Vodafone mis selling/poor advice

rsspence

Hi all,

Need some advice here as I am very frustrated with my recent call to Vodafone. This may take a while.

In Dec/Jan of last/this year whilst in the US my wife ran up some nasty bills, fair enough. I called Vodafone and was told I could have at the cost of £10 75 mins of free calls to the States, my wifes father lives there. Recently she has made some lengthy call and we have had some large bills. On a call to Vodafone I have found that there was the option to call the US at 5ppm with Vodafone call abroad. This would give me for my £10 200 mins to the US on a landline, something I was not told and clearly to anyone a better deal.
Also on an upgrade to new phone at the end of a 2 year contract, the optional £10 was not kept on the bill, after a moan this will be re applied to the next bill.
plus I have not had a phone for two months due to continual handset issues and three 'referbed' phones sent back as a replacement, the last has been in store for 10 days, but no one has contacted me. I was unable to transfer calls due to micro SIM, so no phone for two months.

Basically I think I was mis sold/informed of options when I contacted Vodafone in Jan, greatly to my cost. An optional extra was taken off without my consent and how can I pay a monthly fee when I don't have a phone. I have to wait now for a month to get the bill re calculated with the optional extra back on, down to me again to chase them.

Can I do anything about this, it seems to much is on the consumer to do, surely as with all other areas like banks and power companies we should be given the options and not have to find it all for ourselves.

Thanks in advance for your help.

OneADay

If your wife never asked for something, how could anyone network know what she needed to use the mobile for?

Its not their fault - you are writing on behalf of your wife and talking to vodafone on her behalf, maybe she should take a bit more control and do things for herself.

rsspence

Perhaps I didn't make this clear, my wifes phone but joint contract. I asked Vodafone in Jan what could be done in future due to making calls to the US to her dad, they gave me one option. This is the billing dept, who have full access to call usage. I also am aware of the varied amount of time she may use the phone to this one number. If I had been given the options £5 per month and 5ppm or £10 pm for 75mins it is a no brainer. This to me is not providing the full run down of what is available, I was advised of the option not options.
We are at present complaining to banks and energy companies for this exact reason.

OneADay

But you are now talking to billing team who can see what you use and give you options.

The sales people have no idea what you might be using phone for - they want to sell you the product that they have. Its upto you to do the research.

To be honest for US calls, its cheaper to use something like rebtel - paying only 0.69p a minute or so - and you can use your existing contract to make those calls (does need you to have local call allowance).

rsspence

The first issue was all with the billing team , so why did I not get the options

The 2nd point

Vodafone - Ok on checking your calls you are inside limits etc so stay with the same deal is the best option.

Me - Ok good

As far as I am aware all that has changed is my handset, with all that an individual has to deal with is it not far simpler for a large corp to have more detail to hand. Surely they can see my tariff including add ons and perhaps at a stretch mention to me, Oh you have this add on, would you like to continue with it. As with most contacts unless stated otherwise terms etc stay the same, this should have stayed the same.

A sales team should have basic information to hand, it is not my fault if they are so large they need different departments to run the company. Customer service remember. As far as I know the sale team has my inside leg measurement. Again, banks and power companies have seen hefty penalties recently for not providing best options. Same here.

I cannot see how any of these issues are at all FAIR, no phone- my problem, not given options-tough, ad on taken off - down to me.

Techhead_2

It's not very clear, at all, what has happened. Eg. Why are the banks and energy companies involved?

rsspence

Start again sorry.

I believe when I called the billing dept I was not given the options to choose from, therefore my financial loss.

I think that on a upgrade/ contract change, the company should remind me of ad ons I have that I may want to continue with.

Why should I pay for a phone that I haven't had for two months.

the reference was to mis selling by banks etc that we all know about and the fact they are being fined.
Therefore is there a way for me to progress my issues further due to, mis selling, mis information and unreasonable one sided terms like not actually a phone to use.

OneADay

rsspence wrote: »

Start again sorry.

I believe when I called the billing dept I was not given the options to choose from, therefore my financial loss.

I think that on a upgrade/ contract change, the company should remind me of ad ons I have that I may want to continue with.

Why should I pay for a phone that I haven't had for two months.

the reference was to mis selling by banks etc that we all know about and the fact they are being fined.
Therefore is there a way for me to progress my issues further due to, mis selling, mis information and unreasonable one sided terms like not actually a phone to use.

Yeah I get a lot of useful PPI calls about all those things which I bought unknowingly and never had ! That really helps me ....

The phone being wonky is down to manufacturer to fix it - if its under warranty and its not user's fault that caused damaged. You can go via operator and complain about the phone but in the end its the manufacturer who deals with it.

All the add-ons are on the web sites - you should research before you buy, they vary between networks and change too within each operator sometimes. Most operators allow the addon to be added - its down to you ask for it.

On upgrade, you are simply agreeing to continue with the contract for 12, 18 or 24 months - its for you decide what you want to changing. No one is going to guess what you need.

rsspence

In response to what you have said and defending me and the consumer.
If a product is wrong/faulty then why do these mobile phone companies have the luxury of NOT being responsible for this. As any high street shop would do, if it cant be fixed then it is replaced, NEW. Not like mobile phone companies, a referb phone. I have has this for 2 months for 3 referb phones, surely Vodafone should act in my interests and ensure HTC provide a suitable replacement. I don't believe that I have the option to bypass Vodafone if my phone goes wrong and send direct to manufacturer, I am sure if I did they would say go though your provider.

If I was told on the point of asking the billing team when I called them, for help with calling USA (an add on as they call it) go away, go online and look then tell us what you want, then fine. But I asked them direct if I call the USA what options do I have, if both options existed back in Jan, then I should have been informed of both and given the option to choose. This to me is mis selling.

To quote you above 'On upgrade, you are simply agreeing to continue with the contract for 12, 18 or 24 months - its for you decide what you want to changing'
Exactly, I did not decide to change my add on. I simply went for a new handset, all else agreed on the phone stayed the same.

As I have tried to illustrate, the above issue are potentially mis selling or at least poor customer service. And according to Vodafone no their fault in any way. HTC fault for phone issue, my fault for not knowing on upgrade that add ons are taken off. And my fault that I didn't look online at all their options, then ask for a specific add on.

Oh and my fault that the store that I handed my last failed handset into didn't use the number I gave to contact me two weeks ago.

No other industry operates in this manner, so back to my original question, has anyone got any advice as to what I can do or what rights do I have.

Vodafone

Hi rsspence,

Thanks for making me aware of this.

So I can get things looked into further, 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

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