Assistance with taking legal action against Vodacom

[freematrix]

Hi,
I want to take Vodacom to small claims court over a repair they did on my phone. I cannot get feedback from them where I have to deliver the "Letter of Demand" to make the claim in JHB. Can anyone offer advice on where I should deliver the letter of demand?

Thanks

 

[VC-1]

Try this link: http://www.smallclaimssa.co.za/ and this link: http://www.justice.gov.za/scc/scc.htm

 

[envo]

Try this link: http://www.smallclaimssa.co.za/ and this link: http://www.justice.gov.za/scc/scc.htm

He was asking where the legal department of Vodacom is located so that he can send the letter of demand.

 

[Fulcrum29]

Hi,
I want to take Vodacom to small claims court over a repair they did on my phone. I cannot get feedback from them where I have to deliver the "Letter of Demand" to make the claim in JHB. Can anyone offer advice on where I should deliver the letter of demand?

Thanks

Call them, they must provide you with their domicile - domicilium citandi et executandi

or

https://www.vodacombusiness.co.za/b...al-terms-and-conditions#DOMICILIA_AND_NOTICES

Vodacom – Vodacom Commercial Park, 082 Vodacom Boulevard, Vodavalley, Midrand

 

[seted]

You need to make sure that you have the right business entity.

Did you contract with Vodacom (Pty) Ltd directly? Or with a fanchise like Vodacom 4U? or maybe some other business structure?

You need to be sure of exactly who you are suing or you will get a costs order against you if you haul in the wrong person to court.

Also, have you read the terms and conditions of the repairs service? From the T&C on the Vodacom website:

"1.2 Vodacom makes no representations or warranties, whether express or implied, and assumes no liability or responsibility for the proper performance of the Services and the Services are thus used at your own risk. In particular Vodacom makes no warranty that the Services will meet your requirements, be uninterrupted, complete, timely, secure or error free."

The repairs service may or may not be related to Vodacom (Pty) Ltd, but I guarantee that they have similar terms of service.

 

[Frikkenator]

Lol, good luck with that.

 

[freematrix]

You need to make sure that you have the right business entity.

Did you contract with Vodacom (Pty) Ltd directly? Or with a fanchise like Vodacom 4U? or maybe some other business structure?

You need to be sure of exactly who you are suing or you will get a costs order against you if you haul in the wrong person to court.

Also, have you read the terms and conditions of the repairs service? From the T&C on the Vodacom website:

"1.2 Vodacom makes no representations or warranties, whether express or implied, and assumes no liability or responsibility for the proper performance of the Services and the Services are thus used at your own risk. In particular Vodacom makes no warranty that the Services will meet your requirements, be uninterrupted, complete, timely, secure or error free."

The repairs service may or may not be related to Vodacom (Pty) Ltd, but I guarantee that they have similar terms of service.

I did not sign any terms or conditions when I booked the phone in. Purely a bookin sheet. They tried to force me to sign one when I complained though but I refused.

 

[freematrix]

You need to make sure that you have the right business entity.

Did you contract with Vodacom (Pty) Ltd directly? Or with a fanchise like Vodacom 4U? or maybe some other business structure?

I have tried asking them for the information but I don't get an answer. I was referred to their legal division but that was their debt collectors. I was wondering if I can deliver it to the store I booked the phone into, but they sent the phone into their repair centre but they will not tell me where that is....

 

[freematrix]

I was wanting to deliver it to their Midrand address but I would not know the Vodacom structures to achieve this and this is why I am asking as I might be delivering to the wrong party

 

[VC-1]

Deliver by courier to THE CEO obtaining a POD at this physical address:
Vodacom (Pty) Ltd Company Registration No: 1993/003367/07
Vodacom Commercial Park
082 Vodacom Boulevard
Voda Valley
Midrand
Johannesburg
1685
Tel:011-653 5000

 

[MyLowBandwidth]

Lol, good luck with that.

Thats a great attitude.

I don't mean to sound like a forum cop, but its comments like yours that represents exactly the sentiment most people take in trying to deal with Vodacom, or MTN or whoever. What you're saying between the lines in your little comment is why bother trying to do anything about Big Bad Vodacom. Just take it up the sphincter, huh?

I applaud OP for taking a stand. More than that, I've PM'd him to offer any assistance I can offer. Imagine if every person who's device was #%^&* up by Vodacom, went this route. Do you think Vodacom wouldn't take notice and start taking corrective action?

 

[Frikkenator]

Thats a great attitude.

I don't mean to sound like a forum cop, but its comments like yours that represents exactly the sentiment most people take in trying to deal with Vodacom, or MTN or whoever. What you're saying between the lines in your little comment is why bother trying to do anything about Big Bad Vodacom. Just take it up the sphincter, huh?

I applaud OP for taking a stand. More than that, I've PM'd him to offer any assistance I can offer. Imagine if every person who's device was #%^&* up by Vodacom, went this route. Do you think Vodacom wouldn't take notice and start taking corrective action?

