Prepaid databundle buggerup

S

Simon_B

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Vodacom is stealing airtime!

Heres how they do it.

I purchase a 500mg data bundle, after using 435mb i get an sms that says my data has expired and they will now use my standard airtime.

So like a good guy i run off and get another R200 airtime and load it to buy another data bundle, when i try to load it using the *111# function the system tells me That i still have a data bundle and cant load a new one until the other one has expired.

I do a balance check and wow, there is still 65mb available.
However the data bundle is not being used for the internet anymore as the system thinks it has expired, my airtime is being used for the internet instead, after a weekend of surfing my R200 airtime is finished, then all of a sudden the system remembers that i have data available and switches back to using the data bundle.

MMM, is this normal? I don't think so, so i dail up Vodacom customer support. everyone is friendly but nothing gets done.
This is now the second time that this has happened to me since i ported from MTN, So far they have STOLEN R400 from me.

I have a full list of names of call center staff, and team leaders i have spoken to, please can someone help me contact the right people so i can get my cash back.

I was thinking if this happened to only 10000 users this month vodacom has stolen an average of R2mill. This cant be right. :mad:
Maybe i should lay a charge at the SAPS.

If this has happened to anyone else, please report it here.

PLEASE HELP.

Thanx

simonb
 
Simon_B said:
Vodacom is stealing airtime!

Heres how they do it.

I purchase a 500mg data bundle, after using 435mb i get an sms that says my data has expired and they will now use my standard airtime.

So like a good guy i run off and get another R200 airtime and load it to buy another data bundle, when i try to load it using the *111# function the system tells me That i still have a data bundle and cant load a new one until the other one has expired.
Click to expand...

Folks,

I disagree, many have been cought by the stuck data bundle. Look at all the posts about it and remember that there are a lot more users not represented here. I have been "HAD" twice, contacted 155, got a reference number and had it fixed. The second time I even got an unasked for refund!

It would appear that Vodacom have a problem with the reservation system that is unable to cope with our response times to "costs are being deducted from your call account" messages thus trapping some of the reserved time. I am sure that all are aware and working on it.

I really doubt that a listed entity would risk their reputation for a few percent more.

73 de
 
It has happened to me as well, but I don't think Vodacom will try to scam their customers, simply because they have competition in the market (MTN) and the HUGE money making potential HSDPA has.

I'm sure they're working overtime to iron out the 'niggles' in the system, and I'll do business with any company where vodacom3g is working - he is simply a top guy. :)
 
kingrob said:
It has happened to me as well, but I don't think Vodacom will try to scam their customers, simply because they have competition in the market (MTN) and the HUGE money making potential HSDPA has.

I'm sure they're working overtime to iron out the 'niggles' in the system, and I'll do business with any company where vodacom3g is working - he is simply a top guy. :)
Click to expand...

Trying to get free Data Bundles are we... :rolleyes:
 
Simon_B said:
Vodacom is stealing airtime!

Heres how they do it.

I purchase a 500mg data bundle, after using 435mb i get an sms that says my data has expired and they will now use my standard airtime.

So like a good guy i run off and get another R200 airtime and load it to buy another data bundle, when i try to load it using the *111# function the system tells me That i still have a data bundle and cant load a new one until the other one has expired.

I do a balance check and wow, there is still 65mb available.
However the data bundle is not being used for the internet anymore as the system thinks it has expired, my airtime is being used for the internet instead, after a weekend of surfing my R200 airtime is finished, then all of a sudden the system remembers that i have data available and switches back to using the data bundle.

MMM, is this normal? I don't think so, so i dail up Vodacom customer support. everyone is friendly but nothing gets done.
This is now the second time that this has happened to me since i ported from MTN, So far they have STOLEN R400 from me.

I have a full list of names of call center staff, and team leaders i have spoken to, please can someone help me contact the right people so i can get my cash back.

I was thinking if this happened to only 10000 users this month vodacom has stolen an average of R2mill. This cant be right. :mad:
Maybe i should lay a charge at the SAPS.

If this has happened to anyone else, please report it here.

PLEASE HELP.

Thanx

simonb
Click to expand...

I'd like to trace this, if you can mail me as much info as possible. Sounds like you kept good records. I'll PM you an e-mail addy.

