Vodacom's Internal Flaws

While Vodacom's online service really sucks, I will give credit to the staff at their physical stores, who are both friendly and knowledgeable.

This iis the 3rd and final installment in a query that was started 4 months ago. To recap briefly: I activated roaming on my phone before departing SA for Honduras, where I was going to be living and working, However, in the 3rd month of my trip, I discovered I could no longer make calls, nor send SMSs to South Africa from Honduras. And I had sufficient funds to do so.

I sent several emails to Vodacom, but it was only when I posted here, on this platform, that they responded. However, their response took the form of an email only, with no follow up, and no resolution to my issue. Hence, it was just an "imp****" assistance, to placate the customer, with no intention to resolve the issue..

Upon returning to SA earlier this week I discovered that I still had no service via my Vodacom SIM card. My thoughts towards that company are not repeatable.

So, I went straight from the airport to my local Vodacom store and explained the problem. They ran a few tests, which took about ten minutes - and told me my number had been "******" by somebody with a Samsung phone.

How did that happen? They couldn't say - but I assume it must be an inside job. Perhaps they were after my banking details?

They gave me a new card (same number) which cost R20, and I was able to resume normal service -3hours later when I inserted the newly activated card.

No thanks to Vodacom's online help center. But, full points to the local boys. Thank you!