Vodacom BlackBerry problems & refunds

[rpm]

Vodacom BlackBerry refunds

Some consumers feel that Vodacom should refund all BlackBerry subscribers, but the company says not all consumers experienced poor service levels

 

[Vice]

My wife has been on Vodacom BIS service for about 2 years now. Her service (particularly internet) is crap compared to my MTN BIS. Often her signal will be on GPRS while mine is consistently on EDGE. We live right next door to Vodacom offices in Midrand... Talk about six months

 

[morkhans]

Vodacom however argues that not all their BlackBerry subscribers were affected by poor service levels. “We do not believe that all customers using BIS had a bad experience of the service, and we are committed to investigate each complaint received and take the appropriate action,” said Nicolene Visser, Executive Head of Corporate Communications at Vodacom.

So how exactly does a lack of uplink to RIM in the UK not affect all your customers? Honestly Vodacom we weren't born yesterday!

This statement:

on 04-11-2009, 09:45 AM
Good Morning Guys

Vodacom's upgrade of the dedicated links to provide BlackBerry service has been successfully completed on Monday, and customers should experience a quicker download and sending of emails, quicker access to websites, as well as easy-use of the SatNav navigation service, available on most BlackBerry devices.

Regards
VodacomData

Does not compute with the following:

on 26-11-2009, 08:40 AM
There are many factors such as coverage, device capabilities and faulty devices, which can affect the experience of mobile services by users. We have therefore taken the stance to investigate each complaint and credit the customer if the degradation of service was caused by slow throughput to the RIM server.

Regards
VodacomData

Where it all started: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=198617
Call for refunds: http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php?t=200307

 

[Lydon]

Hmmm...that's disappointing. I plan on getting a Blackberry soon, but if the service levels are poor then I don't know if I'm going to bother. And I won't consider MTN either thanks to problems we've been experiencing with them.

Sigh. Is a service that works so much to ask for?

 

[ID_10_T]

80% of the subscribers do not even know you could get a better service. They are so used to poor level of connectivity

 

[NoCause]

I run a BES server with about 40 users using blackberry. Never had a problem with the majority which is vodacom, MTN gives a lot of problems tho.

 

[morkhans]

I run a BES server with about 40 users using blackberry. Never had a problem with the majority which is vodacom, MTN gives a lot of problems tho.

BES server uses your company bandwidth to break-out. Vodacom BIS users have all their traffic routed via RIM in the UK which is where this problem resides.

 

[Rouxenator]

Erm, probably not what they want to hear but... Told you so !!

When you want a phone, why buy fruits ?

 

[profpanda]

If I do a speedtest with Xtremelabs speedtest app. it takes about 1min just to do a mobile speedtest.
Download 58.4Kbits/s
Upload3.73Kbits/s
WTF??????????
and it says EDGE????

 

[InTheCube]

I've posted this in another Vodacom/Blackberry thread:

A suggestion:

If Vodacom's Blackberry service is/was so crap, I think that all those affected should start a campaign to inform all South African's about it. Give Vodacom the bad publicity that it needs.

Put up a website to highlight the issues, and track Vodacom's responses. Get people to email all their friends, family, colleagues, etc, about the problems, with a link to this website.

Get sponsor's for adverts in the newspapers (local, smaller newspapers will be cheaper than Sunday Times, Star, Times, Citizen, Sowetan, etc).

Light a fire under Vodacom's arse, and hopefully this will make a difference. South African consumer's don't complain enough about the $hittie service we get. We, as the myBB community, who have the skills, knowledge, resources, and financial muscle, should spearhead such campaigns.

If thousands of people start asking for refunds for the non-service they received, Vodacom will be forced to do something. They will be urt financially, and image-wise. MTN might catch a wake up as well, and think - "$h|t, we better jack up and not end up like those fools".

 

[profpanda]

I've posted this in another Vodacom/Blackberry thread:

+1000

 

[j@w]

I signed up with BIS when I upgraded to the Blackberry Storm when it was launched. The sales person told me "ALL INTERNET IS UNCAPPED", and that the contract is just a formality.

