Vodacom - Woodlands Pretoria

On Sunday morning, 15 April, I’d realised I that I had a few Rands left of airtime (airtime and data are never-lasting at Vodacom) and on Sunday decided to purchase some in order to send a friend a text message. Once airtime was purchased it came up to R41.00. The airtime generally vanishes quickly, but time was shocking because the R41.00 was done within 3 minutes. I could not send the message. I called a consultant from Vodacom, who was friendly and tried to assist by instructing me to proceed to my settings, etc. in an effort to minimise risk of vanishing data/airtime. We were unable to do it, but he directed me to the closest Vodacom store for assistance, saying that they would be able to assist in anyway they could. I went to the Woodlands branch in Pretoria and after waiting for a so-called technician named Cyril Sambo, who I was told had gone to the bathroom, it became apparent that he had not since I waited for him for 25 minutes at the store while he was God knows where (it was past 09:00 in the morning, not lunchtime). After he decided to grace us with his presence, was the most unfriendly, uninterested and unhelpful individual I had ever encountered at Vodacom. He barely greeted me and after looking at my phone for less than 1 minute told me there was nothing that could be done because my phone was eating the data. This information I had already gotten from the consultant I spoke with earlier. He offered no advice, no information or suggestion. Ultimately his grand plan was that I not use the data. Which is ridiculous. He then dismissed me. I explained that the consultant had mentioned looking into my settings to assist with data saving measures or anything. He said ‘No’ there’s nothing one can do in settings, he said he had done this countless times and he (in that 1 minute) had done ALL he could do for me. I was upset by his insensitivity and disinterest and decided to call the Vodacom customer care in front of him. The consultant I spoke to was friendly and tried to work with me (at one point even speaking with unfazed and uninterested Cyril), at the end she apologised for the inconvenience with my airtime, apologised for Cyril’s behaviour (who could not be bothered to do the same) and explained to me which ways I could save my data and airtime. This is all I’d wanted an explanation, some information. I got nothing from Cyril Sambo. After I spoke to the consultant, I was able to switch off certain consuming settings and purchased my data. The employment rate is incredibly high in SA, if Cyril Sambo does not want a job, then he should resign and the job can be given to someone more competent and willing because I found him to be a useless contributor to the store.