Vodacom Remotely Locked my Phone

Even though I'm on a Vodacom contract, Vodacom remotely locked my phone, with the message "Your smartphone has been locked. To unlock it, please pay the outstanding Easy2Own bill at any Vodacom store." I can't see my messages, do my banking, use my authentication app, get my photos off, or do anything - I've lost everything. I didn't even know what Easy2Own was until this happened, as I said, I'm on a contract and Vodacom debit's my bank account each month.

I called customer service (135) multiple times, each +-30 minutes long wait. Each time I got a different response with no solution. The last time I called, I was told to go to a store, which I did, only to be told that they can do nothing, and I need to contact customer service. I did so in store - another 45 minutes on the phone to say that they will escalate and I must wait 24-48 hours and they will send me an SMS with reference number. I didn't received the SMS. I still don't know what is going on. I have no phone, no way to let people know I can't contact them, nothing.

Vodacom seems to just not care - customer service is just appalling! It appears that others have experienced similar - with Samsung phones recently.

There is a bit of a coincidence that might have come into their system mess-up: I upgraded a few months ago from a phone contract to a SIM only contact - the exact same uChoose Flexi contract, but continued to pay my handset installment till the end of the 24 months. 27 June 2024 was the end date, 28 June they locked the phone.

So it basically looks like that if buy have a Samsung phone, you have it for the contract period, and then they lock it so you can't ever use it again, forcing you to spend money on an new phone. Don't buy a Samsung phone from Vodacom.