Can it get any worse than Vodacom?

[vodacom3g]

Thanks Caroper, sure we can make some plan.

Pre-paid data is not yet available

 

[ic]

Thanks Caroper, sure we can make some plan.

Pre-paid data is not yet available

v3g, you surely mean pre-paid data bundles bcos pre-paid data is available at R2/MB...

 

[vodacom3g]

Yes, you're right, of course. I'm getting beaten up so often on this it's become Pavlovian...whenever someone mentions 'pre-paid', I instinctively start making excuses...

(Note to self) Check up on pre-paid bundles on Monday to preempt new flood of queries.

 

[Radimpe]

I think that the problem is the empowered person behind the counter. He/she can make decisions, and has no formal procedure to back that up. It is the easiest thing for the person behind the desk, to make up a new requirement and demand a urine sample before processing a contract application. The computer system only wants an address, Not a municipal account. It is however fancy to make a photo copy and put it on file. I recently tried to rent an electric hand tool from a “Tools for hire” place, and had to produce the same bureaucratic paper trail for a Saturday mornings DIY in the garage.

In our country, people cannot do business anymore, they can however refuse a willing and able customer because he cannot produce the correct bank statement or recent municipal statement.

The counter point, how do we recover bad debt? That’s all it is about. Making sure that every customer pays is important, but why does it create so much problems? The reason, the debtors department was “right sized” and the company would much rather refuse a customer, than employ an additional person to follow up on payments.

 

[JottGee]

Hi! I aggree with you 100%. Same vodacom and MTN frustration over here in East London. I'm German and will stay in SA even for 2 years. It's a nightmare trying to get a cell phone contract. It's absolutely impossible. You can show them as much docs as you like, bank accounts, contracts, work permits, passports and driver licenses, love letters, chartes, deeds, cash in your pocket... nothing works! No way, no service, no call back, no good will at all. I offered them a deposit of R10,000 in advance, just to get the contract and the bloody 3G card. No reply. So I'll stay on prepaid. I purchased a Vodafone Connect card by ebay auction for 72 Euros, approx. R560 and fortunately it works very well with every SA sim card! Unfortunately it works in SA and neighboring countries only. If you travel abroad you'll need a contract......... stay tuned and cry.

 

[bb_matt]

There seems to be a real problem at all levels of service in this country.

I tried phoning around Incredible Connection enquiring about the availability of a game.
I got transferred to a sales guy and asked if they had the game. I could hear the guy didn't know what I requested, so right away he said "No, we don't have that"
I asked him to check. He checked. "Oh, yes, sorry sir, we do"

Nobody will go above and beyond the call of duty to help a customer and this is apparent almost everywhere you go.

I joke about it and call it an "ehhh, f@ck you" attitude.
Sometimes I modify it slightly, "ehhh, what you waaaaant"

You know it's bad when you get a crowd of store clerks having a chat while a line of customers is waiting at the till - when you request service, you get a rude stare and serious attitude.

And to think, there's 40% unemployment ...

 

[spirit of free enterprise]

Vodacom sucks

It looks like I keep on believing in the goodwill of humanity and Vodacom but that is probably beeing a bit too much optimistic or is it masochistic?
As I told you before I run a school for deaf people in Khayelitsha we are hereby supported by Max Ozinsky Chief Whip of the WC parliament and by Admiral Koos Louw. We educate deaf people in the art of boatbuilding (see also our site www.wbba.co.za). We really need this 3G card as we do not have ADSL in our facilities. I did buy a 3G card on myself and paid 2500 rands for it. It is already broken and sent for repairs now. But the thing is that we spend a fortune on prepaid time and every time I am in Khaeylitsha my prepaid time is finished so we can't e-mail. I have asked my local Vodashop in Houtbay what was necessary for a subscription. They told me 3 months bank statements (ever heard of privacy here?) a form to be filled, registration of the section 21, and copy of ID of the both directors. I supplied the shop with all these documents and 2 weeks later called them to know what was going on. Apparently the guy that help me left the company (can't blame him) but they can't find the list of what he did the last week (ever heard of quality control?). Anyhow now they came back that i should sign a Agreement of suretyship. I did so (altough I don't understand why this could not be done the first time). Then they called me that they wanted a cheque that had been validated. I don't know in which century you live but I live in the 21st. I do all my payments through internet and when I go to a shop I pay via electronic banking with my debet card. In the last 3 months we spend over 150000 rands on purchases for the school but I never had to use a cheque. Today they called me again that they want a proof of property and a proof of permanent residence.I do have a proof of property but now I am tired of it. What will be next this Vodacom requirements will just never stop! I have 4 credit cards which I showed them I don't see why I should show anything else. We are talking about 300 rands a month for a data subscription I step in a bank and buy a bakkie on credit before a get a subscription from Vodacom. I give it up. I will continue spending a lot of money on prepaid, but long live the Spirit of Free Enterprise, Long live the competitors may Vodacom die in it's own bureaucracy!

