Worst service

1 Star – Appalling service and zero accountability

I visited the Vodacom store at Howard Centre, Pinelands on 7 January to transfer a SIM into my name and perform a SIM swap. As of 23 January, absolutely no progress has been made.

The store manager, Stacey, initially attempted to assist but informed me I would need an affidavit and certified copies of documents I had already provided. I went out of my way to obtain everything requested and submitted it to her, despite long waits and unacceptable customer service in the store.

I was then told to return the next day to collect the SIM. When I did, I was told it would take 48 hours. After returning again, I was told Vodacom head office had not approved the transfer. On the next visit, I was told it was approved but that head office systems were down. I returned yet again and was told the systems were still down. It is genuinely unclear how Vodacom is operating if their systems are down day after day.

Throughout this entire process, Stacey repeatedly promised to call me with updates. Not a single call was ever made. I have had to phone her approximately 20 times, and even getting through to this store by phone is a challenge on its own.

To date, a simple SIM swap has still not been completed, and the number is now at risk of being lost permanently. To make matters worse, the manager even tried to get me to perform my own SIM swap over the phone with head office, instead of handling it herself.

This has been, without exaggeration, the worst customer service experience of my life. I am genuinely baffled as to how someone with this level of service and follow-through holds a managerial position.

For comparison, I went to the Vodacom Kenilworth branch, where they transferred ownership of the number and completed the SIM swap in about 5 minutes.

Avoid the Howard Centre branch at all costs.