Vodacom, can they do this ?

T

thriel

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I am so glad i chose to go with someone else and didnt take a vodacom contract. they are thieves and feel sweet bugger all for their customers.

My mom called me earlier in tears.

My dad recently passed away and it has been a nightmare on her, they were married for 32 years and the loss is still very fresh.

now vodacom is harrasing her for the balance of his contract, even after she went and handed in a copy of the death certificate and all required documents, this is the third letter she has no recieved. she says vodacom is threatening to sue her for the balance of the contract since she is listed the excutive in my father's will.

Can they do this, are they so heartless that they care more about the balance of a contract of a dead person instead of being more comforting ?

I think she went and paid it today out of her own pocket, but i had to sit and comfort her because of this incedent.

I AM HIGHLY DISGUSTED and i am extremely pissed off that they could even treat my mother in this way.

I HIGHLY recommend that anyone thinking of signing a vodacom contract think twice.
 
The last communication i received from Vodacom regarding situations like this said that when a subscriber passes on, then the death certificate must be faxed through to the accounts department as legally no debit orders are allowed to go off from a persons account that is no longer living. The claim will then be submitted against the estate of the person that passed on.

I am extremely sorry to hear about your dad and the bad experience you have had in this regard with Vodacom.

Please could you supply me with the cell number concerned. I would like to see what accounts have done with the account in question.

Once again, condolences to you and family.

Regards:
OC
 
Nothing in life is assured, except for death, taxes and Vodacom demand letters.

The death certificate will not stop the demand letters. The settlement value of the account must be paid.
However, I wonder what the customer friendly version of this policy would look like.
 
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the number in question is : *removed*

I think it is paid, i am not sure. i am at work and dont know what happened when my mom went back to vodacom, but i do know we sent through the paperwork with his death certificate and stuff weeks ago already.

I am very upset right now. my mom is 59 years old and now has to deal with this kind of thing.
 
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This is really low of Vodacom..... really, low.
 
Ok this is not to comfort you.

I lost my father a few months ago , my mother was left everything in the estate , the bank wanted a settlement of R50 000 as this was for admin fees e.t.c., the house has been paid up for the last 10 years , this didn't help as ABSA demanded the money.

Yes demanded , we received threatening letters that if the amount of R50 000 is not paid the bank will start selling assets in the house to make up for the amount.

So does not matter who you are or what predicament you are in they married in COP and she is automatically responsible.
i have gone through this process personally
 
My condolences on your loss,

My dad passed away in 2007 and I took over his vodacom account (by choice), but had a similar problem with Cellc demanding the rest of the contract period. They have put in a claim against the estate now, which I am trying to get removed.

So good luck.
 
Sheesh you'd think a company making 6 billion rand profit per year (even after annoying us with dancing meerkats etc) could write off a few hundred rand when someone dies.
 
Hi Thriel

Sorry for your loss and my deepest sympathy to you and your family.

Is there anything i can help you with to make this experience a better one


Regards
VodacomData

P.S please remove the number this is a public forum indexed on google
 
**** thats bad form... very bad form.

Well... I am going to dinner tonight with a party of 15 people - they'll all be hearing this story before the evening is through and they'll most likely pass it on to another few people who'll most likely do likewise... nice work Vodacom.
 
sorry for your loss, my sincere apologies to the family.

Vodacom is a company that worries about their bottom line and rimming their shareholder pockets including sons and nephews companies at the cost of staff pension money, and ripping anyone who they can.
 
unfortunately/fortunately ( depending on your point of view ), death does not wipe out all debt.

She should not have paid them though. As executor of the estate she is not liable for the debt, the estate is. She merely administers it. Once it has been determined that the estate does indeed have the money then she would pay on the estate's behalf ( with all the neccesary paprwork from the estate ).

If they were married in communty of property, she woulda been liable anyway, and no matter how tactless vodacom was, they were still within their rights.
 
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VodacomData said:
Hi Thriel

Sorry for your loss and my deepest sympathy to you and your family.

Is there anything i can help you with to make this experience a better one


Regards
VodacomData

P.S please remove the number this is a public forum indexed on google
Click to expand...

This is the point were you slowly withdraw into the background. Anything you do now will just make matters worse.......
 
Thriel, please remove the number as you should not be disclosing it publicly.

Regarding the procedure that was followed in this situation. I am also speaking for a little experience, not as someone inside the Vodacom business, but from personal experience in also loosing my dad. To my knowledge, when someone dies, then that persons bank account basically gets stopped. No transactions in/out. The estate then starts to kick in. If for example there is a car, house, other assests or creditors (such as Vodacom) that has outstanding accounts, then the estate needs to settle those. In my fathers case for example, we were basically left with no worldly possessions of his, due to the fact that the estate could not cover all outstanding accounts, bonds etc etc. In a case like that, it becomes a legal matter I think and each creditor needs to put in his claim against the estate. Then, once all claims are received, then each creditor will get a certain portion of original claim back, for example, R0.80 out of R1.00.

I have had a look at the account and I can see the certificate being received etc etc, but there is one note that i found a bit odd and would like to talk to you about. I will PM you regarding this.

I know that this was a very bitter pill to swallow at such a hard time. I can not answer as to the manner that the accounts department dealt with the situation as all i can see is the notes and not hear the actual calls. But as with all deaths there are going to be a certain amount of ugliness and legal matters to resolve, and Vodacom is just one of them. Obviously, situations like these should be handled carefully and with a certain amount of tact and sympathy, and if that was not the case in your instance, then once again, I am truely sorry. I wish there was something I could do to make you and your family feel better as I know what you are going through.

Once again, my condolences and sympathy.

Please look out for my PM.

Kindest Regards:
OC
 
its not about the money owed. i am the eldest son, even if for some reason the estate or my mother could not pay i would have stepped up to the plate, it is my duty.

it is the way they handled it. my mom is 59 years old and a pensioner, just the mere mention of my dads name sends her to tears.

their timming really sux to be harrasing her about bills right now, they really should have waited and given a "cool down period" weither they get their money right away or later would it have made a big difference to their pocket ?

it is disgracefull in the way she was mis handled, i spoke to my auntie who went with my mom to vodacom and she said she felt like slapping the women for speaking to my mother in such a manner.

this just upsets me even more.
 
ok i spoke to my mother.

i know my dad was paying for 3 of my brothers cellphone contracts as well, except they are with MTN.

my mom said that she went to MTN and MTN asked for the death certificate and the documents she got from the high commisioner at the court or whatever. then MTN scrapped all 3 contracts, just like that and she didnt have to pay in a cent. and they are changing the numbers from contract to pay as you go.

vodacom she has to pay, got treated like a criminal and the number is deactivated. so they take the money, but the balance of the airtime is lost ?
 
SlinkyMike said:
**** thats bad form... very bad form.

Well... I am going to dinner tonight with a party of 15 people - they'll all be hearing this story before the evening is through and they'll most likely pass it on to another few people who'll most likely do likewise... nice work Vodacom.
Click to expand...

I'm telling everybody about this as well!

To hell with Vodacom and their disgusting practices!
 
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