Vodafone complaints

KeithBFD

After I posted here I sent a complaint to the CEO [Email address removed]. This appears to be the only way to get a response as I've just had a call from Vodafone Customer relations. The issues with the migration of the two phones has been resolved and the plans for the phones amended and a £25 credit applied to my account as partial compensation. It appears that changes are in progress to "improve" customer services and reduce the number of calls. I think they have a long hard job ahead. For the time being I'm satisfied but I'll be reviewing the account every month to ensure there are no irregularities.


So if you're not getting anywhere try emailing the above address.


Keith[/email]

boatman

KeithBFD wrote: »

After I posted here I sent a complaint to the CEO [Email address removed]. This appears to be the only way to get a response as I've just had a call from Vodafone Customer relations. The issues with the migration of the two phones has been resolved and the plans for the phones amended and a £25 credit applied to my account as partial compensation. It appears that changes are in progress to "improve" customer services and reduce the number of calls. I think they have a long hard job ahead. For the time being I'm satisfied but I'll be reviewing the account every month to ensure there are no irregularities.
So if you're not getting anywhere try emailing the above address.


Keith[/email]

I've had to do the same. Does it not make you wonder though, if they can deal with complaints this way so successfully, why employ a whole team in customer service who are completely useless. they must now be losing customers because of it, so is it not time to listen to their customers and now fob them off, effectively calling them liars.

diamonds

boatman wrote: »

I've had to do the same. Does it not make you wonder though, if they can deal with complaints this way so successfully, why employ a whole team in customer service who are completely useless. they must now be losing customers because of it, so is it not time to listen to their customers and now fob them off, effectively calling them liars.

Head office had a customer contact centre at Banbury they closed down because they said better care was available instore and via thirdparties (ie the salary bill for inhouse long term staff was too high) so they closed and laid off many staff who had been there for years).


Frankly 16 hours staff who NEED 16 hours a week for tax credits, ie inhouse staff would be cheaper than than the third party provider with control of quality.

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

boatman wrote: »

I've had to do the same. Does it not make you wonder though, if they can deal with complaints this way so successfully, why employ a whole team in customer service who are completely useless. they must now be losing customers because of it, so is it not time to listen to their customers and now fob them off, effectively calling them liars.

People will always join them if they are the cheapest deal they are looking for. I think the customer churn in the mobile market is quite high with people switching networks quite frequently.

I suffered with Vodafone and left. Well I actually just stopped the DD and went elsewhere as they couldn't resolve my issue if their lives depended on it. It's not recommended to do that because they appearently ruin your credit history but my connection was in my late husband's name so they can ruin his credit history all they want.

Funny though, Vodafone never even responded to my two letters I sent even though they signed for them yet they seem to be able to write asking for their money now the gravy train came off the tracks. Which they can whistle for.

Jezza60

I feel like I could scream at Vodafone (but doubt they would even listen)!

A couple of months ago I experienced a cash flow problem and called Vodafone to see if they could help. They suggested dropping down to a cheaper tariff, which I thought sounded great! I was connected through to discuss this option and was told:

"Yes sir, you can go on to a sim-only contract and this will save you a lot of money each month! There is, however a fee for ending your current contract early which is £380"

By this point I had been on the web chat for about an hour and a half so was very annoyed that I'd been told they could help with my financial difficulty- by offering an entirely unrealistic option. If I was struggling for money- how on earth is paying a lump sum of £380 any good?

So I complained and was told:

"Sorry sir- we apologise for the inconvenience. We will look to make sure we rectify this for you as we value all of our customers. Let me connect you to our upgrade team and they will certainly look after you"

***connected to the upgrade team***

"Sir- we understand you would like to upgrade your contract early? We can certainly look at that for you but there will be a fee to upgrade your phone early".

(Please note I've para-phrased the actual communications slightly).

This charade went on for a couple of hours and I was running in circles.

I wrote a letter of complaint about the wasted time and the fact that there was absolutely nothing that Vodafone would be willing to do for someone in financial hardship (I'd have been happy with a simple offer to change the date of my direct debit until after payday- they didn't even suggest that).

I got a phone call in response to the complaint (but I should point out, NONE of this process moved quickly and I had to chase up a response to the complaint a couple of times).

