Vodafone complaints

twelveeyedfish

baldelectrician wrote: »

If you returned the phone within the cooling off period and they have not provided you with equipment you don't really have a contract (unless they have gave you a tempoary phone)

I know I wouldn't have put up without a phone for more than a few hours

If I am paying for a service then I expect a minimum level of equpment / connection

On the occasion this contract apparently went "active" it was the second occasion they attempted to send the "same" phone and contract. And I have been told that this had never been despatched.

The sim only effort I modified my order to (to reduce commitment to 12 months to give a fair evaluation without being tied in for so long after all the trouble) - a sim was sent registered post. This was a "failed delivery". For some unknown reason!!!

I must say, CS haven't been unhelpful until the moment I decided to cancel when infact the chap became incredibly rude and despatched yet another SIM without my permission. Infact, expressly against my permission.

Unfortunately, nothing they do seems to work!!!

wolery

Thanks to Kirsty and Mat from the WRT.

Brief history:
- billing problems following new contract
- half an answer from Vodafone after using their 'contact us' email facility, but a small credit to the account for the inconvenience.
- no further response to repeated requests for action
- after another email including the WRT reference, a reply from Mat within two days that promises to sort everything out.

So a shame that the telesales guy created the problem in the first place, and a further shame that the first support contact could only offer half an answer, but a pleasant and prompt response from Mat that offers hope for the remainder of the contract.

Thanks again,
Wol

4321

Notsure if this has happened to anyone else, if not worth check your details!

I currently have 3 mobiles on 18 months contracts at £15 each. My latest bill (2 months to go) showed a charge of £30 per phone; £45 extra! I rang to check why and was told that it was normal that once you are into the available to upgrade period the credit is no longer applied to your account! I explained that credit applied to the account blah was not my issue. £15 for 18 months was the deal. I was then told perhaps the salesman 16 months ago forgot to tell me ("they are human and busy"). He also told me that sales are under pressure and "you know how it is sometimes"! I did point out that last week when discussing a follow on contract of 18 months that salesman failed to mention it also; am I unlucky oris this policy? Furthermore, there is no mention in the terms and conditions on the website or indeed if you follow through buying similar contracts on line.
I have just written to Vodafone asking them to remidy the situation as I believe if this is the case, then I have been missold the contract.
Finally I was told this is standard practice across the industry, athough having today spoken to O2, Orange and 3 it would appear not to be the case.
BEWARE of this trap and ask the question when you are taking up an offer from this company!

mobilejunkie

You mean, they reckon it's standard practice across the industry to lie and cheat customers as Vodafone do? What do you think?! It's certainly standard practice for Vodafone, which is why I would NEVER take any contract out with them (or renew an existing one) over the phone. They are plainly a bunch of absolute liars as repeated similar accounts on this forum show.

MORPH3US

Pete_Hall wrote: »

I phoned up Vodafone and was offered 100 mins and 50 texts for £9 per month on a 12 month contract. Sounded good, so I accepted.

Wow, this thread has been an eye opener... I have posted a lot on the Vodafone Retentions thread but have just discovered this thread... I am now very weary of staying with Vodafone....

@ Pete Hall, you may or may not find it useful to know that IMHO the deal you are on is VERY poor.

Virgin do a £10 per month 30 day contract with 200 mins and unlimited texts. Compared to the deal you have, less minutes and texts plus worst of all tied in for 12 months.... not good.

Up to you but given that you were lied to last time too......

janet010

Arrrggg 4 calls to vodafone after service restricted and £70 of bank charges when they took off my credit as in the upgrade period. Lovely lady in Ireland tried to sort it but couldnt another not so nice put the phone down on me after I asked for them to text me with response as could hold no longer.....been on hold 6 times for a period of 30 mins. Been with VF for 10 years and now had enough! I want my charges back and off to a new supplier asap

xoxoxox

These people have had this time. I'm not letting this idiotic senseless bunch of company get away. I'm approaching consumer court and straightaway bring them to court and get laws and accountability straighten. I'll work towards strengthening my case with consolidated proofs (call records) and demand explanation and severe punishment to whoever is responsible for making our lives so difficult. I've had enough now. There will be a petition which i'll put forth. ''Is anyone in this forum or outside ready for a fight with me??? Will you sign/affirm to this petition''. I am equally comfortable if no one does, since it may mean appearing in court and all that weird jing-bang of of our Indian Penal Code. In most circumstances fighting a case is torture (the other few are worse). So better be away from it. But i'm assumung consumer courts will be quicker in their verdict. no guarantees tho and i'm good with taking it myself...i will as far as i can.
We have to drag these people out of their building and make them go through similar discomfort as their customers (who pays money to receive hostile reception from agents who dont can't tell what's A from an F).
I hope to post my experience here in this forum with a good news for all of us. Wish for me that my will never break-up fighting for my deserved rights.

