WORST CELLPHONE UPGRADE EXPERIENCE

<p> </p> <p>I upgraded my cell-phone contract telephonically on 3 October 2016. The upgrade that I effected was the iPhone 6 on the Flexi 150 plan, as advertised and promoted. I was told that delivery of the phone would take 24 hours and because I had placed my order before 12h00 noon, delivery would be effected by the end of business on 4 October 2016. I then received a sms from Vodacom informing me that my upgrade was processed and I got given a reference number to track the delivery thereof. By the end of business on 4 October, delivery had not taken place which then prompted me to call Vodacom to enquire about the status of the delivery. I was then informed that Vodacom were experiencing technical problems with their system which was what led to the delay, I was then told that my cell-phone would be delivered within the next couple of days. 2 days later, on Thursday 6 October 2016, I again called Vodacom, after being referred from one department to the next, I was told that my upgrade had been cancelled with no explanation or notice to myself. Upon trying to find out who/when and how the cancellation occurred, without success I resorted to tweet Vodacom for assistance. I was told that my query would be referred to their “online team” who would then contact me. Till today, I have still not been contacted by Vodacom.</p> <p>On Friday 7 October 2016 I routinely made my daily call to Vodacom to still enquire about how and when my issue would be resolved and when I would receive my promised cell-phone. I was assisted by a consultant who informed me that the cell-phone to which I had upgraded and promised delivery, 3 days prior, was no longer available/ discontinued. I requested that the matter be referred to branch manager for assistance and to deal with this issue once and for all as I had now been pushed around by Vodacom for over a week. I was put on hold to allow the consultant time to consult with his manager, upon such consultation I was told that the manager would process an application that would allow me to upgrade to the Iphone 6s on the same plan that would have been applicable to the Iphone 6. I was then informed that I would be contacted the following week to finalise the upgrade. To date, I have received no feedback from Vodacom.</p> <p>On 10 October 2016, I again made my daily call to Vodacom to speak to the consultant who had assisted me on Friday, I was unable to speak to him as I was informed that he was busy with another customer and that he would call me back, did he call me back? No. On 11 October 2016, I again called Vodacom and requested to speak to the consultant. Upon communicating with me it was apparent that he was under the impression that I had already received delivery of the iPhone 6s. I informed him that I had not and he assured me that he would follow up with his manager to ascertain what was going on with my application and would call me back within 5 minutes of my call. An hour had since passed, still without any call back which again prompted me to initiate a further call to Vodacom, upon calling and to my surprise, I received a voice message which stated that I had exceeded the number of calls allowed to the network for the month and that I should call back on the 2nd of November 2016. To put this in perspective, I now have to wait another month to contact Vodacom in order that they may resolve my query. A consequence, directly related to Vodacom’s own inefficiency. This is highly unacceptable customer service and the fact that I am now precluded from calling Vodacom, which and I again emphasise, is due to the inadequate and inefficient service I have received from the service provider for the past week is to my mind obnoxious and abhorrent. Had Vodacom resolved to properly assist me from the beginning and had returned the many phone calls I was promised, I would not have spent countless number of hours chasing behind Vodacom’s back to resolve an issue that should and could have been managed long before I got ‘banned’ from contacting Vodacom. It is mind-boggling that I, as a customer, need to take time out of my working hours to constantly call and remind Vodacom staff to do their jobs. I proceeded to use an alternative cell-phone to call Vodacom to which my call went through. When I spoke to the same consultant, he still couldn't assist me but referred me to another consultant. He couldn’t assist me either and told me that the initial consultant was the best person to talk to and that he had left a message for him to call me back before the end of business. By the end of business on 11 October 2016, as expected, I had not received any communication from Vodacom.</p> <p>I am highly frustrated and appalled by the service I have received from one of the best cell-phone service providers in the country, a network that I have been loyal to for over a decade. To receive such poor and ineffective assistance is, to say the very least, disappointing. Not a single official from Vodacom, be it at a junior or senior level, could in any way resolve nor assist with the problem that I am currently faced with. In fact, the past week and a half has just demonstrated that no one knows what’s going on within their respective departments nor are/were trained to deal with pertinent customer queries. No one seems to care that I am an aggrieved customer, highly prejudiced by the endless delays that I’m continuously faced with.</p> <p>An upgrade which was initially not supposed to have taken more than 24 hours, has now stretched and is approaching a period of 2 weeks. Had Vodacom informed me on day one that they were unable to effect a simple upgrade, I could have cancelled my contract, and consequently the upgrade under my official instructions, and ported to another service provider, which could have made my experience a lot more pleasurable and I am highly certain that I would have received a new cell-phone by now. Instead, to date, I am still promised calls that never seem to be returned. After over a decade with the service provider and having had no prior recorded issues or grievances with Vodacom, the level of service I have experienced with a simple cell-phone upgrade has been a total nightmare and below satisfactory.</p> <p>Due to the fact that I am now prohibited from contacting Vodacom, resulting from the fact that I have exceeded the call limit allowed to the Customer Care line, calls which I made with the sole purpose of having my query resolved, I now immediately request that I be contacted by a consultant in order for me and my family to cancel all existing contracts (approximately 5 lines) we have with the service provider. </p>