Vodacom contract auto-renewal

[isie]

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.

It was a few years back and that's the reason they gave him, I'm guessing if the systems pick up no activity on a sim at all for a set amount of time this is what automatically happens.
I doubt it happens very often, who ever gets a phone but leaves the phone off permanently :wtf:

 

[Ockie]

It was a few years back and that's the reason they gave him, I'm guessing if the systems pick up no activity on a sim at all for a set amount of time this is what automatically happens.
I doubt it happens very often, who ever gets a phone but leaves the phone off permanently :wtf:

Well...lots of people do add onlines to just get the phone...the sim then gets chucked into a dark drawer...unused and unloved.

 

[blunt]

Thanks for the help all. Well now we know that if you disregard the SIM for 2 years you will still be billed and after the contract is up you will also still be billed, but as people have said, on a month-to-month basis. Gf's parents cancelled both and didn't get any refunds.

 

[MervynB]

...... and after the contract is up you will also still be billed, but as people have said, on a month-to-month basis. Gf's parents cancelled both and didn't get any refunds.

Not only will you be billed on a month-to-month basis but there's a nasty little sting in there as well. If you were receiving a discount on the contract that discount falls away.

Just over two years ago I renewed a MY1.2Gig contract and, as I didn't want a new modem, I was given an "airtime discount" of R65.99 per month. At the end of the 24 month contract that discount ended. The fact that R65.99 per month in the normal contract represents the cost of the modem and I hadn't been given a new modem meant nothing. To get the discount back I had to sign up for a further 24 months. The discount has been reduced to R40 per month but with the Summer promotion of the first three months free the bottom line actually looks a bit better than the previous contract.

 

[MervynB]

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.

My experience is that after three months of inactivity the line is cancelled. Not only that, any prepaid airtime still available to the number is gone for ever. Mind you, this was some years ago so this may have reverted to six months again.

My wife does not need or want a cellphone but so that she would be able to summon help in case of emergency when she was out in the car on her own I bought a Vodacom prepaid card and put it in one of my old phones. The paperwork in the box clearly stated that the line would lapse if not used for six months.

The phone is only turned on when my wife is out on her own and there has fortunately never been occasion where she has needed to use it. I used to make a call every four or five months just to keep the line alive. Came the day to make such a call about three years ago and the phone was dead. The Vodacom helpdesk informed me that last call had been made four month before and the line had been discontinued because it hadn't been used for three months. When I pointed out that the paperwork specified six months I was told that this had been changed to three months and I had been sent an SMS to this effect. No such SMS had been received so, if it had been sent, it was perhaps dropped by the system as undeliverable seeing the phone is off more than it is on.

When the line was closed there was just under R60 prepaid airtime available. Despite exchanging dozens of emails that money was never refunded and in the end I simply had to write it off.