twelveeyedfish

Yes, I've been sorting out some paper work this morning for court proceedings. Mostly because it seems to be the only way to rouse an urgent response from a company with no human interface. I shall be dropping it off soon. Well worth the small fee to force them to pay attention.

Amelie08

The following letter was sent via post and email to vodafone on 10th October:

• I am still waiting for a response
• My phone is still not working
• My current bill is incorrect
• I still have to pay the bill in 10 days!

[FONT=&quot]Vodafone Ltd
Correspondence Management
Post Room, Balliol House
Banbury
Oxon
OX17 3NS[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Vodafone Ltd.,
PO BOX 549,
Banbury,
Oxon,
OX17 3ZJ[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Vodafone House,
The Connection
Newbury, Berkshire
RG14 2FN[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]2nd October ‘2009[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]To whom this may concern,[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I am writing to make a formal complaint about the level of service I have received since the beginning of my new contract with Vodafone and my extreme disappointment with the after-care service provided both in your ******** store and from a number of your customer service advisors via telephone (191).

On 26th Jun 2009, I went into your Nottingham branch based in Victoria Centre and enquired about a pay monthly contract my friend had secure a week before. This contract (YPL 24ESS 900m UTx VP VMI) offered[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]A new Blackberry 8900, on a two year contract for £30 a month[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Unlimited internet[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Unlimited landline calls[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]900 anytime/ any network minutes[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Unlimited texts[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]One month free insurance cover – which would not roll over to the next months, if I wished to continue I would have to call the Vodafone customer service line. I took note of this as I felt it would be necessary for such a technical phone.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]In addition, to the above I arranged to have my bills sent to my email address and after enquiring about the ‘friends and family’ deal (which my friend got on starting her contract) – I was told that this only applied after paying three months of my bill on time. The Vodafone sales rep also mention the free roaming benefits, which I kindly declined as I did not plan on travelling in the near future which he then informed me could be added to my account at any time, without a charge. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Alongside these benefits, I mentioned that I wished to port my old mobile number from Orange and provided him the relevant information. I mentioned to the sales representative that I understood this had to be ported on the same day as starting the contract, he replied by saying this was not an issue and could be arrange at anytime. Unfortunately, the porting code given failed to work. The representative placed the contract on what he called a ‘temporary number’ (*****************) and advised me to get the right porting code to the branch before close of day. I returned later in the day with the right information was assured that the porting would be arrange and complete within three working days.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I left with my phone and contract.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]On getting the phone home, I was shocked at the material available to help me navigate around the phone, in addition I had no information about my insurance and only a range of website addresses to help me update software and get help. As I am not connected to the internet at home and hoped to use my phone in order to use the internet, this proved difficult.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]On the 29th June 2009, my phone signal disappeared and I could not make or receive calls – so was without a phone during two days of work that I had to work away. I rang the Vodafone helpline and they assured me that it would be up and running in one days’ time, and was due to my number being ported over. My service was not resumed until the 1st July. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Before and following the porting of my previous mobile number the following technical faults appear on my phone:[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Contact and Caller I.D – after saving all my contacts onto my phone, I found that if anyone called me, only their number would appear. This fault was sporadic, at times clearly showing me who was calling and other times just displaying the number.[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Camera – The flash worked intermittently and the ball had to be pressed for a long time in order to take a picture.[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Phone reconfiguration– on the occasions, when I had to reconfigure my phone, taking the battery off – it took from 15 – 30 mins to reboot and turn itself back on.[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Profiles – any profiles I set with my personal setting, change back to the default intermittently[/FONT]
