Complaint against Vodacom

If an electrical appliance is faulty and starts consuming extra power, will Eskom contact you?
 
Nicci said:
It was speculated - not the definite problem. Find out the problem and I will give you advise.

In any case, I am not here to fight about what is right / wrong, I am sorry for the big bill and it should not happen to anyone. I hope the parties involved sees this now, and upgrade their systems accordingly to let the general public know when they are about to go OOB.
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Problem vodacom can easily stop customers going OOB but they are quite happy to do the minimum required and profit handsomely off the rest. Both them and MTN do this because they have the market cornered with their superior coverage. We'd all jump ship in a heart beat if the other providers covered us
 
Nicci said:
I will have to do some research and get back to you on that one.
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"researching" something after a R20,000 bill has arrived at your door isn't going to help you really :whistle:

Your correct answer would be to "monitor your bandwidth like a hawk", but that doesn't fix anything.

The problem is OOB itself.
It's like some company building you a swimming pool, and saying: "we had to install this shark - unfortunately we can't remove it from your pool, but if you just monitor it and not go too deep, you will be okay"

Edit: and some people aren't even told of the shark.
 
abzo said:
If an electrical appliance is faulty and starts consuming extra power, will Eskom contact you?
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the problem isn't over consumption - the problem is charging inflated OOB prices.

if we payed R150 for 2GB and suddenly used 6GB, I won't mind paying R450..... but not R4,150!
 
Keeper said:
The problem is OOB itself.
It's like some company building you a swimming pool, and saying: "we had to install this shark - unfortunately we can't remove it from your pool, but if you just monitor it and not go too deep, you will be okay"
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Priceless! :D
 
Keeper said:
the problem isn't over consumption - the problem is charging inflated OOB prices.

if we payed R150 for 2GB and suddenly used 6GB, I won't mind paying R450..... but not R4,150!
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Meh. Their prices are their prerogative. If people don't like it then they should go elsewhere. No?
 
abzo said:
If an electrical appliance is faulty and starts consuming extra power, will Eskom contact you?
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Jannie can probably answer that. IIRC, he's had electricity bills higher than OP's data bill.

I do know that Eskom will send you a bill the following month with a penalty charge for every half-hour your power factor dips below 0.96.
 
jannievanzyl said:
Been there for a long time. Called Broadband Advance. Was originally built on request of this forum. Pity then the members don't use it. ;)
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What I mean is I purchase a bundle as I did now, 1 gig lets say. I pay lets say R250
Now I go over that bundle, why do the networks charge more when I go over? Why not charge the same price?
The only reason can be that they want us to go over so we can be raped
 
R13... said:
Problem vodacom can easily stop customers going OOB but they are quite happy to do the minimum required and profit handsomely off the rest.
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Crux. Right there. Shameless corporate exploitation, which the government should have regulated long ago.
 
For us the semi educated on these dodgy practises its maybe ok, although some still get caught as in the OP, what about the average uneducated person?
Would love to know the real stats on how many people go over......
 
i put R180 in my 8ta account and convert 150 to 2 gig. when it is finished they stop and ask if i want to proseed. unlike vodacom that will take the money and sms when it has used the cash as well/ sharks
 
ginggs said:
Jannie can probably answer that. IIRC, he's had electricity bills higher than OP's data bill.

I do know that Eskom will send you a bill the following month with a penalty charge for every half-hour your power factor dips below 0.96.
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R1 200 000 to be exact! :)

The electricity analogy is actually 100% correct. Like your electricity supplier, your telecoms provider is deemed (by law) a Continuous Service Provider, i.e. your service is not automatically cut off. But tools are provided to help you manage your bill.

As previously posted, I've PM'd blu to see what I can do but so far I've not heard anything.
 
marine1 said:
For us the semi educated on these dodgy practises its maybe ok, although some still get caught as in the OP, what about the average uneducated person?
Would love to know the real stats on how many people go over......
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Very small %, a few points in fact. I track these on a monthly basis. Of those that do go OOB, most buy a new bundle.
 
Keeper said:
BS.
How about a simple phone call when a user suddenly goes over R10000?


All I keep hearing is "our system has limitations" and whatnot, year after year.
Do something about this problem or gtfo :erm:

All this technical jargon needs to stop, you are not NASA.
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3% of users with modems give us a alternate number to contact them on. Even if we ask. We've given up trying to phone the modem.

If blu had activate ALTNUM she would've received the notification SMS's. I've PM'd her to get the details so I can check why she did not get them. Wating for her reply.

All the terms I use have been discussed thousands of times on this forum. A bit of reading might do you good.
 
jannievanzyl said:
Very small %, a few points in fact. I track these on a monthly basis. Of those that do go OOB, most buy a new bundle.
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Jannie, why don't you simply switch over to pre-paid the moment you go OOB? Or contractually allow a 10% over-allowance before either blocking or switching to pre-paid

There are so many ways to prevent OOB on a system level it is difficult not to come to the conclusion that the service providers are deliberately feeding the shark...
 
DJ... said:
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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No DJ, that's not what I said or implied. And you know that.

I was talking to myBB members who (like you) have been a member here for 5 years.

All contract subs are asked for an ALTNUM in the shops and are explained the processes and tools available. Every new subscriber get 3 (THREE) letters explaining how to prevent bill-shock, use the tools, etc.

Recently a sub complained to me about bill-shock and promptly sent me all the communication he got from Vodacom. When I pointed out he got all the welcoming letters showing him how to do ALTNUM, etc. he admitted he never read them.

Like the horse said; You can take a human to water, but you can't make him think ;)

As much as you guys like to attack Vodacom on this, we go out of our way to try and educate subs on ho to manage their bill.
 
jannievanzyl said:
Very small %, a few points in fact. I track these on a monthly basis. Of those that do go OOB, most buy a new bundle.
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Ahhh ok would have thought it was much much higher.


jannievanzyl said:
3% of users with modems give us a alternate number to contact them on. Even if we ask. We've given up trying to phone the modem.
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Ockie did insist on this with me :D
 
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