vodafone and phones4u

roryb_2

Someone please help

I have beenwith Vodafone since 2005. I was due an upgrade at the end of this past summer(august 2014) so i went along to phones4u who advised that theywould keep me on a £33 a month contract which included 600 minutes, unlimitedtexts and 500 mb of data. I said that i needed more than 500mb's. The advisorsaid "no problem man we can make that 1gb".



Beforegiving confirmation that I would continue with Vodafone I asked the advisorabout the level of reception of 2 key areas of my life - one the Isle of mull whichis where I am from and my husband’s office which is based on ferry rd Edinburghas spend a lot of my time down there to be with him as he runs his ownbusiness. I was told that i would receive full coverage. The advisor also saidthat I would receive a set of headphones and a cover as part of the dealhowever this would need to be ordered in as they had none left in stock.



Now I wentoff on my own business and didn’t think anything else of it. I then received myfirst bill which was higher than £33 however I put that down to being away onholiday which I had done. The next bill was also higher however I thought okmaybe it was the overflow from our holiday based on the dates we went. Myhusband and I went along to speak to our advisor from phones4u however ofcourse they had closed down and went into administration. We thought toourselves ok there is nothing we can do about that, our provider still existsso if the bill continues to be high from now then we can speak to them. Ipretty much put the fact that I was not going to receive headphones and a coverout the window and made peace with it (even though that was one of the mainreasons why I did the upgrade).

3/4 weeksago now I received a text to say that I only had 100mb's of data left and that Iwould be charged £6!!! for every 250MB's that I went over (absolutelyridiculous figure based on what other providers offer how is that looking afterthe customer!). Anyway i therefore called up myself to query this cost and wastold not to worry as I would receive confirmation if I did go over my allowancewhich would "confirm" that £6 had been added. On a separate note theapp for Vodafone never works!! 1 week later I received a text showing the bill asover £170 now just to give you an indication of my usage I rarely leave thehouse as I have a young child and therefore mainly use our wifi. I then calledup the “customer services team” who simply said that I had used 16GB ofdata!!!! Which if you look at my past bills for 9 – 10 years seems impossible! Iinformed the CSA that there must be a fault with my phone as I am hardly outthe house and the advisor simply said – go to the store. I therefore went tothe Vodafone store the following day and was told to go to the apple store. Ithen went to the apple store. They were useless and simply told me to go backto the Vodafone store who then advised me to contact customer services again.By this point i was sick to death of Vodafone but i called them and experienceda 20 minute wait on hold then the advisor hung up the phone!!! I then decidedto switch off the mobile data and started using our laptop etc instead. I thenchecked my balance a week later and it said "your next bill is at£46!!!!" - now there is clearly something wrong here!. I then called up Vodafoneagain and this time I went straight to cancellations who said pay us £500! Iasked to speak to a manager - the advisor said" i cant do that put yourquery in writing". I then called up customer services again who said"go back to the store". I then went to the store again!!! The storemanager said call the customer services team. I then thought to myself okenough is enough so I then contacted offcom and citizens advice and explainedthe situation to them. They informed me that i am well within my right tocancel based on the fact that I have been miss sold the contract in the firstplace and regarding my current problem have had no help what so ever. Howeverthey advised to contact Vodafone again but report back to them should i continueto have the same issue.

I called upVodafone 1 last time to see if I could actually have a conversation withsomeone who A, knew what they were talking about B, understood the meaning ofcustomer service and C, to give Vodafone the benefit of the doubt and come tosome sort of solution.

I was simplytold to "go to the store!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I therefore requested to speak to amanager - the advisor said "call some other time". We are now in thepresent - and i have just been to the store 1 last. The person I spoke tosimply said "there is nothing at all anyone in the store can do for you aswe simply sell contracts, Vodafone do not actually have a point of contact inperson we only have the call centre" now why have I been asked to go tothe store 3 bloody times!



· Ihave been miss-sold in the first place by phones4u who represented Vodafone asa third party supplier of your contracts who are now finished

· Iupgraded on the basis that I would get 2 items which I have never received

· Iwas told that I would receive 1 gb worth of data which I do not receive.

· Iwas told that it was a £33 a month contract

· Ido not get reception in the areas I was told that I would.

· Ihave had no level of customer service

· Ihave been an existing client since 2005 and have never been treated this waybefore

· Iwas told that I would receive a text after going over my allowance to confirmthat £6 would be added

· Itruly feel that your pricing structure for data is not looking after theclients needs based on what other providers do to help ensure that theirclients get the most out of their overall experience.

· Iwas given false information 3 times – The store were not able to help me nor dothey act as a point of customer service’s for queries (as stated previouslythis was what I have actually been advised by store staff)

· Ihave been passed from pillar to post

· I have been given no options

· Staff at your call centre have simply insultedme by hanging up and stating “call back another time”

· My bill of £170 is clearly based on a fault withthe phone or billing as there is no way that I have used 16GB’s worth of datawhen I am always at home.

· I was unable to cancel this dd as it would haveaffected my credit so I have therefore been financially disadvantaged at a timewhere I have no job and money is tight.

· I am now paying for a service which I don’t actuallyuse out of fear that I will end up paying more and more



As I said before I have never had any issues with Vodafone untilnow. My entire family and all my friends are with Vodafone but based on thisexperience and lack of service I am no longer able to put aside the falsepromises that were made from Phones4U and I request that my contract beCancelled as well as full refund on my last bill. You can have the phone sothat your tech team can see for itself that there is clearly an issue. Pleasedo not make this experience even more stressful than it has already been. Ifind it hard to believe that I am unable to speak to complaints over the phoneor via email – If this is false then you need to correct your store staff andcontact centre staff as this is what I have been advised.

