Vodafone - Appalling service, enough to cancel??

Westoner

Hi everyone,

At my wits end with Vodafone and wondered if anyone could offer any advice??

Been with them for nigh on 20 years, more than happy to tick over, never regularly asking for upgrades or match a deal, just 24/36 mthly contracts, occasionally upgrading my phone.

Took out a 36mth contract over 3 yrs ago with iPhone 4 16GB paying around £50 PCM.

Trouble started when kept getting calls to see if I wanted to upgrade to iphone5. Turned down as not a techy snob & iphone4 Ok for me. However, when button on old phone got sticky the next time they rang I mentioned this and asked if there was a cheaper deal than current one and if could I get a replacement phone.

Overjoyed to be told they would halve my monthly rate and provide me with a replacement iphone4 (with bag to return existing phone). Agreed to new 24 mth deal over the phone. Phone arrived, went on holiday, moved house etc & finally got phone out of the box to start transferring stuff when wife pointed out the new phone was only 8GB. I had no idea what this meant but apparently its pint pot in to a quart!!!!

Absolutely fuming that I could be so mis sold a product. Surely they knew I had a 16GB phone and my specific request was for a replacement for my existing phone. This was hardly a replacement.

So the next problem is trying to get this issue resolved. I have now spoken to 7 (SEVEN) different people over the last fortnight (about 45 minutes a time) the last three promising to escalate and call back later, none of whom have ever called back.

I have never felt so helpless or irrelevant.

Has anyone found a way of getting things resolved ??

What are my options???

Would I have grounds to cancel this contract??

Any help in getting this honourable, yet extremely frustrated little customer through this awful time would be really appreciated.

gjchester

Westoner wrote: »

Absolutely fuming that I could be so mis sold a product. Surely they knew I had a 16GB phone and my specific request was for a replacement for my existing phone. This was hardly a replacement.

That depends if you only asked for a iPhone 4 then you did get the current replacement, Apple changed the specification when the 4S was released. If you asked for a 16GB iPhone you may have a case.

Westoner wrote: »

So the next problem is trying to get this issue resolved.
What are my options???
Would I have grounds to cancel this contract??

I'm not sure you have any, if it was within the first 7 days you probably could send it back under the DSR rules, but after this long it is assume you check items on receipt.

I guess it hinges on if you asked for a replacement iPhone 4 or an exact replacement for your phone.

Buzby

No grounds to cancel - if the spec is too Kw, then it was mis-bought unless you stipulated the memory size, but I expect you assumed I would be th same.

Simply sell it, and get the size you need - it'll cos you around £50 more, but at least you'll be back n business!

Earthworm

By agreeing a new 24 month term it pretty much clarifies you were sent a new phone, not a replacement. The iPhone 4 has been available only in 8GB for quite some time (since just after iPhone 4S launch). This really shows how important it is to check what you are sent and know your return rights prior to purchase. If DSR times have elapsed it is going to be very difficult to get out of this. Could you not sell the iPhone and purchase a 16GB model? The 16GB are older and could cost less second hand.

Westoner

Thanks for all your replies, at least someone is talking to me about my problem LOL.

I can quite clearly remember saying in the initial call that all I want is the same phone as I currently have, (no fancy upgrades & certainly not a downgrade!) hence I think I have been mis sold.

If they had said that was not possible and I therefore needed an iPhone 4S to get 16GB (probably a it dearer), then I would have weighed it up and probably gone for it. If that cost was closer to an iphone5, then I may have even taken the leap up to that.

What's mad is that I would still probably upgrade the contract (and pay more monthly) for an iPhone 4S or iphone5 right now. They can have the unopened iPhone 4 8GB back and carry on as though the June mis selling never happened.

But sadly no one seems really bothered in engaging with me. After 45mins on the phone first thing yesterday I was promised someone would call me back by the end of the day, and guess what, no one did.

PS I take on board the comments about checking within the first 7 days and obviously hold my hands up there, but to be honest I just thought it was a simple renewal with a reputable and reliable company that I have been a customer of for almost 20 years.

I trusted them implicitly, perhaps my trust was misplaced, perhaps I was naive.

Tony5101

You've said...

Westoner wrote: »

I can quite clearly remember saying in the initial call that all I want is the same phone as I currently have...

BUT - did you explicitly stipulate that you required a 16GB phone?

I can't think of any way that an agent calling from a network would know that you were currently (at the time) using a 16GB iPhone?

Just trying to see things from both sides - if you've told them that you want an iPhone4 - 8GB is all that they have produced of this model for quite some time.

Herongull

Presumably the agent would have details of your current contract and would therefore know exactly which phone you currently have.

If there has been misrepresentation, you may be entitled to damages or to have the contract rescinded - see http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/misrepresentation-act-1967/

Silk

Westoner wrote: »

Overjoyed to be told they would halve my monthly rate and provide me with a replacement iphone4 (with bag to return existing phone). Agreed to new 24 mth deal over the phone. Phone arrived, went on holiday, moved house etc & finally got phone out of the box to start transferring stuff when wife pointed out the new phone was only 8GB. I had no idea what this meant but apparently its pint pot in to a quart!!!!

Why were you returning your existing phone ?
Is this direct with Vodafone or through a third party seller ?

How can you transfer stuff if you had sent your existing phone back ?

If it is unopened and it says 8gb on the box what does the paperwork say ?

Westoner

Tony5101 wrote: »

You've said...



BUT - did you explicitly stipulate that you required a 16GB phone?

I can't think of any way that an agent calling from a network would know that you were currently (at the time) using a 16GB iPhone?

Just trying to see things from both sides - if you've told them that you want an iPhone4 - 8GB is all that they have produced of this model for quite some time.

I got my existing iPhone 4 16GB from Vodafone when I signed up for 3 years with that iphone4.

Assumed they would have a record of what they had sold me and what I was using. I've only ever dealt with Vodafone (never got additional phones from 3rd parties).

Westoner

Silk wrote: »

Why were you returning your existing phone ?
Is this direct with Vodafone or through a third party seller ?

How can you transfer stuff if you had sent your existing phone back ?

If it is unopened and it says 8gb on the box what does the paperwork say ?

Vodafone said that when I had "transferred" everything across I could send the old one with a sticky button back to them and they would put a credit on account.

So still have existing phone at moment, mate has shown me an accessibility thingy which gets round sticky button, but not ideal. I have an iPhone 4 in a box which could be a door stop I suppose!!

Always been direct through Vodafone (either in shop or on line).

Paperwork and label on box both say 8GB. Bit of a technophobe, so no idea what that meant & just assumed it was as I requested, the same phone as I have now.

Cycrow

Westoner wrote: »

I got my existing iPhone 4 16GB from Vodafone when I signed up for 3 years with that iphone4.

Assumed they would have a record of what they had sold me and what I was using. I've only ever dealt with Vodafone (never got additional phones from 3rd parties).

Never assume anything.

the adviser might not have had access to your previous order history to check the exact type of phone that you had. Or it might not have even crossed thier mind that there were different versions of the same phone. Especially if they only have the 1 type available