The_Techie
Resident Techie
Now, I'm not normally one to complain on a public forum about bad service, but in this case I felt I had to.
I upgraded my existing contract online on Friday the 19th of January to one which costs about half as much per month. Vodacom then emailed me to say that they will be sending me a new SIM card by courier.
Now, I already have a Vodacom SIM card, so I phoned Vodacom first thing on Monday morning (22nd of January) to tell them there's no need to send me a SIM card. The lady I spoke to said it's not a problem, although the SIM card had already been handed to the couriers for delivery, I should just ask them to return the package to sender and my current SIM card will be used for the upgrade. So this is exactly what I did.
I also have a recurring monthly 2GB data bundle, which I wanted to have cancelled (as the new contract has sufficient data for me not to need the bundle), but was told that they could not cancel the bundle as my account was "frozen" due to the upgrade, and I would have to phone them on the 1st of February when I have been migrated to my new contract to get it cancelled. Hmm, not ideal, but OK, guess I'll have the data bundle for one more month.
So the 1st of February rolls around and to my surprise, I was still on my previous contract. So, time to phone Vodacom again to ask what's what, because evidently I don't want to be paying double the monthly amount for a contract I no longer wish to have.
This time, I was told that no, somehow my upgrade would only be effective from the 1st of March. Which upset me greatly, as I am now stuck on a contract I shouldn't have for yet another month. I'm told that maybe there was some unforeseen trouble with the system, which caused my upgrade to be delayed by a month. That's pretty horrible, but OK, fine, can they at least cancel my data bundle? Nope, my account is still frozen. I'm told to phone again on the 28th of February so that, as the upgrade takes effect, the data bundle can get cancelled too. Why they can't schedule this to happen automatically, I don't know, but whatever I'll phone again on the 28th of February.
My next phone call to Vodacom is on the 28th of February, as requested, to ask that they cancel the data bundle when the contract upgrade comes into effect. "Uhm, no, that is totally unnecessary", I am informed. "When you upgrade a contract, all existing bolt-on options go away because it's a brand new package. I can see on the system that you are scheduled to be upgraded, but there's no need to cancel the data bundle, it would've been cancelled automatically". I express my concern that the previous two ladies I spoke to informed me otherwise, but it is just shrugged off as people who didn't know what they were talking about. I am then reassured that, as of 1 March, I would no longer be charged for my existing contract and would instead only be charged for the new, upgraded contract.
Well lo and behold, 1 March rolls around and I'm still on my previous contract. So, time to phone Vodacom again. So, this time I am informed that my upgrade was cancelled because I refused delivery of a new SIM card...
"Wait, what? I was told that it's not a problem, in fact I should be refusing delivery because I already have an existing SIM card?", I ask, only to be told "No sir, you should have phoned us within 2 days of you refusing the delivery so that we can make a note on the system that you don't need a SIM card".
As you might imagine, I'm not having any of this, as I was never told any of this and even on the 28th of February (the day before this conversation), I was told that everything was a-OK for my upgrade to be processed. I explain all of this to the lady who I am speaking to, only to be told that she doesn't know what happened in the past, and she can only help to get my upgrade processed.
"So what I can do for you, is to request that the upgrade is processed, but it will only be effective from 1 April", she says.
"I would like to be upgraded, yes, but effective today, as I do not wish to pay for this expensive contract any further, and as far as I am concerned, I should have been upgraded on the 1st of February" is my response, only to be told that it's impossible as I have "already received the allocation" (which, I point out, was unauthorised as I was not supposed to even be on this contract with its associated allocation), but that it would be escalated but she can make no promises that anything would come from this.
So, now I'm having to pay for yet another month of an expensive contract that I was meant to be upgraded away from. If Vodacom ever does decide to get back to me, I might just insist that I get credited the difference in monthly cost between the two contracts, for two months, as due to their ineptitude I have had to spend way more on my contract than I should've.
Sigh
Hopefully this serves as a warning to others: Even if Vodacom tells you multiple times over the course of several months that your contract will be upgraded as per your instruction, it very well might not and you will have very little recourse.
