Vodafone complaints

CloggyMacK

Where do I start??

I gave notice to quit my contract on 27th March, and that was the beginning of my problems. I was called by Ben Campbell offering me a better deal than I was going to with O2, to make me stay. Then he tells me there is a wait for handsets. After a few days and no response, I ring up and get someone else who tells me that the deal Ben offered me doesn't exist! After me telling him that I insisted Ben put the offer in writing, and after speaking to a supervisor - lucky me there's a limited offer on and I can have this double your minutes bundle.

Two days later my blackberry stops working - even though I wasn't getting my new HTC phone until the day after, Vodaphone disabled all my email and internet functions :-( Another phone call later and I discover I've been put on the new contract already, even though I haven't got the phone, and worse than that it's at half the bundle I was originally offered, oh and by the way I also owe them £58.34 for the phone which I had been told was free with that contract. Obviously I told them I wasn't accepting that and was advised to reject the delivery of the phone and I had verbally cancelled the deal. They put me back on a holding contract and re-activated my blackberry as I now said nothing would stop me moving to O2.

I then received a bill for £58.34 for the cost of the new phone and delivery charge. I queried it and was told it was an error and the bill was cancelled - I only owed £13.31 for the balance of my blackberry bill.

A week later I get another bill for £71.65 - for the sum of the amounts above. Yet another call to Vodaphone, and more assurances that they would sort it out.

Two weeks later I then receive another bill - FOR £290.24 - for early cancellation charge prior to the contract end date!!!!! Another call to Vodaphone for 30 minutes and Peter assures me it's all sorted. FINALLY.

Well not according to the letter I received dated 3rd June, confirming my account is now cancelled, but please pay the £289.64 I still owe - seemingly Peters efforts only got rid of the small amount I owed for a few days call usage whilst my number was transferred to O2. They are still after me for early cancellation fees - even though the contract never actually started in the first place.

Yesterday I got a nasty threatening letter telling me if I don't pay in 14 days my bad debt will be passed to a credit reference agency and debt collection agency. I phoned the number on the letter "oh we can't deal with this, we're collections you need billing and charging", they put me throught to Jemma on that team, who put the phone down on me whilst I was explaining to her what the issue was. Then I got Amy after a further two attempts and she promised to phone me back after speaking to a supervisor.

24 hours later, no call. I rang again and spoke to Mohammed who said their system was down, would be down for at least a further two hours and when I asked to speak to a Supervisor or Senior Manager I was told - SERIOUSLY - that EVERY SINGLE MANAGER FOR VODAPHONE UK WAS OFF OPERATIONAL DUTIES WORKING ON THE COMPUTER FIX UNTIL IT WAS BACK ON LINE.

So, after looking at the advice on this site, I've spent the rest of my day compliling a dossier of shame, and
- emailed it to BBC Watchdog
- emailed Arun Sarin @ Vodaphone
- registered a complaint with Oftel
- written a complaint letter to the Customer Services Manager at Vodaphone
- made a request on Vodaphones Contact Me webform asking for someone to contact me to get it sorted.

If anyone has any other tips for how to get them off my back once and for all then I would appreciate some further advice.

By the way, the process of moving to O2 was a great experience and I very glad I moved!

Discodave

slighty OT

Can you create "contact groups" on the SE X10?

cst79

I would like to thank Heidi at Vodafone, for helping to deal with my complaint quicker than anybody else has at Vodafone.

Although she was unable to refund me to the original timescale I was given, and I still have to wait another 7 - 14 days living on £1.50, I will, she says, be compensated for my inconvenience.

The ironic thing is, by the time I get my refund from the last monthly bill I paid, it will be time to pay Vodafone for my next monthly bill!

Thank you Heidi.

mobilejunkie

CloggymacK; I doubt ANY of those actions will get you anywhere (been there/done all of those several times over and got exactly the same respoonse from the normal wonderful Vodafone "customer service" as you have). I sympathise. Six months into my own particular problems they have still not been sorted out - indeed, all my innumerable attempts to get them sorted only resulted in an even worse mess. The ONLY potential solution has come through the web relations team on here - although even here the jury's still out and it has been FAR from a smooth road to anything like a resolution - and can never make up for all the time and effort I've had to invest trying to get an SIMPLE problem CAUSED ENTIRELY BY VODAFONE resolved. Send a message to the Vodafone people on here via the Vodafone site using the heading code they give on here. Then sit back and wait for the mess to be slowly (hopefully) unravelled.

owainlfc

I signed up to one of vodafones one month rolling contracts as I knew I was travelling to Australia. Over a month before I was due to leave I sent a letter to vodafone stating that I would no longer need the contract.

I then started to recieve debt collection letters back in the UK so contacted the collections team which I was told my letter was no recieved. Luckily I keep a copy of all letters and faxed a copy to the collections team to look into. The following day I rang back to confirm that my fax had been recieved and the customer advisor assured my that my account had been cancelled and that the balance was now 0.

Unfortunatly it wasnt and I have now recieved another debt collection letter. Having to ring from Australia in order to sort this out has taken up a lot of time and money with no Vodafone employees wanting to take responsibility for anything.:mad:

Techhead_2

Do you have any proof the original cancellation letter was received? If you don't then it's a bit much to blame Vodafone for not cancelling when they weren't aware you wanted to. In order to back date a cancellation would take a good will gesture from any network.

Let me make clear I had dreadful experience with Vodafone and couldn't recommend them to anyone. However I don't think they have done much wrong here.

owainlfc

No, I have a date on the original letter I have a copy of but thats all. I thought these one month rolling contracts were supposed to be easy to get out of, making it worse that I am being told different things by vodafone and that im on the other side of the world

ezme

Hi
Heide im not sure if you will get this but i just wanted to updated you , i have again spoken to customer services explained everything again, they advised if i could pay a token payment they would set me up on a payment plan , so i did this made a payment, agreed an amount a month to pay over 6 months so i would be completley straight again, then just as he was about to finalise it when he annonuced my line would now be shut off until it was payed, so i would be paying extra on to of my normal monthly bill but not be able to make calls etc.. with my phone, i then advised i didnt want to set up this plan as i need my phone and dont see why i should pay the bill verythin month plus extra to pay the outstanding amount off but not be able to use my phone. Is there anything that can be done ??

mohsin_99

DavidAche wrote: »

Hi
In summary, my wife recently upgrade her phone to a new android smart phone and by doing this signed up to a 24 month contract, after approximately 4-5 months of occasional use the screen on the handset stopped working, the Vodafone shop sent the phone off for repair but it was sent back claiming it was water damaged based on a sticker on the back of the phone that is completely open to the element turning red. The letter from the Vodafone repair centre also went on to explained that this could be caused by changes in climate (slightly concerning as I’d expect a phone to be able handle such an event as a foggy or humid day). For this reason the phones warranty was deemed as void and she was informed there was nothing else she could do other than buy a new phone at market value. I took the phone to a local repair centre who opened the phone and showed me internal sensors that had not been triggered and advised that the internals of the phone are unlikely to actually be water damaged. They also photographed the phone so that I could provide this to Vodafone. Although I am sure everyone who has dropped their phone down the loo claims otherwise, both my wife and I are sure that the phone has not been in direct contact with water.
I put together a detailed complaint email to customer.care@help.vodafone.co.uk detailing the situation from start to finish along with my wifes account details and including the photos and asked what they intended to do about the situation.
The response I received bore no relevance and in no way answered any of the questions that I had sent in my first email. It simply asked for my account details and explained that they would then provide a returns bag for me to send the phone back to the repair centre.
I emailed them the requested account info again and asked for clarification that they were aware that the phone had already been sent for repair and rejected and I didn’t want the same thing to happen again. (I included the original detailed email for their reference including the photo’s)
Today I have received an email from customer care explaining that they have looked at the account and note that the phone has already been determined as water damaged. (which must have come as a shock to them given that I had clearly mentioned it in both my emails). For this reason there was nothing that could be done other than, in their own words “What I would suggest you is to get your handset repair at some other place” (omitting to reference the fact that none of the internal water sensors had been triggered or give reason why the warranty would still be considered void). they then go on to end the email with the following line. “I hope the above information is helpful”. Well funnily enough “NO”, it’s not helpful!!!!!
So what can I do about it, probably nothing other than rant on to all my friends, colleagues and neighbours!!! However I had intended on moving my Orange contract to Vodafone as the Vodafone signal is slightly better in my area but out of principle (not that a multi-national company would really care!) I intend re-new my contract with Orange and cancel my 3G contract with Vodafone (which is way out of contract terms) as soon as possible.


Yours
Another unsatisfied customer.

Hi David

I have been with vodafone for a very long time . I had almost the same issues ( but not water damaged). Vodafone repairs centre and customer service is of no help.

I sent them an email and next day they replied me asking my name . I provide them my name and next day they asked me date of birth . Which I angrily provide and to be schoked and suprised next email.. they asked me for my addresssssssssssssss.. They were triying to complete security checks over 3 days via email........... I was so angry..

I emailed their CEO and one of the other directors . I told them that if it is not solved , I will go to finanical ombudsamn..

You know what .. My complaint was solved within 3 days and I go a new phone..

so I would suggesst you to email their CEO and Direcotrs department... I am sure your wife will get a new phone... Sending email to Heidi is just waste of time. I sent her an email too but she never replied...... and in case if you don't beleive me,, try email her too.. you will have the same answer..

Ali

mohsin_99

owainlfc wrote: »

I signed up to one of vodafones one month rolling contracts as I knew I was travelling to Australia. Over a month before I was due to leave I sent a letter to vodafone stating that I would no longer need the contract.

I then started to recieve debt collection letters back in the UK so contacted the collections team which I was told my letter was no recieved. Luckily I keep a copy of all letters and faxed a copy to the collections team to look into. The following day I rang back to confirm that my fax had been recieved and the customer advisor assured my that my account had been cancelled and that the balance was now 0.

Unfortunatly it wasnt and I have now recieved another debt collection letter. Having to ring from Australia in order to sort this out has taken up a lot of time and money with no Vodafone employees wanting to take responsibility for anything.:mad:

Hi

Send them a formal complaint with all the details. In case if you get another debt collection letter , it would not be applicable as you will have a formal complaint againt payment provider

but to be quite honest bro.. It is best to pay them as you can't sort this thing from Australia........................ We can't sort matter here in UK !!!!