Problem: Delayed Billing for Contract Data usage for December 2007

Garden Router said:
Unfortunately this is not a joke. I've been going back through my itemised billing reports from last year and it seems to have been happening for some time. Back in June and July, mid-month, data charges appeared on my account - OOB - where the times and usage just didn't add up. Then usage reverted to in-bundle for the remainder of the month, and an amount (R30 or R40 odds) was added to the months account - and that when the data bundle was shown to be not fully used up! (in my case a 2Gig package.)

I'm going to try an experiment - unplug the 3G modem for a 24hr period and see if any data appears on my account for that time. I'll use my ADSL instead.

Vodacom is losing the plot IN A BIG WAY here. I made a request to 155 to have the terms and conditions of my contract sent to me - a plain old text file - some 3 weeks ago. Got an SMS confirming my request, but haven't seen the goods yet. I am wanting to know where I stand with regard to terminating the contract on the grounds that my service provider ain't providing the service they promised at the agreed price.

V3g - what gives? It looks like with all the bragging of Vodacom about expansion, new fibre, ADSL in the pipeline, share prices rising, blah, blah, they are losing sight of something. Umm, and that something would be...? Their customers.

And if I hear one more excuse from a VC employee about december having been a busy month I'll Klap him.
Click to expand...

You do know December was a busy month? :D

As per reply to BK above, PM me everything again + your contact details.
 
Dolby said:
If I log into Vodacom4me and select My Account > Account Info > Reports > Invoiced Itemised Details for February, I see this ... http://mybroadband.co.za/photos/showphoto.php?photo=2764&size=big&cat=500

You'll notice it's got dates from December on - all the exact same duration?

But my January 2008 already covered these December dates (see here http://mybroadband.co.za/photos/showphoto.php?photo=2766&cat=500).

How do Vodacom charge? :confused:
Click to expand...

As much as possible? :rolleyes:

The 86400 durations you saw are one full day in seconds.

Ask 155 to explain. Let me know what they say.
 
vodacom3g said:
You do know December was a busy month? :D

As per reply to BK above, PM me everything again + your contact details.
Click to expand...


V3g - Thank you for your offer, but whilst I have every confidence in your abilities and that as an individual you plainly know how to do your job, I don't have the same confidence in the company you work for. Despite the e-mails, phone calls and your intervention into my messed up billing for december, the outcome for me was far from satisfactory. A complete denial from VC's side that anything is awry with their systems and the only offer to me was a "gesture of good faith" , "without prejudice" , so to speak, to reduce the tariff on, not cancel out, incorrectly metered data usage for the period in question in december. So as it stands, VC sit with a suspect and unreliable billing / data recording system which could again go for a loop at any time, I have to keep checking online reports to avoid nasty surprises at the end of the month, and worst of all I can't get out of the contract not least because the people I signed with won't even let me have a copy of it.

internet 19 June 2007 06:17:17 AM 3658 4663742 0.00
internet 19 June 2007 03:14:14 PM 705 5545526 5.57
internet 19 June 2007 03:25:59 PM 109 5318760 5.34
internet 19 June 2007 03:27:48 PM 116 5318840 5.34
internet 19 June 2007 03:29:44 PM 106 5318920 5.34
internet 19 June 2007 03:31:30 PM 111 5319414 5.34
internet 19 June 2007 03:33:21 PM 109 5318920 5.34
internet 19 June 2007 03:35:10 PM 108 5319600 5.35
internet 19 June 2007 03:36:58 PM 118 5320840 0.00
internet 19 June 2007 03:38:56 PM 377 1370668 0.00

That's from my june bill. There are more random OOB amounts here and there in other months too. I never remove the sim from the modem - I don't use it in a phone or anything. No-one else has access to it. Clearly the billing system is not right. VC should divert some sponsorship money from one of their rugby teams and put it into buying a billing system that works. But perhaps then they won't be able to sponsor any more rugby teams...:rolleyes:
 
PS: "VC should divert some sponsorship money from one of their rugby teams "

Perhaps the bulls?:D
 
Garden Router said:
V3g - Thank you for your offer, but whilst I have every confidence in your abilities and that as an individual you plainly know how to do your job, I don't have the same confidence in the company you work for. Despite the e-mails, phone calls and your intervention into my messed up billing for december, the outcome for me was far from satisfactory. A complete denial from VC's side that anything is awry with their systems and the only offer to me was a "gesture of good faith" , "without prejudice" , so to speak, to reduce the tariff on, not cancel out, incorrectly metered data usage for the period in question in december. So as it stands, VC sit with a suspect and unreliable billing / data recording system which could again go for a loop at any time, I have to keep checking online reports to avoid nasty surprises at the end of the month, and worst of all I can't get out of the contract not least because the people I signed with won't even let me have a copy of it.