I upgraded my existing contract online on Friday the 19th of January to one which costs about half as much per month. Vodacom then emailed me to say that they will be sending me a new SIM card by courier.
Now, I already have a Vodacom SIM card, so I phoned Vodacom first thing on Monday morning (22nd of January) to tell them there's no need to send me a SIM card. The lady I spoke to said it's not a problem, although the SIM card had already been handed to the couriers for delivery, I should just ask them to return the package to sender and my current SIM card will be used for the upgrade. So this is exactly what I did.
I also have a recurring monthly 2GB data bundle, which I wanted to have cancelled (as the new contract has sufficient data for me not to need the bundle), but was told that they could not cancel the bundle as my account was "frozen" due to the upgrade, and I would have to phone them on the 1st of February when I have been migrated to my new contract to get it cancelled. Hmm, not ideal, but OK, guess I'll have the data bundle for one more month.
So the 1st of February rolls around and to my surprise, I was still on my previous contract. So, time to phone Vodacom again to ask what's what, because evidently I don't want to be paying double the monthly amount for a contract I no longer wish to have.
This time, I was told that no, somehow my upgrade would only be effective from the 1st of March. Which upset me greatly, as I am now stuck on a contract I shouldn't have for yet another month. I'm told that maybe there was some unforeseen trouble with the system, which caused my upgrade to be delayed by a month. That's pretty horrible, but OK, fine, can they at least cancel my data bundle? Nope, my account is still frozen. I'm told to phone again on the 28th of February so that, as the upgrade takes effect, the data bundle can get cancelled too. Why they can't schedule this to happen automatically, I don't know, but whatever I'll phone again on the 28th of February.
My next phone call to Vodacom is on the 28th of February, as requested, to ask that they cancel the data bundle when the contract upgrade comes into effect. "Uhm, no, that is totally unnecessary", I am informed. "When you upgrade a contract, all existing bolt-on options go away because it's a brand new package. I can see on the system that you are scheduled to be upgraded, but there's no need to cancel the data bundle, it would've been cancelled automatically". I express my concern that the previous two ladies I spoke to informed me otherwise, but it is just shrugged off as people who didn't know what they were talking about. I am then reassured that, as of 1 March, I would no longer be charged for my existing contract and would instead only be charged for the new, upgraded contract.
Well lo and behold, 1 March rolls around and I'm still on my previous contract. So, time to phone Vodacom again. So, this time I am informed that my upgrade was cancelled because I refused delivery of a new SIM card...
"Wait, what? I was told that it's not a problem, in fact I should be refusing delivery because I already have an existing SIM card?", I ask, only to be told "No sir, you should have phoned us within 2 days of you refusing the delivery so that we can make a note on the system that you don't need a SIM card".
As you might imagine, I'm not having any of this, as I was never told any of this and even on the 28th of February (the day before this conversation), I was told that everything was a-OK for my upgrade to be processed. I explain all of this to the lady who I am speaking to, only to be told that she doesn't know what happened in the past, and she can only help to get my upgrade processed.
"So what I can do for you, is to request that the upgrade is processed, but it will only be effective from 1 April", she says.
"I would like to be upgraded, yes, but effective today, as I do not wish to pay for this expensive contract any further, and as far as I am concerned, I should have been upgraded on the 1st of February" is my response, only to be told that it's impossible as I have "already received the allocation" (which, I point out, was unauthorised as I was not supposed to even be on this contract with its associated allocation), but that it would be escalated but she can make no promises that anything would come from this.
So, now I'm having to pay for yet another month of an expensive contract that I was meant to be upgraded away from. If Vodacom ever does decide to get back to me, I might just insist that I get credited the difference in monthly cost between the two contracts, for two months, as due to their ineptitude I have had to spend way more on my contract than I should've.
Sigh
Hopefully this serves as a warning to others: Even if Vodacom tells you multiple times over the course of several months that your contract will be upgraded as per your instruction, it very well might not and you will have very little recourse.
