Vodacom's shocking inability to resolve my simple issues with them

I have signed a 24 month cell phone contract with Vodacom in September 2016. The package agreed on was Smart M.

Since around June 2018, I received various messages from Vodacom informing me that my upgrade was due any time from 01 July 2018 and I was invited to consider this.

A Vodacom Direct employee called me on 13 July 2018 and, cutting a long story short, his intentions were doubtful as I had to open a case of ***** as a new phone was acquired from Vodacom even though I never agreed to an upgrade or anything in this regard. The phone was even delivered at a false address, clearly for my account ! The case was investigated by Vodacom and they finally notified me that the “transaction” has been “reversed”. However, it seems that this event has consequently, led to a series of clumsy misunderstandings which undoubtedly exposed Vodacom Direct employees as, sadly, ***********. The following happened as a result:

In mid-July 2018 I received a SMS from Vodacom that my account has been debited with the amount of R1 915.51, which was probably linked to the ******* upgrade. I have made various, exceptionally frustrating, phone calls to Vodacom to take the matter up. Vodacom Direct could not resolve the incorrect "outstanding balance" on my account. I decided to wait and see if this amount was going to be deducted from my banking account as Vodacom clearly did not have the capacity to sort this out.

On 31 July 2018 I received a sudden series of sms's from Vodacom which made me suspicious and checking my balances on the Vodacom app. I noticed that all my balances (ie. data and call minutes, sms's) have been zeroed. In addition, I was out of town at that stage which made my situation extremely inconvenient. I spend the entire afternoon calling Vodacom and trying to find the "right" person to discuss the issue with. I was eventually told that I am being "switched back to your original contract, namely ... 167". This surprised me as I have never had a "previous" contract with Vodacom ! In fact, the Smart M was my very first and only contract with Vodacom as I have migrated from CellC to Vodacom for the first time in September 2016.

Cutting a long story short, a particular operator succeeded in migrating me back to Smart M the following day. Great was my surprise when the amount of R1 915.51 was deducted from my banking account on 01 August 2018 ! I had absolutely NO idea what this was for and again attempted, this time without any success at all, to have the matter resolved by Vodacom.

I approached a local Vodacom shop at Moffett-on-Main (Port Elizabeth) where the consultant logged a complaint with Vodacom Direct on my behalf. Eventually, days later, the amount of R1 089.77 was refunded to me by Vodacom. This was R825.74 short of the unauthorized amount deducted by Vodacom ! Further enquiries confirmed that my Vodacom account would be credited with the balance. This was and still is completely unacceptable to me as the deduction was unauthorized to begin with. However, I did not have the strength at the time to fight this issue as well ...

In the meantime I desperately attempted to upgrade my contract, as I was entitled to do so. However, the Vodacom consultant at Moffett-on-Main informed me that there is a block on the upgrade option (probably due to the "new package" which was NOT asked for/agreed to by me and therefore unauthorized and possibly *******). I can therefore not upgrade at this stage. The Vodacom shop consultant is still attempting, for the last three weeks, to have the block removed by Vodacom Direct to enable me to upgrade. To date, Vodacom Direct has failed dismally to resolve this highly frustrating issue.

The cherry on the cake was when the events of 31 July 2018 repeated on 31 August 2018 ! Again my Smart M package was deleted and I am being placed on my "original contract" ! This is where I currently am. No one at Vodacom and Vodacom Direct seems to be competent and sufficiently s****ed to understand my predicament which was originally caused by the case of ***** by a Vodacom Direct employee.

I currently have a cellphone contract to pay which I (1) did NOT agree to (2) don't even understand and (3) don't have the benefit of.

I am shocked at the levels of incompetence, lack of understanding and willingness to assist demonstrated by Vodacom's employees.