Vodacom
reviews and complaints

Yesterday aftrenoon, a consultant from Midrand (Sandy) called me to tell me that I had short-paid my account for the month. I asked him if I could pay the remaining amount at the end of the month with this month's bill and he just said yes. Never explained anything to me. 10 Minutes after talking to him my phone was barred. I called this morning at about 08:26 morning and spoke to a lady by the name of Ntombi, she said there was nothing she could do as it was the system that barred the phone. She said this witha a very lazy and I don't care attitude. Even when I asked her questions, the only answer she could give me is 'there's nothing I can do, its a system that does this'.

Are consultants jobs not supposed to be to help the customers, advise the customers accordingly and answer questions that they may have? I have to say, the service I received from Vodacom was really bad. Not impressed at all. Can soemmone call and explain this to me because I still have have questions which ahve not been answered. The consultant cound not answere them. I aksed Ntombi to ask her manager to call me but don't see that happening.

I took out insurance from vodacom to cover my xperia x1. The consultant signed me up for the premium band which is r12000. I have been paying r149 for the last 18months without any complaints. I lost my phone 2 weeks ago and decided to claim. The consultant had advised me if my phone was lost, stolen or damaged, I would have the phone replaced or I could upgrade and pay in the difference of the new phone and r12000. I informed the vodasure consultant (Raymond) of this. And he said its fine. They are only paying me r2800 as my phone is still available. What!I asked him if this is the case, then why have I been paying insurance premiums for r12000?Raymond says that it is my duty to advise vodasure that the phone value has dropped. I mean come on, I dont work with phones. All I knew was that phone was insured for r12000. I asked to speak to his manager and was told that he would call me within 15mins. Couple days later and no phone call. I complained to vodacom. They said that vodasure is a separate entity and will refer the query to them. If that is the case then why have vodacom trademarks on the insurance form and why sell this insurance at vodacom stores?Eventually vodacom got pieter from vodasure to call me. The guy was extremely rude and from the onset was not going to help. Further email correspondence - "the client is claiming for a sony ericsson x1 with a replacement cost of r2882-95. As this phone is still available that will be the replacement. Insurance replaces the customer?S loss and puts them back in exactly the same position they were immediately prior to the loss, you cannot better yourself at the cost of the insurance company". If that is the case then why charge me r149 a month. I asked pieter for a refund of all the excess premiums I have paid. He refused! It appears that it is okay for vodasure to better themselves at my cost. Today another premium for r149 was deducted from me even though I have queried it this from the 18th september. As per the vodasure website, the premium value is determined by the replacement value of the phone. My premium has been r149 therefore my replacement value is r12000. This is disgusting service. Are they forgetting that they are a service provider!

Just over a week ago my husband &I decided to subscribe to Vodacoms advertised BlackBerry. We began @ Clearwater but unfortunately once we had signed all the necessary documentation we were informed there was no stock. We patiently waited 5 days, each day being told stock will arrive that day, until I made the decision to go else where. Clearwaters service was helpful &it was due to headoffice not sending stock.

I made a few calls & found that Fourways has stock. We arrived to be told that unfortunately I need to have cancellation documents form Clearwater even though the contract was never activated. Bronwyn supplied the phone & requested documentation form Clearwater. Next snag encountered was until that paper work cleared the sim would not be activated. We reapplied in my husbands name. Sorry you cannot link 2 different credit cards to one name (separate billing). The final straw was when the application was declined due to fact we applied for another contract in the last 3 months. All this for R150month. 10 days later 8 calls & my sim still isn't connected. What will it take? Your franchising killing your brand, stores are not interested in service delivery.

My phone was stolen, and the %$*&%$ who took the phone ran up a huge bill of international calls (about R6000). I went into Sandton City Vodashop to have the sim locked, and was told that it had been done and that the new sim would be active in three hours. Apparently the Vodashop was actually unable to swap the sim because the sim was locked... (i.e. no calls can be made from the sim) The following day when I still could not use my new sim, I called vodacom, at about 9, and was told that the sim swap had just been done, but that the phone was now definitely locked. In fact, calls were still made on the line until three hours after that, when the sim swap actually happened. Vodacom personnel told me that it was not my fault, and that the vodashop should refund me. The vodashop owner was very helpful, and admitted that it was definitely not my fault, and pursued it as far as he could, to no end. So despite everyone agreeing that it was not my fault that all the international calls were made after I requested the sim lock and swap, Vodacom still charges me for the calls. I call that theft!

