Poor coverage, but charge for ending contract

helenburke

I've been complaining to Vodafone for the last six months about the coverage in my area (Herne Hill) but they say it's fine. I switched to a cheaper contract when I was unemployed and was given a Sony Ericsson C510 and the cover, which was always poor, is even worse, and the phone behaves oddly - the phone sometimes only rings once before going to voicemail, texts and voicemails don't register for hours, sometimes days, calls I haven't taken or made appear on my bill. I've raised it through their helpdesk, and was told it might be an out of date SIM - not likely as I know other Vodafone users in this area who have the same problems with getting a signal. The replacement SIM they sent out never arrived (possibly the post strike), they then told me to buy one and they would refund the cost (?), and also suggested I buy a signal booster. They want to charge me to get out of the contract, which seems out of order as they aren't giving me the service I paid for. Has anyone got any advice about how I can get out of the contract without spending £150?

gjchester

Basically you can't.

No network guarantees a signal in 100% of the country, down to the nature of the way radio waves propogate. It will be in the contract you signed, and every phone company has a similar rules in their T&C, namly that they don't guarantee a signal 100% of the time to 100% of the UK. It could be a mast with problems, or it could be an issue with
your phone reciever now working well, but either way if you want to break the contract you need to pay up all the remaining line rental.

Can you try your SIM in another phone to try and see if the phone is at fault? Personally I've a Sony too and I don't think they have the best radios in them, my old Motorola got a better signal where I am than my new Sony does. Have you taken your phone to be looked at is there a problem in the phone. You say others have this issue have they logged calls? If no-one has then Vodafone may not know there is a more generaised issue.

That said six months is a long time to leave it, why have you been putting up with it so long? You best path forward would be to put all the issues in writing and send it to them, don't call. You may get a good will gesture, or you may not, but vodafone will see all the calls on file and should be able to respond.

korny88

Had exactly the same problem in North London with Orange, and they kept saying it was due to a faulty mast in the area. Eventually I and many people I know in the area left them, after they kept giving this excuse over a 2 year period, to many different people, so it was something they were aware of, but probaly nothing they could do. I nevertheless had to serve out the contract and I don't know of anyone who managed to cancel it during the contract without paying.

Vodafone

hi helenburke,

I am sorry to hear that you are having problems with coverage in your area. I have double checked the signal strength in your local area and there is very strong indoor and outdoor 3G coverage. However to perform a more specific signal strength check I would need to check the signal strength against your postcode.

You also mention that a SIM should have been posted out to you but you have not yet received it, it is possible that the SIM that you are using has become faulty and has started to cause these issues.

This is something that I would like to investigate further as I am positive that we can resolve this issue and restore your faith in our network.

If you could please contact me by clicking this link (Please quote the code WRT135 in the subject line and post a link to this thread and your user name in the message body, this will ensure that the message comes directly through to our team.)

I look forward to hearing from you,

All the best
Espi Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK