vodacom for the last 12 years. However, with the recent competitiveness in the mobile market, I have decided that it's time to switch to an alternative service provider as Vodacom's pricing structure is non-competitive.</p> <p><br /> Being self-employed, it's absolutely imperative that I retain my cell phone number by porting the number to the new service provider. Sounds easy, but was I in for a shock and surprise thanks to Vodacom.</p> <p> </p> <p>I enquired about porting my number with Vodacom to MTN a few months ago and was informed that I have to wait for my contract to expire so that I could be placed as a prepaid customer. The contract I sign with Vodacom in April 2014 expired in June2016. On the 8th of June 2016, I spoke with a Vodacom consultant who informed me that I had to pay an extra month at the end of the contract. This means there were 25 payments on a 24 month contract. Against my will, I agreed to pay the 25th payment and gave specific instructions to have my cell phone number put on prepaid as I wanted to port the number to MTN. This was done in writing.</p> <p> </p> <p>The final payment to Vodacom went off my bank account as per normal. Then, on the 8th of July 2016, my number was converted to a prepaid number as per the instructions given. Vodacom at no point in time informed me that I would lose all of my minutes, data and SMS for July that I had paid for. To say I was shocked was a bit of an understatement. The positive side of this is that I thought I was free of Vodacom, or so I thought...<br /> <br /> I approached MTN to sign a new contract and have my prepaid number ported to the MTN network. Paperwork was filled out and the MTN staff told me that everything would be ready by for use by the 9th of July 2016. This has not been the case though.</p> <p> </p> <p>After numerous failed attempts to port my number to MTN, it has been discovered that during my last Vodacom contract, my number was moved to a "new Vodacom system". Porting is not possible on this new system. This has been verified by Vodacom staff at a Vodacom shop in Milnerton. MTN is doing everything in their power to have my number ported successfully but Vodacom's systems are preventing this from happening.</p> <p> </p> <p>This experience has left a very bitter taste in my mouth towards Vodacom. It is also ******** to prevent a prepaid number with no outstanding amounts owed from being ported to alternative network. I feel that Vodacom is out to ***** the consumer’s money and monopolise the mobile telecommunications market by forcing consumers to remain with Vodacom if they need to retain their cell phone number.<br /> <br /> If anyone in Vodacom is reading this and would like to communicate with me to resolve the problem and potentially save face, they are welcome. Irrespective of any outcome, I do not and will not recommend the Vodacom network to anybody due to it's poor services, high prices and bad policies which affect the consumer.</p> <p> </p> <p>Sincerely</p> <p> </p> <p>Peter</p> <p> </p>