Colin62
Executive Member
I've got a Vodacom contract with Autopage, but have been offered a cellphone contract by my employer. Naturaly I'd prefer to keep my number, so I called Autopage to clarify what I needed to do to release the number to Vodacom direct, while not affecting the contract itself. I want to keep the contract in place, I want Autopage to issue me with another number for that contract and I want them to release my curent number to Vodacom. Fairly simple request...
They refuse to release my number unless I cancel my contract with them, at a cost of over R7400. The contract is a Talk 240 at R430 a month and has 7 months to go - a total cost of R3010. In addition I'd not have the benefit of my roughly R2000 worth of free minutes for those 7 months. In other words I'd lose about R6500 to move my number, so it's obvious that I'm not going to do that.
My frustration is that I'm not trying to cancel my contract - I'm quite happy to see it through to the end, at which point I'd probably downgrade it to something cheaper and give it to my kid. But Autopage is adamant that the number and the contract are linked until death. Unless of course you just want a new number, that they'll give you. But your old one will go back into the pool and will not be available to be ported. The fact is that if your contract is cancelled, your number would go back into the pool too, but at that point you are allowed to port it.
The nett result is that Autopage has lost a customer - my other contract with them will be moved as soon as it expires too. In a market where cellphone penetration has reached saturation I'd have thought that a service provider would place a higher value on retaining customers, rather than adopting a petty approach to a reasonable request.
They refuse to release my number unless I cancel my contract with them, at a cost of over R7400. The contract is a Talk 240 at R430 a month and has 7 months to go - a total cost of R3010. In addition I'd not have the benefit of my roughly R2000 worth of free minutes for those 7 months. In other words I'd lose about R6500 to move my number, so it's obvious that I'm not going to do that.
My frustration is that I'm not trying to cancel my contract - I'm quite happy to see it through to the end, at which point I'd probably downgrade it to something cheaper and give it to my kid. But Autopage is adamant that the number and the contract are linked until death. Unless of course you just want a new number, that they'll give you. But your old one will go back into the pool and will not be available to be ported. The fact is that if your contract is cancelled, your number would go back into the pool too, but at that point you are allowed to port it.
The nett result is that Autopage has lost a customer - my other contract with them will be moved as soon as it expires too. In a market where cellphone penetration has reached saturation I'd have thought that a service provider would place a higher value on retaining customers, rather than adopting a petty approach to a reasonable request.
