Vodafone! Advice needed please..

Jadeella

Hi there,

Please bear with me - this may become a bit drawn out..

My iPhone 5, on contract with Vodafone, recently started saying "no sim installed". It did this 5 times within 5 hours, and as it was mostly in my pocket I have no way of knowing how long each 'episode' lasted. As I need to be contacted 24/7 due to the nature of my job I called vodafone and was told they would send a replacement..

Replacement arrived. Courier turned up, took phone, placed in bag for me, I signed, he left.

Replacement didn't work (it had a dead area across the top of the screen meaning a number of the functions couldn't be used). As I was away with work for a week (camping in a field) I contacted them on my return and was informed a second replacement would be sent.

Replacement arrived by (the same) courier. He turned up, took phone, placed in bag for me, had a brief conversation about how I couldn't turn phone off due to dead area, I signed,he left.

I then find out I am being charged £190 for the original phone for supposed water damage. (The phone has never been near water!).

I contact vodafone, am informed it's a common fault, nothing I have caused and she will escalate the issue and get back to me..

Six days later I'm internet banking and notice that vodafone have helped themselves to the £190 whilst I still have not heard anything back from them.

Contact them again, they will look into it and get back to me. And, there's another £190 charge on my account as apparently the replacement I sent back went back damaged (it certainly wasn't when I handed it to the courier!!), and also I have apparently sent them a different phone back (twice) to the one that they sent me as the IMEI numbers don't match..

Umm? Really?! Why the hell would I do that?!

Once again, didn't hear anything from vodafone. E-mailed the CEO, was told the directors office would call - which she eventually did but needed more time to look into it.
She called again this evening to say they couldn't investigate it any further and basically I owed them the second £190 charge and that was that..

My question is what do I do now? This is far far from resolved, how can they just say we've looked into it, and tough luck?!
I have been charged, and am being charged, for damage that I didn't do, have effectively been called a liar and accused of switching phones and they're just not interested!

Thoughts please, I'm furious!

Many thanks

JJ_Egan

The initial charge is for a phone that was water damaged .The water stickers inside would have changed colour .
Common fault yes and may be caused by condensation .


The switching of phones is either someone inputting a wrong IMEI or reading a wrong IMEI .

Do you now have a working phone supplied .

grumbler

Even if the first phone really was water damaged (I doubt this as Vodafone repairs are known to use this excuse and pull a fast one without any proofs), they couldn't charge you anything without your consent.

It's more complicated with the second phone as they essentially accuse you of substituting their apparently good phone for a water damaged one. Again, most likely they just !!!!ed up and typically shift the blame on the customer while having no proofs.

Jadeella

Thank you both.

Yes I now have a working phone but I'm not happy about:
1) Them taking £190 from my bank without informing me (I do not count a bill as them informing me particularly as they took it the day after I spoke to customer services and was assured that nothing would happen until I had heard from them..)

2) if the phone did have water damage that was caused by condensation etc why is it me that has to pay? Surely that's a fault at their end, in the manufacturing, or was even caused when the courier put it in a sealed plastic bag to transport it back to them? My point being I don't see why I get charged for something I didn't cause..

3) being accused of swapping a phone for a damaged one (apparently the screen and casing was very damaged which it certainly wasn't when I handed it to the courier).

4) the fact that they still want another £190 from me and are threatening to cut me off if I don't pay it..

With all the wrong IMEI numbers I have apparently sent them a different phone twice. Upon checking what the 'water damaged' phone's IMEI should have been it was the correct one, and my current working phone has the correct IMEI. This only leaves the first replacement, and subsequently 'damaged', phone of which I have no record of its IMEI.. So they're already making mistakes and have no clue.

How do I go about resolving all of this? Any thoughts or advice welcome.

Many thanks!

grumbler

Follow their formal complaints procedure.
OR
Wait until/if their web reps reply to this thread.
OR
Contact the web reps proactively (with a link to this thread). Find 'Vodafone complaints' thread and see how they advise to contact them.

Vodafone

Hi Jadeella,

Thanks for making me aware of this.

If you'd like me to take a closer look at things, 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'll take you to the Contact us form on our website. To make sure it reaches me, quote the code WRT135 - MSE in the subject line.

Once sent, you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. Post back with this and I’ll check I've received it.

Kind regards,

Lee

Social Media Comms

Vodafone UK