·[FONT=&quot]Emails link to the phone failed to show my most recent emails or work at all.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]On several occasions, I called 191 and spoke to several customer services representatives, got transferred to the technical department, where they tried to update, reconfiguration and instructed me to amend a number of settings within the phone. Each call ended with a promise that the problem would be rectified. Although, on using the phone either of the faulty features the problems still occurred.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Around the 30th July ‘09 my first bill arrived via post (not email as requested) dated the 28th July ’09for the sum of £463.07, with a credit of 152.60. The bill stated that I had cancelled my contract and this was the amount I had to settle. I immediately rang 191 and spoke to a customer service representative called Shane (CF2531) who understood my concerns and said this may have been a mistake and that he would email the relevant team and have my account credited as this clearly did not apply to my contract. He promised to email me a confirmation of this. I explained that I could not afford to loose this amount of money and clearly distressed by the situation would like to be assured that this as been rectified. I did not receive an email on the 1st August ’09 as promised. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]As I was away with work during this time and could not get to the ******** branch, I decided to ring the disconnection department and make a complaint about the service and the faults with my phone. A representative advised that I could send my complaint to [EMAIL="customer.care@vodafone.co.uk"]customer.care@vodafone.co.uk[/EMAIL]. She also tried to fix my internet access (as I couldn’t access the internet), clearing the phone cache but failed. She offered to replace my phone with a refurbished phone - confirming that the phone I’d receive at some point would either have had a fault or had been a phone return due to its previous owner deciding it was not suitable. I expressed to her that for the first month of a two-year contract, I did not want to pay for a refurbished phone for the next two years but wished to receive a new phone, in good - working order. She advised that in order to get this I would have to visit the Nottingham branch and speak to the manager and ask for an exemption, whereby the manager would give me a new phone in line with the 28 days returns policy. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I backed up my phone, and on 7th August ‘09 I called into the Vodafone shop in Nottingham to both complain about the continuous faults on my phone and to find out why my contract had been cancelled, and whether the due amount had been credited.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I spoke to a representative who explain that I would have to send the phone off to be repaired, which could take up to two weeks; offering me a standard replacement phone. As I was not satisfied with this and had originally bought the phone to use predominantly for work, I asked to speak to the supervisor.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]On meeting the supervisor and explaining my problems with the phone and the inconvenience it would cause to send my phone off for repairs, to my shock I was rudely told to take off my tinted glasses, in order for him to “see who he was speaking to”. On doing so, I expressed my anger in his comment as I didn’t feel my attire at all hindered the conversation.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I spoke through my faults, most of which he replied in a bemused manner and stated that he had never heard of any other customer having the same faults with the phone. He again, repeated what the previous advisor had said, and was not willing to give me a new phone as I had passed my 28 days and would therefore have to send of the phone for repair. This obviously angered me, these faults had clearly begun at the start of the contract and notes on my account proved I had made number of calls during the month. He said he was not willing to exchange the phone under his discretion and continued to repeat the terms of the contract.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]He attempted to reboot my phone, taking the battery out and witnessed one of the faults which meant the phone took about 20mins to reconfigure and switch on. During the wait, he admitted that the phone was faulty and should not be taking so much time to switch back on. Whilst he began to record my repairs on his system and scan the complimentary phone to give to me.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]He also asked why I had not come into the before this time to report the faults during the 28 days. I explained during several calls to the customer services or technical support team, I was assured that the problems would be made right, and all were technical faults with attempts to fix them made over the phone. In addition, I explained that I had a full-time job and had not been available until this day. He followed this by saying that we all get “days off work” by which I explained as a manager in retail, I did not have the luxury of as many days off as he may have had and that this had nothing to do with the functionality of the phone.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]By this time, his system would now not allow him to scan a complimentary phone in order to provide me with a temporary replacement. He went into the stock room and brought out a new phone and said he would have to give me a new phone, as he could see the phone was faulty. By this time, I had been in the branch for an hour.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The sales advisor then rang through to the customer service department to ask about my cancelled contract. After a further 40 minutes of him discussing my account with a phone representative, he informed me that due to the porting request the original number had gone through as a cancellation. The credit which I was initially told may have been a credit from Orange was in fact from the Ofcom regulators. The amount was credited over the phone (as the previous request had not been submitted) and the amount I had to pay would be £5.26, for the three days period in June.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]As I had to cancel my direct debit with my bank as I didn’t wish for the initial amount to leave my bank, I left the Vodafone branch and had to then visit my bank to set this up again. The whole laborious process took nearly three hours to sort out.