Massive Vodacom data bills

garp said:
I'm not sure how long they're required to keep the data, however, the same act contains serious penalties (up to 10 yrs jail) for intercepting or monitoring the actual traffic beyond bulk usage stats required for billing, unless they have a court order. Please think very carefully if you want any ISP helpdesk or accounting person or who knows who to have access to details of your actual browsing data.
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Where can i have a look at the act?
 
Yeah - I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to indicate the ISP can provide the information directly to a customer on request. The legalities, I think, are a minefield, because when you look at RICA in conjunction with ECT and then add the upcoming CPA (Consumer Protection Act) and the upcoming PPIB (Protection of Personal Information Bill) into the mix it becomes very difficult to work out which has precedence and how this affects an ISP, or any data carrier/provider for that matter. For instance the draft PPIB states that you can't store any personal data without the express permission of the individuals involved and only for the purpose for which they agree and then only for six months (plus you need permission from the PPIB registrar and to appoint a personal protection officer in your organisation) - now it could be argued that internet logs are essentially personal data... it's kind of sad that you need a legal opinion before you do anything these days. I agree with protecting privacy, but not so much with the bureauracy surrounding it.
 
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VodacomData said:
There will be real time billing if everyone goes on to topup or prepaid.
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Grouter said:
I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at that one. I sincerely hope it's meant tongue-in-cheek, because if not, it's the most damning assessment of the whole vodacom post-paid billing system I've yet seen. And from a vodacom employee nog al.
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morkhans said:
Then Vodacom should stop selling post paid contracts.


How about Vodacom becoming more responsible for their lack of control over data usage on contract? Rather than fixing it the responsibility gets pushed down to the customer? Clearly something is wrong with this picture.

In my opinion as the "inside man" on the forum as much as you are Vodacom's eyes and ears you also need to be the forums voice back to management. This cannot go on any longer. Vodacom's lacklustre attitude towards this problem over the years shows that it does not care for its customers nor the pain they go through when these things happen.
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All of these pretty much sum up the problem: Vodacom.

In my limited sphere of influence I have managed to get 6-7 people (2 families) to move to CellC and in some cases SAINET (MTN reseller- no VOIP penalty nonsense, with fixed cap).

Make a noise and LEAVE after you're abused. Alternatively, STFU and bend over.
 
VodacomData said:
Hi Wordhog

I had a look at the history of the data usage and found that the connection started just before the night owl period on the 25th Feb. The connection than ran into 27th and stopped at around 8pm. That particular connection used over 12gigs of data.
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I say again: not possible, didn't happen. I question your logs. But I haven't got a zillion rand to put up a legal case to fight Goliath over this, so I suppose my only option other than paying is to refuse to pay and let you sue me for it. This sucks. It sucks even more that I'm just the last person in a long line of suckers who've had the same problem. Guess who's going pre-paid now? Currently we can't get any cellphone-based broadband in our area except through Vodacom and all landline services in our area go through Telkom fibre. Talk about having us by the short and curlies. We can't win :-(
 
wordhog, why not try a normal Cell C sim loaded with R25 airtime in your Voda modem? Perhaps there is some sort of adequate coverage...
 
@VodacomData, would it not be in the best interest of the customers to send them notifications when they start to run up a bill of 2x then 3x later 100x their monthly contract?

On prepaid you cut the user off within seconds of reaching their cap, yet on postpaid you cannot inform them that they are about to run up a bill equal or over their car, house and medical insurance premiums combined?

Surely it is not good business practice to allow this to happen?
 
Pilgrim said:
@VodacomData, would it not be in the best interest of the customers to send them notifications when they start to run up a bill of 2x then 3x later 100x their monthly contract?

On prepaid you cut the user off within seconds of reaching their cap, yet on postpaid you cannot inform them that they are about to run up a bill equal or over their car, house and medical insurance premiums combined?

Surely it is not good business practice to allow this to happen?
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Doubt it they want the opportunity to make big cash off peoples mistakes
 
Pilgrim said:
@VodacomData, would it not be in the best interest of the customers to send them notifications when they start to run up a bill of 2x then 3x later 100x their monthly contract?
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Better solution: Hard cap them when their bundle runs out. ADSL providers have been doing it for years, why not the mobile providers?
 
wordhog said:
I say again: not possible, didn't happen. I question your logs. But I haven't got a zillion rand to put up a legal case to fight Goliath over this, so I suppose my only option other than paying is to refuse to pay and let you sue me for it. This sucks. It sucks even more that I'm just the last person in a long line of suckers who've had the same problem. Guess who's going pre-paid now? Currently we can't get any cellphone-based broadband in our area except through Vodacom and all landline services in our area go through Telkom fibre. Talk about having us by the short and curlies. We can't win :-(
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The problem Wordhog , is that Vodacom or any other ISP cannot initiate a internet connection on your behalf , in other words we would need to be infront of the pc to get connected.

I do understand that you are frustrated as its a huge amount of money we talking about. What is strange is that the person who used it knew when night owl started and used it from with in that period and stayed online for the 2 days. The amount of data uploaded came to 3.2gigs and downloaded 9.3 gigs.
 
morkhans said:
Better solution: Hard cap them when their bundle runs out. ADSL providers have been doing it for years, why not the mobile providers?
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That is a good solution. Why can't it be implemented?

And if the current software controls doesn't allow it, then surely a solution must be found? Be innovative and design a solution to the problem...
 
morkhans said:
Better solution: Hard cap them when their bundle runs out. ADSL providers have been doing it for years, why not the mobile providers?
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That is actually a great idea. It can be an option for the user, like

When I reach my cap:
a) Disconnect me.
b) Cause me to loose my car, house, perfect credit rating, etc. by going out of bundle at an insane price.

You can even let the user sms to a number to check their setting every now and then, in case the system "forgets" that the user would like to hang onto his bank balance...
 
ocleroux said:
Is that remote controlled hand controlled by some kind of telemetry device that uses a Vodacom sim?????? Just asking cause then we have to charge you for that also. :p
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And whose fault will it be when there is no signal and the klappee has not been klapped.
 
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