Power report: Vodacom in no rush to fix 'stop' service

Vodacom irked scores of Sunday Times readers this week when its mobile content unsubscribe service failed to deliver.

Included in my column on a fraudulent adult content subscription service last week were details of mobile network options for customers to check if they were scam victims and cancel any legitimate subscriptions still active.

When Vodacom's SMS service didn't work for many, readers were irritated - and suspicious. When they sent "Stop All" to 30333, instead of getting an SMS back from Vodacom with details of their subscriptions, many users, including myself, got an SMS saying: "The 123 service is no longer available."

Kraaifontein reader Peter Daniels said: "On the day you supply the number Vodacom gave you, to get such a response? Looks like they are fooling around."

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JeanLiLee Farmer tweeted me: "On the morning of appearing in Sunday Times, 30333 service from Vodacom is no longer available. #continuedrobbery."

Said Masethshire Lebona: "It was very interesting that the number that you were issued does not provide the expected results."

What's worse is that Vodacom appeared to be oblivious to the failure.

When I tweeted Vodacom support services on Sunday night, it wasn't aware of any problem. The call centre agent I called was also none the wiser. I was told to add "WC" to the Stop All instruction; but that made no difference at all.

Reader Celia Gold from Dundee also got the runaround. "I called Vodacom and was told to send the Stop All message in capitals, with no spaces. I did this but got the same reply. I again called Vodacom but the matter couldn't be resolved."

I escalated the issue to Vodacom's executive and was assured it would be investigated. Five days later, there's still no resolution.

Spokesman Byron Kennedy apologised for the inconvenience, saying the network was aware that some customers were receiving error messages, and advised them to contact the call centre to have the unsubscribe request processed manually.

But what's gone wrong and why? And when will it be fixed, I asked.

"Our technical team is working on implementing a solution as soon as is practicably possible. This anomaly affects a small batch of customers, in the order of 10 to 20 per day."

Why are some of us affected and others not?

"Vodacom has made a number of acquisitions since its inception, so it follows that it operates across a number of customer relationship management systems."

sub_head_start Vodacom fixes opt-out error sub_head_end

Vodacom has resolved the glitch in its service that allows customers to automatically unsubscribe from unwanted mobile content.

The network irked scores of readers when its SMS service failed to deliver - at just the time I'd urged users in a previous column to check if they'd fallen victim to a fraudulent adult content subscription service.

I had included Vodacom's free SMS service details, but the system proved faulty for certain users.

Said spokesman Byron Kennedy: "We have resolved the error. All customers can text 'Stop All' to 31050 to unsubscribe from all premium services.

"For the batch of customers that used 30333 and were getting the error message, they will now be directed to the new number. For those who were able to use the 30333 service, they can continue to do so or use the new number."

MTN customers can dial *141*5# and Cell C *133*1# to deactivate subscriptions.

Consumers subscribed without their consent can lodge formal complaints and refund requests at waspa.org.za