Vodafone complaints

Jules18

iouliafenton wrote: »

I have been a customer with Vodafone since summer 2006 (I need to double check the exact date) and here is the list of problems I have faced from the start:

1. I was told by the Bath store Manager Michael (I am sorry I do not know his last name) that I was getting a great student deal and to make it even better he would include free WAP browsing and a sort of "Get out of Contract" option, which would normally cost £10 extra. This meant that as long as the phone was still in good condition I could return it to the store and cancel the contract at any time and not be tied in for 12 months. I browsed the web and to my astonishment my bill came to a huge amount in the first couple of months. I went into the store, the manager apologised and said that what he meant to say was that it was only the Vodafone Live menu that was free to browse and not the whole of the Web and added some credit to my account.

2. Three months later I saw I was being charged for a service which allowed me to play videos on my phone. I did not asked for this services, nor was I notified that it was going to be added to my package. Once again I went into the store to be told by the manager that the services is free for the first three months, after which you have to manually cancel it. I pointed out that I did not ask for this services and he had not told me about it, he once again apologised. At this point I cannot remember if he added some money to my account.

3. I decided to try the online billing system in an attempt to be more environmentally friendly. This did not work so I rang Vodafone to ask that they start to send me paper bills once again. The lady on the phone assured me that this was done yet I had not received a bill for quite a few months. My only reference to how much I was being charged was my monthly bank statement. I noticed that I seemed to be paying a huge amount which was not justified, so I rang once again and asked to received my bills. Once again, I was assured this was changed on the system and I would begin receiving my bills.

4. I had lost my phone late December 2007 and I was due an upgrade at this point, so I visited the Vodafone store in Liverpool Street station in London. I received a new phone and the store attendant (whose name I can get you as it is on that contract) promised that I would begin receiving bills. I upgraded my contract as I felt I could save some money by getting more minutes and texts. he asked me if I wanted to purchase insurance for the phone, to which I gave him a categorical NO...

5. However, my bills remain just as high. A few months later I still had not received a SINGLE bill from Vodafone and I saw on my bank statement that I was paying in excess of £50, sometimes £60 per month. I rang Vodafone feeling quite cheated and angry as you can imagine. I asked the lady how she could justify me having to pay such huge amounts when I already pay £35 for my plan which included many more minutes and texts than I actually use. She alerted me to the fact that I was also paying £6.95 for insurance, which I specifically said I did not want! She also alerted me to a text service which was amounting to about £4 per week. I fell victim to a texting scam, which is now sorted out, but because I had not received a single bill form Vodafone I did not catch this as early as I could have done. I am sure you can understand at this point I was at the end of my patience with Vodafone and wanted to leave the services, so I asked the lady on the phone if I can use my get our of contract option, which was included in the package when I first received my phone. She told me I could not do that and that I was tied in until Aug 2008 and further to that she did not know anything about the option, had never heard anything like it and advised for me to go back to the original store to sort this out. I asked to her to send me backdated copies of all my bills, she said she could not do that and can only go back 3 months. I said that that will have to do and can she make sure that from that point onwards I begin to received paper bills through the post. She assured me, as everyone else before her, that this would be done.

6. To this day I have not received a single bill, I am still being charged for insurance I did not ask for and my bills are still exceeding £50 per months and I have no idea why because I have NOT SEEN A SINGLE BILL!!!!!!

I have written to the excutive, let's see what reply I get.

Even writing to the executive office does no good at all.
Absolutely unbelievable this company is,my claim for a broken pay as you go phone which had only had one top up and broke after three monthes(now over 6 monthes old after all the messing about by Vodafone) is going to the small claims court,four times my phone went back for repair,on going to the shop to pick up what I was told was a brand new phone was in fact used and reconditioned,WHY then did I have all the inconvenience of sending my phone back to repair four times if all they were going to provide me with was a poxy worthless ,second hand phone
There should be a huge investigation into this companies malpractices ,they should be named and shamed in the press

Jules18

eagleeye wrote: »

Hi

Don't trust these vodafone guys.I upgraded back in feb and had an inflated bill.I complained to the call centre ,online complaints and corporate office but everyone told me that first bill is always higher ,correct,etc.I did try to explain but what you can do when their mathematical skills are poor including the ceo.

I was given in writing that upgrade will cost you 24.01 pounds (inc vat) per month.The first bill came and it was for 59 pounds (line rental charge)for 53 days .Even for two months ( 60 days approx) it shouldn't be more than £48.02 (inc vat).

I raised an issue but they were keep telling me that first bill is always higher,etc.Now this second bill(basic line rental) was again higher and i raised issue with their complaints team.The person accepted that the current bill is faulty and looked into the first bill as well at my request.After 14 minutes of calculations they accepted that they miscalculated the first bill as well. I was lucky as bill was just for 30 days and they were able to understand the simple logic that agreed line rental amount has exceeded for 1month.

