Vodafone complaints

piggy_oink

Vodafone refused to let me speak to a manager.

They then refused to give me a telephone number or address for Customer Relations both on the phone and via e-mail.

I eventually got the address myself but call handlers should not be refusing to give out basic information!

uk25

Everyone is in a similar situation with Vodafone

I have sent my Nokia N900 for repair three times with clearly mentioning that I use Hotmail in Mail for Exchange and my email was not working. I have tried other emails and they dont work either. Their were few other issues with the phone as well.

First time, the phone came back and it was made worse then it was before the repair. It was absolutely unusable.

Second time, they repaired the camera problem (black spots in all pictures) but the battery was made worse, wouldn't even last few hours.

Third time, I was really annoyed and telling all the problems to the Vodafone store guy (who was very helpful) and he requested for the phone to be replaced.

I received the phone which was a replacement, a refurbished one. I still do however have the same issue. I am still unable to use emails at all. I have spoken to Vodafone and the only thing I hear from them is ''the only thing I can suggest you is to send your phone for repair''.

I still have no solution to my problem and I don't know what do I have to do as the only thing Vodafone repair center seem to do is hard reset, which I have tried myself and does not work. I have looked up the internet as well and tried everything I could but can't find a solution to this.

I contacted Vodafone Customer service who said to buy a new phone and pay the extra amount or terminate my contract paying the early termination fee which is over £200. I contacted Vodafone Director's Office (who have previously been very helpful) but now do not want to involve in anything and just asked me to contact customer services. I contacted Technical teams who are useless. Worse of all is that I explain my problem to a certain person and when they eventually understand whats going on they disconnect the phone, this has happened to me atleast twice. I am really really annoyed with Vodafone.

Please suggest me what can I do..

Rusty!

I would use this guide: http://thehandheldblog.com/2010/02/05/how-to-hard-reset-the-n900-to-the-factory-state/ to restore your phone back to factory state on the newest update and see where that leaves you.

My missus uses Hotmail via Exchange ActiveSync, so the phone should be capable of doing it.

Vodafone

Hi TC1 and Mandem,

If you have already emailed in to us, do you have your email reference number so that I can follow this up?


Sentient73,

I can understand why you would be frustrated with the service you have received so far. I would like to get this resolved for you.

So that we can look into it further, can you send us an email here with WRT135 in the subject.

That way we can look into your account and help to get it all sorted out.

Best wishes,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

Vodafone

Hi Uk25,

Sorry I didn't mean to leave you out. I can also see that you are having similar problems, can you also send an email to us here with WRT135 in the subject.

That way we can access your account and help get this resolved for you.

Thanks,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

Charliedg

copy of mail i sent following latest debacle with vodafone, after numerous mails and similar volume of calls. If anyone happens to have CEO address handy i'd quite like it,

thanks
CD

Dear sir or madam,
I am writing to advise you that at 4:30pm tomorrow I will be handing my phone in to a Vodafone store in xxxxxx, most likely xxxxxx store, and cancelling my direct debit. I will enclose a copy of this note.
I appreciate there are a number of months left on my contract however as a supplier you have failed to honour minimum customer service standards associated with this contract. Over the past few weeks I have experienced the lowest levels of customer service standards I have ever encountered in my adult life and I have no desire to continue. In actuality the service since I agreed to the upgrade in general has been substandard to say the least.
As much as I would like to have up to an hour a day to waste on phoning Vodafone, or replying to nonsensical e-mails whereby those sending have not even had the decency to read the mail or view notes on the account, I do not have the time nor the will anymore. Therefore, I intend for this contract to cease from tomorrow. Please feel free to advise/threaten as to what you believe you are entitled to regards to payment given the 'PHONE' is still under contract and I will take it up with my solicitor and then happily highlight to the press if need be.
My queries I do not think are too challenging and an outline below of the issue.
Called Vodafone to advise unable to make or receive calls/send SMS. Advised this was due to old generation sim, and a new one issued
Number of days later new sim arrived. Phone still did not work so advised to try in other phone and it worked. Vodafone advised as SIM was working nothing they could do. I asked if they could replace the phone and was offered a repair as the phone was under warranty not insurance. It is a relief now that I did not attempt to claim under my insurance.
Few days later I received a repair bag and sent the phone off. The phone was returned with a Vodafone note advising that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the phone itself, the phone device had been prevented from accessing the Vodafone network. In view of this why did they not just unblock the phone at that point?
I contacted Vodafone on the evening, to be cut off twice and then rang back Thursday morning as when rang back on the evening message advised office closed - even though Vodafone website stated open until 9.
In the call on the morning of the 17th, I re-iterated the note received from the repair centre to Vodafone and they checked the IMEI, confirming it had been black listed. I queried why but they could not/would not confirm. I was asked if I had reported the phone lost/stolen (surely that would be in notes!!) which I hadn't and was advised that they would request the phone would be un blacklisted, which would take 24 hours.
I waited beyond 24 hours and checked the phone, and still would not work. Again contacting Vodafone who advised that the request had been made and it would actually take 96 hours! I had also been advised I would receive a call back Thursday to confirm this was in hand - I'm still waiting for that.
I reluctantly agreed to wait until today before contacting again, way beyond 96 hours as was supposed to be lifted Thursday, checking this morning if it worked. It did not. I was advised that two referrals needed to be made and only one had, so the other would have to be done which involved Fraud - please explain to me where Fraud comes in to this? At this point I lost the will to live.
I called back later this morning and explained the problem start to finish with two straightforward questions. The first being when would my phone be back on, the second why was this done in the first place. The lady advised she would look into this in more detail and call me back. Had little hope, however have been contacted only to be advised that the request for the bar to be lifted wasn't done, or wasn't done correctly, she has raised now, but yet again I'm expected to wait and live in hope that this will be done and the phone restored.

Aside from the above I e-mailed in a complaint explaining what was wrong and querying why this had been done in the first instance. I still have not been advised of this although had several interesting but completely useless mails - I think now up to mail 11. One of the mails blamed my SIM, another suggested no issue as I can make/receive calls (several of these) - how many times do I have to explain that I have had to borrow a phone to put the SIM in, and the final insult, a mail claiming to contact me at 15:03 which I received at 9.38am - clearly a new service available for time machines from Vodafone. Note I had no missed calls or messages.
This is just the final tip of what has been a farcical experience over recent years. My last experience saw me standing in a store - I think November - whereby the customer services had advised me to take a phone to the shop who would swap it as it had crashed completely. An hour of travel to get there with a small child, and then an hour standing around while the manager argued with customer services who were refusing to allow the phone to be swapped. Eventually my phone was swapped however the manager had to do this at his own risk as customer services refused to approve it, having sent me there in the first place!!
I appreciate the consistent offer of credits etc however this does not resolve the underlying issue of the phone not working, nor the very shoddy customer service experience. I am not someone who will sign up to being bought. I wanted a phone that works, which should never have been blocked in the first place.
The phone I am using today I have borrowed and have to hand back today so due to lack of 'service' from Vodafone I will have to go out and buy one tonight, regardless of what I choose to do, as clearly even if I wait for you to resolve - again - who knows when that will be and unfortunately with my responsibilities (small child, ill relative) I can not afford to be without a phone.
Thus I will not continue with this contract and will be cancelling my direct debit immediately after handing in. Please feel free to bill me for usage through to 4:30pm tomorrow but note, I will not pay for anything beyond this. If Legal action is threatened on account of this then I have to say I look forward to publicising why I am taking this stance, maybe that is an area that Vodafone may prove competent in as so far I haven't encountered any in the last few weeks. Ultimately you are a business/supplier that is supposed to provide a service in what is a growing and competitive market - my experience to date really makes me question how you will continue to compete. Credits are all well and good short term, but only if you get to the bottom of the actual issue at some point and resolve.
I also question your internal validation and verification processes. Clearly as I did not report my phone lost/stolen, there is no reason this should be barred, so who did? If a member of your staff has barred mine rather than someone else's, why have they not followed basic validation steps to confirm the right account. Or more worryingly has someone rang in and claimed my phone to be lost/stolen? Why are there no notes to support this being blocked?
Regardless, I have had enough. If you do feel inclined to speak to me, if only to confirm the closure of the account, I can be contacted on xxx xxxxxxx as an interim. Please also note, I do not want 'holding' e-mails, which do not answer questions above, or request my patience - if you can answer the questions great but given they haven't been answered yet, can't really see that happening.

piggy_oink

I have just email [EMAIL="guy.laurence@vodafone.com"]guy.laurence@vodafone.com[/EMAIL] which I believe is the e-mail address for the ceo.

hope this helps!

Charliedg

Hi, thanks for this. found it last night and sent copy of above mail. His office called, or at least someone who knew what they were talking about (for a change), lunchtime, and miraculously issues are now resolved, with a nice admission as to 'enduring a catalogue of disasters with vodafone'. For now i will keep the phone although I have warned that any further problems and I will not hesitate to dump in there shop and await with glee any threats to buy out of contract.

I also explained, like a lot of people on here, the issue in itself with the phone being blocked was inconvenient, however the real frustration is the diabolical way it is dealt with. I would guess the majority of us can cope with the odd problem, its the fact that resolution, when you are lucky to get it, is painful, drawn out and drowned in lack of common sense by the operators.

and i didn't swear once!

uk25

Dear Rusty

I have done the hard reset several times and all Vodafone repair centre seem to do is hard reset as well, all in vain....Thanks for your help though

emeraldbugle

Hi,

I agreed to a new contract on the 6th Jan, after the VAT increase. I agreed to £25/month for the duration, (which includes a £5 discount). Did the chap who sold me the new contract forget about the VAT increase?

My latest bill is dated from 1st Feb to 13th Mar, so includes prorating and I've been charged £36.60 (INC VAT). Do they prorate March with 31 days, so my bill should have been £25 for Feb + (13/31)x£25 for March = total £35.48 not £36.60. Vodafone can you clarify?

Also what are 'long texts'? I've been charged for some of these and I have unlimited texts.

Thanks