Vodafone complaints

Vodafone

Hi craigbrass,

I have received your email and will have a look into this for you today.

Many thanks,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

sleepy

I genuinely don't think I have ever dealt with a company with such inept customer service staff before. I think I have a straightforward problem with a straightforward solution, but every email I send to the customer care team gets a response that in no way addresses the problem. I have now emailed them four times and I feel I am no closer to the solution. The problem is:

• I phoned to take out a new contract and upgrade my phone, as my last contract was coming to an end. I asked for a HTC Sensation and was told that with my contract I would have to pay for the phone.

• I explained that my husband also paid the same monthly amount on his vodafone contract, and that when he upgraded at the end of December he was given the HTC Sensation for free. I then asked the person I was speaking to to match my husband's deal for me.

• The vodafone operator looked at my husband's account and told me that he had paid for the phone (aprox £50) but that as he had paid less than they were asking me for, she would match my husband's offer. I agreed because I thought that was the best they could do.

• I then spoke to my husband and he told me that as a way to get the upgrade through the computer, when he got the upgrade the person charged him for the phone and then applied a credit for the same amount to his account, so he did get the phone for free. It is a good job that I am not the kind of wife who yells first and asks questions later, as the Vodafone operator had pretty much told me that my husband had lied to me (when in fact it was her that lied to me, although I like to think that maybe the confusion was a mistake and she just didn't notice the credit/workaround on my husband's account).

I have now sent four emails just to ask that I be given what I was told I was getting, the same deal as my husband. If they listen to the recorded telephone call it will be clear that I was told that I was getting the same deal as my husband (which obviously I am not). The solution is simple, all the needs to happen is a £50 credit be applied to my account to cancel out the cost of the phone. But none of the customer service people have actually bothered to read my email and respond appropriately. The last response I got just said "I have reviewed your account and can see that you have changed your price plan on 21/01/2012. Further, I have reviewed your account notes and have not found any notes mentioned on your account that your account will be credited with £50." Which is obviously not an answer to my complaint! :mad:

I am glad I found this thread so I know that it is not just me that they are ignoring!

Vodafone

Hi sleepy,

I am sorry to hear that this has not been resolved for you since emailing in to us.

I will be happy to help you further. If you have an email reference number, I should be able to find your previous emails. If not you can contact me via the address here by putting WRT135 FAO Heidi in the subject.

Could you also include a link to your post.

Many thanks,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

EssexClaire

Well... where do I start?!?! Back in October my phone suddenly decided to stop sending and receiving MMS messages telling me that after several attempts it couldn't send due to a "Generic Network Error". I rang Vodafone Customer Services (several times over) who walked me through changing my settings (this didn't work), sent me a new SIM card (this disn't work) and finally decided on it being a fault with the phone. As the repair would wipe my phone I had to find a way to download everything safely off my phone which I did and eventually managed to send my phone off to Vodafone Repair Centre to have the problem fixed on 19.12.11. Between Xmas and New Year I recieved a call from the repairs team to advise me that I had to pay £100 to fix my phone because the volume button was missing - erm....what has this got to do with the software issue?! After several e-mail back and forth and advice from the Consumer Direct People over the "Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982", Vodafone said they would look into the situation and update me accordingly. This was on the Tuesday, on the Friday I received a text telling me my phone was back in the shop from the repairs centre. A little confused I e-mailed Customer Service and asked if it had been fixed. The reply was yes it had. I went to collect the phone Monday during my lunchbreak and lo and behold - the phone had been returned un-repaired due to me not paying the £100! Another e-mail to customer services, apologies sent from Vodafone, agreed to send back off and offered to pay me the charges for the time period my phone has been off to be repaired (after that e-mail i got another one from another person telling me to change the settings on my phone!!!). I then chased this Monday (23rd) to find out when I would be getting my phone back only to be told that it was back and because I had not paid the £100 it wasn't fixed! Now I have left out numerous e-mails and telephone calls from this (long story short etc) and I have finally lost my rag! I have told Vodafone yesterday that I wish to cancel my contract immediately as I am entitled to do under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 and that I will be cancelling my Direct Debit immediately and they will not receive another penny from me!

Shockingly enough I receive a response e-mail telling my my contract will be cancelled when it is due to - 15th March 2013 - and if I wish to cancel early I have to pay over £400 Early Termination Fee and they "suggest" I don't cancel my DD!

Not only have I been lied to, refused to be able to speak to a manager, had my time wasted, not been able to speak to the same person more than once, received e-mails that are barely in readable English, they now refuse to let me cancel my contract with no repurcussions as is my right!

I have advised them that they have until 12pm to ring me before I cancel my DD and I will not hesitate to go to court over this! The treatment I have had as a supposed "VALUED CUSTOMER" is insulting and disgusting and I will not stand for it and neither should anyone else!

mobilejunkie

Sounds all too familiar (as the whopping 79 pages on here testify). HOWEVER; if you want to go to court, sue them. They will simply put a default on your credit file and hand it over to the debt collectors if you cancel the direct debit - and then they will have wrecked your credit rating for years to come on ALL your financial needs.

As always, don't waste endless time going through normal channels - IT DOES NOT WORK (as you have found after wasting copious amounts of time and seeing the situation get worse rather than better - their speciality). Send the usual email via their ebsite with the heading WRT135 - that should reach the web relations team on here who generally are the ONLY people who give a damn about their customers at Vodafone.

lookinforabargain

Just wanted to say a huge thanks to Heidi the Vodafone Rep who took the time to contact me today after I sent an email. Didn't expect a phone call, so big thanks to you for clearing things up for me, it's just a shame the others in the call centre aren't quite as helpful. Got there in the end though. Apologies for my screaming daughter in the background at the end of the call! Just wanted you to know that I did really appreciate your call.

EssexClaire

Thanks mobile junkie, I know that cancelling my DD would result in bad credit rating, but when I'm so frustrated at going round and round in circles and getting the same scripted response each time, it feels like the only thing I can do!

I gave Vodafone 2 final helplines yesterday - 1. I contacted the Web Relations people soon after posting on here (no response as of yet) and 2. I rang them, I got through to the Scottish call centre (think my number has been put on a special list to automatically go there now) and actually ended up genuinely breaking down in tears on the phone to the guy. Now this is not me, I work in customer relations and I am trained to deal with stressful situations but this has actually made me ill and given me a small breakdown as I feel like they are taking advantage as well as blatantly lying to me. They even asked ME where my phone is!!! I told them I have no idea, it could be in the shop unrepaired or in the repairs centre or anywhere in between! Surely THEY should know!!!

I have been offered credit on my line rental for the time this has been going on but I have told them that it's not even about that anymore and as a sign of respect for my "VALUED CUSTOM" I just want them to let me go. I will pay my charges up to now and then let them cut me off. I just want out!

I am now in limbo again waiting for a manager to call me within 48 hours of my telephone call yesterday (for the 2nd time). As I had no repsonse last time I don't expect one this time but we will see. I have told them that if I don't get a repsonse this time then I will go to a solicitor.

Vodafone

Hi EssexClaire,

I have just picked up your email and will get in touch with you today to help resolve this. I am sorry that it has caused so much frustration and has been ongoing for so long.

Hi lookinforabargain,

Thank you so much for posting such great feedback!

I am really pleased I could help you. If you need anything else, feel free to get back in touch in the future.

Best wishes,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

EssexClaire

Thank you for your response Heidi but as stated in my comment above, I am waiting for a manager to contact me to discuss this within the next day or so as the person I spoke to yesterday said that only a manager can authorise what needs to be done.

I have had enough of my time wasted and I wouldn't want anymore wasted (for both you and me) for you to ring me and tell me the exact same thing.

Vodafone

Hi EssexClaire,

No problem, I will leave it to the manager to resolve for you. If you need any further help though, please do feel free to get in touch and I will help in any way I can to resolve this.

Thanks for letting me know.

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK