Vodafone iPhone Returns - Shocking Customer Service

gavman99

Can someone please help me with my issue. Below are details of what has happened so far.

1. On Thurs Jan 14th, I took delivery of my iPhone 3GS which was an upgrade.

2. On Fri Jan 15th, I called technical support as my iPhone was not picking up a good 3G signal despite being in an "excellent" area. They talked me through some reset settings and it now was working fine on 3G.

3. On Sun Jan 17th, my iPhone wouldn't switch on. Combine this with it constantly dropping the 3G signal the day before, I decided to cancel my upgrade under my 7 day cooling off period. I contacted the returns team who arranged a courier to pick it upon Tue 19th Jan. Collection time was 8am to 6pm, so I took the full day off work to wait in for the collection.

4. On Tue 19th Jan, I called at 4pm to double check that someone was coming today and was told yes. However no-one arrived. I called back to complain and was told that returns were now closed and to call back in the morning. My account was credited with £10 for the inconvenience.

5. On Wed 20th Jan, I called and spoke to returns who said there was a backlog. I told them I was not prepared to take another day off work to wait in. I was told that as it was a web order, the only way to return it is to have a courier to collect it. A new collection was booked in again well in advance, this time for Tue 26th Jan (at a different address)

6. On Tue 26th Jan, I called at 4pm to confirm someone was definately coming and was told yes. He said he worked in customer services so I asked to be transferred to returns which he did. However when the automated system asked for my phone number, it said that I wasn't eligible to return it (probably because I was now outwith my 7 day cooling off period) so it was transferring me back to customer services. I hung up.

7. On Tue 26th Jan at 6.05pm, I called to complain that no-one had turned up for the second time. I asked to be put through to returns. I specifically told her that I either want to hear her voice or the voice of someone in returns. The next voice I heard (after 20 minutes on hold) was someone who works in customer services. She then transferred me to the automated returns number, which again, transferred me back to customer services. I then spoke to a girl called Katie from your Cardiff call centre. I asked to speak to a manager but was told that no-one is available and that she would request a callback. I explaind that under no circumstances was I prepared to take another day off work to wait in for a courier. I said I am happy to send it back if you give me an address or I'll take it to my local Vodafone shop. She took down all these notes and passed it on. She said that when she gets in the next day, she would check whether I had been called back, and if not, she would chase it up. In total, my phone call last night was over 45 minutes, most of which was spent on hold.

8. Today (Wed 27th Jan) I have called and spoken to 4 people all of whom could not help me. The last person promised he would wait on the line until an advisor in the web returns team answered. He came back after 5 minutes to say that they were now on the line. The next thing I knew was that I was back on-hold.

Having been a Vodafone customer for years, I'm sure you can understand my anger and frustration at the way I have been treated. Two days holiday and still I have an iPhone that doesn't work. I'm not interested in a replacement model. I just want to send it back and cancel my upgrade. And to give me £10 compensation when I have taken two days holiday is also a disgrace.

So.....can the Vodafone staff member who is on these forums please take ownership in sorting this and help me out. Please let me know urgently as I am losing the will to live here.

Kind regards,
Gavin Watson.

DarkConvict

Sounds like the fun i had with BT getting my phone line activated. Took 2.5 months to reconnect, with 3 days off from work. After a 2 page letter to BT like your time line above they offered to pay for 1 day off work, but normally a failed delivery/install is a maximum £20 credit.

Get in touch with consumer direct, if you took time off work did you lose out financially?

Also try the Vodafone web team on here

Vodafone_company_representative wrote: »

Hi

If you or your friend would like to discuss any of these matters with our team, feel free to contact us by following this link -

Web Relations Team, Vodafone UK

(When contacting, please quote the code WRT135 in the subject line, in the message body please include a link to this thread and your user name.)

Thanks,

Espi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

Vodafone

Hi gavman99

This has clearly not gone as smoothly as it should and I'm disappointed that your upgrade hasn't been the positive experience that it should have been.

I'd like to get a solution to this for you (if you haven't already). So that I can do this for you, could you send me an email following the instructions in DarkConvict's post?

I'm sure I can help

All the best

Kirsty
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

cashbackproblems

thats a good system we have here.

Chrissybh0y

I got the iphone 3gs with an upgrade and i had problems with the battery issue with it, rather contact vodafone i went to the apple website and booked an appointment with the " Genius Bar " they replaced the handset there and then, i woul cut out voda and go right to the genius bar mate, free and they speak english

in_the_Cotswolds

Just a thought, can we not start billing companies for our time? I'm reading on this and other forums about people taking time off work and waiting for deliveries that do not arrive. They have lost precious holidays especially if you work for a company that has fixed holidays and only limited floating days as I used to. It might make them think about their customers and service.