Vodacom’s R1 Million Fine for Unfair Contract Penalties Brings South Africans Relief and Applause

• Vodacom was slapped with a hefty R1 million fine for making contract owners' lives a misery
• They were found guilty of not informing customers that their contracts were expiring in time and charging them an arm and a leg in cancellation fees
• Netizens were happy that they lost but were concerned that they may not pay the fine

Vodacom was found guilty of contravening the Consumer Protection Act and was fined R1 million for charging contract owners an arm and a leg and not telling them their contracts had expired on time.

The decision was met with cheers and applause from South Africans, relieved that the networking giant was slapped with the fine. Some believed the money was too little and would not dent the company's pockets.

The National Consumer Commission slapped Vodacom with a fine after it investigated complaints it received from many contract owners between the 2020/21 and 2021/22 financial years. According to the NCC's spokesperson, Pheto Ntaba, the NCC discovered that Vodacom imposed a 75% cancellation penalty and demanded payment of outstanding fees during the contract cancellation process.

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Most of the complaints arose at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon investigation, the Acting National Consumer Commissioner, Thezi Mabuza, found that Vodacom contravened Section 14 of the Consumer Protection Act read with Regulation 5.

Times LIVE reported that Vodacom was also found guilty of not cancelling consumers' contracts on time and did not inform customers that their contracts were about to expire. Mabuza found Vodacom's conduct to be financially taxing to the consumers.

“Vodacom required payment of all outstanding fees and the cancellation penalty before contracts were terminated on request, exacerbating the consumer’s financial well-being at that time,” she said.

Mzansi happy Vodacom was fined

South Africans on Facebook are glad that Vodacom was given the hefty fine.

Shockwave Anderson said:

“They made so much money with the ‘Please Call Me’ and still refused to pay the owner what was due him. They are playing corporate bully because they can afford to.”

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Sobatjeleni Tjhabangu added:

“Vodacom does not care about court orders. They haven’t paid Makate even today.”

Regan Motilall pointed out:

“They’ll pay that fine with a smile, while the poor customers have no relief from the claws of injustice.”

Adzi Vee Ndou was happy.

“Vodacom is my worst experience. I regret ever taking their contract.”

Vodacom's bid rejected by court

In a similar article, Briefly News reported that the Pretoria High Court rejected Vodacom's bid to amend its 2020 court ruling against Nkosana Makate.

The "Please Call Me" inventor has been battling Vodacom for years over the rights to his invention, and Vodacom wanted to change the order, which required that they provide Makate with contracts. Netizens wanted this fight over and called on Vodacom to pay Makate what was due him.

Source: Briefly News