Vodacom Contract Cancellation Penalties

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Matthysdt

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I have a 2+2 GB data contract with Vodacom @ R149 p/m.

Yesterday, somehow, on my wife's laptop, a data amount of 2.6 GB was used, leaving me with a bill of over a thousand rand.

Usually when I get near my 2GB in-bundle "CAP" I receive and SMS, but yesterday, nothing. And now I notice, on my account, that the "Notification number/Email" field is blank, meaning they have no number to notify me on. When did this field go blank? Because I sure as hell didn't clear it, and it WAS WORKING in the past.

Anyway, even when I try to enter a number in that field the site crashes with an error "We cannot process your request blah blah blah"

For these reasons, my Vodacom contract has become a liability for me, so I want to cancel it.

I have about 17 months left on the contract, and at R149 p/m the total is round-about R2,533.

According to the CPA: "regulations specifically prohibit charging a consumer the full amount owing in respect of the remainder of the contract." (from http://www.golegal.co.za/contract/consumer-protection-act-your-rights-cancel-agreements )

So what do Vodacom charge me? They charge me 75% of the full remaining amount for cancellation! THIS my friends is how these companies make their money. Not by selling fair products and services, but by screwing over their own clients. Even with the CPA, we are powerless.

So basically, because VODACOM's system is full of bugs, I'm down roughly R3,500, and I have no foot to stand on, there is absolutely nothing that I can do to negate these charges.

Luckily I checked the online bill when I did and caught it in time though, something similar happened to my in-laws to the tune of R25,000.

These cellphone companies are all equally useless, but Vodacom has been a constant let-down for me and once I move this contract to another network, I'm done with VC all together. Went from having all my contracts with VC, to none in the space of 1 year.
 
Last edited:
Yeah I have been trying to set a limit on my account since last night on the site and get the same error. Sometimes I wonder if they don't bork that part intentionally to frustrate you into not setting up the limit and therefore open to the OOB shark.
 
Matthysdt said:
"Thompson added that the draft consumer protection regulations say that “a reasonable credit or charge” may not exceed 10% of the amount a consumer would have had to pay over the remainder of the fixed-term. This excludes any interest that may be applicable."

FROM:
http://mybroadband.co.za/news/cellular/18857-cellphone-contracts-how-the-cpa-benefits-you.html

So how does Vodacom justify 75%?
Click to expand...
its cause of the following:
This penalty is to cover any goods, services, or discounts provided under the assumption that the agreement would last the entire fixed-term.
he most probably got 3g modem that he would have to fully pay off.

Just do your self a favor and get a 3g stick and get a 8ta 60 gig big bundle at R1800 really happy with it right now
costs are like R2400 and they wont overcharge you anything. Just they not as good as vodacom when it comes to signal in certain areas and speed. But IMO vodacom is not worth the extra cash.
 
Matthysdt said:
They charge me 75% of the full remaining amount for cancellation!
Click to expand...

Sounds familiar.

My cell contract expires in the beginning of November, with a base price of about R549 per month. Doing some math, it amounts to about R5000 for the remainder of the contract. To cancel? R3749, or something like that, which seems to be 75%.

According to the CPA,
(3) Upon cancellation of a consumer agreement as contemplated in subsection (1)(b)—
(a) the consumer remains liable to the supplier for any amounts owed to the supplier in terms of that agreement up to the date of cancellation; and
(b) the supplier—
(i) may impose a reasonable cancellation penalty with respect to any goods supplied, services provided, or discounts granted, to the consumer in contemplation of the agreement enduring for its intended fixed term, if any; and
(ii) must credit the consumer with any amount that remains the property of the consumer as of the date of cancellation, as prescribed in terms of subsection (4).

I understand how I can be held liable for outstanding amounts owed, but I cannot see how 75% is considered to be a "reasonable cancellation penalty" considering that I will get no more use of the contract, including free minutes, data, etc. There also won't be any more caller line identity, itemised billing, admin on their side or the like. Sure, a penalty for the price of the phone is understandable, but that much?
 
Matthysdt said:
I have a 2+2 GB data contract with Vodacom @ R149 p/m.

Yesterday, somehow, on my wife's laptop, a data amount of 2.6 GB was used, leaving me with a bill of over a thousand rand.

Usually when I get near my 2GB in-bundle "CAP" I receive and SMS, but yesterday, nothing. And now I notice, on my account, that the "Notification number/Email" field is blank, meaning they have no number to notify me on. When did this field go blank? Because I sure as hell didn't clear it, and it WAS WORKING in the past.

Anyway, even when I try to enter a number in that field the site crashes with an error "We cannot process your request blah blah blah"

For these reasons, my Vodacom contract has become a liability for me, so I want to cancel it.

I have about 17 months left on the contract, and at R149 p/m the total is round-about R2,533.

According to the CPA: "regulations specifically prohibit charging a consumer the full amount owing in respect of the remainder of the contract." (from http://www.golegal.co.za/contract/consumer-protection-act-your-rights-cancel-agreements )

So what do Vodacom charge me? They charge me 75% of the full remaining amount for cancellation! THIS my friends is how these companies make their money. Not by selling fair products and services, but by screwing over their own clients. Even with the CPA, we are powerless.

So basically, because VODACOM's system is full of bugs, I'm down roughly R3,500, and I have no foot to stand on, there is absolutely nothing that I can do to negate these charges.

Luckily I checked the online bill when I did and caught it in time though, something similar happened to my in-laws to the tune of R25,000.

These cellphone companies are all equally useless, but Vodacom has been a constant let-down for me and once I move this contract to another network, I'm done with VC all together. Went from having all my contracts with VC, to none in the space of 1 year.
Click to expand...

Hi , please pm me your number , i would like to confirm if we did send the notifications or not.
 
DvD said:
Sounds familiar.

I understand how I can be held liable for outstanding amounts owed, but I cannot see how 75% is considered to be a "reasonable cancellation penalty" considering that I will get no more use of the contract, including free minutes, data, etc. There also won't be any more caller line identity, itemised billing, admin on their side or the like. Sure, a penalty for the price of the phone is understandable, but that much?
Click to expand...

The problem here is that they hold over our heads the value of the devices we received.
Now, while these devices cost more-or-less the same across the board, they can easily claim a MUCH higher price with a huge mark-up on the device and nobody can really question that, since there is no law against ludicrous mark-ups of consumer goods.
 
Ludjer said:
its cause of the following:
This penalty is to cover any goods, services, or discounts provided under the assumption that the agreement would last the entire fixed-term.
he most probably got 3g modem that he would have to fully pay off.

Just do your self a favor and get a 3g stick and get a 8ta 60 gig big bundle at R1800 really happy with it right now
costs are like R2400 and they wont overcharge you anything. Just they not as good as vodacom when it comes to signal in certain areas and speed. But IMO vodacom is not worth the extra cash.
Click to expand...

I did exactly that, and it's working great at my office, will test it at home tonight, but I have pretty decent coverage on the map.
Wish I went with 8ta from the start. :cry:
Also got a nifty little wifi modem (Huawei E5331), so far very pleased!

Side note: Once in 2005 I got called by someone doing a customer satisfaction survey for Vodacom, I was asked if I'm happy with Vodacom and if I will ever consider another network. I gave them a full score for each and every question and I said that I will never consider another network! My, how things have changed.
 
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