Vodacom Poor Service

<p>Dear Vodacom,</p> <p> </p> <p>I am amazed at the lengths that a customer has to go to get a problem resolved, you have definitely lost your ability to be a customer centric business.</p> <p> </p> <p>Firstly as I customer I should have a range of methods that I could utilize to log a complaint, this is generally treating customers fairly.</p> <p>I see that Vodacom has decided that email is not a form of communication or the www.yellosa.co.za web platform were you submit complaints and hear nothing back. (Logged on the 21st of October)</p> <p> </p> <p>My complaint,</p> <p> </p> <p>I went to the Grove Vodacom shop on the 6th of October to upgrade my account ( ********** 120) and was offered a package deal (Samsung s7 and a Samsung tablet on a data contract), I accepted this offer as I was under the impression that the data contract would be included in the advertised price of “R680.00”</p> <p>Firstly I had to pay for a new SIM card as the phone only takes a nano SIM, then I had to pay for the SIM for the tablet, the usual hidden costs that Vodacom doesn’t seem to place in the fine print of you adverti*****ts, surely this is not allowed by the consumer protection act.</p> <p> </p> <p>The next day the tablet was activated and to my surprise I started receiving direct marketing, something I did not sign up for unless its somewhere on the 20 odd times I had to sign in your branch with no real explanation from your staff as to what I am signing for however I do remember clearly that at no stage was I asked to opt in for direct marketing.</p> <p> </p> <p>Then I started to receive phone calls, this took me by surprise as surely no one but me would have this number, but it gets better then I receive threating SMS from debt collectors for this number they phone relentlessly and I now have the phone on silent permanently as the call day and night, the best is the SMS contains all the information of the client that they are trying to get a hold off, this would be in contravention of POPI as it is your responsibility to not hand out an existing number that was active to a new client for whatever reason.</p> <p> </p> <p>I also then received an SMS from Vodacom to state that my account would be debited with R97.00 rand for what …….</p> <p> </p> <p>Based on the above I tried to get it resolved by your company however after initially logging a complaint on the 21st of October on www.yellosa.co.za which was supposed to route my complaint to head office I heard nothing, I then decided that by the 26th of October you should have resolved this query, I then dialed ********** advertised as complaints number on the internet and was transferred from department to department not even being told were I was being transferred to eventually I got through to a lady by the name of Tebego, after a 25.23 minute conversation with her in which she told me they do not have access to see my complaint that it would be best to log a new complaint and that I would wait 5 days to hear back on my complaint, I told her this was not acceptable as my original complaint was logged on the 21st of October, she then promised to investigate and call me back at 13:00 the same day providing me a reference ********** 66, I asked her that should I need to get a hold of her again which number should I dial and she informed me that I should dial 082 111 and that the reference number would help to get back to her.</p> <p> </p> <p>No surprise when I did not hear back from Tebogo</p> <p> </p> <p>On the 22nd of October I then dialed 082 111 at 08:36 and was informed that the reference number is for the call and not for my complaint and that I would have to start the process again at which point I requested to speak to a team leader, Lehlohonolo Mosoeunyae took over the call and I explained my situation and level of unhappiness and was informed I was at the wrong department an I need to speak to the solutions department, not happy but clearly not getting helped I was transferred to solutions they then informed me they can’t help me and that I need to speak to retention, again with hesitation I am transferred.</p> <p> </p> <p>I then got through to Tebogo, who at first also told me I was in the wrong department, I then asked to speak to his team leader after 15minutes of holding Tebogo comes back to me and tells me that he is going to solve my challenges, he has requested that the department that does the SIM cards will call me within 48 hours to fix my challenge and that should a new SIM be necessary it would be delivered to me and they most likely will just change the number on the existing SIM card and that I would not have to do anything.</p> <p> </p> <p>I then asked Tebogo how Vodacom would now reimburse me for the now 2 hours on the phone and the harassment I am receiving on my Data contract from people I do not owe money to and the fact that my trust in your company has forever been eroded, he offered me 500mb per month and CLIP for free which I thought I fare enough and thanked him for his time and asked that should I have challenges can I phone him, he said no problem and provided me with ********** .</p> <p> </p> <p>On the 28th I received a phone call from ********** and was told that he cannot help me with the SIM swop as it’s a new contract and I need to go into the branch and log a request which would take 16 days I stopped the agent at this point and stated that he should speak to Tebogo and understand why I refuse to go into a branch as this was not caused by me the client but by Vodacom. He then said I have to speak to him and ended the call.</p> <p> </p> <p>I then phoned ********** on the 31st October and spoke to Thabo, who told me that Tebogo works in JHB…. And that I should call the JHB office to get a hold of him, I then asked him how will the phone know that I need to go through to JHB if there is no option and he said keep trying till you get through, I then also asked to speak to a team leader, Brian then informed me that he will send an email to the Team Leaders in Jhb (Andries and Portia) and I will receive feedback by the end of the day, I am still waiting to hear from Vodacom.</p> <p> </p> <p>I am shocked at how you treat your customers that we should be honored to be your client and that complaints departments don’t seem to exist in your company as why would anyone complain as the leading contract provider.</p> <p> </p> <p>I would really like to know what Vodacom will do to retain me as a client I give you 30 days before I close my accounts with your business, And do not think that you will keep me liable for a 24 month contract as the above will detail that you have no interest in solving customer complaints and that should you take this opinion I would refer the matter to the ombudsman to state that no client should have to endure the above to get a complaint resolved.</p> <p> </p> <p>You will have to come up with a lot more that 500mb of data which is hopefully already loaded on my account.</p> <p> </p> <p>Hoping to hear from my dear Vodacom, however I know that It will never happen and I will just close my accounts at the end of the month.</p>