Please check your bills after upgrade as their systems are designed to scam the customer.The Ceo office online complaint link is just a marketing gimmick as they never try to solve these complaints unless simple maths is involved.

They are expert at lying eagleeye
Like how they keep telling me my phone has ran out of warranty.it broke after just three months of hardly being used,its only six months old now,but its out of warranty according to them,and did you know a phone only has a three month life span,thats just so if your stupid enough to believe them and youve spent the best part of 100 quid on a phone that breaks,youll up their coffers a bit more by going and spending another 100 quid on another phone off them,SHAMELESS

Jules18

raduqaz wrote: »

Heidi I spoke today with somebody at 191 and I was told that I am not owed anything (so says the bill recalculation team). After two months of waiting and explaining the case to a dozen or so costumer relations members I feel that Vodafone is just stringing me along.
This is just unbelievable , I have printed invoices with one tariff applied to my calls and the months that follow I have a different tariff to the same calls.

This is not a way to do business .

They are just stringing you along
Like they have with me for the last four months,and I wont let it drop

Jules18

Rajis wrote: »

A customer for several years, first time I have a problem,due to no reception for 3 weeks, they agree to cancel contract and then pursue for money and send in debt collectors for £628.00, has been
Vodacon defaulted and pursued money in bad faith when they agreed to cancel contract, due to mast fault for over 3wks, denied I ever made calls, refused to supply subject access report, hounded me with numerous debt collectors.


finally had hearing in court for trial, judge said breach of contract and forwarded for trial, arrogant vodaphone barrister was shame faced and unable to summarise, can't wait for round 2, vodaphone are the most dishonest, lying and unethical corporate company ever.

I will continue to fight for justice and once the inevitable outcome is passed, I will take this to the papers, and all media sources highlighting their lies, as this will surely open the flood gates for 1000s of wrong done vodaphone customers, hurt them where it
hurts their floundering reputation and pockets.

5 years of my money and loyalty and they do this, you are not indestructible, David will stand up to golliath,

Well done
Never a truer word has been said,re dishonest and unethical
I am behind you all the way.and as you have stated more than likely thousands of others are too,I cant wait for the day all their unethical malpractices are in the newspaper,and the day they are investigated,hopefully it will be SOON

Jules18

2d.dave wrote: »

Having been a customer for many years now, I have been met with a complete surprise that I am very unhappy about.

I have been contacting customer services via email [#8768386]‏ for several days to see if I could upgrade early. I have been offered the upgrade on the condition that I pay 4 months line rental to reduce the commitment on my account. At the same time, I was told that my upgrade date is 30/07/12.

I replied to this explaining...

'...my account says that I am due an upgrade on the 10/07/2012 (a picture of this is attached to this email) and is a date I have been aware of since my last upgrade. This has not been changed to my knowledge nor have I been notified that this will change. This would mean that I have to pay 3 months line rental which is £108 including vat to make me eligible for an upgrade.'

I then received what looks like a stock reply, which I believe implies I have not been listened to. This makes me very unhappy too.

I feel that my loyal custom has been taken for granted somewhat. I could just terminate this contract asap and go elsewhere, this is very easy to do and would cost me a very similar price.

Hi
I cant believe you have only just found this out
I have lots of emails here that proves I havnt been listened to at all
The fact of the matter is they just dont give a fig,MONEY is all they care about,once they have had your custom you can take a running jump

Jules18

90 pages of complaints re Vodafone,spanning over 6 years,why hasnt anything been done,and why has the "are you a happy vodafone customer "poll been closed ?

mobilejunkie

It has. They have a Web Relations Team who plug all the holes when their customers get this far. Sad for those who don't, but their moto is what the eye doesn't see....

Helmo5e

These days I discourage everyone I know from using Vodafone after the appalling service I have received. The latest drama was the last straw, but it's still not the end of all the hassle.. Here's a copy of the email I have sent to [email) customer.care@help.vodafone.co.uk to explain:

Towards the end of 2011 I looked into upgrading my phone and contract with Vodafone. I wasn't sure of when my contract ended so checked online. I found out that I could upgrade early at a cost, so decided to wait until the date advised online, in December. When I went back online in December, although I could now upgrade for free, the offers on the iPhone 4s didn't seem competitive so I wanted to discuss the different tariffs and offers with the upgrade team. When I called the automated system advised that I was not able to upgrade over the phone until a later date in December. I called back on the advised date only to receive the same automated message but with another date a week later. As this was just before Xmas I didn't call again until early Jan-again the same thing happened and a later date given. At this point I began to get frustrated so attempted to get through to any advisor on another team to find out what was happening. When I finally got through to someone I was told that I could only upgrade over the phone or in store 60days before the end of my contract in March 2012. I had explained everything that had happened and they advised that there must have be an error on the website and with their automated message. They said I could upgrade for free online but if I called back within the 60days before my contract ended I may be able to get a better deal. I called back on the date advised at the end of January and finally managed to get through to the upgrade team. They told me the only offers they had were the online ones and they didn't offer anything better on the 4s. I was in shock- after 3months of waiting I was in exactly the same position. If this information had been relayed clearly to me earlier I would've upgraded online before Xmas. I then decided to cancel my contract and advised the upgrade team to which they replied 'ok.' This further compounded my belief that Vodafone offers poor customer service and does not care (I had had similar experiences previously).!

I used the online form in January to cancel my contract. I did not get a response so also faxed the cancellation to the number advised on your website. Again I received no response and because I was concerned it may not be cancelled I sent the online form again. By this time it was early March and I had still not received confirmation so cancelled my Direct debit.!
Although I'd stopped using my phone, I noticed in April that the line was still connected. I then called customer services- please bear in mind this is very time consuming as the lines are always busy and I prefer written communication so that there is a trail. I was passed to different teams a couple of times, eventually speaking to someone who said they could see I had requested the cancellation and was unsure why it had not been actioned. He ensured me that it would be done straightaway and I asked if there was anything outstanding on the account- he said no.
I then received no further contact from Vodafone until the 29/04 when I received a letter saying I had an outstanding balance of £91.98 and my account had been suspended. I was appalled by this- I couldn't believe that my account hadnt already been cancelled and that after all of the previous hassle, I was still being subjected to Vodafones ineptitude. My intention was to write to Vodafone- I don't believe I should have to spend my money calling you when it's your error. I didn't have time to do this before going on holiday in early May. When I got back yesterday I had received another letter stating exactly the same but that I owed £97.92 (different to the first amount but no explanation as to why). I emailed the customer care team yesterday- see my email and response below:!
I have written to you numerous times in order to cancel my contract- well in advance of the end date. After no response I called customer services a month or so ago to check it had been actioned- it hadn't. They said that they could see I had requested the cancellation and were not sure why this had not been actioned and would do it straightaway. They confirmed that I did not owe any money. I have since received letters stating that my account has been suspended as I have an outstanding balance. This is disgusting and I am appalled with your customer service. Please cease in chasing a debt that I do not owe and ensure that this is correctly recorded in your notes. I wish to receive no further contact from Vodafone other than to let me know that this has been done.

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Vodafone Customer Services with regard to cancellation.

I can confirm you that your contract is cancelled now however there is overdue balance on the account. I am sorry to say there no notes on the account which says that is no overdue balanceon the account.

I can see that there is an outstanding amount of £97.92 on your account and this account has now been referred to Capquest Debt Collection Agency. I would request you to please contact Capquest on!0844 2499610.

I trust the above information helps.

Kind regards,

Dipti Deo!
Vodafone Customer Services

As you can see there is no acknowledgment of the error in the first place in regards to cancelling my contract, or an explanation of how I have accrued the outstanding balance. I have since replied but have not received any further communication as yet:

Could you please tell me what months these outstanding payments have come from?
I believe your calls are all recorded so if you could refer back to the notes and check when I last spoke to Vodafone you can listen to the call.
Once you have confirmed this you can contact capquest and let them know not to chase these payments as it should never have been referred to them.
Thanks

Tonight I received a call from whom I now suspect to be capquest- they asked if it was ** speaking to which I confirmed and then asked me for my !for my postcode for security verification. I pointed out that they had called me and I didn't know who they were so they should have this information. They rudely said 'well in that case I can't help' and hung up.
I am disgusted that Vodafone have made such little effort to resolve this matter themselves- if jobs were done properly initially and clear notes were left/read and recordings listened to then I would not need to be hassled unnecessarily. It is disgusting that this has been referred to a debt recovery company. I sincerely hope this does not effect my credit rating. I have spent a lot of money with Vodafone over many years and am astounded by your incompetence and disregard for your customers.
Unless this matter is resolved promptly I will be referring it to an independent ombudsman.

baldelectrician

You need to write to Capquest and Vodafone (use proof of postage, which is free from the Post Office).
You need to state that you dispute the debt and request that Capquest return the debt to Vodafone.
You need to request that Vodafone deal with this as a formal complaint.
If you don't get joy after raising a formal complaint you can go to the regualtor. You must follow the companies complaint procedure first.

mobilejunkie

I would contact the Web relations Team as repeatedly advised on here. Otherwise the saga will be endless and get worse.