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]On restoring my settings to the new phone, following both instructions on the software and online; I discovered the desktop software had failed to save my pictures, videos and music from the old phone. I then tried to access my emails which did not automatically reconfigure. After speaking with a technician via telephone, my accounts were set up but they old folders prior to backing up my phone were separated in their own folders away from the new emails received that day, showing six folders for three different emails. I spent nearly 30 minutes on the phone with the technician deleting and re-installing my folders four times but was unable to amend the problem. He advised me to go back to the shop![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I went back to the shop the following day, to a perplexed sales representative who fobbed me off and asked me if I knew how to work my phone. I didn’t find this funny at all and feel that I know enough about the phone but don’t believe any of the Vodafone staff actually do. After showing him the problems which he could not fix, I decided to delete all my previous emails (before backing up my old phone) and the folders containing them, in order not to repeat the time spent in the branch the day before.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]A few days later, when receiving calls I realised again, the details of my contacts were still not showing on he handset. I decide to see if this would repair itself over a couple weeks before visiting the branch again.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]My next bill, date 25th August ’09 for the amount of £146.40, of which £55.12 was for messaging and internet usage, even though I had unlimited internet access and rarely use the internet. On 7th September ’09, I rang 191 and went through to the billing department, as soon as I explained my situation, the representative said she would credit my account and I would not be charged. I explained that I would like to get a confirmation of this and would then pay the outstanding balance via telephone once I had this. In addition, although arrange in the shop on receiving my second phone, I was STILL receiving the paper (summarised) bills. She promised she would do both, and I would receive the bill in two working days. I thanked her but decided to ring my bank and cancel my direct debit and check with my bank. They arranged this but said that Vodafone collections department would probably send a new reference requesting the amount to override this. Following this conversation, I rang 191 again and explained what I had done, and why and was assured that they would not take the amount out.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The following day, my bank informed me that my account had been deducted with the full amount taken. All the conversation the previous day had been for nothing. I called 191 and spoke to a representative called Laura Thomas, clearly angry and upset; and asked for the £53.12 to be put back into my account immediately. I was then informed that the refund would take 7 – 10 DAYS! Alternatively, they would CREDIT my Vodafone account. I explained that I could not afford to give away MY hard earned cash I and that I wanted it a soon as possible. Laura promised to see what she could do and gave me her email address to contact her. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I returned to my bank who issued an indemnity claim to return the funds, this I communicated to Laura.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]From the emails provided, copied into your customer care department, I corresponded with Laura as my account still hadn’t been credited as promised. It took a week for the credit to go through and a few days after it did go through I got an email from [EMAIL="customer.care@vodaphone.com"]customer.care@vodaphone.com[/EMAIL] stating that the email no longer worked![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]On the 31st September, I rang 191 to arrange for a new/refurbished phone to be sent to me as again, my contacts were not visible on incoming calls, my battery life low, the ball on the phone working intermittently, camera freezing to name a few problems. I was promised a phone would be delivered between 12pm – 8pm. I later received a text message, instructing me to retain my sim, memory card and battery – even though my battery was one of the faults registered?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I rang again to explain this and a representative explain that they could only order a new battery, which would take three working day to arrive until I had a fully working phone.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]On the 1st, a courier delivered the shell of a reconditioned phone as I was not available he put my accessories into the new shell. In the evening I restored my old settings but the memory card is now not formating in order form to transfer files. I called 191 to gain advice on why this was happening and unfortunately the advisor could not help, so had to orde me a new memory card, which wil be delivered on 2nd October. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]After finally getting access to my account online on the Vodafone website, I checked my current bill and have again been charged £75.00 for messaging and internet use. I have also notice that the price plan code I initially asked and signed for is different on this bill and the bill dated 25th August. It is currently YPL 24CHC 900m UTx VP, and not the reference on my contract. This I think will explain why I am getting charged for using email and the internet, even though it should be within my price plan.[/FONT]


This is just part one, I am so furious as I am yet to recieve a reply and my phone is still not working properly! Help!
[FONT=&quot]to be continued......:mad:
[/FONT]

xoxoxox

Okey.... i feel myself stronger today than was yesterday. Why no action yet by me? i am preparing more thoughts in head....the stroke of hammer must be accurate, hard enough to break metal rods.it's wat i gotta do and not zanythng otherwise.... Perhaps i'd outdo Ams size of mail above. fish, we r in it together.