Unless you have extensive resources that you're willing to part with for a very unlikely very small victory (that decision in itself showing that you probably don't have extensive resources), legal action is not going to get you anywhere.

I'm not saying he/she shouldn't take a stand, but taking legal action against a corporate of this size for such a small matter is just a bad idea. There are better ways to take a stand.

And no, I don't think they will take notice and no I don't think they'll take corrective action as the chances of anyone winning are extremely low.

Hit them where it hurts, brand and revenue. Mark my words, legal will achieve nothing.

 

[MyLowBandwidth]

Unless you have extensive resources that you're willing to part with for a very unlikely very small victory (that decision in itself showing that you probably don't have extensive resources), legal action is not going to get you anywhere.

I'm not saying he/she shouldn't take a stand, but taking legal action against a corporate of this size for such a small matter is just a bad idea. There are better ways to take a stand.

And no, I don't think they will take notice and no I don't think they'll take corrective action as the chances of anyone winning are extremely low.

Hit them where it hurts, brand and revenue. Mark my words, legal will achieve nothing.

I agree, OP alone will achieve nothing. But if Vodacom suddenly starting getting 50 of these demands every week? Still nothing? And this is just based on Vodacoms negligence in recklessly damaging someones device while being repaired.

What about the time in going to the repair center repeatedly, time is costly too. What about the inconvenience of not having a phone for 2 weeks? I could go on and on.

Doing something by following a legal process like OP suggests will be a lot more cost effective than trying to damage VC's brand and facing a defamation claim.

 

[Frikkenator]

I agree, OP alone will achieve nothing. But if Vodacom suddenly starting getting 50 of these demands every week? Still nothing? And this is just based on Vodacoms negligence in recklessly damaging someones device while being repaired.

What about the time in going to the repair center repeatedly, time is costly too. What about the inconvenience of not having a phone for 2 weeks? I could go on and on.

Doing something by following a legal process like OP suggests will be a lot more cost effective than trying to damage VC's brand and facing a defamation claim.

I seriously doubt that this happens 50 times a week, and even if it did, get all of those thousands of people together to flood the official complaint channels daily until something happens.

See the problem here is Vodacom cannot and will not respond to any legal action until you drag the to court where they will win. Because if they respond to one, it sets a dangerous precedent which they will avoid at all costs.

 

[hellfire]

I seriously doubt that this happens 50 times a week, and even if it did, get all of those thousands of people together to flood the official complaint channels daily until something happens.

See the problem here is Vodacom cannot and will not respond to any legal action until you drag the to court where they will win. Because if they respond to one, it sets a dangerous precedent which they will avoid at all costs.

Firstly, this is small claims court - one doesn't need any resources to take them on.
Secondly, they deal very easily with thousands of complaints every week. Another few isn't going to worry Vodacom in the slightest.

 

[bwana]

Unless you have extensive resources that you're willing to part with for a very unlikely very small victory (that decision in itself showing that you probably don't have extensive resources), legal action is not going to get you anywhere.

I'm not saying he/she shouldn't take a stand, but taking legal action against a corporate of this size for such a small matter is just a bad idea. There are better ways to take a stand.

And no, I don't think they will take notice and no I don't think they'll take corrective action as the chances of anyone winning are extremely low.

Hit them where it hurts, brand and revenue. Mark my words, legal will achieve nothing.

Do you understand how Small Claims Court works? http://www.justice.gov.za/scc/scc.htm

 

[Frikkenator]

Do you understand how Small Claims Court works? http://www.justice.gov.za/scc/scc.htm

I do indeed, and I'd wager that this will not go to the SCC but will be passed on to the civil court where my above statement applies.

The SCC is there to handle simple, small cases, it is quite easy to complicate a case enough to have it handed over to the civil court.

 

[freematrix]

I do indeed, and I'd wager that this will not go to the SCC but will be passed on to the civil court where my above statement applies.

The SCC is there to handle simple, small cases, it is quite easy to complicate a case enough to have it handed over to the civil court.

That's not good news. I did not think something like this would be complicated...

 

[rodga]

Firstly, this is small claims court - one doesn't need any resources to take them on.
Secondly, they deal very easily with thousands of complaints every week. Another few isn't going to worry Vodacom in the slightest.

+1
My cousin has taken them on for a warranty repair they refused to do claiming it was water damaged. Got an independent tech to do a report etc and went to the small claims court. They settled on the morning they were due to appear.

 

[MyLowBandwidth]

Firstly, this is small claims court - one doesn't need any resources to take them on.
Secondly, they deal very easily with thousands of complaints every week. Another few isn't going to worry Vodacom in the slightest.

But do they deal with 50 -100 small claims court demands every week? Taking a drastic step like lodging a small claims court claim or an offical complaint with the CPA, is a very different series of step than just lodging a compliant on hello peter or Facebook. Vodacom have automated dealing with those. they can't automate dealing with a CPA complaint or a small claims court demand.