On two seperate occasions I e-mailed Vodacom support to ask them, are they sure it is 100% uncapped on all IOS layers & protocols. They said "YES ITS ALL UNCAPPED INTERNET, when you're a BIS subscriber"

Then 2 weeks ago I logged into the vodacom reports portal to see that my invoice states that my data usage is R250 so far for the month. (Streaming Radio)

I forwarded this to VodaCom support along with the quotes from the previous support operators where they assure me it is uncapped. He then replies. "BIS doesn't not include streaming", I then e-mailed him again with the previous replies and he/they just replied. "Go contact your salesperson which you got the Blackberry from".

How is that going to help me? After numerous e-mails stating its uncapped all around.

I just received my November VodaCom bill, R420 for data usage.

 

[Kgabogk]

at least voda is acknowledging the prblm and showing some gratitude towards its subscribers

 

[onedegreetech]

at least voda is acknowledging the prblm and showing some gratitude towards its subscribers

But they still not giving back what they should and that is refunding peeps for a poor service they deliver. Honestly I have been on vodacom BIS for a month and it wass super crap, changed to mtn BIS prepaid and vola, problems solved.

So vodacom should refund all BB users.

 

[InTheCube]

at least voda is acknowledging the prblm and showing some gratitude towards its subscribers

If this has been going on since May, you can hardly call this "acknowledgement" or "showing gratitude towards its subscribers". That's a joke. It's more of a PR exercise to prevent a huge uproar.

I'm just surprised that big business / corporates haven't sued Vodacom over this, or cancelled some really big contracts for non-fulfillment, or maybe this has happened already?

You should NOT be happy, or even slightly satisfied with Vodacom's response. This is what they want, and this is the general problem with consumers in RSA. All Vodacom are trying to do here is appease the consumer, mostly myBB forumites, with some half-hearted promise of refunds for shoddy or non-existant service.

 

[SFW007]

If this has been going on since May, you can hardly call this "acknowledgement" or "showing gratitude towards its subscribers". That's a joke. It's more of a PR exercise to prevent a huge uproar.

I'm just surprised that big business / corporates haven't sued Vodacom over this, or cancelled some really big contracts for non-fulfillment, or maybe this has happened already?

You should NOT be happy, or even slightly satisfied with Vodacom's response. This is what they want, and this is the general problem with consumers in RSA. All Vodacom are trying to do here is appease the consumer, mostly myBB forumites, with some half-hearted promise of refunds for shoddy or non-existant service.

This comes from someone who has not complained about the bb service or i think own a bb.

Went through all 16 pagers of your postings on the forum and not once have you complained about the service.What drives you? hatred ... boardom or you like causing s#$%t

 

[TheTwo]

BIS Issues

I just got a Blackberry Bold and had 2 days of acceptable surfing speeds, since then even loading google is a struggle, when i call their data centre i'm told it's probably just congestion and that i should try again later!!!

I feel duped, i was out of contract since June and felt it would be easier to upgrade again with Vodacom.

I could have just ported to MTN

 

[IridiuM]

Vodacoms browsing on Blackberry has been insanely slow almost unusable since I signed up for the service about a year ago. It does however consistently connect at 3G speeds, just never attains them.

 

[Yarik11]

Just emailed vodacom, complained about the poor service and asked for a refund. I sugest everyone else should do the same.

 

[InTheCube]

This comes from someone who has not complained about the bb service or i think own a bb.

Went through all 16 pagers of your postings on the forum and not once have you complained about the service.What drives you? hatred ... boardom or you like causing s#$%t

Yes you are right. I haven't owned a BB, or even used the BB service myself, but have been following the happenings on and off for months. However, my brother-in-law, a few cousins, and some friends use the BB service. Some are on MTN, but most of them are on Vodacom, and I know all the issues they are having, as they often turn to me first for help/advice. I've also had first hand experience of emails that are either not delivered, or delivered very late, due to Vodacom's poor Blackberry service, and I have been frustrated by this.

What drives me? I just want to get the service that I pay for, nothing more, nothing less. I'm not looking for freebies. I'm very happy to pay for a service, as long as I get what I pay for. But RSA companies charge you an arm and a leg for a service that is either crap, intermittent, or non-existant, and other consumers are either not bothered to complain, are tired of trying, or just don't know any better. We need to change this attitude, so that we ALL can benefit.

So if getting better service from RSA companies means involving other consumers, or making my voice heard even though I don't use the service directly, then so be it.

So tell me, what drives you to make such a comment, and check up on my 16 pages of post history? Are you an employee of Vodacom? Or are you just trying to cause s#$%t??