Vodafone complaints

mobilejunkie

If you can prove you cancelled it following the proper procedures you could send a Letter Before Action and sue if they don't pay up.

Lynsey

mobilejunkie wrote: »

If you can prove you cancelled it following the proper procedures you could send a Letter Before Action and sue if they don't pay up.

I couldn't agree more. If you have proof, don't waste another minute, get a LBA off today giving a max. 14 days to pay or you will sue via MCOL. It really is that simple - you have wasted too much time on this which wasn't really necessary.
But make sure you are 100% correct first.

Lynsey

wilf55

have written my letter using templates on the bank reclaiming board but obviously revamped

will let you know how i go on...i hadnt even thought of doing that

best wishes

Lynsey

Good luck - don't think you will need it though. Please keep us updated, it may well help others.

Lynsey

RenegMC

Hi,

My new handset comes with a 28day warranty for a new exchange... I've asked for a replacement due to faults, but have been advised the new handset doesn't have 28 days on it. What if it breaks after my 28days? Shouldn't it be replaced rather than just repaired if its a new handset? Or is the warranty cheekily only for the first 28days of the contract rather than for each set of equipment?

Also, was given a recurring 5GBP discount on my line rental for the remainder of the contract, but the customer advisors just tell me the original line rental, with no knowledge of the discount... I have an email from the person who put the discount on outlining as much; is that enough to counter any dispute should it come to it?

Thanks!!

kriptikchicken

Hi all this is my first post,

Here is my story...

Back in December of last year I took out a 24 month contract with Vodafone UK. The contract came with a ‘free’ Blackberry Storm. From the onset it was evident that there was an issue with the phones ability to hold a signal. This manifested itself by being constantly in a state of SOS where other phones with the same SIM card had full bars.

This had the effect of either not being able to make or receive calls or being cut off shortly into a call. I was about to return the phone within the 14 ‘cooling off’ period, however I was continually advised that a new software update was immanent that would fix this issue.

5-6 months later this update arrived and did nothing to rectify the problem. In response Vodafone offered to give me a sub-standard temporary phone while they sent my Storm to the manufacturer for ‘investigation’. I was advised that this would be ‘weeks more than months’ till it’s return.


NOTE: This batch of the customers property was sent to RIM without any Service Level Agreement put in place! Madness! :eek: This essentially means that RIM can take as long as they like and they don't actually have to fix them in the end!


Almost 3 months later I still have not been told any progress (I ask virtually every day) but have been told that until the manufacturer is finished with it I will not get it back, even if I demand it back. – essentially saying that it will be away indefinitely, while I still pay FULL price for a tariff that I can only access half of the features.

Lastly, Vodafone’s stance on this is that the phone was given ‘free’ and so it is entirely my property. The monthly charge is for the service. We were also told that if we enquired about the whereabouts of our property again then the posts would be instantly deleted and we would be 'dealt' with according to the terms of the forum rules (i.e. banned!) - how disgusting customer service is that!


So unfortunately my patience ran out today and I e-mailed Consumer Direct(with similar content to this post) for their advice on what stage to take next. I await their response however it seems like e-mailing Vittorio Colao, the VF Worldwide CEO seems to get the most rapid result. I could guess Guy Laurence's e-mail, but if you can go straight to the top, why bother with the rest?


Anyway, if there is anyone else in a similar boat, I will update you as things progress.


:cool:

kriptikchicken

Well here is what CD said....

"

Based on the information you have provided I would advise that the purchase of the contract with phone would be covered under the Supply of Goods & Services Act 1982 and Scottish common law.

Goods supplied as part of a service should be of a satisfactory, as described and fit for the purpose implied and any service should be carried out using reasonable skill and care.

If the purchase was made via Vodafone UK your redress would be with them and you would have the right to pursue redress if they have supplied goods which are not of a satisfactory quality.

When you agree to the contract the trader is obliged to provide you with access to the service ,so they can provide a replacement phone for you to use - however it would be reasonable to expect the same services can be accessed. If you are not able to access the full service however you may be able to request a reduction to allow for this.

I would advise in the first instance making a final complaint to the company head office - send this recorded delivery and keep a copy for your records.

You can advise that the goods supplied with the service are not of a satisfactory qaulity and request the matter resolved within 14 days by either satisfactory repair and return of your handset or an alternative replacement with a like for like specification and function capability.

If the matter is not resolved after writing to the company, please get back in touch and I may be able to forward the details to your local trading standards office."

Interesting reading!

