Vodacom contract auto-renewal

blunt

blunt

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hi all,

my girlfriends parents bought 2x R135/month everyday offpeak 120 contracts about 2.5 years ago. They bought it believing they were actually paying for 2x mobile phones and that the 24 month of payments they signed up for was to pay the phone off - they realised now that it's been 36 months and the debit orders are still going off.

i managed to explain to them that they were paying for a contract (they just disregarded the sim cards and kept using their pre-paid sims for the past 2.5 years) and not the phones and they want to cancel now and are outraged that vodacom never warned them that their contract was going to be auto-renewed.

now I am aware that this is a standard practice thing that the mobile operators do (auto-renew contracts) and I am aware that you pay penalties for ending a contract earlier.

so as far as I can see they can't really do anything; either keep the contracts (i'd recommend to switch them to topup 135's rather than this everyday offpeak nonsense) or cancel and pay a penalty.

am i right or is there something else that can be done to get the past 6 months of fees back seeing as though they didnt acknowledge renewal; or is that just being naive?
 
Uh they discarded the SIMS. If they were on Autopage and had the SIMS active on their handsets they would have seen a whole lot of SMS messages to upgrade (daily and weekly, middle of the night and a second later), even a couple months down the line already having done so.
 
This was from Vodacom direct (VSP). Personally I have vodacom contracts and have never received any sms's warning for renewal / expiration.
 
AFIK after 24 months it reverts to month to month
 
Contracts are not renewed without explicit instructions from the client to do so with a signed quote for the upgrade and quipment to be issued. After the contract period is reached the debit orders will continue unless the client requests that the lines be cancelled. This too can not be done without the client giving explicit permission to do so with a signed letter stating this accompanied with copy of ID.

As the peep said further up....if the sim was in a phone then MMS' or SMS's will be sent to let them know that the line is up for renewal. If they checked their bank statement they would also have noticed that debit orders are going off. Vodacom SP is reflected clearly on your bank statement with each debit order.
 
blunt said:
hi all,

my girlfriends parents bought 2x R135/month everyday offpeak 120 contracts about 2.5 years ago. They bought it believing they were actually paying for 2x mobile phones and that the 24 month of payments they signed up for was to pay the phone off - they realised now that it's been 36 months and the debit orders are still going off.

i managed to explain to them that they were paying for a contract (they just disregarded the sim cards and kept using their pre-paid sims for the past 2.5 years) and not the phones and they want to cancel now and are outraged that vodacom never warned them that their contract was going to be auto-renewed.

now I am aware that this is a standard practice thing that the mobile operators do (auto-renew contracts) and I am aware that you pay penalties for ending a contract earlier.

so as far as I can see they can't really do anything; either keep the contracts (i'd recommend to switch them to topup 135's rather than this everyday offpeak nonsense) or cancel and pay a penalty.

am i right or is there something else that can be done to get the past 6 months of fees back seeing as though they didnt acknowledge renewal; or is that just being naive?
Click to expand...

the contracts haven't been renewed, they just on a month to month now. they would have received reminder sms towards the end of the 24 months to renew the contract. since they got rid of the sims in question how would vodacom have warned them?
contracts dont auto cancel, and really it took them a year to realise the debits going off?
they wont get the money back for the last 6 months but they can cancel the contracts just call vodacom, since its now on month to month no penalities will have to be paid also the can renew to a top up, but if they dont have sims the need to have a sim swap.
 
blunt said:
This was from Vodacom direct (VSP). Personally I have vodacom contracts and have never received any sms's warning for renewal / expiration.
Click to expand...

if you don't cancel at the end of the contract then you are on a month-to-month contract. Meaning if they want it canceled they must submit cancellation on/before 1 Feb for it to end...
 
Thanks for the responses guys - my sentiments exactly... they love to play the blame game but in the end it's just their negligence that is the issue :)
 
BUT...........

Don't vodacom claim they will suspend/cancel your number if it isn't in use for 6 months?
This should of happened within the 24 month period.
Hmmmmm
 
yeah it does seem odd that but perhaps that's only for prepaid numbers
 
I'll have to dig up my old contract and have a look, can't remember exactly what it said but it was for contract.
Did they Rica these numbers? There's another reason they might of also been automatically cancelled.
 
the issue is that they weren't automatically cancelled as far as im aware but i think i need to go there and stick a sim in my phone to see whats up, they're pretty clueless. they did rica both.
 
Ya but if the number isn't in use then vodacom should suspend it after 6 months, then u still pay for the 24mnth period u signed up for. Then at the end of the period it would be insane for vodacom to still expect u to just pay for a suspended service.
 
bboy said:
BUT...........

Don't vodacom claim they will suspend/cancel your number if it isn't in use for 6 months?
This should of happened within the 24 month period.
Hmmmmm
Click to expand...

You are now thinking of prepaid. With prepaid the inactivity rule will apply. If there is no activity on the line for a consecutive 6 months then Vodacom will delete the number off the active subscriber base and chuck into the recycle bin to be assigned to another prepaid starter pack later.

With contract this rule does not apply. Else everyone will just be taking out contracts to get the phone, chuck the sim in the bin and wait for Vodacom to cancel the number and contract? Does not work that way. A contract is a contract untill such time that the contract period has run out whereby either party can then cancell without penalties.....WITH notice of course.
 
ocleroux said:
You are now thinking of prepaid. With prepaid the inactivity rule will apply. If there is no activity on the line for a consecutive 6 months then Vodacom will delete the number off the active subscriber base and chuck into the recycle bin to be assigned to another prepaid starter pack later.

With contract this rule does not apply. Else everyone will just be taking out contracts to get the phone, chuck the sim in the bin and wait for Vodacom to cancel the number and contract? Does not work that way. A contract is a contract untill such time that the contract period has run out whereby either party can then cancell without penalties.....WITH notice of course.
Click to expand...

Well when I had a prepaid number many years ago , I certainly didn't go read a big long contract when I got it.
Now I have to go dig up that blue/green form I signed a long time ago because I'm sure it read it somewhere.
 
bboy said:
Well when I had a prepaid number many years ago , I certainly didn't go read a big long contract when I got it.
Now I have to go dig up that blue/green form I signed a long time ago because I'm sure it read it somewhere.
Click to expand...

they do suspend the line for non use (although you still billed) but the number is not canceld , you can call them to just reactivate it.
happened to a buddy he got a contract for his parents who were afraid to use the phone (dont ask) he needed to use it tried the phone got message line was suspended called vodacom they reactivated it.
 
isie said:
they do suspend the line for non use (although you still billed) but the number is not canceld , you can call them to just reactivate it.
happened to a buddy he got a contract for his parents who were afraid to use the phone (dont ask) he needed to use it tried the phone got message line was suspended called vodacom they reactivated it.
Click to expand...


First time I have ever heard of this. As far as I know we will only suspend a line that is on contract if the user reports the phone as stolen and wants us to lock the line to prevent any outgoing calls and being charged for it untill such time that he/she can get a new sim card.

But if this happend to your friend then I will take it as true.
 
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