Worst experience of my life. Service at Vodacom is mind blowing

This is my unfortunate experience with Vodacom. To be one of SA's leading companies and to have such appalling service is shocking. Its the worst experience of my life. This is my story:

"Good day,

“WITHOUT PREJUDICE”

Trust this e-mail finds you well.

RE: SR***

In reference to the above complaint that I Simon Brown lodged with Vodacom in connection to being misled by your sales representative and Vodacom as a whole.

On or around the 30 September 2020 I received a knock on my door. One of your sales representatives by the name of Abdullah/Abdul advised me that he was here on behalf of Vodacom selling fibre and asked whether I was interested. From the start, the first thing I told him was that I am interested in fibre, I am just waiting for my WIFI LTE router contract that I have with Vodacom on a 24 month contract for 50G to come to a end on or around May 2021 in order for me to upgrade to fibre. Abdullah/Abdul asked me to wait for a second and he went next door (where his colleague was busy) to ask his colleague to verify something and on his return he informed me that my WIFI LTE router contract would be cancelled by Vodacom if I take the fibre contract. He advised that as I am already on a contract with Vodacom that when the fibre contract is activated my Wi-Fi contract would automatically be cancelled. I asked him if there would be any additional charges or cancellation fees that I would have to pay and again he advised that the fibre contract would take over the Wi-Fi contract and the Wi-Fi contract would be cancelled by Vodacom.

Please note that I was still unsure of this and I repeatedly asked him whether my WIFI LTE 50G line would be cancelled if I take this contract as well, which he repeatedly advised me that it would. I informed him that I would not be able to afford to pay two contracts at any time, let alone during this pandemic . Once again I was informed that my WIFI contract would automatically be cancelled. When I completed the application (bear in mind this was in my own home, which honestly I feel very violated, saddened and disappointed that I was **** to in my own home), it was still the sales representative (Abdul/Abdullah) suggestion that I take the month to month contract which I completely agreed with as I work in the legal field, I know how often people can be misled, it was the safer option, as low and behold I am now currently stuck in two 24 month contracts by Vodacom, the exact thing that I did not want. I ticked off the month to month contract for fibre as I would be able to cancel it should I have had any problems/issues. It was just the smarter and safer route to follow.

Never the less I trusted the sales representative and entered into the fibre contract completely thinking that my WIFI 50G contract would be cancelled. I was so happy and excited as I have been waiting to get fibre for a while. I finally thought something is going my way and there is hope in the world. On Saturday 03 October the team contacted me to come install the fibre line, they were very professional and I am grateful for the work that they did. I asked them if my contract would indeed be cancelled and they were unsure as they were only contracted by Vodacom to install the fibre line. On 05 October 2020 at 14:56 I contacted Vodacom whereby a consultant informed me that my WIFI LTE 50G contract would not be cancelled and she would refer me to the fibre department (call ***) whereby I spoke to Cindy Nakatisi where I explained my story and she also confirmed that there is no possible way that my WIFI LTE 50G contract would be cancelled and she informed me that I am on a 24 month contract so my fibre contract would also not be cancelled. This came as a shock to me as I did not understand how could it be a 24 month contract if I ticked off for a month to month contract. Cindy informed me that she can see the month to month box was in fact ticked off, however it was scratched out and made into a 24 month contract. I informed her that I had not taken that option and she asked me to hold while she spoke to her manager who then confirmed if my signature is not where something is scratched out then there would be a problem as my signature has to be by any scratched out marks on my application, which it was not as I had taken THE MONTH TO MONTH contract. This was very upsetting as this means that the sales representative without my knowledge or permission changed my application and committing ***** in the meantime. I informed Cindy Nakatisi that this was completely unacceptable and I refuse to pay for two contracts. I demand that my WIFI LTE 50G contract be cancelled as I was informed by your representative. Cindy advised that she would send a e-mail to the sales department for feedback and come back to me.

On Tuesday 06 October 2020 I received a call from Jonathan who informed me that he was sent to install my fibre router to the fibre line which was installed on Saturday as previously mentioned. The first thing I asked Jonathan was whether my contract would be cancelled, before he installs this router I would like confirmation. Jonathan contacted his supervisor by the name of Rosa ( I may need to be corrected) who was in charge of my Vodacom sales order : Sales Order SO*** (See attached). Jonathan’s explained in detail that I had a Vodacom Huawei B315 4G Router business contract as I still have the box that my LTE 50G router came in and again she informed him that once my fibre is installed my WIFI contract would automatically be cancelled and the fibre contract would take over with no cancellation fees included. The fibre contract would replace the WIFI contract. Jonathan then proceeded to connect the fibre router to the box, tested the line and activated my fibre, which is working nicely. As I was informed again by a Vodacom representative that my WIFI contract would be cancelled I believed it to be true and perhaps there was some miscommunication with the fibre department that I was calling into.

