Vodacom
Misleading "reward": yearly Platinum phone upgrad

I am a Platinum customer, and one of my benefits is supposed to be an annual (instead of every 24 months) phone upgrade. Today when I tried to do an upgrade at a Vodacom shop, I was told that the phone upgrade causes the total contract period to extend by a further 24 months in addition to the current contract term remaining. E.g. if my current contract expiry (before the upgrade) is April 2014, then the upgrade will cause the expiry to move to April 2016! So.. every time I upgrade my phone (annually), it will add another 2 years to my contract! I also spoke to the Platinum help-desk, who confirmed this. This means that the "reward" annual phone upgrade is NOT really a reward.. It is merely a trick by Vodacom to tie their valued customers into very long contracts (which Platinum customers are not informed of up-front). After being a loyal Vodacom customer for 11 years, I feel tricked and maniuplated and disappointed by this situation, and am considering moving over to MTN. MTN has a simliar programme (called "Prestige") which offers a REAL free annual upgrade (without extending the contract term) including other concierge benefits.

Company: Vodacom
Country: South Africa

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