Vodafone Customer Retention

mr-tom_2

So - I am a customer of Vodafone. My mobile has died, my (sim only) contract is up and therefore I decided to get a new Nokia N8 on a contract.

I shopped around and VF were charging well over the odds - in shops, online or by phone, the best I could get was £30 per month and that was talking to their customer retention team to get the best deals.

Orange were prepared to do the same phone on a better contact (more web browsing) for £25 per month, so I requested my PAC code from VF (giving the negotiation one last try, but they wouldn't go below £30 pcm) and bought from Orange.

VF have called me today to ask whether I'd take the same minutes, web and texts as Orange, but at £20 per month.

Yes, 2 days ago I would have jumped at it. In fact, even last night I would have, but the new phone is now in the post and I'm now somebody else's customer.

Why could they not be honest with me the first 3 or 4 times I spoke to them? I mean seriously... If they'd been straight with me, they would have kept a customer as I never wanted to leave.

gjchester

mr-tom wrote: »

So - I am a customer of Vodafone. My mobile has died, my (sim only) contract is up and therefore I decided to get a new Nokia N8 on a contract.

I shopped around and VF were charging well over the odds - in shops, online or by phone, the best I could get was £30 per month and that was talking to their customer retention team to get the best deals.

Orange were prepared to do the same phone on a better contact (more web browsing) for £25 per month, so I requested my PAC code from VF (giving the negotiation one last try, but they wouldn't go below £30 pcm) and bought from Orange.

VF have called me today to ask whether I'd take the same minutes, web and texts as Orange, but at £20 per month.

Yes, 2 days ago I would have jumped at it. In fact, even last night I would have, but the new phone is now in the post and I'm now somebody else's customer.

Why could they not be honest with me the first 3 or 4 times I spoke to them? I mean seriously... If they'd been straight with me, they would have kept a customer as I never wanted to leave.

It depends what you ask and to an extent brinksmanship.

If you ask for an upgrade you'll get a worse deal that is you say your leaving.

My guess is when you called you asked for an upgrade and were offered a deal. You later went to Orange and asking for the PAC caused retentions to call you with the deal.

Remember it's not in Vodafones interest to offer you a great deal, it's in thier interest to offer the "worst" deal they can and keep you, that way they makre more profit from you. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

in 18/24 months time you'll probably have the same conversation with Orange and maybe O2 will offer you a better deal till you request the PAC when Orange will offer you something better.

mr-tom_2

I told them what I was able to get elsewhere and that I was going to leave. They did nothing.

But yes, the obvious learning point for me is to request the PAC code, then give it a few days before signing up with anybody else.

noelphobic

mr-tom wrote: »

So - I am a customer of Vodafone. My mobile has died, my (sim only) contract is up and therefore I decided to get a new Nokia N8 on a contract.

I shopped around and VF were charging well over the odds - in shops, online or by phone, the best I could get was £30 per month and that was talking to their customer retention team to get the best deals.

Orange were prepared to do the same phone on a better contact (more web browsing) for £25 per month, so I requested my PAC code from VF (giving the negotiation one last try, but they wouldn't go below £30 pcm) and bought from Orange.

VF have called me today to ask whether I'd take the same minutes, web and texts as Orange, but at £20 per month.

Yes, 2 days ago I would have jumped at it. In fact, even last night I would have, but the new phone is now in the post and I'm now somebody else's customer.

Why could they not be honest with me the first 3 or 4 times I spoke to them? I mean seriously... If they'd been straight with me, they would have kept a customer as I never wanted to leave.

Can't you cancel with Orange and takee the Vodafone deal if it's better?

JJ_Egan

PAC is like a MAC code no blather on i ma going to leave its the actual step taken to leave . In my experience its the one that makes the retention team consider if they want you as a customer and if so possibly offer a better deal or say your PAC is in the post .

jje

mr-tom_2

noelphobic wrote: »

Can't you cancel with Orange and takee the Vodafone deal if it's better?

I wasn't going to as I think that once you take a contract, you ought to honour it - yes I know there are 7 days for cooling off, but I feel that once a contractual arrangement has been entered into, it should not be cancelled without a very good reason.

However...

Orange have actually been messing about today and despite promising that the phone would be with me today, it's actually not even been despatched yet, so at 5ish I rang and cancelled as they don't seem to feel the same sense of urgency that I do and they've not kept their promises.

So, back with Vodafone and at £20 pcm. Result.

powerful_Rogue

Its a shame that companies cant be upfront and offer the best deal to start with. If often takes many calls or actually be on the verge of leaving before they start offering decent deals.
Unfortunatly for Vodafone they left it too late and lost you as a customer. You would like to thinkt hey would learn, but I doubt it!

Vodafone

gjchester wrote: »

It depends what you ask and to an extent brinksmanship.

If you ask for an upgrade you'll get a worse deal that is you say your leaving.

My guess is when you called you asked for an upgrade and were offered a deal. You later went to Orange and asking for the PAC caused retentions to call you with the deal.

Remember it's not in Vodafones interest to offer you a great deal, it's in thier interest to offer the "worst" deal they can and keep you, that way they makre more profit from you. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

in 18/24 months time you'll probably have the same conversation with Orange and maybe O2 will offer you a better deal till you request the PAC when Orange will offer you something better.

Hi gjchester,

I do agree with a few of your points and I can understand how customers may be frustrated at the prospect of differing quotes from different teams or areas of the business when it comes to upgrading.

At the end of the day, we are indeed a business who need to make a profit in order to keep up a world class standard and maintain such a complex network. While some customers may be offered a last ditch deal in order to retain them, others who perhaps aren't as profitable, with less history behind them or with an adverse payment trail may actually benefit both parties by being let go.

My team are not sales orientated so we don't have as stringent profit margins to adhere to as say a comission based team would. If anyone would like to discuss upgrades with us or they're unhappy with quotes they've been given, we'll be more than happy to investigate for you.

We can't always give better discounts for everyone as there are business rules to follow. We've never been about being a bargain basement network where we can give you everything for pennies. What we can do is offer the best value deals available to us where we have spenditure on an account left over. Some packages may mean bigger discounts than others and some customers may have a more healthy negotiation relationship than others so it's always worth asking. We'll always try and go in with the best plan and package available to save you having the headache of a haggle!

To get in touch, visit our [URL="Http://goo.gl/rJx8i"]Contact Us[/URL] page and follow the instructions there. We're only a small team but we'll do our best to get back ASAP! Please note, we don't have access to Business or Corporate account, this is a Consumer service only

Kind regards,

Ben, Helen, Ian, Kay, Matt and Paul

Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

noelphobic

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

I
Unfortunatly for Vodafone they left it too late and lost you as a customer. You would like to thinkt hey would learn, but I doubt it!

They lost me as well, after 4.5 years. The number was ported to T Mobile today and now I can't get into the online account to see how many minutes and texts were used before the changeover. I don't see why they need to immediately lock the account and, if they do, they should at least have the courtesy to send an email and advise me what my next bill will be and when it is due.

mr-tom_2

Well this week has been a sorry saga with VF offering some truly awful service, but they have eventually started to get their poo together and I might even have a phone tomorrow.

My primary issue with VF was service and lack of clear information. Fair enough, they might not want to compete on price, but surely service and ease of doing business would be seen as pluses.