Violet Tlhoaela could not believe her ears when Vodashop, in Menlyn, Pretoria, declined her application for a contract cellphone because of a magistrates' court judgment against her.

Violet Tlhoaela could not believe her ears when Vodashop, in Menlyn, Pretoria, declined her application for a contract cellphone because of a magistrates' court judgment against her.

Tlhoaela discovered this when she tried to apply for a contract cellphone in March.

It appears that a certain Joshua Ngobeni of Soshanguve supplied Vodacom with Thloaele's Standard Bank account details as his own when he bought a contract cellphone.

Tlhoaela said that because of this misrepresentation, Vodacom had been enriched at her expense. She said she wants the company to have the judgment against her rescinded and to reimburse her the money they have debited from her account.

Tlhoaela said she had to pay R350 to get statements dating back to December 2005 to identify the payments deducted from her bank account to pay Ngobeni's Vodacom account.

She said that her bank could not stop the debit order but had referred her to Vodacom.

"Vodacom has not responded to my request and I feel at my wits end," Thloaele said.

Consumer Line took up the matter with Lobby Sebothuma of Metro Home Centre, the Vodacom outlet where Ngobeni bought "his" cellphone.

Sebothuma said the company would investigate whether their consultant had made an error in processing Ngobeni's application. She assured Consumer Line she would sort out the problem.