I have a 24 month contract with Vodacom through Autopage and recently requested that my contract be cancelled and my number ported to Cell C. My contract was renewed in September 2011, well after the commencement of the CPA on 1 april 2011 and therefore falls within the ambit of the Act. I was told that my contract could only be cancelled once i paid the cancellation fee. Expecting a reasonable cancellation fee as envisaged by Section 14 of the CPA, I asked that the statement be emailed to me. I was surprised to see that they required payment of my full contract price as cancellation fee. This is not the "reasonable cancellation fee" stipulated by the CPA. I then contacted the cancellation department directly and requested and explanation for the fee and was told that "You entered into a two year contract, you must pay for it". This is contradictory to what the CPA provides, but no amount of reasoning or requests to speak to a superior could sway their viewpoint. I am very disappointed in Autopages' disregard for RSA laws and will have to proceed with a complaint to the Consumer Tribunal if this is not resolved.
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