Official Vodafone Complaints/Query Thread

mrschambs

We recently cancelled our contract with Vodafone (thankfully) and I have just checked our account to see the final payment has gone out (usually circa £60) and they have taken £381.43 via direct debit. That is literally daylight robbery!!!! Made a complaint via the social media thread using code WRT135 and haven't even received an email acknowledgement. Fuming doesn't cut it. Please respond asap with further guidance. Will be ringing customer service first thing and escalating to Ombudsmen.

amadan80

#13711864

Text of complaint sent to web team just now:

On Wednesday I phoned to get a better deal, but was told that I wasn't the owner of my account, despite having had an account for 16 years.

I have three numbers on the account; one of these is my mother's line and she pays for her own bill, and somehow she had been made the owner of the account, despite my not ever authorising a takeover.

I got her to phone and rectify it; this she did and on Thursday (yesterday) I raised a complaint through Resolver that I'd been locked out of my account without my knowledge or approval.

This morning (Friday) I received a call from Customer Relations saying it was a technical glitch on their end, that I hadn't been inconvenienced in any way, that it was fixed once my mother called(!), and offering to credit my latest bill of £16.

Whilst I wasn't too inconvenienced, I'm still very uneasy that an unexplained 'technical glitch' can lock someone out of their own account and be very blase about it all.

Addendum for readers:

What's the legal standing of this? Can Vodafone lock me out of my own account and not answer for it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sutcliffe

WRT165 13685316

Hi Ishan,

Please could you give me a call.

kind regards

harshbhasin

Hi Nathan,

It would be really helpful if you could please specify the turnaround time as well. ASAP is indefinite. I have already been chasing for over a week now to close the issue but all in vain. Also, could you please let everyone know that if your team records all the calls and make appropriate notes of the conversation with the customer then why do we get to know different details of the same query each time we get through different customer service agents.
In my specific case could you please answer why was the call transferred 6-7 times to different agents around the world when I requested to speak to a manager. I request you to check the recordings of the calls I have made in last 1 week and you will seriously have to think about retraining your staff. Vodafone was recently in the list of top worst networks in terms of customer services and your team made every effort to prove everyone right.

Thanks

fishman0316

Hi,

I am getting pretty desperate here, as so much has happened in the last few weeks that has really lead me being backed into a corner by Vodafone.

I am 27 years old, and in march 2015, I attempted to leave Vodafone due to overcharging of my bill, and my general hatred towards their customer service.

I told the relevant parties that I wanted to leave, however was contacted at work one day with someone trying to convince me to stay in which they offered me this 'incredible deal'. It was for the new iPhone 6 plus at £34 a month for a 3g contract, or it would be much better for me to upgrade to a 4g contract for just £4 more - this deal at the time was honestly unbeatable, and after being with vodafone for over 12 years, I figured i'd give them one last chance and took the 4g.

I didn't get particularly good 4g in my location, and within my 14 days decided that I actually didn't want to continue with Vodafone, I think the excitement at the time lead to making a rather impromptu decision. After speaking to one of their advisors, they asked me why and I used the excuse that I wasn't getting good 4g (which I wasn't), and told them about the 3G deal too. I was then told that 3G phones didn't even exist, they only operated 4G contracts, so the person on the other end was just straight up lying to me to clearly enhance his numbers. Not entirely sure if this is illegal or not, but I requested someone got to the bottom of it, and they froze my 14 days whilst they investigated (they requested 2 weeks).

A year and 4 months later, after probably 500 calls (on average an hour a call), £500 from being charged every month (even though I was attempting to cancel my contract within 14 days), emails, hours onto their web chats being profusely apologised to by every CS person I spoke to I was promised back a call back every single time which never materialised. I have been no closer to resolving this situation in that period of time than I was when the lady hung up on my to tell me about the investigation. Last week, I actually managed to get through to someone who told me that back in December of last year they actually settled my cases on the basis of 'there is good 4g service in my area' and 'tell him he has to pay for his bill, but offer him £20 compensation'. INCREDIBLE, that after speaking to hundreds of people about the same issue, no one bothered to tell me this until 6 months later. If i'd known this before, i'd have taken it to an Obudsman due to it being within the 7 months, and now trying to reference Vodafone to get a settlement letter so I can take it to an Obudsman is near impossible as they will not do anything to help.

For the last weeks, i've been getting automated voicemails, and letters from Vodafone threatening me with debt collectors for my outstanding bill of over £400 for a contract that vodafone (one of the CS advisors stopped me getting charged after about 10 months as they realised it was unfair for me to be paying my bill - it's been building up ever since), and after calling them back every time I got one of these methods of communication, I have again been passed around and now told there is nothing I can do.

My credit score has dropped hundreds of points because of this ongoing issue that I have been trying to sort out for way over a year, I now, at the age of 27, cannot even apply for a credit card, could't even contemplate getting a mortgage, and it has really turned my life upside down to the point of not even know where to begin.

I apologise if there are a few misunderstandings in this post, I am seriously emotionally exhausted and this situation has honestly drained me of of everything but I really would appreciate if anyone can help me with the next steps on this, as the lack of communication from Vodafone, their complete indifference and their inability to do their job properly has effectively screwed up my credit and my life for over a year.

Thanks in advance.

Sutcliffe

Code I have been sent is WRT165 13710171

please could you contact me as I have had no call yet

KIND REGARDS

ANDREA

Vodafone

Hi fishman0316,

So we can help you with this issue, please email us via the Contact us form here.

To access the form you'll need to enter the code WRT135.

As well as stating your query in the question box, please also quote "MSE Forum".

Once sent, you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. Post it on here and we'll check we've received it.

Thanks,

Nathan

Social Media Operations

Vodafone UK

Vodafone

Hi spiggot, jo-bo & Sutcliffe,

We've responded to you via email, please check your inbox for an email from our team. If you cannot see the email, check your spam/junk folder as it may be there.

Hi amandan80,

We've received your message and a member of our team will be in touch as soon as possible.

Thanks,

Nathan

Social Media Operations

Vodafone UK

Vodafone

mrschambs wrote: »

We recently cancelled our contract with Vodafone (thankfully) and I have just checked our account to see the final payment has gone out (usually circa £60) and they have taken £381.43 via direct debit. That is literally daylight robbery!!!! Made a complaint via the social media thread using code WRT135 and haven't even received an email acknowledgement. Fuming doesn't cut it. Please respond asap with further guidance. Will be ringing customer service first thing and escalating to Ombudsmen.

Hi mrschambs,

So we can help you with this issue, please email us via the Contact us form here.

To access the form you'll need to enter the code WRT135.

As well as stating your query in the question box, please also quote "MSE Forum".

Once sent, you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. Post it on here and we'll check we've received it.

Thanks,

Nathan

Social Media Operations

Vodafone UK

K_M_2

Hi there
I have exactly the same problem - an 07979 number that was ported from vodafone to EE many years ago will not send or receive SMS from other phones - seemingly mainly EE.
This is incredibly inconvenient especially as my brother and mother are EE and other friends, not to mention many that I do not know about.
I asked EE to leave the contract - they said it would be over £600 and it is not their problem it is with vodafone.
I am at a loss at what to do as there seems to be no one that is taking final responsiblity for this problem and no clear evidence of when it will be resolved.
I do not want to change my number but am thinking I have little choice
Dr Kirsty Moore