Worst customer experience of my life

<p>Vodacom has made me rethink my faith in businesses in the last week.</p> <p>I gave my phone in for repairs. It couldn't be repaired and was to be swapped for a new one. When I was notified that but was ready for pickup I spent over an hour going to the vodacom repair store only to find that it had been swapped for the wrong model (an inferior one in this case). It was booked back in to be sent back to the repair centre so that the correct one could be sent back to me. I asked if it was possible, given Vodacom's mistake, to issue me with some kind of voucher I could use to pick up the correct handset at a vodacom shop immediately, to avoid having to wait for this whole process. I was told this is impossible. I submitted multiple complaints to Vodacom since then (a week ago) regarding this matter, on social media, email and phoning.</p> <p> </p> <p>What I was hopeful would have happened, given the faith I had in Vodacom's service and my belief that customer experience/relationship was important to the organisation was that Vodacom would, as promptly as possible, acknowledge fault, take responsibility and courier the correct model to me (to avoid further inconvenience resulting from Vodacom's mistake) . instead I experienced the worst customer experience of my life so far.</p> <p> </p> <p>I have been complaining on social media, email and telephonically, to little avail. I have interacted with at least 9 different Vodacom representatives regarding this matter, in the last week, so I have become an expert of Vodacom customer experience. And it is atrocious. </p> <p> </p> <p>I was told on Thursday t<span style="font-family: 'Avenir W01'; font-size: 14px;">hat my phone would be couriered to me to avoid even more inconvenience. But this has since not materialised. I have since received an SMS that it has arrived at the store (which closes at 6 and is difficult for me to get to) for me to collect.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-family: 'Avenir W01'; font-size: 14px;">I have had so many bad experiences with Vodacom in the last week that I have completely lost faith in the company. From employees who ***ure me they will call me back in 10 min and then fail to even answer their phone for the rest of the day (and do the same thing again the next day!) (Phone number of the person is ***) to being told I will be notified about the status of my phone within 24 hours and having to wait over 3 days (phone number ***), to having my repeated social media posts blatantly ignored. I simply can't stand having to deal with Vodacom and it's staff any more.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-family: 'Avenir W01'; font-size: 14px;">Every time I complain there is a delay involved, even if the very thing I am complaining about is lack of dealing with my complaint. Not one staff member really takes ownership of the problem and endeavours to rectify the situation ASAP. There is so much lying, ignoring and buck p***ing, and inconsistent responsesu. I don't know how to "escalate" the matter further (it has already been "escalated" last week). </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-family: 'Avenir W01'; font-size: 14px;">I am so tired of having to spend time, airtime (VodaWorld, which I was referred to, is not a free call), etc on this. I am so tired of being frustrated every day by Vodacom. I am so disappointed in how awful the handling of the situation is. So tired of having to chase vodacom day after day. Rather than striving to serve the customer, the customer has to chase Vodacom very hard to get anything out of Vodacom.</span></p> <p> </p> <p>My phone should have been delivered to me a while ago. The most recent news I heard (after chasing after Vodacom on the phone today) is that the repair shop does not have the address that I gave to the Vodacom employee on Thursday, to deliver to. </p> <p> </p> <p>I don't know how to escalate my dismay any further. I feel that Vodacom does not value the individual consumer at all. This has been repeatedly demonstrated to me over the last week. You talk customer service but when push comes to shove, there is nothing whatsoever of the sort. The coordination between different employees and business units is so bad and hampers the customer experience.</p> <p> </p> <p>I have realised that I need to switch to another provider. Even if the signal is worse, I simply cannot continue to financially support and condone Vodacom. I don't know if it's due to having enough market share for the individual not to matter anymore. I have been a Vodacom customer for at least 13 years and it is a shame that you would ruin the customer relationship in this manner. </p> <p> </p> <p>I am beyond frustrated, and have realised that I need to lower expectations, stop expecting Vodacom to deliver as it said it would, and waste more of my time going to pick up the phone, paying for Vodacom's mistake. Getting what was promised is not worth the irritation any more. The sooner i can have my last interaction with Vodacom and its staff, the better.</p> <p>I have grown to completely resent Vodacom's brand and it's way of doing business. I hope that Vodacom loses market share as it is likely the only way it will learn to appreciate loyal customers. I don't expect the matter to be sorted out as a result of this post, since I have repeatedly been shown that Vodacom has little intention of genuinely fixing this. I want Vodacom to know why I am leaving.</p> <p> </p> <p>Job number ***7, complaint reference number 003S-SCR4</p>