1 reviews | Active since Oct 2017
Woeful Vodacom Customer Assistance
I received a call on Black Friday (26/11/2021) from a Vodacom agent offering me an upgrade on my phone contracts.
She cited 2 cellphone numbers (my own private number and a number associated with an expired 2Gb data contract) and said that the new cost for both numbers would be R79\month.
I asked her to confirm that the TOTAL monthly payment for BOTH numbers would be R79 and she confirmed. This can be further confirmed by Vodacom's voice recording.
The reference number for this quotation from Vodacom was Ref: ***
However the following day I received 2 invoices via email, one for R116.15 (for my primary number) and one for R203.63 (for the data-contract) number
I then phoned Vodacom Cancellations on *** on 29/11/2021 and requested that the contract for the data-contract number be cancelled.
The agent gave me a reference for this call (***) and told me to phone again in 48 hours to confirm that the cancellation has been done.
I then phoned Debbie on 01/12/2021 to confirm cancellation as per request on 29/11/2021. This Vodacom Agent said she needs to escalate the cancellation request AGAIN and I have to phone AGAIN in 48 hours because the cancellation request was somehow linked to ANOTHER agent and she did not have the authority to modify those records.
So it appears that once Vodacom has (questionably) locked you into an upgrade, all subsequent attempts to cancel said upgrade (even though done within in the 7 day period stipulated by the Consumer Protection Act) are thwarted by agents who are forced to work within a system that does not work!
I sympathize with the agents. They are as helpful as they can be but the system and managers do not meet customer expectations!
The system: - Does not allow a customer to contact the ORIGINATING AGENT of a contract as this agent does not have an employee-code assigned to the contract\quote. - Randomly assigns all subsequent phone calls so a NEW agent has to deal with an existing issue\query\cancellation every time you call. - Does not allow for proper escalation of an issue to the respective supervisor or manager. Covid regulations now prevent employees from approaching other employees' desks so the customer is left waiting for an authorised person to phone back to deal with an escalation. Even though the agent took my number and assured me that I would be contacted this did not happen. - Does not have any automatic escalation facility to ensure that once an issue has been escalated, the person most suited and with the requisite authority to deal with a matter effectively is assigned to the matter. The customer is forced to speak to a randomly-assigned agent who cannot resolve the issue.
I am not the only Vodacom customer who is frustrated with the inflexible and ineffective helpdesk system at Vodacom.
It is patently obvious that Vodacom has little respect for their customers, has no intention of fixing their unusable helpdesk system and is fully deserving of all the negative publicity from their customers.
I challenge Mr Teboho Mofolo (Nation Services Manager Vodacom South Africa) to remember his roots (helpdesk support) and that the buck has to stop with him.
He was apologetic and professional in his dealing with the matter.
He actioned the cancellation of the (dubious) contract for the requisite number and advised me that the this would become effective at the end of December.
Marlon also stated that complaints (such as these posted on social media) ARE addressed to the respective teams\s at Vodacom in an effort to rectify the underlying cause\s of the complaint.
I trust that this exercise will be regarded as CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM by the powers-to-be at Vodacom.
CRM is not rocket-science.... it does (should) not cost that much to keep an existing customer, but once the loyalty-bond has been broken and a customer is lost, the cost of winning that customer back increases exponentially.
The mere fact that the agent\s contacted and tasked with cancellation of a contract are UNABLE to do so because of system and policy constraints and that it takes a negative hellopeter review to get the RIGHT person to get the job done, is just two wrongs to make a right. No business can flourish with such a business model.
He was apologetic and professional in his dealing with the matter.
He actioned the cancellation of the (dubious) contract for the requisite number and advised me that the this would become effective at the end of December.
Marlon also stated that complaints (such as these posted on social media) ARE addressed to the respective teams\s at Vodacom in an effort to rectify the underlying cause\s of the complaint.
I trust that this exercise will be regarded as CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM by the powers-to-be at Vodacom.
CRM is not rocket-science.... it does (should) not cost that much to keep an existing customer, but once the loyalty-bond has been broken and a customer is lost, the cost of winning that customer back increases exponentially.
The mere fact that the agent\s contacted and tasked with cancellation of a contract are UNABLE to do so because of system and policy constraints and that it takes a negative hellopeter review to get the RIGHT person to get the job done, is just two wrongs to make a right. No business can flourish with such a business model.