Vodafone free iPad deal.

Paul_Cowley

Silk wrote: »

I thought you said earlier "He said that whilst he hadn't listened to the sales call" ?


They haven't modified it ..it's a new contract

The CS chap at Warrington admitted to not listening to the sales call. He said that their sales manager had listened to it and made notes.

He also said that it is a new contract for the iPad only and that my other phones are unaffected. Though it seems that the iPad is sharing data with the lead phone, so I am not sure how that works.

I would also stress that the mention of the iPad only came up about half way through the call. The premise of the call was to offer a business retention discount. The iPad was thrown in almost as an afterthought, whereas the truth of the matter is that the sales call was to persuade me to take an iPad with associated services, it was nothing to do with business retention.

I didn't need an iPad, and would not have agreed to have it were it not for the fact that I was told it was free.

Silk

ZhugeEX wrote: »

I think you're wrong Silk. Everything points towards it being a direct call from Vodafone themselves.

I agree I may be wrong but it has got the distinct smell of a third party sale, especially as it seems to be a new contract loaded with the extra's.

Will have to wait to see what happens with the transcript request

Herongull

I hope you wrote/emailed them to cancel the contract - under DSRs you have 7 working days to cancel without having to prove anything.

Certainly make formal complaints, reports to Trading Standards etc etc on top of cancelling. This sort of practice needs to be nipped in the bud as there are vulnerable customers who may not know how to resolve the matter.

Paul_Cowley

Herongull wrote: »

I hope you wrote/emailed them to cancel the contract - under DSRs you have 7 working days to cancel without having to prove anything.

Certainly make formal complaints, reports to Trading Standards etc etc on top of cancelling. This sort of practice needs to be nipped in the bud as there are vulnerable customers who may not know how to resolve the matter.

Problem being it was the bill that alerted me to the issue, which was well after 7 days.

I have asked to cancel in writing though and offered to forego the 20% discount I was offered. It is difficult to return the iPad though because, on the basis that I neither wanted nor needed it, I gave it away as a gift with a leather case I purchased separately. It would be tricky to take it back and anyway it is now a used iPad.

I mentioned this point to OFCOM and the adviser's view was that I was well within my rights to have given it away, given that I thought it had been gifted to me.

I agree that this sort of practice needs to be nipped in the bud and I am amazed that Vodafone is doing it. I am a fairly intelligent mature person and they caught me, I can imagine the young or old would be easy meat for them.

Vodafone

Hi Paul Cowley,

I’m sorry to see what’s happened here.

It’s great to see that this is being investigated for you, however should you need any further help, email me with your details via the link in our profile here.

You need to copy and paste the link into your web browser and it'll take you to the Contact us form on our website. To make sure it reaches me please also quote the code WRT135 - MSE in the subject line.

Once sent you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. Please update the thread with this and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Many thanks,

Jenny
Web Relations
Vodafone UK

Paul_Cowley

Vodafone_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Paul Cowley,

I’m sorry to see what’s happened here.

It’s great to see that this is being investigated for you, however should you need any further help, email me with your details via the link in our profile here.

You need to copy and paste the link into your web browser and it'll take you to the Contact us form on our website. To make sure it reaches me please also quote the code WRT135 - MSE in the subject line.

Once sent you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. Please update the thread with this and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Many thanks,

Jenny
Web Relations
Vodafone UK

I have had a call from Gary at the Chief Executive's office and he is looking into it.

I believe that when he has listened to the sales calls he will see what has transpired here.

He at least seems keen to get to the bottom of the matter, which is quite different from the attitude of the Warrington customer services manager.

Vodafone

Hi Paul Cowley,

Thanks for returning to your thread.

Could you confirm whether this has been resolved now?

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations

Vodafone UK

Paul_Cowley

Vodafone_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Paul Cowley,

Thanks for returning to your thread.

Could you confirm whether this has been resolved now?

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations

Vodafone UK

Okay an update, in light of a call I received tonight:

The Chief Exec's office chap supported my view that I'd been mis-sold services that I didn't want, need or agree to.

It is very disappointing that the first manager asked to listen to the sales call couldn't find a problem with it. I gather he was the sales manager, so perhaps it wasn't in his interests to support my complaint. The customer service manager then reinforcing this stance so arrogantly compounded the situation.

The biggest problem with all of this has been less that Vodafone was guilty of sharp practice, more that they didn't put their hands up quickly enough. Closing ranks and putting me to a good deal of inconvenience to sort it out was entirely unacceptable.

The Chief Exec's office representative has undone the deal as best as he can, but doing that seemed in itself very tricky. He was unable to return me to the same tariff I was on previously, but has endeavoured to give me a better deal (whilst taking me out of contract). If all works out as promised I should see a marked reduction in my costs and I also get to keep the iPad. In essence, I'll get what I was promised in the first place!

This has done Vodafone no favours. It's a shame because some Vodafone people are excellent and seem genuinely concerned to do a good job. I have had several Voda staff offer to help sort out the situation, when it was not their job to do so.

So, if you are a Voda customer and get a call offering a discount on your existing bill and a free iPad, probably best to say no despite any assurances about there being no additional costs or extended contract. Unless of course you don't mind investing a good deal of time and effort to ensure that Vodafone keeps to its side of the deal.

albionrovers

Sounds like a result, all being well. Let's hope someone loses their job at Vodafone over this. And before anyone spouts crap about never wanting to see anyone to lose their job ... oh please.

Vodafone

Hi Paul Cowley,

Thanks for confirming that a resolution has been reached here.

I appreciate that this experience has been far from ideal but hopefully Gary's intervention has gone some way to restoring your faith in us.

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations

Vodafone UK