About two nights ago, my mother purchased a 7-day 1GB data bundle on her Vodacom prepaid sim.
Confirmation was received that the bundle had been loaded, and she had checked Detailed Balances via SMS using *111#. It said that the 1GB bundle will expire on 08/07/1911, however no one noticed at the time.
The next day, after a bit of browsing on her phone, she was informed that her airtime was finished. No airtime, no data.
Puzzled, she asked me to help her figure out what had happened. That's when I saw the Detailed Balances SMS with the expiry year of 1911.
Yes. 1911. A few years before World War I.
Oh, this is easy, I told my mum. Just phone Vodacom support and tell them about the error. They will have to credit her 1GB, because this is 100% their system's fault.
If it were only that easy...
Somehow, the support consultant convinced my mother that the bundle getting lost in the ether was HER fault.
He said that she was supposed to disconnect + reconnect her Mobile Data on her phone every time she buys a new bundle, and that the 1911 expiry date was a harmless glitch which had nothing to do with the 1GB not registering.
This tells me that the support person had no interest whatsoever in helping, or even understanding the issue. Surely, this should be escalated to IT, right? Instead, they explicitly told my mother she messed up and was to blame, when the system handed her a glitched-out and WELL EXPIRED data bundle.
In summary:
1 - 7-day 1GB data bundle was bought for R89.
2 - Received confirmation SMS, and have proof of balance saying the bundle is active and will expire in 1911.
3 - The 1GB bundle expired the instant it was loaded, or was not loaded at all.
4 - Subsequently, all regular airtime was devoured because no bundle was active.
5 - Vodacom customer support claims that you have to restart Mobile Data connection every time you load a bundle, completely ignoring the fact that their system sent out an expired bundle.
While I know there's little hope of recouping the lost airtime used by out-of-bundle rates, I want to know how I can help my mother get her bought-and-paid-for 1GB data bundle.
Does anyone have advice on how to resolve this? Or to prevent it in future, even. Thanks!
Confirmation was received that the bundle had been loaded, and she had checked Detailed Balances via SMS using *111#. It said that the 1GB bundle will expire on 08/07/1911, however no one noticed at the time.
The next day, after a bit of browsing on her phone, she was informed that her airtime was finished. No airtime, no data.
Puzzled, she asked me to help her figure out what had happened. That's when I saw the Detailed Balances SMS with the expiry year of 1911.
Yes. 1911. A few years before World War I.
Oh, this is easy, I told my mum. Just phone Vodacom support and tell them about the error. They will have to credit her 1GB, because this is 100% their system's fault.
If it were only that easy...
Somehow, the support consultant convinced my mother that the bundle getting lost in the ether was HER fault.
He said that she was supposed to disconnect + reconnect her Mobile Data on her phone every time she buys a new bundle, and that the 1911 expiry date was a harmless glitch which had nothing to do with the 1GB not registering.
This tells me that the support person had no interest whatsoever in helping, or even understanding the issue. Surely, this should be escalated to IT, right? Instead, they explicitly told my mother she messed up and was to blame, when the system handed her a glitched-out and WELL EXPIRED data bundle.
In summary:
1 - 7-day 1GB data bundle was bought for R89.
2 - Received confirmation SMS, and have proof of balance saying the bundle is active and will expire in 1911.
3 - The 1GB bundle expired the instant it was loaded, or was not loaded at all.
4 - Subsequently, all regular airtime was devoured because no bundle was active.
5 - Vodacom customer support claims that you have to restart Mobile Data connection every time you load a bundle, completely ignoring the fact that their system sent out an expired bundle.
While I know there's little hope of recouping the lost airtime used by out-of-bundle rates, I want to know how I can help my mother get her bought-and-paid-for 1GB data bundle.
Does anyone have advice on how to resolve this? Or to prevent it in future, even. Thanks!