Matt91
Expert Member
When Fibre first came to my area, via Vumatel, Vodacom was the only company offering FTTH at that point (2018) so my parents gladly signed up for the 20↓/10↑ Fibre deal @ R850 p/m. At the time Vuma had already laid a few cables and some people like my neighbor across the way already had fibre up and running and we sat there eagerly awaiting our turn to experience fibre for ourselves.
In that time awaiting our fibre connection Vodacom offered an "interim solution" first 3 months FREE! (it wasn't)
This was a capped LTE deal @150gb p/m for around ~R600 (I don't recall exactly since it was my dad's account) anyways it took around 5 or so months until the fibre was ready, by that point I had moved out on my own (late 2018).
Once my folks were connected to the fibre network; Vodacom were supposed to fetch the interim solution device, since it was never owned by my parents and they were basically just loaning it until the Vodacom fibre package kicked in. They never showed up and fetched their router.
~7 months goes by and my dad's paying his R850 p/m for internet + other Vodacom contracts he had with them, which I have no idea what all the other stuff amounted to (cellphones, email etc). He gets a call one day from Vodacom accounts dept. stating that his accounts are in arrears by something like R11k so obviously pretty shocked he asks for some clarity on how this could be the case, and it ended up that during the whole time he had been connected to fibre they had still been charging his account for the interim solution (~R600 p/m) + the device, which was supposed to be cancelled and collected as soon as the fibre went live, as per their contract with him, on top of that it also turned out that it wasn't actually R850 p/m for the fibre package but it was more like R1050. I don't know the actual amount because I never saw the contract.
Obviously a little ticked-off and frustrated at this point, he speaks to the accounts dept. and they do eventually come to realize the error on their behalf for the LTE solution being charged to his account. So the bill now drastically gets reduced to around R6k, still alot of money to fork out for internet. Literally the same week he got retrenched and lost his only form of income, so explaining his situation and that he isn't able to pay upfront asks if he can work out a payment plan with Vodacom to which they shut down categorically and everything gets cut off until paid in full - cellphones, internet, email the lot.
So I end up having to move back home (mid 2019) and help the folks out till things get better, I brought along my Rain sim which served me fine in my flat for the time I was staying there, but now with more people using it all the time it's not really an ideal home internet solution for me anymore. Fast forward to 2020 on Monday the 8th I finally had enough of slow internet and thought I'm going to get me some FIBRE!
Signed up with Axxess for 50↓/50↑ Fibre and super freaking excited even made numerous boastful comments around here on myBB about my amazing Fibre baby I'm expecting. Vumatel come out to the property and saw that the CPE box or whatever it's called is installed and working which should speed things up I'm thinking...
It doesn't.
I get a call this evening that Vuma and Axxess can't do $*** because Vodacom still own the line to the house which they will not release because of I'm assuming the outstanding accounts my father has with them, the fibre being among them.
I spoke to a very friendly lady at Vumatel who said I'm going to have to basically fight this with Vodacom but she's gonna try and see what she can do. So I asked her if we can just install a new CPE box because quite honestly my dad's financial BS isn't my problem, turns you can't just install a new line to the same house for whatever reason...
How the hell do I fix this?
Do I have to pay my dad's accounts to get fibre back to the house?
Can Vodacom really hold my fibre internet connection ransom until I pay someone else's account?
My parents are going to be moving to JHB soon so I'm really hoping to get this fixed before then.
TLDR
Dad's fibre account is in arrears, Vodacom won't release the fibre line to the house. New contract, new company, new person but Vodacom still holding fibre line ransom. Can they do that?
In that time awaiting our fibre connection Vodacom offered an "interim solution" first 3 months FREE! (it wasn't)
This was a capped LTE deal @150gb p/m for around ~R600 (I don't recall exactly since it was my dad's account) anyways it took around 5 or so months until the fibre was ready, by that point I had moved out on my own (late 2018).
Once my folks were connected to the fibre network; Vodacom were supposed to fetch the interim solution device, since it was never owned by my parents and they were basically just loaning it until the Vodacom fibre package kicked in. They never showed up and fetched their router.
~7 months goes by and my dad's paying his R850 p/m for internet + other Vodacom contracts he had with them, which I have no idea what all the other stuff amounted to (cellphones, email etc). He gets a call one day from Vodacom accounts dept. stating that his accounts are in arrears by something like R11k so obviously pretty shocked he asks for some clarity on how this could be the case, and it ended up that during the whole time he had been connected to fibre they had still been charging his account for the interim solution (~R600 p/m) + the device, which was supposed to be cancelled and collected as soon as the fibre went live, as per their contract with him, on top of that it also turned out that it wasn't actually R850 p/m for the fibre package but it was more like R1050. I don't know the actual amount because I never saw the contract.
Obviously a little ticked-off and frustrated at this point, he speaks to the accounts dept. and they do eventually come to realize the error on their behalf for the LTE solution being charged to his account. So the bill now drastically gets reduced to around R6k, still alot of money to fork out for internet. Literally the same week he got retrenched and lost his only form of income, so explaining his situation and that he isn't able to pay upfront asks if he can work out a payment plan with Vodacom to which they shut down categorically and everything gets cut off until paid in full - cellphones, internet, email the lot.
So I end up having to move back home (mid 2019) and help the folks out till things get better, I brought along my Rain sim which served me fine in my flat for the time I was staying there, but now with more people using it all the time it's not really an ideal home internet solution for me anymore. Fast forward to 2020 on Monday the 8th I finally had enough of slow internet and thought I'm going to get me some FIBRE!
Signed up with Axxess for 50↓/50↑ Fibre and super freaking excited even made numerous boastful comments around here on myBB about my amazing Fibre baby I'm expecting. Vumatel come out to the property and saw that the CPE box or whatever it's called is installed and working which should speed things up I'm thinking...
It doesn't.
I get a call this evening that Vuma and Axxess can't do $*** because Vodacom still own the line to the house which they will not release because of I'm assuming the outstanding accounts my father has with them, the fibre being among them.
I spoke to a very friendly lady at Vumatel who said I'm going to have to basically fight this with Vodacom but she's gonna try and see what she can do. So I asked her if we can just install a new CPE box because quite honestly my dad's financial BS isn't my problem, turns you can't just install a new line to the same house for whatever reason...
How the hell do I fix this?
Do I have to pay my dad's accounts to get fibre back to the house?
Can Vodacom really hold my fibre internet connection ransom until I pay someone else's account?
My parents are going to be moving to JHB soon so I'm really hoping to get this fixed before then.
TLDR
Dad's fibre account is in arrears, Vodacom won't release the fibre line to the house. New contract, new company, new person but Vodacom still holding fibre line ransom. Can they do that?
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