Vodacom's sloppiness and lack of 'retention'

Hi,

So my wife and myself got Vodacom contracts 4 years ago. We got the following: 2 x Huawei P8 lites for about R189 per month per person, this included 200mins, 200 smses and 350mb data per month. Two (2) years later when contract ended we decided to go the sim only option as our phones were in pretty good condition.

We then continued with that contract but a little while later the price increased from R189 to R239 per month due to the increase in data from 350mb to 650mb (we had no choice but to pay the increased fee due to the T&Cs apparently).

We have now come to the end of that two (2) year period - so 4 years we have had the same phone. A week ago we realised that Vodacom was now charging us R349 for the exact same contract as apparently we are now month-to-month without advising us at all - so basically a R100 increase per person per month with no extra perks even though in the shops the same deal is R259 per month.

We then decided it would be better to cancel the contracts as for the rate we are charged we could get new phones and better contract.

When I tried to call Vodacom on the 10th of September to cancel the consultant tried to 'retain us' offering us a deal for the Huawei P30 lite at R299 per month and includes R175 airtime and 2 gigs of data. I requested for the gentleman (called Justice) to call me a hour later as I wanted to confirm with my wife that we would both take this deal, he said he would call back either prior to shift ending or the next day.

He did not call back that day or the next, when I tried to get hold of him the next day he was apparently off, I then tried to speak to a supervisor and they were apparently in a meeting and would call me before 3pm, I got the phone call at 3:17 to state that the deal was expired and not valid anymore (less than 24 hours later). They offered to deal match me with the Cell C offer (R289 per month for Huawei P30 lite, 1.5gig data, 50mins call time), but this would take 24 hours as Cell C website was 'down'. I refused this offer as I am a loyal customer and would prefer a better deal than other provider is offering.

I then called back later the day to cancel again and again the retention agent and afterwards the supervisor tried to 'retain' us by telling me he would try to put the package together than I was initially offered and try to 'sweeten' the deal, he stated he would call me back the next day (Friday morning). He did not return any call.

I called again at 12:20 on Friday to ask to speak to Justice supervisor or the retention agent that promised me the call back with the 'sweetened' deal the previous day. The retention agent said that was not possible but he would like to assist me with what i promised "within the guidelines", and that he would call me back at 2pm with an update (this never happened).

I have subsequently complained on twitter with Vodacom 'trying' to resolve my query but have had no call back yet.

In total I have been spent 155 minutes on the phone with various "retention' agents, all promising deals that doesnt seem to be materializing and not really trying to be retained at all.

What a frustrating waste of time this week has been