Vodacom Portal issues - What a FAIL !!!!!!

R

Richie35

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So all this crap started Saturday past, the 22nd December.

1. We changed a VSP contract number to a new VSP number, ok no glitch here and all went fine
2. Got home and number activation was nearly instant.

The fun starts now, tried to register on Vodacom portal and behold the site tells us sorry you are already registered on this site, WTF !!!!!!!! ok one thing then, this is a recycled number !!!!! Tried the Forgotten password option and this page is experiencing technical difficulties please try again later!!!!

It is now the 25th and after so many calls, reference number being bounded between Advance data support and VAS support, what the hell VAS have got to with the Website only they will know.

After begging to call us back on the social media channels (Facebook and Twitter) to explain the situation because the sweet sweet clueless lady at 111 wanted us to click on the register button on the portal ,,,,,,,, for F_*%k sake as we told you the site tell us number already is already registered!!!!! Then we receive a a SMS from a Linda Rohda @ Customer care stating ,"Dear Customer, please note that your query has been resolved. We tested the service. Kindly test and contact us if you are still experiencing problems.

Well dear sweety Linda , it's not working !!!!!! we timed our call last night to 111 and we where on hold 1hrs and 45 seconds!!!!!! We complained again on Facebook..

We then got a call last night at about 18:00, oh what can we do for you, ???? well for a start half the company has gone home for one and the web team will only be back Thursday!!

I will fight this and believe me Vodacom I will make this as public as possible!! Everyone needs to know what crap is going on here!!!

to be Continued...:sick:
 
Ok this is now ridiculous!!!!

Had a sms from our dear Linda Rhoda again from Customer services and it reads: "Please note that your updated password for vodacom.co.za will only be active within 24hrs after resetting. Please go to tools and select internet options then delete your cookies and clear history if you still experiencing difficulty with login" YOU GUYS DON'T READ OR COMPREHEND !!!! I CAN NOT REGISTER OR RESET MY PASSWORD !!!!!!!!! THAT IS THE PROBLEM !!!!!!! FOR F(%*&%*&% SAKES!!!
 
Richie35 said:
Ok this is now ridiculous!!!!

Had a sms from our dear Linda Rhoda again from Customer services and it reads: "Please note that your updated password for vodacom.co.za will only be active within 24hrs after resetting. Please go to tools and select internet options then delete your cookies and clear history if you still experiencing difficulty with login" YOU GUYS DON'T READ OR COMPREHEND !!!! I CAN NOT REGISTER OR RESET MY PASSWORD !!!!!!!!! THAT IS THE PROBLEM !!!!!!! FOR F(%*&%*&% SAKES!!!
Click to expand...

They read , they do not comprehend though and a lot of what customers ask them is solved via pre-determined answers which do not always cover all the scenarios (re in the case you may / may not be using a recycled number and even if you were it should "not" be registered on the portal as when its de-registered then all traces of it from the relevant billing systems and so on should be erased as well unless there is some regulatory compliance issue from government and then this may not be as simple to do.

Some of them don't "think" or know how to troubleshoot and take 5 more minutes to actually solve the problem.
Has anyone given you any positive feedback from Vodacom on this particular matter ?
 
Richie35 said:
Ok this is now ridiculous!!!!

Had a sms from our dear Linda Rhoda again from Customer services and it reads: "Please note that your updated password for vodacom.co.za will only be active within 24hrs after resetting. Please go to tools and select internet options then delete your cookies and clear history if you still experiencing difficulty with login" YOU GUYS DON'T READ OR COMPREHEND !!!! I CAN NOT REGISTER OR RESET MY PASSWORD !!!!!!!!! THAT IS THE PROBLEM !!!!!!! FOR F(%*&%*&% SAKES!!!
Click to expand...

I've got this. Guys are doing a back-end fix to resolve.
 
jannievanzyl said:
I've got this. Guys are doing a back-end fix to resolve.
Click to expand...

A back-end fix? Basic password reset functionality not working? Considering this is something that has been around for years, it is concerning a back-end fix is needed to resolve this issue. Makes you wonder how many other people have had this problem and simply given up. Also, if a password reset is being done on an existing number, what prior customer information will be retained? Sounds pretty dodgy to me. Pretty basic business fail.

Good luck! Sounds like you will need it.
 
wombling said:
A back-end fix? Basic password reset functionality not working? Considering this is something that has been around for years, it is concerning a back-end fix is needed to resolve this issue. Makes you wonder how many other people have had this problem and simply given up. Also, if a password reset is being done on an existing number, what prior customer information will be retained? Sounds pretty dodgy to me. Pretty basic business fail.

Good luck! Sounds like you will need it.
Click to expand...

You, of course, are an expert on these systems and could identify the exact root cause (and solution) of this problem just from reading Richie's posts above.

Unlike the teams of engineers that build and maintain complex sets of systems that manage tens of millions of subscribers in real time, handling millions of transactions daily, many of those concurrently, over hundreds of different products. All in a production environment that must be up with 4 nines, up to 5 nines over the festive season. And who must ensure changes are done in a controlled change environment ensuring other functions are not impacted, yet in such a way it does not recur.

But what do they know? After all installing a WiFi access point makes anyone a network engineer and installing Linux makes you a systems engineer / admin / programmer. :rolleyes:
 
marine1 said:
I knew it, I have been saying all along that I was a net engineer.
Jannie, can I have a job?
You have my details?
Looking for a salary of around 80k.

Please PM me
Click to expand...

Don't under-sell yourself, you're definitely worth a R100k...p.a. :)
 
jannievanzyl said:
You, of course, are an expert on these systems and could identify the exact root cause (and solution) of this problem just from reading Richie's posts above.

Unlike the teams of engineers that build and maintain complex sets of systems that manage tens of millions of subscribers in real time, handling millions of transactions daily, many of those concurrently, over hundreds of different products. All in a production environment that must be up with 4 nines, up to 5 nines over the festive season. And who must ensure changes are done in a controlled change environment ensuring other functions are not impacted, yet in such a way it does not recur.

But what do they know? After all installing a WiFi access point makes anyone a network engineer and installing Linux makes you a systems engineer / admin / programmer. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Large companies like VC deal with outsourced IT staff, have cumbersome ITIL processes and to just get a simple fix in takes days (unless the CEO/MD says otherwise). The VC portal system and anything else running on WebSphere/Oracle can barely stay up and ops staff is used to recycle servers. If it is a bug I doubt anything will happen till next week - most IT staff is on leave and it's production freeze over xmas for most companies. If it is a data issue you will face the same issues - DBA's and billing staff are on leave and only skeleton staff operates.

It is always fascinating to watch how company representatives have such an ego ;-)
 
jannievanzyl said:
You, of course, are an expert on these systems and could identify the exact root cause (and solution) of this problem just from reading Richie's posts above.

Unlike the teams of engineers that build and maintain complex sets of systems that manage tens of millions of subscribers in real time, handling millions of transactions daily, many of those concurrently, over hundreds of different products. All in a production environment that must be up with 4 nines, up to 5 nines over the festive season. And who must ensure changes are done in a controlled change environment ensuring other functions are not impacted, yet in such a way it does not recur.

But what do they know? After all installing a WiFi access point makes anyone a network engineer and installing Linux makes you a systems engineer / admin / programmer. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Well lets see.. Basic password functionality fail on a number being recycled. Sure - silly me. The whole world suffers this problem. Not sure how MTN, Cell-C not to mention international mobile providers that seem to get it right. Assumptions can be made based on the details already provided. General overall incompetence seems to be the game of the day. Why should it not be prevalent in the development team too? I am used to keeping many systems available and know the complexity required to do so. Doesn't make this type of fail acceptable. Easy to brush off the fact that there is a problem because the system is so vast and almost impossible to manage. Doesn't excuse the pathetic service. If the excuse to the customer is this then the customers will simply go where this type of problem isn't a problem.
 
wombling said:
Well lets see.. Basic password functionality fail on a number being recycled. Sure - silly me. The whole world suffers this problem. Not sure how MTN, Cell-C not to mention international mobile providers that seem to get it right. Assumptions can be made based on the details already provided. General overall incompetence seems to be the game of the day. Why should it not be prevalent in the development team too? I am used to keeping many systems available and know the complexity required to do so. Doesn't make this type of fail acceptable. Easy to brush off the fact that there is a problem because the system is so vast and almost impossible to manage. Doesn't excuse the pathetic service. If the excuse to the customer is this then the customers will simply go where this type of problem isn't a problem.
Click to expand...


Except that this is not a case of "Basic password functionality failing on a number being recycled".
 
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