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?

On saturday 21 august 2010 I sent a worker to buy a pouch for my blackberry from vodashop middelburg. The sales person, eben gave us a universal pouch. When I saw the pouch I told my worker that this pouch is not what I want, it will not work for my phone. She drove back to vodashop and they refused to take it back. This is unacceptable. I didn't use the pouch and I didn't damage the packaging in any way. This is not the first time it happened. Now I have 2 pouches for my blackberry that I don't want and they refuse to take back either one.

I have finally lost my patience with vodacom. I use their 3g datacard service for my business internet and email connection, and have continual problems with the service from vodacom,. Despite my connection reflecting hsdpa connection, it is impossible to maintain network connection, and it reflects a speed of only 50-200bps, making it impossible to even connect to the internet or download emails. Furthermore, network connection is 'dropped' as much as 10 times per hour.

I reported this problem to the call centre on 11th august, again on 14th august and again 18th august 2009. Each time, this problem has not been resolved, yet I see on their webite, that my logged queries are all reflecting a 'closed' status. I continue to have this daily problem and my business is suffering dramatically.

Interesting to note that on 21 august, there was a 15 hour power failure in my area, but as I have a generator, I was able to operate my laptop for that entire period. Amazingly, I experienced perfect connection and perfect speed on that day... Which I believe was due to 99% of network users in my area not being online and using vodacom's network due to the power failure.

Can you believe vodacom can not provide continous coverage in the randburg area!? That's their own staff's words! They had to instal another tower 1st but that was 1 year ago! So mine and my fiance's cell phonesdont work at home and my mobile inet connection doesn't work either! So I had to resort to getting a landline installed, doubling my telephone bills a month! Shocking attitude and service from such a big company. I'm moving my accounts to another network!

Unlawful and unauthorized deductions from my cellphone account by vodacom. An sms is sent to the customer as follows:
You are subscribed to ume ltd. , games world. Cost r5/1days...
... To unsubscribe, sms stop to 40841.
I have never even replied to any of these sms's, but yet they charge me.
This is fraud for I have never applied or agreed to any extra services or payments. Not via sms nor signature. If this matter is not solved within the next month with all my money paid back to me, I will expose to any and every investigative journalist is south africa and I will open a case of fraud with the police. I will sue the crap out of vodacom, and so will a couple of thousand other people.

W. J. De beer

I purchased a new cellphone with vodacom& they advised me to get insurance for it and get it covered. I have been paying for the insurance up to date and have not missed a payment since the purchase.

The cellphone got stolen and I tried to make a claim - the financial company that administers Insurance claims for Vodacom refuses to approve the insirance cover because they say that the contracty sim card that I purchased the phone with was not being used at the time of the theft. Nobody from Vodacom explained to me that I could not use a pay as you go sim card- which is a cheaper option for me in the phone when I purchased it as well as when I got the iinsurance cover for the cellphone.

Now when the phone is stolen and i try make a claim- i get given stories that I cannt make a claim. as far as I know, The money I had been paying for towards the insurance was to cover for the Phone in case it got lost/ stolen.

How do you try and keep a long story short. Especially in my case. I have been on a business contract since august 2009. I decided to get the blackberry storm 9500.In september I sent my phone in for the first repair. After getting my phone back, I sent it in 2 weeks later for the second time. This has been going on ever since. I have sent my phone in a total of 9 times. I have had a total of 4 handsets. At one stage I was sent a refurbished phone with more than 1400 minutes talk time on it. The biggest problem about this was that I was promised a different model which I didn't get.
I think I have spoken to every customer care rep at vodacom. When I did ask to speak to a manager, the customer care reps say that they have spoke to the manager and they can't help me. Do these managers actually exist. I have requested that vodacom send the phone back to blackberry and get it credited, so that I can get a different make of phone. Vodacom say I must contact blackberry. Blackberry say that I must contact vodacom. Does anyone actually know what they are doing. Has anyone got the balls to make decisions.
I have been in other places in the world and vodacom customer care is the worst I have ever experienced.In other parts of the world phone companies fight to keep you happy as a customer. At vodacom, who cares. I would like to know how the personel at vodacom would react in my situation. Maybe I am expecting a mirracle. All I would like is a phone that works. I have even requested forwarding my upgrade date so that I can toss my phone in the ocean. The best vodacom can do is 20 august 2010. That to me is not the solution I want. That still means that I will have a phone that doesn't work for another month. That means that I would of had problems with phones and vodacom for 11 months. Are these guys having a laugh.
I would just like someone to solve my problem. I would also like to know how to contact vodacom management. There is an email address on the vodacom website, but I haven't had an answer for 3 days. I have emailed all my corrospondence and job numbers to vodacom as well. What else am I suppose to do?
Why must you get to the point of threatening someone before anything gets done!

I took out a data contract with vodacom in november last year after having been a pre-paid customer since 2001. I signed the obligatory debit order and chose the 27th of each month as my pay date is either 25th or 26th of each month. I purposefully put it at this date to avoid the possibility of the debit order bouncing before my salary is paid in. I have had this contract for 8 months and vodacom have already taken the debit order off early twice! This resulted in me being charged penalties by both vodacom and my bank. I find it completly unacceptable that vodacom thinks they can just deduct money off my account whenever they feel like it. I was given legal advice that states it is highly illegal to process a debit order prior to the date that the debit order was signed for - thus it is entirely vodacoms fault and they have no right to do this nor to charge me for their own mistakes. Their illegal activities have also incurred bank penalties in my name which is dispicable. I called their 155 number and spoke to a manager as I was told I cannot cancel the debit order until my contract has been running for a year. I explained the situation to the manager and he checked the system to see if my accusations were true. He saw clear as day on the system that it is a fact that the debit order was wrongfully deducted early twice! He promised me that given their terrible mistake he would fax me the debit order cancellation forms and sms me the number to which I need to fax the completed forms. This was two weeks ago. I received the sms with the fax number but never received the forms. A few days later I called again to request the forms. The person said they would email and fax them to me immediately. I still have not received them. I went in store and was told I have to get the forms from the accounts department and cannot be given them in store. I contacted my web hosts and they sent test emails and faxes to me to check my lines. There is absolutely nothing wrong on my side. I received between 50 and 100 emails and faxes a day - why can everyone send these to me except vodacom?! I just phoned again and the woman told me she would send them. Still nothing. I told her I am now very annoyed and sick of vodacom and their nonsense. The complete lack of customer concern is shocking. I told her that I want the forms by the end of today as I do not have time to try and convince them to do their jobs. I then put the phone down as I do not have the patience to argue with inefficient people all day. The woman actually had the audacity to phone me back and reprimand me for hanging up on her! I have been advised that call centre staff do not have the right to call a customer unless requested, so who the hell does she think she is calling me to tell me off?! Every day that this situation drags out is another day closer to my debit order date. If I submit those forms this late in the month I know that I will encounter problems in gettting the debit order cancelled before the next faulty deduction is made off my account. I think it is horrific that vodacom costs their customers money due to their own inefficiency and badly trained staff. And I cannot help but wonder why they are simply allowed to break the law without any consequences. Their illegal actions are more than sufficient grounds to take them to court and I am seriously considering this option as reasoning with them proves to be a futile act.