Vodafone complaints

cedarpeach

Hi Everyone

I have been attempting to complain to Vodafone since October regarding extra charges on my bill.

I wrote three letters, the first in October 2012, sent numerous Emails with no response. I also called them and found the call centre staff extremely unhelpful; they couldn't acknowledge my complaint or confirm receipt of it.

I finally spoke to someone who confirmed receipt of my letters and informed me that Vodafone had written two letters of response to me. I didn't receive either letter and never have issues with my post normally.

Again not one person was able to look in to the extra charges for me. All I was told was that I'd called premium rate numbers which I know is not true. I was promised that itemised bills would be sent to me (the website continually freezes on me at login stage and I have never been able to access my bills online) but in fact only the standard bill was sent to me showing the block monthly charge.

I have called Vodafone so many times and have received so little help that I am truly appalled. When I ask for my complaint to be escalated no one seems to know what to do, I apparently can't be passed to any other department. I was promised a call back from a manager which never came.

I finally, finally managed to speak to someone today (after fifteen minutes of being passed from pillar to post) who checked all of the charges for me and confirmed that in fact I had not called one single premium number during my contract with vodafone.

What was originally quite a minor complaint has snowballed simply because Vodafone's customer service is appalling. Four months it has taken to me to get a response of any useful kind.

I am so frustrated and angry at having to take time out of my working day to call Vodafone and explain myself again and again.

I told them as much and said I wanted to leave my contract as soon as possible and would never use vodafone again.

Is there a final way I can complain before I leave? My usual letters, Emails and calls have clearly gone unrecorded and unacknowledged so I wonder is there a particular department or individual I can address?

Thanks all, sorry for the rant.

grumbler

• Complaints code of practice

If you sent them a letter and have not received a reply after 8 weeks, complain to the ombudsman.

Vodafone

Hi cedarpeach,

It's disappointing to see that this remains unresolved for you.

If you'd like me to take a look at things could you email me with your details via the link in our profile here?

All you need to do is copy and paste the link into your web browser and it will take you to the Contact us form on our website.

To ensure that it reaches me could you also quote the code WRT135 - MSE in the subject line and once our automated reply arrives update the thread with your email reference number and I'll get back to you as soon as possible?

Thanks,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

cineman

Hi Vodafone representative

I've been with Vodafone around 20 years, service and reception usually quite good.

Recently renewed my contract in December and amoung other things was offered

-unlimited internet for three months
-free V to V calls

It was explained to me that Eurotraveller is a £3 daily charge that enables me to "Take your UK price plan to Europe" and was "for Pay monthly customers".

So you can imagine my surprise when I got a monthly bill over £120.

I called, it was escalated and I requested vodafone send me an sms response as i was abroad at the time.

on 7th February 2013 I received the following message:

"Dear customer,

As per escalation of behalf of Moussa Self called the cst and advised him that the DTD is working only in the UK and the charges he have (sic) on the bill is for using the internet abroad and advised we can't waive the charges."


Note that

- I received no call from Moussa Self nor any vodafone representative regarding this issue

- No reference was made to Euro traveller having these restrictions when I was offered the free unlimited internet. A specific and explicit reference should be made at the point of sale of the new contract. I would have ceased data usage abroad if a vodafone representative had contacted me concerning the issue or if I had been sent the terms and conditions of Euro traveller.

- No reference to free vodafone to vodafone calls on my bill nor any reference to a rectification being made on my account

My tariff is currently under £15 - my bill is over £120. I would be grateful if you could look into this.

tdighton

Ii received my phone back from repair today saying it all had been sorted went to put it on charge and guess what it doesnt charge at all. So ive borrowed a charger of a friend and that has worked so they have sent me a broken charging seems like one problem after another! Ive called vodafone this morning and they said there send me one free of charge as the charger i had to send with my phone worked fine but there out of stock so more waiting

tdighton

Ok here i am again! I put the phone on charge last night at about midnight and popped it on the bedside table.Woke this morning at 7 and picked my phone up i had to drop it down straight away it was boiling hot!!! that hot i couldnt touch it, im surprised it dint catch fire! So i quickly removed the charger back cover and battery! God knows what the hell they have done to it but that is dangerous!! Really have had enough now cant they see there something wrong with this bloomin phone!

