Vodafone have ruined my life.

lashy_2

I have had no end of problems with Vodafone since about a year into my 2 year contract. The phone I was paying for as part of my contract crashed, with no warning, losing absolutely everything on the phone, which in itself was a huge inconvenience. After several calls to Vodafone, I eventually managed to get a replacement, which was a 'carefully refurbished' model, similar to my own. I switched it on and although the phone was making noises when I pressed the keys, the screen didn't work. So I had to send off for another, which after a couple more months, died the same way as the original phone had done.

Just prior to this I had contacted VF through live chat, to ask about perhaps being able to help me out by changing the tarrif to a cheaper one, as I was on maternity leave, and really could not afford the current tarrif. I would rather have changed it than just not pay. I was told that unless I was in the last month or so of the contract, this could not be done, and that if I did not pay, I would be passed to a debt collector. There was no help available for the customer who had called to try and sort something out, no empathy and no resolution.

Then the phone died and I have not used it or my vodafone contract since about December. In effect VF want me to pay for a second hand phone that doesn't work, and a contract that I am unable to use because of this.

I made written complaint in January (I had to do this as every time I call to speak to someone, I get transferred to someone who doesn't understand what I am trying to say. You can teach English but you can't teach empathy, or common sense for that matter...). I had not received a reply so at the beginning of April, I wrote again and included the original complaint, after receiving a bill for the remainder of the contract.

Vodafone's response was to refer me to DRS who are vile, rude, harassing and really don't care about anyone or anything. I spoke to John Towey, and told him the account is in dispute and that I won't be paying anything until it is resolved. His response was to say that I was refusing to pay the debt and therefore debt collectors will be calling on me. For someone who was not part of Vodafone, he wanted to know all the ins and outs about the complaint, even though towards the end of the call he said 'well if they say you're liable then it makes no difference'. He refused to speak to vodafone to verify there was a complaint in progress. In the end I hung up on him as I didn't want to inflame the situation by losing my temper him.

I won't be intimidated into paying for something which I do not believe, if looked at rationally, anyone would expect me to, but I have read a lot of comments about the methods used by DRS on several different forum sites.

Vodafone, your customer service has been apalling for me thus far. If you had the decency to respond to your customers, you would have much less need to employ this bunch of thugs to debt collect for you. DRS do not represent your company well. Using complaint handlers who can't speak our language very well to put people off calling to complain is a very clever tactic and I'm sure your figures look better for it, but in the long run you will lose yourself customers.

I am not happy...

Vodafone

Hi lashy,

It's disappointing to read about your experience but thanks for making me aware of it.

To enable me to get matters looked into could you email me with your details via the link in our profile here?

All you need to do is copy and paste the link into your web browser and it will take you to the Contact us form on our website.

To ensure that it reaches me could you also quote the code WRT135 - MSE in the subject line and once our automated reply arrives update the thread with your email reference number and I'll get back to you as soon as possible?

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK