So to understand Vodacom's offerings and prevent shock bills, all Vodacom subscribers should sift through the mybroadband forum; your relevant posts; vodacomdata's relevant posts; the stickies; and educate themselves? That is what this boils down to. There is a common theme among the shock-bill victims - they simply didn't know. Now you can argue that ignorance is not an excuse, but that is only applicable if you (and the other networks, granted) do your best to ensure that your products are easy to understand; consumers are educated sufficiently; and you do your utmost to prevent these shock-bills. You simply don't...
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Complaint against Vodacom
- Thread starter blunomore
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So to understand Vodacom's offerings and prevent shock bills, all Vodacom subscribers should sift through the mybroadband forum; your relevant posts; vodacomdata's relevant posts; the stickies; and educate themselves? That is what this boils down to. There is a common theme among the shock-bill victims - they simply didn't know. Now you can argue that ignorance is not an excuse, but that is only applicable if you (and the other networks, granted) do your best to ensure that your products are easy to understand; consumers are educated sufficiently; and you do your utmost to prevent these shock-bills. You simply don't...
Sure, i'd love to hear you say that when you were part of a botnet, forget a torrent, get a virus or get stuck in an emailing loop, and suddenly sit with a R36000 bill, where vodacom did not even send you a sms.
This happens, and people sell their cars to pay the bill.
36Gigs can be downloaded in a day, trust me - i've done it day after day a few years ago when MTN had a glitch in their uncapped system. that was at around 4mbs.
Why do you think Vodacom loves upgrading their speeds faster and faster, to 7.mbs, 14mbs, 24mbs and whatnot?
It's because OOB.
I've been a forum member for many yeas. I've followed Jannie's informative posts - those that I see. I research before I buy. I am more technically minded (by a narrow margin) than most network customers. I still don't know wtf half of Vodacom's offerings are. I bought broadband standard each and every time because the one time I called the helpdesk to find out the difference, I was told I pay extra to make it last longer. As if the age changes the input costing ffs
Can you make sense of that acronym-filled post that I quoted earlier? I certainly can't. And shouldn't have to just to check me emails...
Jola
Honorary Master
Some people just don't have the technical skills (or interest) to understand everything.
And some think they do, and then Photoshop (or whatever else) downloads a huge update without their knowledge !
But you see, I educate myself on certain products to suit my needs, I read up on them, and then decide if that is for me or not. That is why I have adsl at home, and a pre-paid sim for data usage - to avoid these kind of situations. Now I feel sorry for the OP and I hope it gets sorted, but when we take out contracts and especially after people KNOW that they charge OOB, why do you not read up on it, and ensure every means possible that it would not happen to you?
tell me about it!
Abobe has particularly sneaky updaters!man, I used to live in fear with vodacom's 3G, because I KNOW stuff like this can happen.
Not anymore though... I don't need to watch my DU meter like a hawk now... at 8ta's R15/GB I finally feel free on the web!
Vodacom needs to fix this problem though. either that, or users need to get a better ISP.
I've been a forum member for many yeas. I've followed Jannie's informative posts - those that I see. I research before I buy. I am more technically minded (by a narrow margin) than most network customers. I still don't know wtf half of Vodacom's offerings are. I bought broadband standard each and every time because the one time I called the helpdesk to find out the difference, I was told I pay extra to make it last longer. As if the age changes the input costing ffs
Can you make sense of that acronym-filled post that I quoted earlier? I certainly can't. And shouldn't have to just to check me emails...
I understand what you are trying to say, but what I am trying to say, is that if you are going to sign up for a contract for data (and you very well know they charge very expensively for those OOB data) to go and read the fine print, go to a vodashop or something, and ask questions and educate and familiarize yourself with the product's terms and conditions. Also, I would go do research on those acronyms to ensure I know what they are talking about.
Jola
Honorary Master
Yeah, but Vodacom's approach is like burying beartraps in a footpath and then warning people trough the classifieds that there are beartraps in the footpath.
SinghDude
Chief Sports Analyst
Has anybody seen Vodacom's share price history since the Telkom split ?