Vodafone

wilf55 wrote: »

:mad::mad:hi

in jan 2009 i took out a vodafone contract and cancelled it within the 14 day cooling off period in feb and again in march payments were taken from my account and i am still at the end of august waiting for a refund of £92

i have been lied to been rude to had the phone put down on me etc etc

i have been told to wait for cheque and it would be here by this date and that date so many times its untrue my latest cheque will be here by monday!!!!!

i have been sent to a vodafone shop to collect a cheque....they would write one out for me there and then another wild goose chase

it is costing me a fortune in calls as it is an 0845 number and i dont have a vodafone phone to ring from

i am sick and tired of false promises

they have told me to do an indemnity claim via my bank but why should i...they owe me the money

i have reported the matter to ofcom

what else can i do

it is costing my hours and hours of my time and phone calls and i am down by more than £100 now

the staff have supposedly reported it as a complaint yet months later i have heard nothing from this complaint....i want compensating interest and money back for my time and calls as well my £92 back

WHAT CAN I DO?????

please this is beyond a joke now as i am out of pocket and it is costing me more to be out of pocket as time goes on

any suggestions please guys

thanks in advance

RenegMC wrote: »

Hi,

My new handset comes with a 28day warranty for a new exchange... I've asked for a replacement due to faults, but have been advised the new handset doesn't have 28 days on it. What if it breaks after my 28days? Shouldn't it be replaced rather than just repaired if its a new handset? Or is the warranty cheekily only for the first 28days of the contract rather than for each set of equipment?

Also, was given a recurring 5GBP discount on my line rental for the remainder of the contract, but the customer advisors just tell me the original line rental, with no knowledge of the discount... I have an email from the person who put the discount on outlining as much; is that enough to counter any dispute should it come to it?

Thanks!!

kriptikchicken wrote: »

Hi all this is my first post,

Here is my story...

Back in December of last year I took out a 24 month contract with Vodafone UK. The contract came with a ‘free’ Blackberry Storm. From the onset it was evident that there was an issue with the phones ability to hold a signal. This manifested itself by being constantly in a state of SOS where other phones with the same SIM card had full bars.

This had the effect of either not being able to make or receive calls or being cut off shortly into a call. I was about to return the phone within the 14 ‘cooling off’ period, however I was continually advised that a new software update was immanent that would fix this issue.

5-6 months later this update arrived and did nothing to rectify the problem. In response Vodafone offered to give me a sub-standard temporary phone while they sent my Storm to the manufacturer for ‘investigation’. I was advised that this would be ‘weeks more than months’ till it’s return.


NOTE: This batch of the customers property was sent to RIM without any Service Level Agreement put in place! Madness! :eek: This essentially means that RIM can take as long as they like and they don't actually have to fix them in the end!


Almost 3 months later I still have not been told any progress (I ask virtually every day) but have been told that until the manufacturer is finished with it I will not get it back, even if I demand it back. – essentially saying that it will be away indefinitely, while I still pay FULL price for a tariff that I can only access half of the features.

Lastly, Vodafone’s stance on this is that the phone was given ‘free’ and so it is entirely my property. The monthly charge is for the service. We were also told that if we enquired about the whereabouts of our property again then the posts would be instantly deleted and we would be 'dealt' with according to the terms of the forum rules (i.e. banned!) - how disgusting customer service is that!


So unfortunately my patience ran out today and I e-mailed Consumer Direct(with similar content to this post) for their advice on what stage to take next.


Anyway, if there is anyone else in a similar boat, I will update you as things progress.


:cool:

Hi Guys

wilf55, alex399, kasey128, apf666, twinkletwinkle and RenegMC - I can look into this for you. Send me the details via the Contact Us form with a link to your posts and WRT135 in the body of the text (so it routes straight to my team) and we'll get you all a solution.

kriptikchicken - You'll know me from the eForum Team.

I know that this has been a difficult situation for you.

Sending the phone directly to RIM to be looked at, rather than having a standard repair was an option. It was never something that you had to do. The option of phones to use while it was away was also your choice.

On a personal note, myself and Tom are continuing to work hard on this situation behind the scenes. Even though we don't have news to give you as regularly as we'd like, please don't think that you have been forgotten - because you definitely haven't and we wil have an update to give you soon.

Thanks

Kirsty
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

kriptikchicken

Hi Kirsty,

I understand what you have been saying, however I was under the impression that it was just going to be 2-3 weeks not 12+ (12+ without any update).

If I had known it was going to be this long then I would of not sent it off. Tell me, if RIM don't know what is wrong with it now, how would you of given it a standard repair then?

Answer: You couldn't

This on top of Tom's abusive post (you know the one) and the lack of ability to confront RIM and demand a result with a definitive time-scale on our behalf is just the straw that broke the camels back.

I might be your customer, but you are RIMs.

When I get the call in relation to my post on the eforum this evening, I will be requesting that this Nokia 5800 be picked up ASAP as it is infinitely poorer than my Storm and I am sick of the sight of it.