I desperately needed a new phone - mine was stolen and my old 'back-up' one packing up. I gave my name up at Tygervalley's Vodacomshop for the new Samsung Star because they had no stock. A week or two later I phoned them - they never put my name down on the growing waiting list. The person said they will phone around and see if they have stock anywhere else and phone me back. Never happened. I then went to another vodacom shop and enquired about the phone. I waited and were promised twice that 'this' week it will come - two weeks later still nothing. So my husband applied online at Vodacom direct. at this stage we were informed there was no stock in the country of this phone (but the ads continued for this phone although they can't provide it). My husband enquired later about delivery to be told they will get back to him. My husband emailed again - no reply (to this day). So almost two months later I received my phone - delivered without warning that we needed copy of ID, proof of residence and my husband had to sign - he was at work. So much drama and at last I have it - please improve on your communication to customers - keep them informed and reply to emails.

I tried to open a Vodacom contract but am unable to as I do not have a credit history. There is no consideration taken of each applicants situation. I do not have a credit history as do not have any accounts at shops(as would rather just pay by cash). I showed my 3 months bank statements which shows that I do not have a cash flow problem and have the money to pay for the phone account. I showed my payslips, but this did not help. I even said that they could cap my cell phone bill or my parents would go surety but I still could not get a phone contract!

Today [protected] I had the unfortunate experience of trying to sign up a vodacom contract at the Metro Store in Vodaworld. I applied on Sat 05th Sep for the Nokia 2630 with a free TV and DVD. They claimed that there was no srock and asked me to come back during the week. After numerous phone calls I spoke to the manager Ozayr Carrim, who advised that there was stock and I should come in. Having taken time off work to go to Vodaworld, I approached Ali Moosa(sales rep) asking for assistance. He was rude and arrogant demanding to know who assisted me on Sat, but I was unsure. He became extremely irate when I could not remember. I asked why this would be an issue and if he could please assist, given my limited time. He was trying quite reluctantly to find an excuse not to help and kept sending me elsewhere for assistance in the store and proceeded to raise his voice in a condescending tone. I asked for the manager and demanded an apology for this rude behavior and even then Mr Ali Moosa refused to admit that he was rude and kept making excuses for his behavior. This is a pathetic display of customer service and a poor reflection of vodacom.

I have 2 Motorola Z8 handsets. One of them is shutting itself down so often that it is unusable. Vodacom did repair it, but after getting it back its condition has not improved at all. I still have a few months to go on my contract, and I took good care of the phone. Now I am sitting with a broken phone, while still paying for my contract. Time to dust off one of my OLD phones.

I was told about a new product by Vodacom's Data Call Center, called Advanced Data Bundles, while I was wanting to buy a data bundle for my cellphone. According to the agent, one of the features of these new data bundles, was that one can achieve higher data transfer rates. I decided to purchase an advanced bundle, but was disappointed to see that the data transfer rate was still as slow as before. Upon querying this, I was told by another agent that these new bundles was as yet untested on cellphones, and that 3G data cards would also receive priority within a certain cell. Thus, I was conned into buying a product at almost twice the price, with the same poor performance. This is totally unacceptable!

I have 2 numbers on my contract and spend a fortune on my phone bill everymonth, you'd think that one would at least get decent service for one's loyalty. I requested via vodacom customer care online to deactive the blackberry service on my 2nd number, but what do they do? They deactive it for both numbers. I called them yesterday to report the problem and was told that I am mistaking and that it is active. Surprise surprise, it is not. I'm not getting any mails on my blackberry. I phoned this morning at 11h39 to report the issue again, and was told they would phone me back immediately. Still waiting. I phoned again at 13h47 to report the issue and was told sorry their system is down. I asked if they can phone me back once it is up and running and was told no they can't. How useless is that? They *** my request in the first place and now I have to phone after them the whole time? Absolutely pathetic. I don't even know why i'm surprised, vodacom has really such a bad reputation and consistently delivers bad experiences. Absolutely shocking.

