Vodacom forcing me to pay for their mistake

[cavedog]

Cant open the application Sorry Cavedog. Will pass on to VD. Maybe he can see what is going on.

View attachment 146338

Thanks though

 

[Neo_X]

yoh - one very freaky situation.

but yes, also firmly believe Vodacom should fix this mess .... could turn out to be a very messy fiasco otherwise

 

[supersunbird]

http://www.4x4community.co.za/forum/showthread.php?t=197171

Bit of a read but just beware of their online ordering



A few months ago i decided to upgrade to a new phone.

Normally I go to voda world in midrand and do the upgrade there. This time thou I made the mistake of using the online order system



So i place the order online,get the sms its in shipping etc etc,

Few days later the courier company arrives with a box,now this box was massive but didn't make much of it,signed for it and took it to my desk.

Unpacked the phone and other goodies and way at the bottom is this biggish box,eventually after setting up the phone and the rest i unpack the box.

This is where it gets interesting,its a laptop/tablet thingy,I did not check all the extras you get when I ordered the phone online and didn't really care about them as I only needed the phone,so a extra laptop.nice.

The invoice has the item on it,and just think,nice.



I start it up,check it out and put it back in its box and back in the big box,go home and forget about the whole thing.



3 weeks later I get a call from vodacom on a Thursday,sorry but they sent me a laptop in error,I say yeah the thing is still in the box,they can phone me the next week to arrange pickup at my work as I'm unavailable this week.

They phone me the very next day and I again say,sorry but please phone me next week and arrange pickup of the laptop the following week,all fine I think



For the next 2 weeks I drive with the thing in my car and no phone call from them,I took it out put it back in the closet and forget about it again.



Forward to last Friday,a few months later,get a sms stating that due to me receiving the laptop in error I need to arrange for the laptop to be sent to them or They will start deducting money for the thing



I phone them as soon as I could and they sound as confused as can be,cant say why they failed to phone me for pickup,or why the warehouse sent the threatening sms,I have not played hard ball with them and accepted someone made a mistake,but now this.

To threaten your customer for a mistake you made,to follow that mistake with even more mistakes and then unable to give me a straight answer as to how this could have spiraled this out of control, not to mention that their breaking the law with the sms.



Its now Monday and still no phone-call to arrange pickup of the item.

Even if they pick it up today I'm going to report this to CPA.

So beware of vodacom and online order,seems they like to bully their customers



They made 3 big mistakes

Nr 1,they may not inconvenience me as customer for unsolicited goods

Nr 2,they cannot charge me for failure to collect the goods

Nr 3,they messed with the wrong guy

Seems its happening to others too, some kind of commission scam by a sales agent?

 

[cavedog]

Im still fighting to get anything actioned. Nothing is happening but I got a sms saying that R294 was added to my account for the laptop.....

Its a never ending battle. I packed it in the box and told them pick it up but nothing.....

 

[ToxicBunny]

Put a stop on the Debit Order with your bank and do so ASAP, then make sure you pay your bill sans the laptop addition...and lodge a billing dispute with VC directly as well...

 

[ginggs]

Im still fighting to get anything actioned. Nothing is happening but I got a sms saying that R294 was added to my account for the laptop.....

Its a never ending battle. I packed it in the box and told them pick it up but nothing.....

Go to your bank and have the debit order reversed.

 

[cavedog]

Well since I'm talking to a brick wall at vodacom and the Vodacom rep here does not/can not help RAm picked up the laptop about 15min ago. Now to see what happens of the story. This R7000 laptop is not worth the fight. Looks like incompetency is the way to get a Job in SA.

Shocking honestly. Hopefully this issue is over now unless they refusing the used laptop in that case I would need to go and see a lawyer.....

 

[10i]

So sorry to hear about this. Why oh why do the cellphone companies have so much power over us when we sign a contract?

I mean, we should have equal rights in this. They want my money and I want a phone. But we are not equal partners: it's you against Vodacom and their legal team here.

Hope someone can help.

 

[wizardofid]

Then they have a problem either they must take it back or they lose. If they try to blacklist you, you can log a dispute with the credit bureaus, they will need to investigate and since Vodacom has no proof the blacklisting will be removed. And if its not removed, you take the credit bureau/s to the Credit Ombudsman for that.

Just a note any wrongful blacklisting, you will be entitled to sue with costs for defamation.

To the OP make a massive stink, just don't leave it there, I wouldn't if some one tried this with me, I would slap them hard and fast, end of story.

 

[cavedog]

I just handed the laptop over. No use in fighting a legal battle that would most likely cost me more than this useless thing anyways. I can get a better laptop for that price.

Just to add they are so useless they can't even actually fix the contract that I got with them. Its a TopUp uchoose flexi contract. Very good deal but high call rates. So i though the use of the power hour and power bundle promotions will help me stretch the free airtime to last the month. I can't even buy those things. Its clearly a problem with the simcard that I have reported MANY MANY times to no avail.....

I took the deal because it was great value for money data and airtime wise with the fact that I can buy data with my inclusive airtime. They had LTE coverage and decent 3G coverage where MTN did not launch LTE for prepaid yet. What a mistake. I'm going to pay the money for the 24 months and cancel this damn thing. I will never use Vodacom ever. MTN had better prepaid promotions and data deals anyways now and they have prepaid LTE.