No; it is now time to cut the BS and exercise my legal rights to a rapid resolve, no more waiting in faith (for I have none left) and no more waiting indefinitely. My phone has not been 'fit for purpose' for 9 months now and that is completely UNACCEPTABLE.

Robin

P.S. The authenticity of the phrase 'will have it soon' died with the whole firmware update non-sense at the beginning of the year.

marq

Wow, reading this thread is reassuring - in some ways - but rather worrying in others. There are so many of us. Though my story is pretty similar to others on here, I'd better post it, both to help other consumers make an informed choice about Vodafone(!) and also in the hope that I might get some help from the rather helpful-sounding web relations team.

In brief this is what I did and what VF did:

- ordered 600 mins/UL texts for 365 days for £20/month via Quidco site. Entered the PAC code from my old supplier during the application.

- received a SIM with a different phone number on it. Queried this by phone (long queues in the CS dept of course - I now know that music off by heart too!). After being passed around several departments, that SIM was instantly disabled and a port process set in motion...

- on the porting day the same SIM was activated, but with the WRONG number! It was my ported number but with one digit incorrect.

- fed up with waiting on phone, so I wrote a description of the problems I had had (including being passed around so many departments on the phone) on the Vodafone forum.

- my message disappeared without trace from the Vodafone forum, so I posted it again.

- received an email from a helpful person (SamJ) at VF who told me the forum wasn't the right place for those sorts of problems, but that s/he would help me.

- eventually, after lots of to-and-fro emails, SamJ fixed my problem (someone in the porting dept had 'keyed the number incorrectly'), my SIM was activated with the right number, and SamJ offered me £10 off my first bill for my troubles.

- by now I had received three lots of account paperwork. In response to my concern, Sam explicitly confirmed by email that I would not receive three bills.

- six weeks later, I receive three "your bill is available" emails! But the VF website is constantly 'under maintenance' so I am unable to access the bills.

- after a week of not being able to access the bills, I call 191 (and wait in a long queue) to say I just want to confirm that I'm only being billed once. After a sharp intake of breath, the CS rep says that I've been billed over £200 and that he needs to go to speak to a manager and cancel that ASAP.

- the rep eventually comes back tells me the new bill amount, which I query as it still sounds high. He tells me this is the plan I signed up to: £25/month. I tell him, "no, £20/month". He says, "no, £25/month". I tell him I am sure I have paperwork at home which confirms £20/month. In a rather arrogant tone, he says to go and check it and call back if there's still a problem.

- I am unwilling and unable to wait in a queue for that long, so when (of course) I find the paperwork to confirm the £20/month contract I signed up for, I write an email to SamJ explaining the problems.

- meanwhile a paper bill turns up and after doing the sums with pro-rata amounts many times I am able to discover that I was switched to a £25/month rate when I requested the 'free' VF Passport on the line. I send this extra detail in an email to SamJ. The bill also shows that the first phone number on the SIM was cancelled and the cancellation charge refunded, but the second one was cancelled without refunding the cancellation charge - hence the bill of over £200. But I do not worry, as that amount was cancelled a good week before the direct debit was due to go through. So everything will be ok...

- ten days later, of course, a direct debit for over £200 is taken from my bank balance. This takes me into my overdraft. I immediately ask my bank (smile.co.uk) for a full refund under the direct debit guarantee, which is applied to my account correctly and within 24 hours (smile are wonderful, sometimes!). I am advised that the DD is still active, so future accounts may be debited, so I should watch out for them.

- still no answer from SamJ so I resend the email (with updated details) to the department in general using the 'contact us' form. Standard response promises reply within 5 days. 6 days later, still no response.

I am in France at the moment, so I think I can't dial 191 and anyway don't want to risk incurring overseas charges for sitting in VF's queue to wait for them to sort out their own mess.

The outstanding issues:

1. My account is still on a £25/month tariff, whereas my contract is for a £20/month tariff.

2. My bank has refunded the erroneous bill amount to me but I am not sure that VF's accounting procedures will like this and I don't want to be charged for late payment, nor black-marked on my credit rating. VF have not followed up the bank's DD refund request with me to find out what the problem was, or to issue a corrected bill.

3. As well as the refunds I expect for the wrong tariff since I joined Passport, I was of course granted that £10 discount on my first bill, which I fear will be swallowed up in all this mess. Frankly, since the errors have continued since then, and caused me financial harm (albeit quickly rectified), have required me to chase them, in the face of a stunning silence from VF, I will be expecting not just that £10 but further compensation of some kind.

4. So far, my quidco transaction appears to have tracked, though I fear that with all the messing about and the fact that the number they originally issued was cancelled, I may not get my £120 cashback. However, I have hope, because it's the same SIM and the same account that this has all happened on...

...and apart from anything else, the web relations team are going to put everything right now. Right?