VODACOM: *********, *****, ***********

Vodacom is totally *********. They are billing me more than R6590 for data roaming for 1 day while I was in Mozambique in December. I am not prepared to pay this as my data roaming was not supposed to be working. Because the data was used Vodacom gave me a discount of R2629. I disputed this as I believe I am not liable for this cost as I also have a cap of R150 on my account. The final decision by Vodacom is that I am still liable for this cost. My account have now been suspended . So Vodacom is expecting me to pay for their incompetency! I phoned Vodacom after suspension of my line and was told to pay the outstanding amount of R1409 (the amount excluding the disputed amount) and my line will be reinstated. I was told to phone the accounts department after payment to reinstate the line. When phoning them back I am told that they cannot reinstate the line as I must have an active dispute reference number. When lodging another complaint with Vodacom (after their final decision) I got a response from the customer care department stating: "Thank you for your email. Your reference number is: 003S~SCR4" to which I have not had a response as yet. I am now being told that this is not an active reference number and that I have to escalate the complaint again. I was also told in no uncertain terms by the Vodacom staff member that he does not believe that his colleque (Ms Dolly) would have told me this without informing me that I need an active dispute reference number.

After spending 2 hours on the phone, making payment and getting an active dispute reference number I was told that my line is being reactivated and that I will be able to use it again in 24 hours. It could be anything between 2-5 hours with the maximum being 24 hours. I phoned again after 16 hours and was told that the instruction to reactivate my line was done and that Vodacom cannot do another instruction. It is now 27 hours later. I phoned Vodacom again and was told that the line has not been reactivated. As it is now Saturday and accounts offices are closed I will have to wait until Monday! Unbelievable. *****, ***********, NO SERVICE, *********.