Vodacom's incompetence and worst customer Service.

So here is my ordeal with the wonderful Vodacom-SA.

On the 8th of September 2020, I decided that maybe I should cancel one of my numbers with Vodacom as I no longer need the number as it was a previous upgrade where Vodacom offered a Cell phone extra with Sim and Airtime with the deal I took. I contacted their Cancelations department with the intend to cancel the contract. The wonderful agent was sure to ask me if I am sure that I want to cancel the contract, now here I must admit in a moment of weakness I doubted myself and decided I'll upgrade the number to a Data with Laptop offer.

The process was smooth and quick so I decided to upgrade my other numbers that was also due for upgrade the same time due it being quick and easy. 4 Contracts upgrade in just a couple of minutes.. Yay. Was informed by the agent that I would be contacted the next day just to confirm my orders. Next day came Orders was confirmed and was told delivery will be between 2 to 5 Working days, but I will receive an sms before delivery. Friday the 11th of September 2020 two of the upgrades arrived (no SmS informing me of delivery), but no Laptop. So I'm like they did say 2 to 5 working day so I can expect the delivery the next week.

On the 16th of September 2020 I contact Vodacom as the laptop was still not received, just to be informed that the Laptop is on back-order and it can take up to 4 weeks for them to receive stock. My first question was why wasn't I informed about this when they confirmed my order or even when I did the upgrade? Now of course this is where you get the very generic apology " sorry for the inconvenience caused and you should have been informed of this". So I accept it and wait patiently for my laptop to be delivered being it a week or four, but I'll have to wait.

Fast forward to the 25th of September 2020, I finally receive my laptop(this time SMS was received prior to delivery). I'm currently working for home and didn't open the package immediately because I want to enjoy setting the laptop up without feeling guilty of not doing my work first. Six ' o clock I open the package the Sim card the Router and the laptop is there. I cut the seal open on the laptop and notice the Model number. The model number is different to what is on my delivery note but the serial number is the same as the unit I have. I immediate phone customer care to inform them that I received the incorrect laptop, response from the agent "no problem we will arrange collection of the incorrect laptop and it will take 2 to 5 working days for collection to happen". So now I'm waiting again.

Fast forward to the 5th October 20205 no collection has occurred, so once again I contact Vodacom Customer Care, go through the process of what happened and that I'm waiting for collection of the incorrect Laptop. Agent informs me that I had 7 days to arrange pick-up if I was not happy with the "incorrect laptop" as there was no pick-up arranged or mentioned on their system. Explained that I informed them of the problem on the day I received it (25th of September 2020). Agent tells me they will have to go and listen to the recordings to verify and will contact me within 15 minutes. 20 Minutes later I receive a call back they found the recording and acknowledges that I did contact them with in the 7 days that I had in fact received the incorrect laptop and wanted to return it, and will arrange collection through Ram couriers.

I receive a call on the 6th of October 2020 from Vodacom after explaining my ordeal on Facebook messenger also. Being again informed that no pick-up request was sent through and they will send it through to Vodacom's Back-office department. I clearly state my frustration with their incompetence and ask what the process forward would be? Agent informs me that the collection will take 2 to 5 working days then when Vodacom receives it they will inspect it and that can take a further 2 to 7 working days and they will then contact me if they decide to pass credit for the incorrect laptop as the laptop's box seal was not intact anymore. The last statement surprised me as I nowhere mentioned to the agent that the seal was opened by myself before I realized it was the incorrect model laptop, yet they had no information of me logging a call for the collection of the laptop. I left this strange comment and didn't go into the contradicting information I was receiving from the agent. I then made the statement that in worse case scenario I'll have to wait to weeks before I'll be able to get information of when I will receive my original order, to which the agent immediate responded that I was wrong in my assumption, so I had to explain how maths works before losing my cool and putting the phone down in her ear.

7th Of October 2020 the incorrect laptop with sim card and modem is collected by Ram. I then once again contacted Vodacom out of my own on the 13th of October 2020 to find out if they have received the incorrect laptop that was collected by Ram and if so was there any feedback of when I can expect my correct laptop to be delivered. Later the day I'm contacted by the agent that originally assisted me with the upgrade to confirm with me my order and and he even went so far as to send me the quotation to confirm everything is correct with my order. While we busy on the phone he emails me the quotation to check. I check the quotation which states the correct model number of the laptop I ordered, but enquire why I have to pay R9.99 for CLIP(Caller Line Identity) if I'm taking a data contract and the Sim card will be in a Modem how would I see who's contacting me or want to? Agent tells me he will send through a request for it to be removed.

Fast forward to the 22nd of October 2020. I finally receive my order from Vodacom. I immediately open the box to confirm I have received the correct laptop, once again the incorrect laptop model was received and this time not even a sim card was included. And again the Delivery Note displays the correct model number with the incorrect Laptop model's serial number.

I immediately notified the returns department for collection to be arranged. First the agent asked me if I'm sure I'm reading the model number correctly and all hell breaks lose as I believe as a male of 41 years old I have mastered the art of reading numbers bet tween 0 and 10. Which apparently the employees who picked the first order and second order have not managed to do.

Friday the 14th of October 2020 once again contact Customer care to confirm that a collection has been arranged with Ram for the incorrect laptop as no confirmation could be supp**** by Vodacom's wonderful staff that handles their Facebook Messenger account. Once again I'm informed by the agent that no collection request was logged and that she will assist me with it.

As today 26th of October 2020 no communication or feedback from Vodacom has been initiated from their side, and only response I receive from them is "that they will supply me feedback when there is any and once again apologies for the inconvenience caused". Yet they don't understand they is still causing the inconvenience with the lack of Service and incompetence.

If you have read this far you either have also a problem with poor service from Vodacom or you're an Vodacom employee and need to resolve this bad review. If it's the first I wish you the best with their service. If you the lather I wish you also good luck as I don't see how you will able to restore my faith in Vodacom and get me to change my review.