Yes.... they are making a schit load of OOB money...... together with the normal offerings
Yes.... they are making a schit load of OOB money...... together with the normal offerings
Because that is not what using the internet should be about. not everyone is a geek.
Do you think that everyone should study Telecoms and ISP data packages before using it, or do you think it would just be simpler if the ISP gave you a call when you suddenly go much higher than usual.
Banks call you when you suddenly spend out of the ordinary amounts, why does vodacom think its okay for users to go R20,000 in overdraft without consent?
Can you tell us what MDMA and USSD is? lets see how much you really know.
You're right in the sense that there is no passing the buck. The issue lies in what preventative measures are in place from the network's side. Or at least notification side. I had to find out in this thread that one can divert the notifications to another phone. Great feature, but who knew? Certainly not the average Joe customer. Certainly not the guy who got a new tablet with this awesome hotspot function and hasn't the foggiest about telecoms and related prices. Certainly not the guy whose Windows, Adobe and Nortons updated the moment the phone was plugged in. Certainly not the guy who has hardly ever used mobile data before.
As smart-phones become more prevalent; as consumers turn towards mobile data; as networks advertise themselves as internet-hubs - they have a responsibility to their customers to educate them further and help prevent shock bills for which the customer derives absolutely no value whatsoever from. They have a responsibility to make things accessible to their ordinary customer.
Yes, customers should educate themselves, I agree. And at the same time the networks need to jack up their game...
The average customer simply does not do this. That is the reality of the situation. Moreso seeing as it is advertised to them as a simple solution by the networks themselves. Or at least that is implied in the marketing.
And to be honest, if I want to use the internet on my phone, I really shouldn't have to research acronyms, jargon and general gibberish. Particularly if I don't even know these acronyms and jargon exist in the first place...
Jola
Honorary Master
And the solution is really simple !
Try to go OOB with an 8ta data sim, and see a really simple and elegant solution !
Edit : Although I believe that the ISP's should do even more than that, but that is the minimum !
Try to go OOB with an 8ta data sim, and see a really simple and elegant solution !
Edit : Although I believe that the ISP's should do even more than that, but that is the minimum !
but that's the thing, there shouldn't even BE any bill shock!
What kind of service costs 10 times when you use more of that same service?
That's like paying 10c an apple for the first 20 apples, and R1 an apple for each apple after that.
insane...
MickZA
Executive Member
Strange how it's only the mobile ISPs that seem to have this problem. Telkom & Axxess can send me 80% & 100% usage alerts promptly
The issue also isn't the few shock bills that are splattered all over the forum. It is the lesser-known "wtf-bill". The one that is about a grand more expensive than your usual bill but you're still unsure why. The one that you query with Vodacom but their billing department tells you it is data so you owe it. The one that you pay because you owe, but are still unsure why. The one that repeats itself because this new smartphone of yours is a data hog and you're just not geek enough to know how to prevent data usage. The same smartphone the network sold you. The same network that sold you the contract you're using. The same contract that will now have a bolt-on data bundle because the Vodacom guy said that is how you lessen the damage. The same bolt-on that lulls you into a false sense of security that now you're a-okay when it comes to data.
Until next month...
Until next month...
And there are thousands upon thousands of these customers. They are the average Joe customer. Not mybb members and readers. We are an educated minority...
Jola
Honorary Master
Strange how it's only the mobile ISPs that seem to have this problem. Telkom & Axxess can send me 80% & 100% usage alerts promptly
8ta pops up with a screen that asks you for permission to go OOB - a simple solution for making sure that the customer is aware of what is happening.
Yes, I get your point, they should notify when you are out of bundle, but, it is up to each and everyone to check that, and not presume things. It is easy to pass the buck, but somewhere we also need to take responsibility.
MDMA - this is a mobile data application (
USSD - unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD is a service that allows high-speed and interactive communications between the user and applications across a GSM network. Basically, USSD allows you to request services by entering a specific short sequence of characters on the handset, such as *111#)
The operators have the ability to calculate your prepaid data to the Mb, but can't manage to controll OOB exposure? This must be the con of the century. Is there nobody idle, bored and wealthy enough to challenge them legally?