What should have happened is that you connect with your data bundle, some data is reserved (more on this below) and when you got the OOB SMS and disconnected, the reserved amount is returned. You should then be able to connect and use the 65M. When that is completed, it'll start eating into your balance, and R200 only gives you 100M.

You're 100% sure this did not happen? I.e. you used the 65M and then went OOB without picking it up?

I'm concerned about something else; the fact that you had 65M reserved. The reservation system will reserve data per active IP session on your PC, i.e. the more connections you have open, the more is reserved.

The question is why did the network think you have a large number of sessions open? Do you run P2P?

Please see if you can track these, maybe do a netstat or use something like TCPView.

I'm worried that you might have a bit of unfriendly software on your system merrily using up your bandwidth.

Check especially for rootkits. Just had a case where a rootkit on a PC was mailing large amounts of mail out. Now we have the standard "I did not use that data" situation.....
 
V3G: The reservation system will reserve data per active IP session on your PC, i.e. the more connections you have open, the more is reserved.

I am also getting a lot of data being reserved; I do keep several tabs open on my browser: surely that's only one IP session?
 
sun said:
V3G: The reservation system will reserve data per active IP session on your PC, i.e. the more connections you have open, the more is reserved.

I am also getting a lot of data being reserved; I do keep several tabs open on my browser: surely that's only one IP session?
Click to expand...

Been wanting to call you to discuss this, as you do see the same on your system.

Every tab will have a separate IP:Socket connection, as will every other process that connecting out. a P2P app will easily have 10 to 20 connections. And a rootkit or virus could open up many more.

Do a 'netstat' in a DOS box and post the output. You can also run TCPview from Sysinternals.

We're busy investigating how to limit the number of 1M chunks being reserved.
 
vodacom3g said:
Been wanting to call you to discuss this, as you do see the same on your system.

Every tab will have a separate IP:Socket connection, as will every other process that connecting out. a P2P app will easily have 10 to 20 connections. And a rootkit or virus could open up many more.

Do a 'netstat' in a DOS box and post the output. You can also run TCPview from Sysinternals.

We're busy investigating how to limit the number of 1M chunks being reserved.
Click to expand...


I opened Skype and Google Talk (which are not normally running) before running netstat. There are four tabs open on my browser.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6000]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\test2>netstat

Active Connections

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP 10.60.87.79:55352 softbank219032012017:49081 ESTABLISHED
TCP 10.60.87.79:55516 kc-in-f125:5222 ESTABLISHED
TCP 10.60.87.79:55717 ug-in-f189:https ESTABLISHED
TCP 10.60.87.79:55740 ik-in-f18:http ESTABLISHED
TCP 10.60.87.79:55741 ik-in-f18:https ESTABLISHED

C:\Users\test2>
 
sun said:
I opened Skype and Google Talk (which are not normally running) before running netstat. There are four tabs open on my browser.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6000]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:Userstest2>netstat

Active Connections

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State
TCP 10.60.87.79:55352 softbank219032012017:49081 ESTABLISHED
TCP 10.60.87.79:55516 kc-in-f125:5222 ESTABLISHED
TCP 10.60.87.79:55717 ug-in-f189:https ESTABLISHED
TCP 10.60.87.79:55740 ik-in-f18:http ESTABLISHED
TCP 10.60.87.79:55741 ik-in-f18:https ESTABLISHED

C:Userstest2>
Click to expand...

Cool, now do a balance to 100, record the number, disconnect and re-do the balance again.

How much data got returned?
 
This seems pretty close to the problem I just encountered.

I'm using a 1Gb data bundle at the moment, only used about 200Mb of it so far (according to my data usage tracker). I used my internet for a bit this morning, then suddenly it stopped working, and hasn't been working since.

I dialled *111# now to check my data bundle balance, and it says "you have 0Mb available to use - your databundle will expire on 20071110" (which was the expiry date for my previous data bundle - the 11th of October)

Anyone have an idea of what's going on? I'm stumped.

***EDIT***

I just bought more airtime (I only had 97c) and now my internet is working again. But that means its eating my airtime, and not using my databundle, as experienced by the other guys in this thread.

However, I had around 800MB left on my data bundle, and it just disappeared. Reservations can't explain that one off...
 
Last edited:
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