Warning!!!!!Vodafone changing billing cycle

grumbler

I don't understand why you are under impression that I argued about any of the points you bring up. Have I?
I absolutely agree about Vodfone's arrogance and I argued only about the style, formalities and factual inaccuracies.

Guys_Dad

grumbler wrote: »

I don't understand why you are under impression that I argued about any of the points you bring up. Have I?
I absolutely agree about Vodfone's arrogance and I argued only about the style, formalities and factual inaccuracies.

Good to see we are in agreement, then.

CaitlinsNanna

Finally have a result.
I contacted Otelo, they opened a case for me, I then got back to Vodafone stating I need a full & final decision from them so that Otelo could take it further.
The following day I had an email from vodafone & they have credited the full amount for the extra 25 days / billing cycle change to my bill. I am no longer financially disadvantaged so am happy with that.
I'll never take another contract with Vodafone due to the trouble I've had over this.
Thier customer service is appalling!

epoc32

I have recently experienced the same scenario and been equally unhappy about it. In January I took out a new contract on a new phone which represents a third concurrent contract with Vodafone (I have another phone and a 3G modem). I did expect my February bill to be higher than normal because during February I had been in the U.S. working for 2 days and had called home to the UK each day and also received a call from home. I used a map application for about 30 minutes and obviously I also had the new contract to add to the normal montly amount. I expected a bill than is normally around £50 - £70 per month to be maybe £100 so was taken aback when it came in at £294.00.

The size of it was enough for me to look in detail at every element of my respective bills online, something I admit I've often been blase about. Having identified that I'd been charged not only February's standard charges but also March's in advance I called customer services.

Vodafone customer services informed me that it was now policy upon any change in contract, or the taking out of a new contract, to move all standard monthly charges to payment in advance. I expresssed my real dissatisfaction at having not been informed about this and got offered a £20 credit - which was missing the point by a country mile.

Funnily enough the Sales guy in the Vodafone shop where I'd got the new phone completely overlooked to mention the fact that this would happen at the time of selling me the new contract. He should have done because it represents, at the point of sale and triggered by the act of the new sale, a change in the financial relationship between myself, the customer, and Vodafone the supplier.

Whilst overall I'm not financially out of pocket when looking at my whole relationship with Vodafone this was a very large unexpected hit on my account. The fact that there had been no clear notice or advice in advance just left me with the impression that Vodafone has really lost regard for its customers.

If your Bank was making this type of change then they would be obliged to notify you unambiguously in advance, imagine if everyone you currently have a direct debit with each month did this unnanounced.

So what's the summary here...well Vodafone may have achieved their objective of getting my money up front from now on, a benefit for them, but they have lost my respect of 10 years and most certainly my loyalty. I have also told the obligatory 9 other people down the pub about it as you do statistically when you're a hacked off consumer.

I work in a technology business that sells a proportion of its services by subscription and I can tell you that if I did this to our customers our switchboard would be in absolute meltdown - but then we have a personal relationship with our customers.

Cheers
Mike

WelshBluebird

While I do think the OP was a bit OTT with Vodafone, I do think their actions are disgraceful. For the OP, who has 3 contracts, I doubt it is much of an issue. For for someone like me, a student, who is often close to their overdraft limit, being charged more than what you expect can easily mean putting you over your limit and thus being charged by your bank.

mobilejunkie

Ever since I added another contract in January the change of billing has led to endless problems. The original scenario (where they alter ALL the billing cycles/bundle dates WITHOUT telling you is bad enough. However, they have subsequently

1) failed to call for a direct debit correctly resulting in my account going unpaid

2) Done exactly the same thing in the following month

3) Subsequently tried to charge me more than the original bill which THEY failed to collect properly

4) FAILED to get a manager to call me back on at least FIVE occasions after HOURS and dozens of calls to them to try to sort THEIR mess out

5) Ignored two chats on-line where they (again) promised a manager would call me within 24 hours

6) Ignored two on-line emails going over the same issues yet again.

7) Threatened to cut off my mobiles unless I pay

8) When I finally managed to get through to a manager by going via their sales route rather than existing customer door he was a complete a******e who wasn't in the least bit interested in addressing the problem and was only interested in making me even more angry.

9) have completely ignored their own Customer Complaints "Code".

THIS ORGANISATION ABSOLUTELY STINKS!!!!

Vodafone

Hi everyone,

I’m disappointed to see what’s happened on each of these occasions and completely understand why you’re feeling so frustrated.

Epoc32, if you’d like to email us via Web Relations Team we’ll be happy to look into this for you.

(When contacting, please quote the code WRT135 in the subject line. In the main message body, please include a link to this thread and your user name. This will ensure that your message comes directly through to my team).

Mobilejunkie, I’m sorry to see the problems you’ve faced in getting this resolved. Has this been sorted now? If not, feel free to email us as above and we’ll look into this further.

Kind regards,

Jenny
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

mobilejunkie

A wall of silence is the "solution". Your organisation is totally incapable of actually sorting a problem out - even a very basic one of your own making.

How about looking into why managers practically NEVER return a PROMISED call? Why your code of complaint is totally ignored (by you). Why your organisation decides to change its billing cycle at the stroke of a pen with NO pre-warning. Why it later says pre-warnings were given - when they weren't. Why you expect your customers to suddenly be presented (out of the blue) with a larger amount due with zero ex0planation which would (among other things) prevent them from getting their new BUNDLE cycle wrong? Oh, yes - and why it is necessary to have a small army of firefighters on here to deal with the few who find their voice publicly - could it be that it's far CHEAPER than doing anything properly in the first place?

Gillyx

I recently upgraded my mums phone with Vodafone and she's been sent a letter and an email about how they charge for upgrades, depending on which date in the month you'l pay a whole month then however many days from your previous contract.

Not right though that they won't entertain you when you're trying to complain, especially if you've had no documentation telling you about the billing changing.

Vodafone

Mobilejunkie,

I'm really disappointed to read that you have received this level of service recently. Could you please let me know whether you have emailed our team previously?

So that I can ensure that we get this resolved for you as quickly as I can, could I please ask that you email us at the Web Relations Team - Vodafone UK using the subject line "WRT135 - FAO Espi" and I will get this looked into for you immediately.

Thanks in advance,

Espi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK