Best Broadband ? oh dear.

[ChrisBrowne]

I really wonder if Vodacom should be providing data services - they seem to be rather inept.

Sure, when it works, HSDPA is great as long as you don't try to do something over a non-standard port, or *gasp* heaven forbid, play a game online - download speeds are amazing, as long as the server you're downloading from supports resume as the chances of staying connected for any length of time are quite low.

I often get page not found or DNS errors and doing a refresh loads the page correctly, I have never been able to set up e-mail on the vodacom4me web site so I have to use my previous ISP e-mail which is often unavailable through my HDSPA connection (and the 3G connection on my phone).

And then we have last weeks debacle....

Oddly I can live with all of the above as I wasn't expecting any better from a wireless connection, but the following is really inexcusable...

Last Friday night there was suddenly a great connection (after battling for the whole week) so I figured I'd use the opportunity to do some down/uploding. On Saturday (1 Sept) I had gone a bit over the 500mb standard data bundle so I went to the vodacom4me site at around 3pm and added a 2Gb bundle to my account so that I could upload a whole load of stuff that I had needed to upload the previous week. Comes last night and I get home, power up the PC and try to log on, no luck - a call to support and I get told that my account has reached the limit I set - I knew there was no way I'd used 2Gig of data so I asked about it and was told there was no record of my having added the bundle. While I was on the phone to support my card received a whole bunch of sms's telling me that I was 50%, 75% etc of my limit - I'd had nothing since Saturday when I got a message saying I was approaching the 500mb limit which prompted me to add the 2Gb bundle.

This is truly pathetic - because of the ineptitude of Vodacom I am now faced with a R1600 bill for data (for 1 week!!) instead of the R600ish that I should owe.

While I was typing this I got another call and somehow since yesterday my account has increased further even though I could not actually connect as the account was diabled. When I told the operator this she told me that even with the power to the PC turned off it still uses the line - there again after experiencing the above I shouldn't really be surprised to hear such bull. (Just for those who may be wondering I have the USB HSDPA adaptor).

I really feel that Vodacom should cease providing data services and get their act in gear before offering them again - Telkom are bad, but oh how I wish they'd hurry up with my line installation because they are so much better than Vodacom.

Chris

 

[ajax]

I think Vodacom should implement a system where ANY changes to one's account, like adding/removing a bundle is confirmed by means of an email and/or an sms. This way one can know for sure that changes were implemented all the way up to billing and nasty surprises will be reduced.

I don't trust the vodacom4me site when it comes to bundle management. A friend of mine deactivated his bundle subscription a week before month end last month. This month the bundle is still active and the call centre says there's no evidence that he deactivated his bundle so he must pay up.

 

[VanZan]

........- Telkom are bad, but oh how I wish they'd hurry up with my line installation because they are so much better than Vodacom.

Chris

@ Vodacom

A comparison such as this should be deemed as a serious wake-up call. And I see that more and more complaints surface about your service.

I have had two outstanding complains (AS-0O88-423UZ and AS-ZGX8-G22AQ) with Vodacom for almost a year (11 months) and although I had more complaints with Telkom (all except one was resolved within a month - most of them in a few days) at least there is an attempt to address them. And I must say that the number of dropped calls, network busy notifications etc have increase significantly in recent months.

Does Vodacom have a management problem?

 

[vodacom3g]

I think Vodacom should implement a system where ANY changes to one's account, like adding/removing a bundle is confirmed by means of an email and/or an sms. This way one can know for sure that changes were implemented all the way up to billing and nasty surprises will be reduced.

I don't trust the vodacom4me site when it comes to bundle management. A friend of mine deactivated his bundle subscription a week before month end last month. This month the bundle is still active and the call centre says there's no evidence that he deactivated his bundle so he must pay up.

Like your idea, have escalated.