Vodacom the Worst

On 23 April I posted the following complaint about the failure of Vodacom to respond to my complaints:

"On 2 April I received an automated voice message from Vodacom that my telephone account for March was not paid and that I should indicate when I would make a payment. I immediately checked my bank account and noted that a payment had in fact been made on 24 March for the March account, A copy of the proof of payment is available. The bank account used for the payment was the same one that we use monthly for this bill for a number of years. I subsequently phoned customer care services and after a long and arduous discussion with a representative, I was told to forward the proof of payment to ********** At the time I told the agent that it was a pointless exercise as Vodacom has a strict rule neither to read nor to respond to e-mails. Nevertheless, I proceeded to do as requested. On 9 April a message urging me to make a payment. To add insult to injury I received my next account indicating that I was in arrears. Well, I am used to the useless service of Vodacom and posted on one of their websites about the incident but received no response. I also contacted the Facebook page of Vodacom setting out my woes. I know of no government department that cares less about its customers than Vodacom. I am so sick and tired of always having to put up a fight to get anywhere.

On 16 April the service of both my wife and myself was cut off. I went into a Vodashop and paid the same account for the second time. Somewhere, the payment of 24 March is still floating on the unallocated payments of Vodacom. I presume I have also been reported to the credit companies as a bad payer. In any event since 9 April, I have forwarded the proof of payment to three different agents of Vodacom all to no avail as I actually knew would happen.

I was actually phoned by one of the Vodacom agents that I picked up on FB after I sent the proof of payment to him. He indicated that my account number starts with an I (Capital I). Previously the system did not distinguish between I(capital i) and 1. My account was registered on the standard bank account as 1 instead of I (capital i). Recently the systems were changed and the difference then became relevant and is supposed to be the reason why my payment was not picked up ala this agent. He promised that I would be phoned by Vodacom on the same day or at the worst the next day to confirm that the payment was allocated correctly. My low expectations of Vodacom caused me to not expect this confirmation to be done and I was not surprised when this did not happen. The amount paid by me on 24 March remains unallocated to my credits and I can find no one at Vodacom who is willing to attend to the finding of the payment and the correct allocation thereof. I know of no other company in South Africa with such poor customer service including government departments."

I had a call from a guy by the name of Mervin the very same day informing me that due to the fact that it was late in the day he would phone me again the next day. Mervin did, in fact, call me the next day and promised that I would receive confirmation in the next 24 hours that my payment has been correctly allocated. Since then only deathly silence. If I could vote against Vodacom in coming elections I would do so.