Vodafone

FirstClassMale

There follows a letter emailed to their customer services department. If I do not recieve a reply within seven days, I will post hard copies to them and to their chief executive!



On Tuesday 23rd January, I placed an order with yourselves for an equipment upgrade on my account. I spoke with Michael in your upgrade/ termination department. He was courteous, knowledgeable and helpful. I had been unsure whether to upgrade with yourselves as many of the deals offered to me by other companies had very attractive incentives. I had also received unsatisfactory levels of customer service in the past when I had taken an upgrade.

Michael was able to offer me a newly launched phone for free on a twelve month contract. I was happy with the deal and I was told that the equipment would be dispatched and would be delivered the next day. I requested that it not be delivered before 12 noon and this was duly noted. Yesterday, I waited in from twelve in anticipation of the delivery. At around 9am this morning, I called to check on the order. I was told that delivery would be made today. At the time, I requested a note of the consignment number so that I may track the delivery myself. I rushed home to be here from twelve and at around 3:30pm used the consignment note number to track the package on the Parceline website. It was only showing as having reached a “security check” in Aberdeen and did not show as being “out on delivery” as I would have expected. I also noted that the phone did not even leave Vodafone’s premises until late on the 24th so there is no way it could have been delivered “next day” I have pasted the tracking information from the Parceline website for your information.

I called the most appropriate looking number listed on the Parceline website in order that I may find out the whereabouts of the package and when it would be delivered. The number was an 0871 national call number (While named NationalCall rate numbers, they’re more akin to premium rates, costing up to 8p/min, massively more than a normal call.) where I was initially told that I was in a queue and was likely to be connected to an advisor in “4 minutes 36 seconds, around a minute and a half later I received the same estimated time, after roughly four minutes, was told I would now have to wait 5 minutes 20 seconds! I referred back to the Parceline website and found an 0845 number which related to another query altogether. This was instantly answered by a very helpful operator who was able to access the records and confirm that delivery would take place to my home address of ** ******** **** Aberdeen. I was shocked. I advised Vodafone when I moved house in October of 2005 and my last upgrade was delivered to my current home address last year.
The Parceline operator told me that I would need to contact Vodafone in order that the address be changed.
Initially, I spoke with David, who was very keen to help. Unfortunately, something happened where he was unable to hear me but I could hear him. I must extend my appreciation of the time he spent trying to speak to me before I realised that the easiest option was to terminate the call and try again.

I was told on my subsequent call to yourselves that my old address still appears on your system although the new address has been used for billing since the date of my moving house. The assistant told me that an error must have been made when the order was placed. She confirmed that an email had now been sent to Parceline advising them of the correct address that it is to be sent to.

It is more than a mere inconvenience, that I must now plan a third day, around the expected delivery of my new equipment. Whilst I would understand if the time taken from the despatch on Tuesday, to it’s arrival in Aberdeen, meant that delivery was not possible yesterday. The catalogue of errors I have described are completely unacceptable for an organisation of your size. I expect a full, written apology and some form of recompense in light of the time I have wasted, waiting in vain for a package that wouldn’t have even come to the right address had it been on time. In addition, the time and effort I have had to expend trying to resolve this issue. None of my actions can be described as contributing to the delays or wrong information.

I have been a loyal customer of Vodafone for over thirteen years (eleven unbroken years with my current contract.

Incidentally, my partner recently upgraded her phone with her servive provider, Orange. The phone arrived the following day.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.



The online tracking details were actually taken off today. I have just come off the phone from Parceline confirming that it is, in fact, destined for the correct address. We shall wait and see......
Consignment Details

Consignment
Number Date Sent Senders
Reference Service No of
Parcels Post Code Status
2217 399 063 24 Jan 2007 CN32676865 Before 12 1 AB11 On vehicle for delivery, using Saturn




Tracking History

Date Time Location No of Parcels Status
26 Jan 2007 11:53 SMS SENT
26 Jan 2007 11:52 Aberdeen 1 On vehicle for delivery, using Saturn
25 Jan 2007 10:55 Aberdeen 1 Unable to deliver, calling card left
25 Jan 2007 10:01 Aberdeen 1 Security check
25 Jan 2007 00:08 Birmingham Hub 1 Confirmed On Trailer
24 Jan 2007 23:45 Birmingham Hub 1 Forwarded to Aberdeen
24 Jan 2007 Leicester 1 Collected from sender

illuminate

They will read the first couple of sentences.... press a button on the computer.... and despatch to you a standard letter of apology.... and, if you caught the person opening it, on a good day, credit a tenner to your account.

Not wanting to be critical here but, other than on very rare occasions, nobody would read a complaint letter of that length. I don't doubt for a minute that exercising your frustrations by commiting the entire saga to paper proved very cathartic for you, but you are unlikely to benefit anymore for your additional efforts.

I'm saying this based upon my own personal experiences. The swiftest responses I have had, resulted from concise letters. Even when I have prepared a detailed explanation of the facts, as you have done here, the response clearly suggested that they never read my bloody letter anyway !

I hope you get suitably compensated for your troubles. Had issues of my own with Vodafone earlier this year. It was a long drawn out process, but in the end I got what I wanted.

FirstClassMale

Thanks for that. I know that it is longwinded but I considered making things more concise, then decided to go for the full rant. I will refer back to content as and when necessary when speaking to them in future.

illuminate

FirstClassMale wrote:

Thanks for that. I know that it is longwinded but I considered making things more concise, then decided to go for the full rant. I will refer back to content as and when necessary when speaking to them in future.

Glad you took my comments in the spirit intended.

Its the hardest thing in the world to write a short letter when your so fired up about a situation. If your anything like me once you start it just all sorta comes out.

Like you said, if you have need to speak to them again, at least they can't argue that they were unaware of the facts :rotfl:

Keep us posted on how you get on.

changkra

By e mailing your letter you will actually get far better answers off Vaodafone. I threatened them with legal action last year due to them taking 2 payments out of my account in one month and being led a song and dance for 6 weeks with promises of you cheque has been posted today. I also said anymore discussions or correspondence would cost them £25 per letter and £10 per phone call. I had the cheque within 3 days. I am about to give notice to them due to the problems I had when i tried to upgrade with them back in November. They knowingly send me out 3 faulty phones that had been rejected by other customers for being faulty. One of the managers there if you want me to name her i will do was supposed to phone me back around the 2nd week of December, and hey presto I'm still waiting, well not anymore on Monday my letter will be posted to give one months notice and good riddance to very bad service. Every year i have up graded with them I've had nothing but problems. I'm now using a free O2 Sim card with 1000 text messages free for a month with a £10 top up.