After MUCH back and forth, I finally spoke to someone who understood the nature of my complaint and could see that I had received sub-par service and I was offered 40% discount off my contract for 2 months as a form of compensation. I accepted this and thought nothing of it- I'd really have liked to have taken the complaint further, but was already very drained by the experience.

Anyways- that was all a good few weeks ago. This morning I got an email from Vodafone saying "Welcome to your new bundle" and it was for £46.50 per month (my current bundle is £42 per month) and I had not agreed to any such thing. I phoned up to query this and was told my £42 bundle was no longer offered so they'd changed it to this one. I complained that I had not agreed to do so, and was then told that they'd put my on a monthly plan that was the same as before at £42 per month- but now there will not be the 40% discount I was offered previously. Apparently there is no record of it on the system!!! If I want to pursue it, I need to call customer services (which is about the last thing in this world I would choose to spend my time doing) and request that they listen through to my previous calls.

I am absolutely horrified at this company's behavior. I have been a Vodafone customer for around 9 years, and my contract is due to run until May 2016. I just cannot wait until my contract is over so I can move away from this godawful company. I used to be such a happy customer of Vodafone and I ALWAYS rated their customer service very highly. However, it seems that over the past 12 months they have just adopted an awful approach to their customers and I can only hope that my experiences with this company can act as a warning to others.

If anyone knows of anyone to contact at Vodafone who may indeed be able to effectively deal with my complaint I would love to hear from you.

Alternatively, if anyone knows of any ways to end a contract prematurely without a heavy fee I would also love to know. I just want rid of any dealings with Vodafone now.

nikchris68

Hi


I have spent over 4 hours talking to customer service representatives, been promised countless callbacks (none of which materialised), been sent to a shop which was pointless and finally emailed the CEO.
Does anyone know if I should expect a response to my email and if so how long I should expect to wait?
Thanks

kev.s

Well what can I say? In the several years I've been with voda, never have I had so much trouble with a service provider as I have in the last month. I've 2 numbers on my account, I called to upgrade one of the numbers, they upgraded the wrong line, so I had to send phone back so they can resolve, sent back and got email confirming receipt. They have still left the new phone price on my account, after 2 weeks of trying to get through on chat, being passed from dept to dept it's still not resolved. Can't upgrade as they say the bill is to be paid-complete with the so called charges and can't cancel for same reason. Well they can go f*** right off. Shops won't help as its to be done online, online are a bunch of jokers and unhelpful. I dare say they'll be in touch as I've cancelled payments which won't be paid until these muppets decide to rectify their mistake! And in case some smart !!!!! voda rep decides to contradict this! I have copies of all the transcripts.

Anyone any joy with the ceo or any other contacts?

mobilejunkie

They won't contact you. They'll just wreck your credit file for the next six years and pass it to a debt collector.

Jezza60

The more I've been reading about Vodafone, the more I'm starting to think that they're by far the worst of the mobile providers. There are significantly fewer complaints for any of the other providers. And I'm also really surprised at quite how many people have had almost identical experiences- I had started to think I was going loopy and it was just me!!!!

Are there any mobile companies that will "buy you out" from an existing contract? I know there used to be a lot of companies that would, but it doesn't seem to happen any more... I just want away from this dreadful company now.

KeithBFD

nikchris68 wrote: »

Hi


I have spent over 4 hours talking to customer service representatives, been promised countless callbacks (none of which materialised), been sent to a shop which was pointless and finally emailed the CEO.
Does anyone know if I should expect a response to my email and if so how long I should expect to wait?
Thanks

I emailed the CEO on 4th November and received a call from the customer relations team on 9th November. Writing letters to them, using live chat and calling customer service all seem to be a complete waste of time. I checked my phone and I have been on the phone to customer service for over 32hours, most of that time was waiting for someone to answer. I've also found that the calls seem to be automatically terminated after an hour.


Since I was called by the customer relations team the phones appeared to be working except my daughters phone which couldn't get the internet. As usual customer service couldn't help so we went to the local Vodafone shop on Saturday. They put in a new SIM and said it would work. What I hadn't realised is that instead of registering the SIM with my daughters number it was registered with my number meaning that my daughter could not receive calls and I couldn't make calls. I just cannot believe how utterly incompetent the customer service in both the shop and the call centres is. As soon as I can get out of the contracts I will be leaving.


Keith