Vodafone complaints

Mr_Thrifty

These days, I tend to go to the regulator as the first port of call. By the time the regulator has got around to starting to deal with my request, I usually have enough of an audit trail to make my case.

Vodafone

Blue_Parrot wrote: »

They're playing games now.

Two days ago I had this email:
=====================
Hi xxx xxxxxxxxxxx

I can understand your concern.

I've taken a look at your account and can see that the credit is to cover the period from 1/8/09 to 31/10/09 and so it does include the dates that you mention.

If you have any other queries please don't hesitate to ask.

All the best
Kirsty
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK
==============

My reply:

Hallo Kirsty

Since you acknowledge that a further £220 or so should be deducted from the unbilled amount awaiting collection in December, some confirmation that this will happen would be appreciated.

Can I take it that this has also been brought to the attention of the Billing Support Team and the result will be reported to me without delay?
=============
Nothing happened.

Today I sent this:

HALLO VODAFONE

Is anyone going to reply to this email which I sent you on the 23rd?

Kirsty? Lee? Anyone there?

My account should be in credit by now, yes? It was £131 balance, I've reckoned a further £220 deduction owed = ~£90 credit, PLUS the £17 line rental credit Lee said he'd granted.

Sigh.
Thank you.

---

Now I get a reply from Kay.

Is Kay up to speed, we wonder? Are Kay, Kirsty and Lee all the same person, we wonder?

Kay: Hi xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Please accept my apologies for the delay in replying. I have today requested information from the billing team as to which billing period you have already been credited for.
At the moment I don't have a definite figure as to how much is still owed to you, I will be contacting you tomorrow with this information.
Thanks for your patience, I look forward to speaking to you tomorrow.
Kay
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK
=============

He/she will not be speaking to me tomorrow. I do not switch my mobile phone on every day.

If Kay had read all the emails exchanged on this sorry saga, she/he would already know that.

<rolls eyes>

Good Afternoon Blue Parrot,

I have replied to your email today as promised. Apologies if my email was misleading, I always intended to reply via email.

All the best,

Kay
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

Mr_Thrifty

Dear Mrs Vodafone Rep,

Please can you confirm if, when u make a conference call on vodafone, there are any charges or do the total minutes for all calls come out of ur inclusive minutes? Plus what if u have free landline calls but say call 2 other people on a conference call, are u charged then? My tariff would be the £30/month sim only one.

Thank u. :T

Blue_Parrot

THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!

VODAFONE HAVE JUST COLLECTED THE ENTIRE DISPUTED OCTOBER BILL FROM MY BANK ACCOUNT! THE WHOLE LOT! ALL £333 OF IT!

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

YOU COULDN'T MAKE THIS UP, COULD YOU?

The £202 deduction promised by Lee has NOT been applied to that bill at all!

They have applied it to the NEXT BILL, December, which is a different bunch of calls entirely and which I ALSO DISPUTED!!!

Bangs head on desk.

Do they even begin to know what they are doing there? Do they live in some strange Machiavellian world of their own? Do they talk to each other? Do they make up their own practices and sit around laughing at us poor customer saps? "Hey she's getting really mad now, let's press this button and collect the entire lot, ha ha ha ha :rotfl:"

I completely agree with someone else here: Vodafone want to wear us down with their tactics and want us to just shut up, pay up, stop arguing but still keep using their phones. :mad::mad::mad:

Mr_Thrifty

Get your bank to reverse it under the direct debit guarantee

Mr_Thrifty

Also, u gotta see the funny side... it's kinda funny, u have to admit

:beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer:

p.s. I was given factually incorrect advice by one of their salespeople today. She insisted she was correct regarding a specific question I had about call charges, whereas it has subsequently been demonstrated that she was in fact wrong. Not impressed. But they do have groovy music on their adverts in the cinema.

:rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes:
:rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes:
:rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes:
:rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes::rotfl::rolleyes:

Wallhart

What the hello does Hallo mean???

Vodafone

Hi Blue Parrot,

Kay is looking into your account as we speak and will be replying to you via email shortly.

Thanks

Espi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

Blue_Parrot

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

Get your bank to reverse it under the direct debit guarantee

I've checked the bank website and I can't reverse it.

I can, however, cancel next month's direct debit, which seems like A Good Idea.

Here is a piece from yesterday's Daily Telegraph for everyone's education and delight:

Link supplied but s/w prevented me from posting it. Go to
www telegraph co uk / and search for Vodafone
Story comes up with headline
Vodafone's 'depressingly thin' talent pool under fire from analyst

As follows:

In an unprecedented open letter to Vodafone's chief executive and board of directors, Robin Bienenstock, a analyst at Bernstein Research, said Vodafone had the potential to become the "most compelling transformational story" in the telecoms industry, but warned that a litany of failings meant it may "fumble" the opportunity.

She said the Vodafone is a "weak organisation with poor, and arguably continuing, weak execution and a lack of commercial savvy".

.........
She also accused Vodafone of a reluctancy to fire weak managers.

..........
"Many of Vodafone's managers have been there since the glory days and throughout the decline of their business.
"A turnaround cannot be led by the same managers that led the business into trouble in the first place."

...........
Vodafone declined to comment.

Blue_Parrot

I've thought of a better idea than cancelling December's direct debit. I'll take it to the Daily Mail. The financial person there is really good at chasing up and resolving issues like this.

It's easily done. The power of the press. :j

I am not saying that Vodafone are lying to me. I am not saying that they are deliberately obtuse.

I am saying that they obfuscate. I am saying that for a communications company, they are very poor at communicating between themselves. I am saying that there are far too many people engaged in a single issue. I am saying that they keep very poor notes against individual customer accounts.

For instance, when I phoned them to say that they cannot grant me a credit (£120 for renewal of contract) and then deduct VAT from it (which happened, in writing) the agent said, quote, "What makes you think you're entitled to a credit?" Therefore, no records had been held of my £120 credit for renewal of contract. Does this not beggar belief?

Does it not also beggar belief that this relatively piddling matter of erroneously deducted VAT was the only thing which multiple customer service people have latched on to, when I am disputing hundreds of pounds-worth of wrong-tarrif calls?

I was told by Lee, in writing, that October's bill for over £333 would not be deducted from my bank account. I was told by Lee that that bill would be adjusted by £202. I was told by Lee that they would not collect the December line rental.

NONE of this has happened.

I am calling them incompetent. The world is full of incompetent people and regrettably I have run into some of them. Unbelievably, before my July phone call from Agent Zoheb, I was very happy with Vodafone during the previous nine years and would have recommended them to anyone who asked!

I am not going to give up. I have an audit trail i.e., emails and more importantly, copy+paste from their bills on their website, which I dispute. They have deleted them now, what a surprise.

Vodafone, do you want to know how to shut me up? Put one person on the case who can read an audit trail, who can read all the emails, who can authorise complete refund of ALL the overseas calls charged at £1/minute instead of 10p/minute between July and October 31st, who can also apply the December zero line-rental as promised in writing.

I'm looking for a zero bill next month, minimum. £100 in credit would do nicely.

Ta. Blue Parrot. And I'm not kidding about the Daily Mail. They'll have far more clout than threatening you with bills for my time, or a solicitor's letter.