Vodacom Data Bomb - advise on options

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crjb

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Whilst enjoying a break in the mountains, Vodacom send me a notification that high usage has been detected on my number and that the balance is sitting at R91634.52. I barely have a signal but my account has gone ballistic. Driving to the nearest signal access, and eventually contacting the call center, I am told that the culprit is a sim card that was discontinued, after two more calls I was eventually informed that it is the number of my Ipad lying at home. Frantic calls to family to seek and destroy the offending device, eventually finding that the battery was flat. Now the problem begins, Calls to the call center 1946, the amount is confirmed and needs to be settled. Firstly the device is on a R79 p/m expired 1 Gb BBM 24 month deal. never before used more than 1 Gb. but on my calculation 79,577 Gb has just been used at out of bundle rates, I ask the agent to please tell me when, where and how this is possible, I am asked if I would like to raise a dispute. "stupid question" the problem is now escalated to their Solution expert. The expert as a gesture of goodwill reduces the account to R32751.54, much appreciated but please tell me when, where and how this is possible, still no answer, I requested to know who can I speak to regarding the repayment, The best they can offer is that a two month payment be done or else the account will be suspended. I have 6 active numbers with a regular spend of over R5000 a month on this account that has an age of over 10 years. So this is where we are at, Still no explanation as to when, where and how the data was used, working out how I am supposed to pay up and how to migrate across to MTN with minimum fuss. What r my options????
 
You can port a number if your account is not in areas or a dispute is open. In other words, no number porting as I don't think you should pay such extraordinary bill.

A number (MSISDN) reponsive for a data bill is not a proof, as you could be a victim of SIM swap. They must provide you the IMSI number, so you can compare it with unique IMSI number of your SIM.

Go to Telkom and get FreMe family package. There is no OOB on Telkom, unless you opt-in.
 
Sounds fishy. Either way Vodacom are the ones responsible for allowing OOB. It's completely one sided and I don't buy their explanation for how it "must" allow OOB. Maybe raise a stink with Icasa as they've been on the issue of OOB for ages already.
 
Ask Vodacom to change your contract to stop data use when it reached 1 Gig. They do not have to because you signed a contract , allowing Out of Bundle, but they did it for me.
 
Swa said:
Sounds fishy. Either way Vodacom are the ones responsible for allowing OOB. It's completely one sided and I don't buy their explanation for how it "must" allow OOB. Maybe raise a stink with Icasa as they've been on the issue of OOB for ages already.
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The contract signed allows for OOB, you can't argue that you didn't sign up for OOB. I don't like OOB either, which is why I've only been pre-paid on Vodacom, long ago, now Telkom FreeMe, so no OOB.

What the OP should do is ask for the usage log, including what SIM it was, times, connection to, etc.

@crjb can you do a speedtest at the location of the iPad to test the speed of the network at the time, it will take a hundred MB or so if on LTE. Can at least establish if it was even possible for your device to do so.
The R3200 is at about 5c per MB rate I assume, so in-bundle? 80GB seems a bit much for an iPad to download unless you maybe has a sync running or an OTP update that kept failing, but shouldn't really happen.

dvosloo said:
Ask Vodacom to change your contract to stop data use when it reached 1 Gig. They do not have to because you signed a contract , allowing Out of Bundle, but they did it for me.
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Those don't usually work/are ignored, lots of cases on MyBB on it. Best you can do is set a spend limit, if the system messes up, you can claim they were supposed to enforce it at the spend limit.
 
Johnatan56 said:
The contract signed allows for OOB, you can't argue that you didn't sign up for OOB. I don't like OOB either, which is why I've only been pre-paid on Vodacom, long ago, now Telkom FreeMe, so no OOB.
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I can and do. We all know the situation with OOB. Vodacom refuses to do something about it and give an option to opt out. This isn't just my thinking but Icasa's as well.
 
Thank you for all your advise and tips, especially to Biometrics. My OOB problem has been resolved satisfactorily by Vodacom. Understanding the risks with OOB and making sure your devices have controlled access to the web is the real solution. I will still recommend vodacom above any service provider
 
crjb said:
Thank you for all your advise and tips, especially to Biometrics. My OOB problem has been resolved satisfactorily by Vodacom. Understanding the risks with OOB and making sure your devices have controlled access to the web is the real solution. I will still recommend vodacom above any service provider
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/starts laughing
Guess you learnt nothing out of this. :p
 
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