internet 19 June 2007 06:17:17 AM 3658 4663742 0.00
internet 19 June 2007 03:14:14 PM 705 5545526 5.57
internet 19 June 2007 03:25:59 PM 109 5318760 5.34
internet 19 June 2007 03:27:48 PM 116 5318840 5.34
internet 19 June 2007 03:29:44 PM 106 5318920 5.34
internet 19 June 2007 03:31:30 PM 111 5319414 5.34
internet 19 June 2007 03:33:21 PM 109 5318920 5.34
internet 19 June 2007 03:35:10 PM 108 5319600 5.35
internet 19 June 2007 03:36:58 PM 118 5320840 0.00
internet 19 June 2007 03:38:56 PM 377 1370668 0.00

That's from my june bill. There are more random OOB amounts here and there in other months too. I never remove the sim from the modem - I don't use it in a phone or anything. No-one else has access to it. Clearly the billing system is not right. VC should divert some sponsorship money from one of their rugby teams and put it into buying a billing system that works. But perhaps then they won't be able to sponsor any more rugby teams...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Let's ask them to explain. Although I'm sure there an answer for this, I agree. It does look confusing and should not happen. So PM me the details and I'll ask the engineers directly. I.e. the guys who build these systems.
 
You really should take at least Sunday off...:)

If I pm you, I need to include cut & pastes from the itemised bills, and the last time I pm'd you I found I was limited to 500 characters in the message - this will need 5 million!

Surely my data account # will suffice for the engineers - they can pull all the info they need off the system with that surely?:confused:
 
Garden Router said:
You really should take at least Sunday off...:)

If I pm you, I need to include cut & pastes from the itemised bills, and the last time I pm'd you I found I was limited to 500 characters in the message - this will need 5 million!

Surely my data account # will suffice for the engineers - they can pull all the info they need off the system with that surely?:confused:
Click to expand...

I'll PM you an e-mail addy. Rather include everything you need to support your mail.
 
If you pm that mail addy I could send you more details I could not fit into the pm..thanks.
 
vodacom3g said:
As much as possible? :rolleyes:

The 86400 durations you saw are one full day in seconds.

Ask 155 to explain. Let me know what they say.
Click to expand...

Alrighty ... I'll give them a call now now :/ I just don't get why December dates are on the January and February bills. It's almost as if they thought 'oops ... for got these 5 full days in December, let's add em to the next bill'.

From what I understand, my entire December is on January.
 
Credit where credit is due..Vodacom has called back and credited my account handsomely..My Internet charges for Feb. is a staggering R21.00.

Thank you V3G for a Stirling job well done..thank you Sir.

Now to finally cancel this contract.
 
Big Kriss said:
Credit where credit is due..Vodacom has called back and credited my account handsomely..My Internet charges for Feb. is a staggering R21.00.

Thank you V3G for a Stirling job well done..thank you Sir.

Now to finally cancel this contract.
Click to expand...

Cool, (or rather, not so cool...).

Won't you colaborate with ic on his open letter? I'm sure ic can get hold of you via PM or here on the forum.
 
It seems to be a case of like father,like son. Vodacom seems to have learnt from the best..

A COUPLE have been hit with a bill of £11,000 after downloading four episodes of the sitcom Friends via a mobile phone.

The wife of a City executive used his “unlimited” phone broadband package to order the programmes, which would have been free had they been received entirely in the UK.

But while the download was still in progress, her husband travelled to Germany for a two-day business trip. The download continued for 12 hours, automatically resuming on his arrival in Germany.

According to one source, the businessman, who has declined to comment, knew of the massive bill when he arrived back in Britain and Vodafone contacted his company.

This weekend, Ed Richards, chief executive of Ofcom, the communications watchdog, said: “We will be looking to take action.” The European commission will also intervene to slash fees.

Vodafone said it informs customers of the charges. It said that if customers exceeded their quota in Britain, it would call to alert them.

But the company admitted it took longer to alert customers overseas even though any excess to their quota costs significantly more.

Ray Elmitt, 63, a company director from Hampton Wick, Surrey, received a bill for £1,150 after using Vodafone mobile broadband for an hour in Spain.

