Vodafone early upgrade problems and bad customer services

Dimmented_2

Hi there,

I have been with vodafone for about 10 years now and have pretty much had a smooth run all the way through. I took advantage of the websites early upgrade offer to get an iphone 4s as I didn't really like the phone that I currently had. I paid 55 pounds for this privileged plus the cost of the handset and a bit more for my monthly bill but I didn't mind that.

I ordered the phone on the 20 November 2011. I work offshore and was due away on the 10th December 2011 and I was looking forward to getting my phone in time for my offshore trip. The phone didn't turn up and I called several times to find out where it was to be told it was on it's way (just coming around the corner sort of thing!). The phone eventually turned up on the 23rd December, long after I had left for my trip.

Due to the fact that I am not getting home until the 20th January I decided that I would send the phone back under the 7 day return rule as otherwise I would have ended up paying the higher price contract and the early upgrade charge for 2 months that I would not see the phone and if I waited another month after I got back I would get that for free.

I contacted customer services via e-mail as this is easier for me with time differences and the such. What has happened since is many e-mails back and forth with me getting more frustrated at each one.

To start with the customer service representatives all have names like farzeed and akash and so I'm presuming that the center is based in India. I do not have a problem with this apart from the fact that their English writing skills are not great. There are parts of the e-mails which are good and parts which are not, the parts which are good are clearly cut and paste jobs as they are a different size!

The e-mails read like some sort of comedy. The first few e-mails I was just inquiring how I go about returning the phone and reverting to my previous contract (as part of the return rule) and obviously getting back the early upgrade charge, the extra I had paid due to my new monthly bill being more than the previous one and the premium I had paid for the iphone 4s. They only offered to refund 50 percent of the early upgrade charge and the extra monthly charge.

Obviously I wasn't happy with this and so after several more messages I got them up to(in their words):

'As you said that you'll be back in United Kingdom by 20th January 2012, please note that you'll get a new bill by this time which will include Line Rental for the duration of 16th January - 15th February 2012. So, considering this, we are offer you credit for 25 days Line Rental extra as a gesture of goodwill.



As mentioned by my colleague we can offer you 50% credit on handset amount that you have paid while Early Upgrade and 2 months Line Rental credit and later we will increase your commitment by 2 months. In addition to this offer, what we can do is that we'll not add 2 months in your contract commitment term. We'll credit two months Line Rental and 50% of handset amount.'

See what I mean about the bad English! To me this reads as 2 months line rental and 50 percent of the handset amount. I was happy with this but due to the e-mails before I thought I had better make sure this was as I had read it! I e-mailed back and asked for a breakdown in monetary terms what they were offering. Several e-mails back and forth where they just re-wrote what they had above I got the breakdown and I was wrong. They were still just offering 50% of the early upgrade charge.

I have decided now that I am completely fed up with Vodafone and so am going to cancel my contract at the first opportunity. I have explained this to the customer services (via e-mail) and I still want to return the phone and get all my money back but they aren't budging. I have asked to get my complaint escalated higher than the center that they are at but they just come back saying the same thing and offering the same (but sometimes lesser) offers. I really don't think that they understand.

I have gone on a bit here and there is plenty more, honestly if you all could read the e-mails you would see how bad they are! I even got one sent to my e-mail addressed to a Ms. License telling her how to go about changing her direct debit!!!!!!

My question is are they right in not returning the early upgrade charge. The way I see it is that I paid for a service that they didn't provide and so they should reimburse me. I wasn't asking for anything extra in the form of compensation, I was just asking to return the phone, go back onto my old contract and get all the money extra that I had paid back.

Thank you in advance for any advice you can give.

grumbler

'Bad' is far too mild word for their CS.
However, I don't know what their internal policy says, but normally, according to the DSR, there is no any cooling off period for upgrades.

Dimmented_2

According to an e-mail from their their customer services:

You have 7 days cooling off period and you can cancel or make any changes in your contract if you're not happy with the service/product on your account by discussing the matter with my colleague. You can discuss about the like to like replacement phone if your phone develops a faults and once you’re within the first 28 days of your contract.