 

[ic]

SOFE, I have merged your post into your previous thread - IMO it will help forumites put your understandable frustration into context .

As a consumer, there should be some other options available to you - competition being the keyword here - since you have already bought & paid for the 3G data card in cash, you can [if there is coverage] put a competitor's pre-paid sim card into the data card and use their less expensive pre-paid data bundles until Vodacom have their pre-paid data bundles released...

Having said that, it sounds like the specific Vodashop [in the case Vodacom's visible face / first point of contact], is guilty of incompetence & needs to train their staff up on non-res contracts etc etc etc.

 

[vodacom3g]

I've passed this on to the relevant people.

As already discussed here, the whole issue of non-residents and contracts is a situation that needs better handling, not just by the mobile companies.

 

[diabolus]

We are talking about 300 rands a month for a data subscription I step in a bank and buy a bakkie on credit before a get a subscription from Vodacom. I

Yea, it's absurd. I could raise my Cheque Account's Overdraft from 0 to R10,000 with one click on internet banking without filling in any form [and i only needed my ID to get the account] .

..next step is you'll need an HIV test to ensure you dont die before paying up ? ...hilarious.

 

[Syndyre]

Maybe its just Vodacom SP who are useless and not the network itself? Switched to Vodacom with Nashua Mobile now who've been amazing with everything, compared to MTN SP before who were, well...

 

[ic]

Maybe its just Vodacom SP who are useless and not the network itself? Switched to Vodacom with Nashua Mobile now who've been amazing with everything, compared to MTN SP before who were, well...

That's sort of what I was trying to imply by pointing the blame in the direction of whatever specific Vodashop SOFE has been dealing with, the problem for Vodacom though is that these retail outlets are the front-line interfaces to Vodacom, and if the retail outlets ooze incompetence and red tape, then consumers get a very negative impression of Vodacom as a whole, i.e. it is in Vodacom's interests to clamp-down on bad service and surgically remove it as if it [bad retail outlet service] were a form of cancer eating away at Vodacom's business...

 

[vodacom3g]

That's sort of what I was trying to imply by pointing the blame in the direction of whatever specific Vodashop SOFE has been dealing with, the problem for Vodacom though is that these retail outlets are the front-line interfaces to Vodacom, and if the retail outlets ooze incompetence and red tape, then consumers get a very negative impression of Vodacom as a whole, i.e. it is in Vodacom's interests to clamp-down on bad service and surgically remove it as if it [bad retail outlet service] were a form of cancer eating away at Vodacom's business...

I have passed this on to the structures that deal with the Vodashops.

 

[ic]

I have passed this on to the structures that deal with the Vodashops.

I knew you would convey comments from all forumites .

I expect that when/if number portability arrives, there will be a huge customer retention drive from all network operators, IMO it's in Vodacom's best interests to shake the bad retail outlet apples out sooner rather than later .

 

[MyDraadloos]

I knew you would convey comments from all forumites .

I expect that when/if number portability arrives, there will be a huge customer retention drive from all network operators, IMO it's in Vodacom's best interests to shake the bad retail outlet apples out sooner rather than later .

Unfortunately the imminent introduction of MNP has not improved service in some areas. I vote for the Vodashop in Centurion as the worst one I have come across.

According them V3G's DIY data bundle is not an option of available - Messenger Contract + Data Bundle. LOL

PS. I have to go look for my Grand Mothers birth certificate and numerous other documents to prove I can afford a R35 pm contract.

 

[porn$tar]

Now 3 weeks ago I called the Vodashop in Pickbell parkade in Cape Town for a 3G card, Aziza told me that she needed 3 months bank statements and my ID, so I went to the Vodashop gave Aziza my Passport and the book with all my statements from the last year. She told me that it would take 4 to 5 days.

I actually work in a building right next to the Pickbell Arcade, also dealt with Aziza. i was promised 2 months ago that they would get stock of PCI adaptors by the middle of August, so I waited. Well i went there yesterday and was told by somebody else that the adapters have been discontinued. Aaaargh! I coulda bought one somewhere else a long time ago.