Users livid at Vodacom blip
The story has been shared hundreds of times on Facebook, with Mthombeni the face of frustration with the service provider.
Vodacom confirmed yesterday that an IT glitch led to the sudden disappearance of airtime and data balances.
"The issue was caused by a configuration change on our prepaid and top-up billing system. We were able to isolate the cause and roll back this process," the company said.
Vodacom apologised yesterday and returned data to customers. Because many people had bought extra data, spokesman Byron Kennedy said Vodacom was ensuring all data would have a 30-day expiry window.
Even if customers bought a fortnightly data bundle or an hourly bundle, it will last 30 days and then roll over for another 30 days.
The National Consumer Commission was inundated with calls yesterday.
"We urge consumers to lodge complaints with us so they can be assisted," said NCC spokesman Trevor Hattingh.