Vodacom Service - What Service???

Dear Sir

I have been a Vodacom customer ever since cell phones started in South Africa – that is quite a long time ago.

I am afraid that the service levels at Vodacom are sadly lacking.

21 June 2021

• I received an unsolicited call from a Vodacom Saleslady – offering an upgrade on cell number ***. Seeing that the iPhone on this number has long reached its sell by date, I agreed to a new iPhone SE upgrade.

24 June 2021

• RAM Couriers duly delivered the phone. After having gone through the specifications and having read several on-line reviews, I realised that this was not the type of phone that I wanted. Having been assured during the sales process that I could cancel the upgrade within 14 days, I immediately phoned *** to cancel. Lerato, the consultant, assured me that she had logged the cancellation on the system and that RAM would be collecting the phone within 7 – 14 working days. My immediate reaction was – why so long? It didn’t take so long to deliver the phone.

13 July 2021

• 14 working days had passed and not a word from neither Vodacom nor RAM. I phoned *** and Lerato assisted me again. She informed me that RAM Couriers had not even been instructed to collect the phone and that she would immediately escalate it to the back office. She also promised to phone me back to inform me of the progress of my query.

14 July 2021

• No phone call received – so I phoned *** again. I think this time I spoke to Prudence. She told me she that she would escalate the matter (again) and cc her Team-Leader. She also assured me that the Team-Leader would phone me before the end of the day.

15 July 2021

• Guess what – still no phone call – neither from Consultant nor from Team-Leader. Phoned *** again. The consultant (did not get his name) assured me that he would escalate it and cc his Team-Leader. He also promised to phone me with feedback. When I inquired why it was so difficult to get hold of anyone, I was told the only thing they could do @ *** is to communicate via email and the rest is then up to backroom and management.

16 July 2021

• Still no phone call. Are your staff trained to ignore the plight of their customers or is it beneath management to talk to the customers? I am in the service industry and with respect, if I delivered this type of shoddy service, I would have been fired a long time ago by my clients. All this while I am saddled with the increased payment for services that I do not want.

Please, is there someone out there at Vodacom willing to take ownership of this problem and sort it out asap?

This is the email that I have sent to the CEO of Vodacom. The absolute lack of care for their customers is very disturbing. Their service sucks. If I could give minus stars I would, but unfortunately the system does not allow this.