Vodacom - Unacceptable Service Experience

<p>I have been a customer of Vodacom close to 20 years. I have been very loyal and have even been an advocate for them. </p> <p>Last year December I had a problem with Vodacom and charges on my account and the subsequent poor customer service I received in trying to get it resolved. The issue was eventually sorted out.</p> <p>At the beginning of May this year I phoned Vodacom to find out if I qualify for an upgrade, to which the operator confirmed I do. He proceeded to assist me with ordering the phone telephonically. I decided on a S+ contract, a Samsung Galaxy 7 edge that came with the Samsung Gear Fit 2. Not once did he tell me that the Gear Fit 2 was discontinued, and proceeded to confirm my order.</p> <p>I was very impressed when I received my order the following Tuesday (order placed on Thursday). I was really looking forward to my new phone and especially my fitness watch. When I opened the boxy however, I was disappointed to say the least. I received my phone, but instead of the Gear Fit 2, they sent me a Gear VR. I am no gamer so would have absolutely no need for this.</p> <p>I immediately phoned the call centre and they said that they would get the courier company (RAM) to come and collect it. They would then reverse the order and then reissue ensuring that the watch was included. I had to return the Gear VR as well as the Galaxy 7 edge.</p> <p>Two days later I had not heard from RAM (Vodacom said they would call to confirm collection), so phoned Vodacom upgrades again. I had to repeat the entire story to the operator. The operator then said that they will log a service request and get RAM to collect and ensure that the order was reversed (this was confirmed already on my previous call, but clearly was not done).</p> <p>Two weeks past, a number of follow-ups to Vodacom, and Ram eventually collected the parcel.</p> <p>Another few days passed and I called Vodacom upgrades again. I was passed from pillar to post yet again and had to repeat the story every time. I asked the Operator what the status was and when I would receive my new order. The operator informed me firstly that the order had not been reversed and that it was not loaded on the system, and again had to send a service request to have it reversed. I was also informed that the Gear Fit 2 was discontinued and that they would not be in a position to assist me with this. I told them to cancel the order and that I would be closing my account with Vodacom in August (contract expires then). The operator in the interim loaded a service request (apparently). The operator also informed me that I would get an sms once this order had been reversed, confirming that it had been finalised. She said it would take between 24 and 48 hours to get this sms. This call took place on Thursday, 18 May 2017. By Tuesday this week (23 May 2017), well past the 48 hour mark, I had still not received the sms or any contact from Vodacom.</p> <p>I called upgrades again to find out what was going on, to which I was told no service request had been logged and that they would have to do it again. At this point (after being very patient), I got frustrated and told the operator that she was now the umpteenth person I have spoken to, who has told me a service request would need to be loaded. She again said she would follow-up and get them to send me the sms asap.</p> <p>Yesterday morning I phoned 111 again and followed the prompts to upgrades, to see if the order had been reversed and that I now qualify for a new upgrade. To my shock, it indicated that my next upgrade date would be in February 2019!!!!!! I was upgraded with no device, which I now would have to pay for.</p> <p>I called upgrades yet again and was finally given a reference number. The operator got me to hold on while she spoke to her manager to get the reversal expedited to allow me to upgrade the same day. The manager confirmed that she could go ahead with the immediate reversal. The operator then confirmed that the reversal had been done and that I could either order online, with her or at a store. I asked her explicitly to confirm that there would be no problems when I went to a store to upgrade, and that the store would know that I could upgrade. To which she rep**** – there will be no problem and that I will definitely get my upgrade. She told me to tell the store that although the system shows that the order had not been reversed, it (the system) would still accept the request for the upgrade in store. All they (the store) had to do was hit the upgrade button.</p> <p>I phoned Vodacom 4 U in Woodlands Mall, Pretoria and spoke to Ebert, who said that he had stock available of the Samsung S8 as well as the new Samsung Galaxy Gear S3 Frontier on the Smart S+ package. He said that he would complete all the paperwork so that all I need do when I collect it later that day was sign for it.</p> <p>I went to the store at 18:30 last night. Ebert checked the system and it indicated that there was no upgrade due. I explained the situation (yet again). I told him that the operator said he should just hit the upgrade button and the system would accept the upgrade.</p> <p>Surprise surprise, the system rejected Ebert’s attempts to do an upgrade. He has promised to sort the issue out this morning, but unfortunately their system is down due to a power failure in the area.</p> <p>I’m not holding my breath that the issue will be resolved.</p> <p>In the meantime I am sitting with a new contract till February 2019, with no phone or watch to show for it.</p> <p>It is shocking that a company like Vodacom firstly has no proper communication systems in place (departments don’t know what the other does), the customer has to constantly follow-up with them, no follow-through on promises made, systems that are offline due to power failures (surely as a cell phone provider you provide your stores with wireless wifi systems for this kind of eventuality?). The list goes on.</p> <p>This is completely unacceptable. Vodacom is meant to be the leading cell phone provider – I personally do not think so anymore. </p> <p>I am disappointed, frustrated and am seriously considering closing my account with them in August (after 20 odd years). Amazing how arrogant the big players become – they are so on the ball when they want new business, but the old, loyal customers are treated badly.</p> <p>Monopolies crumble eventually – I have seen it happen with many businesses. So Vodacom should not think they are all that. There is only so much a customer can take until they have had enough – I am at that point now.</p> <p>Shame on you Vodacom – you should be ashamed of yourselves.</p> <p> </p>