I have a vodacom 3g contract. About 2 months ago I started experiencing connection problems. The connection & ldquo;times-out” and leaves web pages hanging. To get the connection working I have to disconnect and reconnect (Every 1 & ndash; 15 minutes). Customer service has said there is a prob with the network itself. Proof of this is: 1) the signal strength is not the problem, even on & ldquo;very good” the constant time-outs occur, 2) I have tested the connection on another computer, 3) my close friend who also lives in buccleugh experiences the exact same problem (He’s escalated to icasa). The problem has not been resolved despite 5 customer service calls including 'escalations to the correct department', talking to supervisors, and sms's saying that the network problem has been resolved. The amount of time I have waisted testing, trying to resolve or otherwise work-around this problem is inculculable. My complaint is with senior management who, it appears, knowingly abide by a breach of contract. I’m angry. Is vodacom going to refund me for 2 months breach of contract? Do I also have to report the company to icasa? Class action…?

I have been trying to get a response from someone who have actual ability to make decisions. I have been calling the VODACOM 0821944 service repair centre since Friday without any satisfactory response. Empty promises from the call centre operators that the supervisor will call me comes to nothing. One brief discussion with the supervisor lead to an empty promise that his manager will call me. This did not happen.

My query relates to an Apple iPhone which has been faulty in the way it connects to the network from the day I got it. It is a known problem that a large number of iPhones do not connect to the network properly and drops calls and the network intermittently. This is not detrimental but is a source of constant irritation, so much so that I eventually booked the phone in for repair or in the case of the iPhone nothing can get done to it in SA so it should be replaced. 7 Days later I get the call that the liquate indicator on the phone shows red. The phone has never been in the water or has in any way suffered damage or loss of operability due to liquid.

No one is getting back to me that I can have a satisfactory conversation with. Worst service in the country!

Someone opened an account at Vodacom using my ID without my authority. All this came to my attention when a consultant from Vodacom called to ask me to pay my account. I did not apply for a contract phone or signed any application for a phone with Vodacom. So i ask the lady to send me the copy of the contract but she refused to do so, she requested me to go to the nearest Police Station to open a case and fax the documents to Vodacom legal department. But at the police Station they ask do i have documents to prove to them the fraud, well since i was refused to be given the contract copies i could not open the case. So now i do not know what to do since i have been set from pillar to post and back and forth what to do now? My name is been listed on ITC for bad payment which i cannot apply for finance because of this bad record with ITC. My frustration is not only with ITC for a bad name but with Vodacom opening an accout without Vetting the application. I would like vodacom to send me a copy of that contract so that i can see what is happening and proceed to lay charge against whoever that had a nerve to use my ID and take a phone using my name.

As of the 1st Sep we started experiencing problems with cellphone reception. We are unable to make calls, receive call and we cannot use the credit card machines. I phoned Vodacom on the 1st & 2nd and have two Service Request numbers, on the 3rd I received a call from them and during the conversation the signal cut out, nobody phoned back on the landline number I provided! This morning my MD gave me a real earfull and once again I phoned the call centre. They advised that they are still working on the problem, but did at least phone the MD and advised him. How does Vodacom expect to have loyal customers if for 5 days our business (in the adventuretourism sector) cannot receive calls from our customers? If we cannot communicate with our customers how are we expected to pay for a service which we are not getting? Does it really take 5 days to attend to a problem? Surely Vodacom have better infrastructure than this? We are expected to pay their bill but they do not compensate us for the loss of income! I do find this absolutely unacceptable.

I received a sms from Vodacom that they recorded unusually high usage on my data account. For the past month (August) I could not access my data usage to see how much of my 1GB data is left. I did not receive any SMS's on my data card to say that my data bundle has been depleted. They could however warn me with a SMS on my cell phone after I used more than double my bundle on my cell phone witch is linked to my data contract that I need to pay them a small fortune. Why could they not have warned me that my data bundle was finished on my cell phone?

When I took out this contract I asked that when the data is finished that the thing must stop working. When I queried about that they told me that it was only compulsory for the first 3 months and then they removed it. I did not ask them to remove it. I now had to re-apply to get the bundle capped.