I had not heard from Cindy so I called again on 06 October at 13:29 and spoke to Liezl who I explained the situation to and she advised that Cindy would give me a call back. I also informed Liezl that RAM had also come and delivered a fibre router to my home that afternoon after I informed them that someone from Vodacom had already installed the router. Liezl advised that she would ask RAM to come collect the fibre router by me again as now I have two fibre routers. Which by the way is still at my house and nobody has come to collect the spare router (WHAT THE HELL IS VODACOM DOING?). Cindy contacted me back awhile later and advised that she had not heard anything back from the sales department yet and as soon as she receives feedback on what Vodacom is going to do she would let me know.

08 October came and I had still not heard any feedback. I contacted Vodacom again on *** at 13:18 and spoke to Gugu whom I had to explain the whole story to again and she once again advised that my WIFI LTE 50G contract would not be cancelled and I was misled (**** TO), furthermore I was in a 24 month contract with fibre as well. She also confirmed that my application was altered and that if I was in a month to month contract it would not be such a difficult situation as they could just suspend my fibre contract until my 24 month contract with the WIFI LTE 50G was over. But she is now not sure what Vodacom is going to do. Gugu lodged a complaint for me and provided me with ***-737927. She advised that she would forward same to their sales department and the person who handled my Sales Order. I called again on Friday 09 October at 12:46 and was advised that my complaint had not even been assigned to anyone yet. The consultant advised that he would escalate the complaint and have someone assigned to the matter. To date I have still not received one call from Vodacom with a solution or to even a apology. I am very shocked, outraged and disappointed in your service and how you treat your customers. This is not the first time I had a issue with Vodacom, I tried to purchase a laptop for my wife and had such a bad experience that I had to go to MTN to purchase a laptop for my wife. You should be ashamed of your selves. I have been a Vodacom customer for a number of years now, I am fond of Vodacom and have always been a loyal supporter but if this is how you treat people then you should just cancel all my contracts so that I can move over to a better service provider. Which I will definitely have to consider.

I demand that my WIFI Huawei B315 4G Router, 50G ***) be cancelled as I was advised by two of your Vodacom representatives (inside my own home) would be done if I took out this fibre contract. What must I now do with 50G Wi-Fi if I have uncapped fibre. I have been straight forward with you from the start. Imagine if I waited till end of the month for both of these contracts to go off of my account. How can you play with people’s lives and livelihood in this manner, it’s disgraceful. I am now tired of waiting for someone to call me with a solution as to me it seems as if you are just trying to ignore this issue and hope it goes away. This is not going to go away and I will refer this matter straight to the National Consumer Commission and get my attorneys involved if my WIFI LTE 50G contract is not cancelled before the end of the month.

This is honestly disgusting to think that you allow these sales agents to go around neighborhoods, come into people homes to be misled by them and to not have the proper training and relevant knowledge when it comes to what they are selling and how your contracts work. I demand that my 50G contract be cancelled immediately.

I trust you find the above in order and I await your urgent response herein.

Kind regards Simon Brown"

After this e-mail i waited almost two weeks for feedback. I received no telephone call from Vodacom to recognize the mistake they made or even to apologize to me. After waiting for feedback and finally communicating with a lady from Vodacom whose service was the only little light at the tunnel. I finally received this response from Vodacom:

"Good Day! I hope this email finds you well. I have updated your sales order to SO*** which is a month to month as requested. I trust the above is in order. This service request will now be closed. Many Thanks and Kind Regards, Peter Ganca Vodacom FTTH Support ***"

How shocking is that. Vodacom did not even have the decency to contact me. As i still have unanswered questions. I am still currently in the same predicament as i was before lodging the complaint. I would really prefer that my 50G WIFI LTE contract be cancelled as i was advised from the start. But this is what i am still trying to obtain feedback on at the moment. From the only lady willing to assist at Vodacom:

My e-mail:

"Hi Cher, Hope you are well. Thank you for your kind assistance. I am a little disappointed that this is the only response I received. Kindly see attached. Please confirm whether it would be possible to confirm when my LTE WIFI 50G contract with number *** will come to a end? I think it is around May 2021? I would then like to cancel the contract. And would it be possible to then suspend the Fibre contract (SO***) until the above contract has ended and then activate the fibre again once the above contract is cancelled? I would have been able to ask all these questions if Peter had actually contacted me. I trust you find the above in order and await your response. Kind regards Simon"

Vodacom e-mail:

"Hi Peter and Team

Please find below email I received from Mr Brown,

He has only received the attached documentation from Peter, but still has unanswered questions he needs clarity on

He requests if contact can be made with him to confirm all his concerns

Please advise Peter and Team on the below, so I may let my Client know, or if Contact will be made by you.

Your assistance in this regard will be much appreciated.

Best Regards"

This was set on 22 October and i am still awaiting any positive feedback. If there is such a thing at Vodacom