by Yet again data disappearance has made headlines around the country. This time it is with South Africa’s biggest service provider, Vodacom.
Last night the network went down and because of this, many customers received a message letting them know that they don’t have any data left.
This has frustrated many people as they might have just bought data. Or they might have only been using their cellular device in WiFi areas.
What Does Vodacom Have To Say?
According to Vodacom’s spokesperson, a technical problem with the network has been the cause of the problem.
“A configuration change on our prepaid and top up billing system proved to be problematic and both Prepaid and Top up subscribers that were active on the network were affected. We were able to roll back this process during the course of last night.”
Many people have taken to social media to air their grievances towards the provider. Many have complained that they just bought data and then all of a sudden it had disappeared.
This has been a contentious topic for a while as many people are often complaining that they are spending too much money on expensive data.
Read More about how MTN handled their data disappearance debacle
How Is This Affecting Peoples Lives?
Amongst the chaos that has been taking place on social media over the last 24 hours, former Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela aired her views.
Madonsela pointed out the importance of good network providers for students and furthering their education.
She was referring to Grade 12 student, Bongani Zulu Boy Mthombeni, who bought data to help further his education.
Mthombeni had bought R10 worth of data to send off a bursary application. The closing date was August 21. Due to the ‘technical issue’ he was unable to submit his form.
The Way Forward…
There have been a number of Vodacom customers that have been affected by this incident. Vodacom has responded to their clients by saying:
“Vodacom has now reimbursed customers affected by last night’s billing issue and remains committed to ensuring that all customers are refunded in full.”
Many people are however still complaining that they haven’t received their reimbursement.
*If you have further queries, contact the Vodacom customer call centre on 111.