Bottom line is Vodacom is catching lots of customers with this and the poor customer must pay. Why did they remove the cap after 3 months? I budgeted for R349 per month an not R2300. Vodacom’s service ****s.

Dear sir,

Vodacom south africa still using "black face"

Please give us the correct department to complain about your overall marketing outlook as it relates to your african demographic. We find your advertisement of a white man dressed in "black face" to be down right offensive and regressive in the post apartheid south africa. Most african south africans have been so oppressed and cut off from the rest of the world they do not even realize the deep nature of these offenses.

In post apartheid south africa, we find your racial representations to be regressive and insensitive to the ethnic majority who are still marginalized. 78% of adverts of south african origination is still pro-white. That means the visual advertising time is dominated by white european people. When coupled with international adverts and international programmed content across all visualized broadcast mediums it raises white visibility to 89%. It is almost as if the african demographic is invisible as a target audience. Beyond blatant tokenism our findings found the african visual representations in hiv, servant roles and alcohol related content to be 83% in the same given period. Therefore when africans are present onscreen they are usually in these roles.

With these white dominate adverts coupled with the very obvious economic apartheid how is your company responsible for a new south africa? Because unless this is challenged the notion of a rainbow will remain the greatest south african hoax.

Many thanks

Ayesha zelealem
www.Africanholocaust.Net

Http://en. Wikipedia.Org/wiki/black_face for more info on black face

No vodacom, you did not send me the international roaming disclaimer you claim you did. I cannot keep quiet about this matter. You repeatedly say you investigated the usage & found it to be accurate. At no point did I dispute this. That was not my complaint. My complaint was that I was not given any form of notification of how much the international roaming would be. Please re-read that as you keep trying to sort out a problem that suits you rather than listening to what my actual complaint is. I was never, repeat, never sent the disclaimer. If somebody would take the time to actually read my correspondence accurately you would see that. We were sent a link to the vodacom website, a website which I have already explained costs a fortune to be on. The email we received from vodacom said they would be sending further information at a later date. We never received this disclaimer. So my complaint stands at the fact that at no point did you as my service provider provide me with any information relating to the fact that I would be billed such a high amount.. Rather say you are not interested in my problem than feigning concern.

After having phoned the department responsible for porting at Vodacom several times over the last 4 days, a message on Hellopeter that was answered by Vodacom and the response it will take 24 hours given more than I can count and I am still using my Virgin sim. Why doesn't anyone at the Vodacom know what is going on. I have bought 3 sim cards at their request. It would give customers more confidence if everyone in the call centers and Vodacom stores had the same answers to concerns, answers that made sense not wildly outrageous claims that it takes 24 hours. Instead tell me I am number x in the queue to have my number ported, yours should be done in x hours. Or your port didn't go through because we didn't get to it instead of we had technical issues. I think that there is too big a void between call centers and the departments that actually deal with the physical issues at hand. When I call with a real issue I want real solutions not scripted responses. I am very irate at this point in time. So when I ask for the whole process to be cancelled I should not have been surprised with the response that it will take 24 hours.They can't even stop a process they can't complete...

I have been a customer of vodacom for ages. I have 2 family top up contracts, 2 weekender everyday contracts and 1 3g contract with them, five in total. I have just completed a transfer of a business 500 contract from my employer to myself, 6 contracts in all. On saturday, 22 aug 09, my gadget, a nokia 6210 navigator, went blank and dark on me in the middle of an sms I was typing. Since then, the lcd goes blank and dark when I slide it open, and lights back up when I slide it open. I took it to vodacare polokwane to have repaired, only to be told that it is liquid damaged. They gave me a report and told me to claim from my insurance, after they made me pay r57 against my protestations. I got the phone last august when I upgraded and it is still under warranty. When I claimed from vodasure, I was told to pay r832.19, r500 of which I am told is the excess for liquid damage before I get a replacement phone. I refused to pay this amount. Why does vodacom think they can bulldoze customers into paying exhorbitant excesses by declaring on their own that the phone is liquid damaged when it is still working but malfunctioning on the lcd?