I've absolutely had it with South African telecommunications companies! I can't stand how incompetent they are! Yes, I'm generalising... there are a few individuals (which I'm sure can be counted on one hand) who are very good at what they do. But it seems that everyone who has to deal with the customers (i.e. US) is blatantly incompetent!

Lately I've been wondering why I'm allowing myself to be ripped off by Autopage & Vodacom. So I decided to end the pain and suffering - or at least curb it - by downgrading my contract. I used to use my cellphone for business, but now I'm barely using it at all... while still sitting on a Vodacom Talk 120 contract. Since the cost of cancelling a contract is designed to remove your testicles via your throat, I decided to wait it out, and rather cancel at the end of the 2-year sentence.

I faxed off the necessary documentation to Autopage (weeks before the date of migration) and was settled in my mind that I would no longer be paying around R400 per month for next-to-nothing. They said they have to receive it by 23rd of the month, in order for the processing to go through. I remember faxing it within the first week of May, to take effect from 1 June. But that's where the joy stops.

Having fulfilled my obligations, I expected nothing less than for Autopage to fulfil theirs. What a joke! I can't believe I actually thought that would happen! I received my account for June today, and it STILL reflects me being on the Talk 120 and they're STILL charging me R400! WHAT THE ****?!?!?

I decided to brave the wilderness and call their “help”-line. I think they need help more than I do! The lady informed me that it had not yet been processed, and that she would send an email to the migrations department. I have to call again on Monday morning to find out how they screwed up! I politely asked the lady whether they would reimburse me for the additional R250 (approx) that I've been charged for a contract that I downgraded. But of course she didn't know. The jury's still out on what she DID know!

So here I sit, with an expensive contract that I don't want, paying a premium I didn't ask for, tied into a contract that I'm wishing I never signed. Every time I deal with Autopage, it makes me loathe them even more. I will DEFINITELY NEVER do any business with them EVER again! I'm baffled how a company built on incompetence has risen so far!