He wanted to check whether or not a colleague was in the office in London, so he logged on to the on-site internet camera.

“As the camera refreshes every few minutes, it dramatically increases the amount of data you are downloading,” he said. “However, it really annoyed me because I think most people would treat mobile broadband as they would their home or work-based broadband and not worry about download limits.

“I find it appalling that Vodafone was prepared to charge a long-standing customer such a huge amount without so much as a warning that costs could mount up like this.”

Viviane Reding, the European Union commissioner for information, society and media, has given phone companies until July 1 to cut their fees for downloading data and texting while abroad. Sending a text from a European country can cost as much as 49p.

“Sending a text message or downloading data in another country should not be substantially more expensive than at home,” Reding has said.

“Higher retail charges abroad must be justified or they will have to disappear.”
 
Big Kriss said:
It seems to be a case of like father,like son. Vodacom seems to have learnt from the best..

A COUPLE have been hit with a bill of £11,000 after downloading four episodes of the sitcom Friends via a mobile phone.

The wife of a City executive used his “unlimited” phone broadband package to order the programmes, which would have been free had they been received entirely in the UK.

But while the download was still in progress, her husband travelled to Germany for a two-day business trip. The download continued for 12 hours, automatically resuming on his arrival in Germany.

According to one source, the businessman, who has declined to comment, knew of the massive bill when he arrived back in Britain and Vodafone contacted his company.

This weekend, Ed Richards, chief executive of Ofcom, the communications watchdog, said: “We will be looking to take action.” The European commission will also intervene to slash fees.

Vodafone said it informs customers of the charges. It said that if customers exceeded their quota in Britain, it would call to alert them.

But the company admitted it took longer to alert customers overseas even though any excess to their quota costs significantly more.

Ray Elmitt, 63, a company director from Hampton Wick, Surrey, received a bill for £1,150 after using Vodafone mobile broadband for an hour in Spain.

He wanted to check whether or not a colleague was in the office in London, so he logged on to the on-site internet camera.

“As the camera refreshes every few minutes, it dramatically increases the amount of data you are downloading,” he said. “However, it really annoyed me because I think most people would treat mobile broadband as they would their home or work-based broadband and not worry about download limits.

“I find it appalling that Vodafone was prepared to charge a long-standing customer such a huge amount without so much as a warning that costs could mount up like this.”

Viviane Reding, the European Union commissioner for information, society and media, has given phone companies until July 1 to cut their fees for downloading data and texting while abroad. Sending a text from a European country can cost as much as 49p.

“Sending a text message or downloading data in another country should not be substantially more expensive than at home,” Reding has said.

“Higher retail charges abroad must be justified or they will have to disappear.”
Click to expand...

Both these guys got high bills because they travelled outside of their home network and used substantial amounts of data. Thus their bills were the roaming charges in Germany and Spain and not from Vodafone UK.

I can understand the delay in contacting the subscriber as Vodafone UK will not get the billing record very quickly.

Vodacom subscribers will face these same charges if they travel abroad (Vodacom does not control the roaming charges), so it's important to know what you're doing.

Wonder how legit the 'Friends' download was? Quite balsy to state it to the press. :)
 
V3G - not a technical query ... but maybe you could find out for us ... where are Vodacom getting more call centre agents?

It's really not fair that we have to wait 40-60 minutes while we're working to sort out a potential Vodacom query. I DREAD contacting them and hold off as long as I can.
 
Dolby said:
V3G - not a technical query ... but maybe you could find out for us ... where are Vodacom getting more call centre agents?

It's really not fair that we have to wait 40-60 minutes while we're working to sort out a potential Vodacom query. I DREAD contacting them and hold off as long as I can.
Click to expand...

On 155? When was this?

I think on Friday there was a massive number of incoming calls, something like 3 times the normal rate and it resulted in long waits.

At one point more than 80% of calls to 155 were answered within 20 seconds. I'll get the latest stats.

Let me know when this was.

/added/ Just tried now and held on for just under 2 minutes. But probably nothing major is broken at the moment. ;)
 
155 ... I'm at 15 minutes waiting :/
 
Now at 21 minutes ... isn't there an email address we can mail? I'd prefer to wait 5 working days than hold an entire day ...

And these figures on my account are wrong too, I think. But I can't confirm ...

GPRS One DC0
Month Threshold Used Bundle Remaining Bundle
March 1.00GB 77.91 MB 946.09 MB
February 1.00GB 740.28 MB 283.72 MB
January 1.00GB 494.76 MB 529.24 MB
 
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