Vodafone Passport Problem

Santiago_3

Sounds like they have not applied the Passport offer to your account, same as what happened to me. When I called them they did credit my bill, to be fair.

If you are on Twitter send a tweet to @vodafone it goes to the web relations team (the wonderful Kirsty). Worked for me!

philng

E mail them on the web relations number above. The follow up to my above issue by Matt has been good as they are aware that on a number of accounts the passport is incorrectly charging for use abroad.

I must say this was a far more satisfactory response than that last night via 191 where I was advised nothing could be done until the August bill which would have entailed another long wait on the phone trying to get through. I was even advised I needed to change my plan & was prevented from speaking to a manager in my frustration!

Anyway Matt seems to be resolving the issue for me & has at least taken ownership & e mailed me following his phone contact today.

stepho

I just got back from Cyprus where I was using Passport to find a whopping bill - more than 5 times my usual.

The main reason for this, it turns out, is that Stop the Clock is not included in this promotion - so if you are used to your calls after 7pm and at weekends not being deducted from your monthly allowance, don't expect this. I'm really annoyed that this wasn't pointed out to me when I had STC added to my contract, or when I activated Passport, or when I got to Cyprus.

Secondly, even though I was staying in South Cyprus (where Passport works) my phone selected a Turkish Cypriot network which is NOT covered by Passport for some calls, which I was charged for. The guy at customer services told me that this happens quite often - yet I was not warned about this in advance. I don't think it would be too much to ask for Vodafone to send an automatic text to their customers in Cyprus telling them to watch out for this - particularly if it happens regularly.

Needless to say, I'm pretty furious at Vodafone today - but also at my own naivety in not being able to work out just how they planned to make money on this "gret deal".

NewForest_2

Just to update on my previous post (#18 on 21/7/09):

I'm now back from my holiday in rural France, having purchased a £20 Freedom Pack (300 mins + unlimited texts) to use with Passport on Pay-as-you-Talk. Just as well too: a relative was in hospital while I was away and I made 261 mins of calls (plus my kids send a shedload of texts). It all worked OK and I wasn't charged a penny extra. The calls alone would have cost £90 at normal roaming rates so I'm happy! :beer:
The coverage was excellent from all three French networks and so I was able to use SFR (Vodafone preferred) all the time, without resorting to the other networks to see if I was charged. So I didn't test the limits of the confused and contradictory advice I received from Vodafone.

So it all ended well and I've received very good value. But it would all have been so much easier if the information re. which foreign networks to use etc had been clear on the website and if the helpline staff had been properly briefed beforehand.

NickAJ

Just got back from Greece, and whilst my own freedom pack worked - it wasn't perfect.

Where we were the Vodafone signal wasn't brilliant. I could make and receive calls when I forced the phone onto the Vodafone GR network and it seemed to allow me to receive calls on the Cosmote network. But as for making calls on the Cosmote network - not a chance - just a message saying "this phone is not authorised to make calls on this network".

So why wouldn't it let me make calls?? Was it because my only credit had been converted to a freedom pack and I had no spare credit left?

It looks like Vodafone have got this about 80% right!

Vodafone

HI NickAJ

This is a strange one.

I've checked and the Cosmote network supports Vodafone and the Passport offer, so you should have been able to use it normally.

I've checked our systems to see if there were any issues reported with the network, but I haven't found any. The other networks don't always update us with problems that they have experienced so it's possible there was a network fault their side.

If you travel a lot or are going back and experience the same issue again, give us a call when you're in the country and we'll be able to look at what is happening to you on the network. This information is real-time so we won't be able to check it now you're home.

I hope you had an amazing time there (I'm uber jealous!)

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday! (apologies for the long post)

Kirsty
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

NickAJ

Hi Kirsty,

Thanks for replying. Unfortunlately I doubt I'll get chance to go back to Zante again - unless Vodafone are offering to pay.

I also had a phone call from another member of the Web Relations team - he was following up my initial query about my daughters phone. It now seems that the billing system has charged for all the texts she sent whilst in France - not just some of them. However these have now been credited and a check will be made on her bill for August because some texts sent from Greece were being charged.

Customer service reps do get a hammering on here sometimes, often for being rude and unhelpful. But I must say that this has been handled by the web relations team with good humour and the impression that they want to sort things out.