Subscribe

Vodacom reacts to slam banners

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 29 May 2015
Vodacom says it amicably resolved an issue that led a Fochville resident to erect slam banners, since taken down.
Vodacom says it amicably resolved an issue that led a Fochville resident to erect slam banners, since taken down.

Vodacom has taken steps to resolve a signal issue that drove a Fochville resident to put up three banners slamming the operator for poor cellphone reception and a lack of response to complaints.

This comes about six months after a Cell C customer took his gripe public by erecting a scathing banner at a busy Johannesburg intersection.

The Vodacom slam banners, reportedly erected in the farming and mining town of Fochville on Friday morning, read "Vodacom cannot give signal to this part of Fochville"; "Vodacom the company where the CEO apparently does not answer letters"; and "Vodacom the company where staff members do no answer phones or read letters" respectively.

According to Vodacom spokesperson Richard Boorman, the problem has since been resolved, and the banners taken down.

Outlining the situation that led to the customer outwardly expressing his gripe, Boorman says: "There are two base stations in Fochville that provide coverage for the area. This customer's property in particular sits in the radio shadow of a hill, and it doesn't have a great signal. This affects a very small portion of the town outskirts."

Boorman says the customer alerted Vodacom that in mid-April, his signal deteriorated further. "Our engineers confirmed that there were no changes to the network in the area on or around that date. We had offered to put a booster at the customer's house which at the time was not an acceptable solution."

Vodacom today installed boosters at the customer's house and says it "resolved the issue amicably".

In November last year a hapless Cell C customer, later determined to be businessman George Prokas, took his grievance with the operator to a busy Johannesburg intersection, erecting a large banner slamming Cell C's service.

Cell C reacted by launching an urgent High Court application to have the scathing banner, erected outside the WorldWear shopping centre in north Johannesburg, removed.

The court determined the banner, which read: "Cell C - the most useless service provider in South Africa", could stay.

Share