Power Report: Vodacom's blind spot over your contracts

To-do lists on the fridge, cellphone alerts, a bursting diary. My life, like most people's, doesn't function too well without daily reminders.

And it's at busy times of the year that many of us drop the ball. We fail to check the fine print, and premium increase, on our annual insurance renewal. We ignore the notice from our bank detailing new fee structures for the coming year.

That is why section 14 of the Consumer Protection Act is such a pleasure; the legislative gem means I have one less thing to worry about forgetting.

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The provision relates to the expiry and renewal of fixed-term agreements. Unlike before, when the onus was on customers to remember to cancel or renew their contracts, suppliers are now bound to notify a consumer of the looming expiry date between 40 and 80 business days beforehand.

This notice, in writing or any other recordable form, should include the cancellation or renewal options available, any material changes should the agreement continue to run, and the consequences of doing nothing.

The law allows for fixed-term contracts to automatically continue on a month-to-month basis if a consumer, once notified, does not terminate or renew for a further fixed term.

So, theoretically, there's no need for a cellphone contract customer to mark their calendar in anticipation of expiry. Or so I thought.

Turns out not all networks are playing the game.

Trusting I would receive an SMS or a call from Vodacom to alert me, I didn't bother to diarise my 24-month contract anniversary date.

It was only when I started receiving network warnings that I was low on data and should buy more that I realised something was up.

When I queried it, a call centre agent said my contract had expired a month previously and that the extra monthly 1GB in the previous deal was no longer applicable.

When I asked why I hadn't been notified, I was referred to an SMS the network had recently sent, which read: "We trust you've enjoyed the benefits of your free Promdata service. To continue with this service at standard rates, please contact Vodacom ..."

Hardly a full expiry notification as envisaged under the act. When the agent said Vodacom did not send expiry notifications via SMS, I asked head office to explain.

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Two weeks later, the network revealed that customers were notified through messages included in invoices two months before expiry. The message reads: "Your contract term for this line will soon end ... If you don't wish to upgrade or cancel your contract, it will continue on a month-to-month basis."

In my case, however, there had been an error and the notice "regrettably" had not been included on my invoice.

For a leading mobile network not to choose SMS as a preferred, or at least supplementary, tool for such an important notification beggars belief. Especially when it regularly uses the channel to bombard us with marketing messages.

"To date, we've not sent out SMSes to communicate contract expiry," said spokesman Tshepo Ramodibe.

That's set to change. Within a week of my complaint, Vodacom went live with routine SMS notifications to complement its bill notifications.

"Our team has now developed an SMS notification that will go to customers," Ramodibe said.

"We had initiated an SMS notification process some time back, but this was stopped as customers increasingly self-managed their upgrades. The insight following your inquiry reconfirmed the need to reinstate them."

That said, Vodacom's alert wording is troubling; it refers to the contract term ending "soon". What's with the vagueness, I asked.

"Section 14 doesn't require us to provide the actual date when the contract is set to expire, it only requires us to provide customers a notice of the impending expiry," said Ramodibe.

Huh? What part of "the impending expiry date" (actual words used in the act) doesn't suggest that a specific date needs to be given?

"At this stage our message is generic to all qualifying customers," said Ramodibe.

Customising messages with exact expiry dates would be "quite an effort" considering Vodacom's roughly five million customers on contract, he said.

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MTN seems to manage well enough. The SMS notification it provided to me gives the exact expiry date, along with all three options available to consumers.

Cell C's SMS notification isn't as forthcoming. It, too, provides the specific expiry date, but then follows by stating: "After which it [the contract] will run month-to-month."

There's no mention of the option to cancel or renew for another fixed term; implying that once a contract ends, it reverts to month-to-month. At best it's misleading, at worst, in breach of section 14.

Not so, argued Cell C, saying it was not obliged to state anything other than expiry date and any material changes.

I reiterated the requirements of the mandatory notice; to alert consumers to "the options available".

"We are compliant with section 14," said spokeswoman Vinnie Santu. "All this information is conveyed to the consumer up front - the notice is merely a reminder, in terms of the CPA, of the expiry date. It is implied that a customer may upgrade or terminate."

However, Santu said, as a "consumer champion", Cell C would include the termination and renewal options in future SMSes to ensure there was "no confusion".

Without doubt, there are subscribers who don't care much about expiry alerts; they're the ones who've marked month 21 on their calendars in eager anticipation of upgrading their handsets, which automatically locks them into a new fixed-term agreement.

For the rest of us, the timing, accuracy and delivery method of expiry alerts cannot be underestimated. Thankfully, legislators agree.

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