I have just written directly to their CEO the e-mail address of which I just found on a thread on here so fingers crossed something will get done!

Dimmented_2

Another great e-mail from customer services:

Hello Rudi,

Thank you for contacting Vodafone Customer Services.

I understand that you have been writing to us to get the full refund on £55.00 paid for early upgrade fees. I discussed your case with my manager and we agree to offer you full £55.00 refund in your account.

I also foud that you are only charged line rental from 20/11/2011 to 15/01/2012 for £78.65 excl. VAT and were also given credit of previous price plan amount of £21.97 excl. VAT, hence effectively you have paid £56.68 excl VAT which is 68.01 including VAT. We also agree to offer you this line rental charged till 15/01/2012 and will not add further 2 months in your contract.

If we give full 2 months line rental along with this £55.00, we need to add 2 more months in your contract.

I request you to again carefully consider this and write back to us with your decision.

I trust this helps.

Kind regards,

Manan Kshatriya

Within 2 sentences they have contradicted themselves!!!

I received an e-mail from the directors office today asking for my contact details so they can get in touch. So here's hoping something finally get's done!!

Dimmented_2

An update. It just keeps getting better!

I have heard back from the directors office now. They have offered to refund the early upgrade charge of 55 pounds and refund 2 months line rental, which....wait for it they will then add to the end of my contract!!!
SO effectively they are just offering the 55 pounds early upgrade charge as by adding it on the end they are cancelling out the refund.

Funnily enough I have told them to shove it, I have asked to return the phone, get a full refund on everything and to cancel my contract and send my PUK code. W@~(>&$!!!

I'll keep whoever is reading my posts (read rants) posted!!

gjchester

Dimmented wrote: »

Funnily enough I have told them to shove it, I have asked to return the phone, get a full refund on everything and to cancel my contract and send my PUK code. [EMAIL="W@~(>&$!!!"]W@~(>&$!!![/EMAIL]

Good Luck but as your well past the 7 day DSR return limit you may find they will not allow it.

Dimmented_2

I contacted them well before the 7 days were up so there shouldn't be a problem, plus they have said I can return it in their e-mail:

Thank you for your e-mail to Guy Laurence, Guy has forwarded your email to me as I am responsible for investigating issues raised with him.

I’m sorry you have been unhappy with the e-mail responses you have been receiving.

On appraisal of the information contained in the e-mails the offer is to credit the £55 charge levied for the early upgrade fee you were charged and to discount 2 months line rental charge and to then add this to your commitment . This has been offered as a gesture of goodwill due to the delay in receiving your handset.

Should you still wish to return the handset we can arrange this for you. If you wish to arrange this on your return to the UK please let me know.

Kind regards

Mark Shaw
Directors Office
For and on behalf of
Guy Laurence

The cheek of it though eh!

Vodafone

Hi Dimmented,

I have sent you an email today with regards to this. If you need any further help, feel free to reply and I will get in touch to discuss this further.

Many thanks,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

Dimmented_2

Thanks Heidi,

I did get your e-mail thank you. I have had another e-mail from mark at the directors office who has told me how I go about returning the phone.

He also offered to return the 55 pounds early upgrade charge and refund the 2 months line rental of the more expensive contract without adding them on the end of the contract. It's almost a decent enough offer I suppose but it's a little disappointing that the directors office can only match the offer that the Indian customer services representative could offer, albeit after a few weeks of negotiating.

I have decided that I am still going to return the phone as this offer doesn't come up to scratch. I would like to say that I am staying with vodafone but there is little chance of that after the experience I have had with the customer services. Unless mark comes up with something better (but to be honest he would have to give me the phone for free and I can't see that happening) then I will be ending my long relationship with vodafone.

C!st la vie!!

Vodafone

Hi Dimmented,

It would be a shame to see you leave us.

If you reply to Mark to let him know how you wish to proceed, he will be more than happy to make further arrangements.

If there is anything else I can help with, let me know.

Best wishes,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

Dimmented_2

Got my reply from the Directors office. Nothing more offered so it is a shame but au revoir Vodafone!!! And I would recommend that others stay clear also, amazingly bad customer services!!!