Vodafone nightmare

huewen

In June I changed one of our mobile contracts to Vodafone, there were a couple of niggling problems with on-line registration and they put me on a different tariff to the one I signed up for. BUT THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS THE WORST I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED! Is this typical of Vodafone or have I been unlucky?

grumbler

This is typical.
Wait for their web team rep to reply or take the initiative and contact them as they advise in the Vodafone complaints thread.

huewen

I have just looked through some other threads re Vodafone. Not pretty! How can a firm this size be so poor at Customer Service? I felt my frustration and anger coming back as I read the exact same problems I have been having repeated by soooo many people.

gjchester

huewen wrote: »

I have just looked through some other threads re Vodafone. .

Do the same search for Orange, O2, T-Mobile and Three and you'll see such horror stories for all networks

Very few people post compliments but many will post complaints.

grumbler

gjchester wrote: »

Do the same search for Orange, O2, T-Mobile and Three and you'll see such horror stories for all networks

I am not sure about '3', but Vodafone clearly leads among the other [STRIKE]three [/STRIKE]four networks.

gjchester

grumbler wrote: »

I am not sure about '3', but Vodafone clearly leads among the other three networks.

Possibly the highest number of post but it's also the biggest company with the most users.

You really need to be looking at % complaints per 1000 users I guess before you can really say they are the worse in any meaningful way.

Personally I've never had issues with their customer service so depends who you get like any CS group.

dshart

Vodafone customer service is abysmal, they just run you round in circles and achieve nothing but frustrate you (I am sure it is done deliberately)

I am a business customer and recently upgraded my phones, what the sales person did not inform me at the time is the new contract did not include free itemised billing which I had previously been getting. (I require itemised billing so I can invoice clients as necessary). First I find out about it is when I receive a statement and there is no itemised calls on it. I call up their customer service department and ask why I have not received a bill only to be told that it has been changed for all customers and itemised billing is now a chargeable item. Anyway I request they send me an itemised bill and inform them it is urgent as I am waiting to invoice a client and require details of about £150 worth of calls. The operator assures me that I will receive it within 2 days.

Needless to say 10 days later still no itemised bill so I call up customer services again and ask what is happening. I am told if I require the bill urgently I can register and access it online. I am reluctant to do this as I have had problems in the past with their online service, but agree as it is urgent I get the information. I attempt to register but it fails so I call them back and get told it will take about 24 hours before it can be reset and then another 24 hours before I can access my bills. I again request that they send out an itemised bill and get told that they will send one out urgently. I also request to speak to a manager but am told they are all busy and I can get a manager call back within 24 hours. I request this.

You would be right if you guessed I got no callback, so I phoned again and asked what was happening as I could still not register online and had not received a manager call back. Was told then that there was a problem with the registration and they would need to escalate it. I asked to speak to a manager again, but still they are all busy and I would have to request a call back within 24 hours. I say but I already have been waiting 24 nours for a call back so I should be due one, but I am told that this is a new call and they would guarantee I would get a call back within 24 hours. I let them know my dissatisfaction with the situation and ask how to I complain. I am told I complain to the customer services department, to which I laugh and say what if my complaint is regarding customer services. I get told that I can email by clicking a link on their website, I ask for a email address and get told just follow the link.

Anyway I follow the link and it provides me with a box to put in details of my complaint (limited to 900 characters) which I fill in, I click submit and get a message that there was a problem and to try again but all I have typed has disappeared and I have to start again, at this stage I give up.

Well another 24 hours later and still no manager callback. still no itemised bill through the post and I have to resort to calling them up again to go through the same rigmarole again.

I am now left with the options of seeking legal advice that this lack of service can be termed as a breach of their contract so I can get out of it and change to a company that will provide good business support, but I guess they will have it sewn up that I will have to pay to get out of the contract or wait till it expires.

My advice to anyone is dont touch Vodafone with a barge pole.

grumbler

gjchester wrote: »

Possibly the highest number of post but it's also the biggest company with the most users.

You really need to be looking at % complaints per 1000 users I guess before you can really say they are the worse in any meaningful way.

This Ofcom's statistics supports your opinion, but indirectly.
Telephone/e-mail CS at Voda are shambolic and incapable of solving any problems, but their web team and executive office work hard to stop customers from complaining to the regulator.

jbainbridge

Not unusual.

Retensions gave me a good deal for one of the phones on my account. When the first bill came the data allowance was incorrect. After a 30 minute call it was _fixed_. Second bill came showing an additional 500MB with an additional charge for it!! Another 20 minute call to sort that out.

Now after third bill I think everything is correct - atleast the amount billed is correct. The bill is somewhat cryptic with credits applied.

I haven't bothered to call back to try and get the small amount I've lost credited to the account ... if I did I fully expect it would all be mucked up again ...

dshart

So you got to be at the stage of going to the regulator before they will take any notice of you and try and resolve your problem!!

I think most CS departments now do the same just try and frustrate you so you give up, not many people will take the time required to go all the way to the regulator. I am currently having a problem with my BT internet connection but because of previous frustrations with them I am loathe to call them up until I have no other option. Just the thought of listening to the "your call is important to us, all our operators are busy...." for hours on end puts you off.

dshart

jbainbridge wrote: »

Not unusual.

Retensions gave me a good deal for one of the phones on my account. When the first bill came the data allowance was incorrect. After a 30 minute call it was _fixed_. Second bill came showing an additional 500MB with an additional charge for it!! Another 20 minute call to sort that out.

Now after third bill I think everything is correct - atleast the amount billed is correct. The bill is somewhat cryptic with credits applied.

I haven't bothered to call back to try and get the small amount I've lost credited to the account ... if I did I fully expect it would all be mucked up again ...

I think you will find the reason they gave you cryptic bill with some random credits is so it does not appear on their stastics as issuing an incorrect bill.

I had the same issue with BT when they wrongly applied charges to my bill, they attempted to do everything but resend a correct bill. They gave me credits for the amount they had wrongly charged, discounts on my next bill etc and it took me over three months to actually get them to send me a correct bill.

I think people should demand that these companies admit their mistakes and send out correct bills, after all the bill is an invoice and in any business incorrect invoices are returned unpaid till a correct invoice is issued.