Worst Service from Vodacom

I will be going forward lodging a complaint against Vodacom.

I have called your call centre numerous times holding on for 40 minutes at a time (while I’m at work) to sort out my contract. I’ve cancelled my Contract with Vodacom on or about 15 October. I called the call centre to do so (because apparently going to a Vodashop is not good enough), and they gave me a cancellation fee (early cancellation fee) of R555.00 (***).

I’ve asked the consultant I spoke to if this was the only fee still outstanding and owing to Vodacom which he assured me it was. It was never communicated to me that there will be an email received on this quotation and that it should be taken to Vodacom for payment. The only thing the consultant said was that I should go to a Vodacom Shop and pay the R555.00, they will know what it is for. After payment I should give it 24 hours to reflect and call the call centre again to say that the amount was paid and request that the contract be cancelled and made prepaid. I went to Vodacom (I think on 15 October) to pay this R555.00 the consultant told me to pay. I called the call centre the next day as requested and they cancelled the contract. I EXPLICITLY asked the consultant if all amounts owing to Vodacom were paid and that NO further amounts is owed to Vodacom which they assured me was so.

To my surprise at the end of October another amount of R667.00 was deducted from my account from Vodacom. I called the call centre and asked how this can be as I paid the cancellation fee and according to Vodacom’s terms and conditions the following applies:

4.2. Despite clause 4.1, either party may terminate this Agreement during the Initial Period or a Renewal Period by providing at least 20 (twenty) business day’s notice to the other party in writing. If you do choose to terminate this Agreement during the Initial Period or a Renewal Period, you will be subject to payment of a reasonable premature cancellation charge, determined by Vodacom, and you will have to pay all outstanding amounts in respect of the Services and/or Apparatus related to the Services. A reasonable premature cancellation charge for the purposes of this clause shall mean 75% of the balance of your contract. The balance of your contract is your monthly subscription amount times by the remaining months of your contract. Any amounts outstanding to Vodacom will also be added to the cancellation cost.

The call centre had long stories as “the amount owing for October was already billed for”, I asked them how this can be and why the consultant I spoke to didn’t inform me of any of this. I asked for the dispute to be escalated and I spoke to a lady named Philile? not entirely sure how to pronounce her name. This conversation took place on 6 November when I spoke to Vodacom for more than 40 minutes to try and get this resolved. She told me that they will have to go and listen to the recordings of my first calls to Vodacom when the consultant informed me of the cancellation fee. She further told me that it should take about 24hours before they can call me back. IT HAS BEEN A WEEK!! I’ve received no call back from them, I received a call from “Vodacom Recordings – ***” which rang twice before they dropped the call, when I tried calling back the number was not working and I don’t know if this was related to my query.

I have been a Vodacom customer for more than 10 years, I will never return to Vodacom as a customer and I will never recommend someone to use Vodacom as a service provider.

I’m so disappointed in Vodacom as I feel they stole my money for no reason and with no notice that these monies will be taken from my account and/or what the monies were for.

I haven’t received any feedback from Vodacom and I’m tired of calling the call centre and holding on for hours without end with no results. I will be referring this matter to head office and whichever other platform I can find in the hope that it will persuade at least a few people considering Vodacom as a service provider to not go that route as they are ********** and with no loyalty to their customers.