Silk

tdighton wrote: »

Ii received my phone back from repair today saying it all had been sorted went to put it on charge and guess what it doesnt charge at all. So ive borrowed a charger of a friend and that has worked so they have sent me a broken charging seems like one problem after another! Ive called vodafone this morning and they said there send me one free of charge as the charger i had to send with my phone worked fine but there out of stock so more waiting

tdighton wrote: »

Ok here i am again! I put the phone on charge last night at about midnight and popped it on the bedside table.Woke this morning at 7 and picked my phone up i had to drop it down straight away it was boiling hot!!!

Sounds like you had a faulty charger rather than a phone and now you've used the wrong charger to charge the phone and cooked it.

AMW1981

I am absolutely appalled at the lack of care from Vodafone and have been disputing monies that they claim owed to them for a number of months. They are claiming that I owe an amount of around £100 for my contract.

I am in dispute about this due to the fact that my mobile stopped working and in spite of trying several times to get some action on replacement my complaints fell on deaf ears.

While waiting patiently for a reply with a non working phone my contract money was still being taken out of my account by direct debit. This meaning that I have actually paid over £200 for a phone that just does not work! Eventually after my last letter to V. stating that I would be cancelling my contract due to their lack of care and attention and IMO the fact that this was a breach of contract on their part in desperation I cancelled my direct debit.

In spite of me writing to customer services on a number of occassions they have passed my details on to a collection agency. Over the last few months have been receiving many calls from companies which I believe to be part of Fredricksons International using different names such as STC, SPC or FPC. When an actual caller is on the line (as opposed to the automated calls I have been receiving) they have been informed that I will only respond to written letters and to stop phoning.

I have taken this stance due to the fact that I want an actual record of what is being stated due to past history of Vodafone claiming that they have no complaints on record.

I have responded to letters from Vodafone customer relations the last being two weeks ago in which I requested a reply to the queries I raised in a letter mid December 2012. In that letter I suggested that my mobile usage checked and it would be clear when my service actually stopped. I also responded to letters from Vodafone head of credit and collections about a Notice of Default making it clear that I was in dispute over the contract and in fact should be due a refund.

So far these letters ignored and the debt collection agency still hounding me. Today I received a letter from FPC Debt Collection Services telling me that the debt must be paid in full within 7 days or further action may be taken. Also threatening that if action taken in a County Court the balance to pay would be nearly double and a judgement against me would seriously affect my ability to obtain credit in the future!

I have checked my credit score with Credit expert and see that I have been already given a bad score by Vodafone. I have also been advised that I need to put a Notice of Correction to this account saying I am currently in dispute with this company.

I am at my wits end with all of this! Vodafone does not care about customer complaints, does not respond in a timely fashion and claims no knowledge of previous contact of complaint. Inter department communication is lacking between Customer Relations and Credit and collections and they still insist on letting their debt collection hounds loose on me while giving me a bad credit rating for their failings.

Also in the process I am the best part of £300 out of pocket for no service and added cost of having to use a PAYG mobile.

What can I do to get the bad credit rating removed and hopefully recover at least some of the monies I paid out for a product/service which imo not fit for purpose

Silk

If there was a problem with the phone you were using why didn't you get a temporary phone to use with the sim rather than get a payg one ?
It was the network service you were paying for after all so why not use it ?

grumbler

They do have to repair or replace the handset if it is faulty, and you can sue them if they fail to do this. However, no way does this mean that you don't have to pay for the services while this problem gets solved. Services can be used with any handset and it's a norm nowadays to have a basic spare one. It's not a PAYG and the fact that you have not used the services doesn't mean that the services were not supplied.