Vodacom's customer care is literally non-existent

<p>I have had a very small issue at vodacom for the last 4 months: The sms's with regards to my data usage is not being sent to me, but to someone else.<br /><br />Abit more detail:<br />My cell contract has been in my mother's name for quite a while even though i paid it. I then became a young working adult, and moved the contract over to my name, yet the sms's regarding my data usage continued to be sent to her number.<br /><br />This sounds like a small issue but has become a big pain:<br /><br />ISSUE 1<br />*The first time I phoned i was told the issue was sorted. It wasn't<br /><br />*The second time I phoned i was told the issue was sorted. It wasn't<br /><br />*The third time I phoned, i asked to escalate the problem, and within a few days i was contacted telling me the problem had been solved and it was...for a few days.<br /><br />* I ignored the problem for a while until one day I ran out of data , and subsequently, all my airtime for the month.<br /><br />ISSUE 2<br />* I again phoned in december, but when prompted if i was calling with a new or existing issue, i chose the existing issue, but was told that the call centre is unavailable, but if i called in with a new issue, I got an answer. Everytime i called since i have tried this option first but with the same result.<br /><br />ISSUE 3<br />* I told the woman i was speaking to, to please escalate the problem again, and she told me that the problem would be sorted within 24-48h<br /><br />*I phoned back 3 days later by another customer care agent that i was misinformed and that it would take 5-7 working days and that there is nothing she can do about it, i must just wait. So I did<br /><br />ISSUE 4<br />*I phoned again more than a week later, just to be told that the enquiry has not been opened yet, and they forwarded my call to the solutions desk. <br /><br />ISSUE 5<br />*The person at the solution desk asked me to turn of my phone for 2 minutes and turn it back on, and he will phone me back in 10 minutes, so that he can monitor my cellular service or signal. He never phoned back<br /><br />ISSUE 6<br />*Today i spent 15 minutes waiting for someone to answer the phone. I then explained this story again, the my escalated complaint still hadn't been attended to, and i was forwarded to the solutions desk once again. After re-explaining the story again(25min into the call) I was told that the issue has been fixed. After 4 months of dealing with this issue, i could not believe it was so easy, so i asked if the agent was sure. He confirmed , but never gave me any indication that he would follow up and make sure that the problem was fixed. Yet again, the problem is still not fixed.<br /><br />ISSUE 7 <br />I asked if they have a complaints dept, but was told to email them. I asked to speak to someone in person but was told unless i had an issue with a particular dept. or person, i have to send an email. I went onto their website to double check what the email address was, i got this message:<br />"Please note, that in line with Vodacom's aim to respond to customers' queries quicker, we have temporarily replaced the email function. To get in contact with us, please call our Customer Care on 082 111 or select the 'Contact us' option to view additional contact details"<br /><br />ISSUE 8<br />I then thought that i should try the online chat, but got this responce:<br />"Hello,</p> <p>The ‘Click to chat’ service is currently unavailable.</p> <p>Need help? Please call Customer Care on 082 111, FREE from a Vodacom cellphone."<br /><br /><br />IN SUMMARY<br />Vodacom forwarding my balance details to someone else, not only without my consent, but even with my strict instructions not to do so.</p> <p>I have also suffered a substantial amount of financial loss due to loosing large amounts of airtime because my data is depleted without Vodacom notifying me, and my airtime being depleted as a result. I have continually gotten contradicting information from their customer care, and have wasted a large amount of time trying to get this problem solved but to no avail. <br /><br />Can anyone reffer me to someone that I can talk to to address these issues, or should I just make peace with it and phone Cell C's customer care?</p> <p><br /><br /></p>