Vodacom's sound of silence

<p>I am extremely unhappy with the service that I have received from Vodacom the past few days.</p> <p> </p> <p>On Thursday 15 June 2017, my phone was hacked. I received a phone call from a stranger asking a strange question and I immediately put the phone down. Thereafter I received an sms telling me that a sim swop has been activated on my number. I tried phoning 082 111 but I had to hold on and on and on without anything happening. I then tried logging onto my Vodacom account on the internet, because by that time whomever hacked my phone has already bought data on my number. I could not log in as the website said it was experiencing technical difficulties.</p> <p>On Thursday evening, I again phoned 082 111 and spoke to a guy named Lance. He informed me that he is locking my number so that the person can’t do anything with it, but that I will have to go to a Vodacom shop to have another sim swop done the next day. On Friday, I went to a Vodacom shop, informed the lady of what happened and she issued a new sim. For which I had to pay – although this was not even my fault and the reason for the swop was stated as *****. She told me to wait until the next day to phone 082 111 again and to do the following: 1) Ask the person to unlock my number and 2) flag my number for security purposes because ***** has been committed. The following day (Saturday) I did just that and the lady (Fatima) said it will take between 24 and 48 hours until my phone starts working again. I gave her my wife’s cellphone number so that a message could be sent to notify me of this. It has now been more than 48 hours; my phone is still not working and we haven’t received a message.</p> <p>I just phoned 082 111 again. To my utmost frustration the lady I spoke to told me that she can’t do anything from her side because ***** has been committed with my number and that I would have to phone ********** tomorrow morning 08:00. WHY is my phone still not working? By the way, I suddenly was able to send and receive whatsapps between yesterday evening and this morning, but now nothing is working. I kept on telling the lady that my phone is not working at all but she just kept on saying I have to phone that number.</p> <p>So, I colled 082 111 AGAIN. Spoke to a guy named Jeremy, who also told me that they can’t do anything because of the ***** being committed. My question is: How on earth was someone *******ly able to hack my number in a number of minutes, but I myself am not able to get my own phone for which I pay every month to just work again after four days? Now suddenly nothing can be done over the phone? Where was that safety measures when my number was being hacked? AGAIN I was presented with a different story (the third one up to now). According to Jeremy I have to go to a Vodacom shop again and not leave the shop until my phone has been activated. How is it possible that each of your consultants and store employees have different stories and give me different directions?</p> <p> </p> <p>I demand the following:</p> <p>I want my phone to be working on Tuesday 20 June 2017</p> <p>I want to be refunded for the money I had to pay for the sim swop</p> <p>I want to be refunded for the data that was *******ly bought on my number</p> <p>I also want four (or more) days’ worth of service to be deducted from my next account – as I am currently paying for a service I don’t have</p> <p> </p> <p>I am DEEPLY disappointed in Vodacom. I’ve been a loyal customer for at least 16 years and cannot believe that I am being treated like this. I WILL be taking this further if I don’t get satisfactory reaction.</p>