Silk

It's unreadable !!!


You need to edit it, put it in paragraphs and explain the problems without the dross


Remove your email address too rather than put it on a public forum

d123

Silk wrote: »

It's unreadable !!!


You need to edit it, put it in paragraphs and explain the problems without the dross


Remove your email address too rather than put it on a public forum

Agreed, it's just an angry wall of diatribe at present.

OP, if you expect help, you need to show at least a basic level of comprehension and use paragraphs to make it readable (you should also remove all the emotional nonsense, for example, no one cares where your 9 month old child spends their time).

gjchester

roryb wrote: »

we were miss-sold in the first place by phones4u who represent vodafone as a third party who are now bust, we upgraded on the basis that we would get 2 items which we never received, my wife only gets 500mb's of data not 1 gb, we do not get reception in the areas we were told that we would do,

I'd agree with the others about the layout, however this is the key point.


Your mis selling claim is against the retailer, Phones4U. They were the ones who made the promises that for whatever reason have not been followed through, the promised free items were from the retailer so you need to take it up with the administrators. It also is likely they promised you data that they either didn't add on the contract, or simply lied about.


In normal circumstances you go back to the store, but as P4U are in administration you'd need to claim against the administrators.


If you write down the problems in a time order, remove all the emotion and layout the facts then Vodafone may be able to help, but remember they are not the ones at fault here, Vodafone didn't promise you anything, they are just billing you according to the contract that P4U set up.


Any thing Vodafone offer will be as a goodwill gesture, insults and threats will not make them look on your kindly.

diamonds

You might be in luck if that P4U store became a Vodafone store...simply Vodafone bought the liability with the store and P4U staff. Otherwise your screwd with the administrators.

gjchester

Thats a lot better.


However lets split these out.


These are likely down to P4U

roryb wrote: »

· I have been miss-sold in the first place by phones4u who represented Vodafone asa third party supplier of your contracts who are now finished

· I upgraded on the basis that I would get 2 items which I have never received

· I was told that I would receive 1 gb worth of data which I do not receive.

· I was told that it was a £33 a month contract

· I do not get reception in the areas I was told that I would.

· I have had no level of customer service

You would need to go back to P4U or rather the administrators, P4U mis sold you, that's who you have any legal recourse to.


These could possibly either group depending on the issues.

roryb wrote: »

· I have been an existing client since 2005 and have never been treated this waybefore

· I was told that I would receive a text after going over my allowance to confirmthat £6 would be added

Were you always a client of P4U or Vodafone? If its Vodafone direct they have the responsibility, if you bought through a 3rd party (P4U/Carphone etc) then that's a different matter as you were not dealing with Vodafone.




These are Vodafone issues.

roryb wrote: »

· Iwas given false information 3 times – The store were not able to help me nor dothey act as a point of customer service’s for queries (as stated previouslythis was what I have actually been advised by store staff)

· Ihave been passed from pillar to post

· I have been given no options

· Staff at your call centre have simply insultedme by hanging up and stating “call back another time”

All of which are bad customer service, Vodaphone are currently getting the most reported issues with customer service. While this is bad, its not enough by itself other than possibly some re-imbursement of costs incurred (such as travel costs / parking etc) where they sent you to a store that could not ehlp.


Finally these are out of scope,

roryb wrote: »

· Itruly feel that your pricing structure for data is not looking after theclients needs based on what other providers do to help ensure that theirclients get the most out of their overall experience.

· My bill of £170 is clearly based on a fault withthe phone or billing as there is no way that I have used 16GB’s worth of datawhen I am always at home.

· I was unable to cancel this dd as it would haveaffected my credit so I have therefore been financially disadvantaged at a timewhere I have no job and money is tight.

· I am now paying for a service which I don’t actuallyuse out of fear that I will end up paying more and more

What you think of the costs is not relevant, there may be an issue where the costs for out of band use is higher than you expected, but that's back to the mis selling of you not getting enough data.


If you've used 16gb of data at home then you would still be out of band by 15gb with the 1GB limit. Are you sure that the billing is wrong, can you tell by the phone? Is it possible that your phone was not on the Wifi and so used 3G/4G data and the bill is correct.


Finally your financial situation is no concern of Vodafones, you entered into the contract with P4U, and need to see it out.


Please don't misunderstand me I think that your issues come from Mis selling by P4U, you did say that you felt there were false promises by P4U and they need to resolve them, Again they can't so it needs to go to the administrators to try.


Apart from poor customer service Vodafone don't appear to have done anything wrong, they have billed you according to the contract set up, that contract set up seems to have been the issue and that's back to P4U.


However Vodafone may make a goodwill gesture such as a reduction in line rental, but you don't appear to have the right to cancel the contract.


Good Luck

d123

diamonds wrote: »

You might be in luck if that P4U store became a Vodafone store...simply Vodafone bought the liability with the store and P4U staff. Otherwise your screwd with the administrators.

where did you get that idea from?

Vodafone

Hi roryb,

Thanks for making me aware of this.

So I can 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

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Vodafone UK

roryb_2

I have emailed via the link but was unable to copy and paste my entire message (original post which you have read) due to the small number of characters available - is it therefore better for me to email another way or to write in etc

roryb_2

Wrt135 - mse [#8869819]‏

Vodafone

Hi roryb,

I replied to your email yesterday.

If you still need help, let me know when you'll be free later today.

Kind regards,

Lee

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Vodafone UK