Vodafones disgraceful treatment of elderly disabled customer

fan-of-ezio

Disgusting attitude towards my elderly, virtually blind and very deaf mother. I have authority to manage her account (arranged at a vodafone store). She has an oversized 2g phone which she ONLY uses for texts. She pays £5 a month for this (this also includes call and data which she can not use).
She has had an account with Vodaphone for over 15 years.

Mum is so frail now that she is having problems topping up her phone so we spoke with the local store to arrange a direct debit or standing order which I could pay from my bank account. In the last 8 months or so we have been sent around the houses trying to set this up. Store says go online, online says go to app - we cant use app as she has a 2g phone. Chat says use 18829....we cant access that either. ALL I WANT IS VODAFONES BANK DETAILS SO I CAN PAY THEM £5 A MONTH AUTOMATICALLY. I dont want anything else from them; my mum is completely happy paying £5 a month for unlimited texts......its the ONLY way she can communicate with her family. She doesn't need the extra data Vodafone keeps sending her texts about, she does not want anything from Vodafone ....WE JUST NEED TO BE ABLE TO PAY HER £5 A MONTH AUTOMATICALLY SO THAT SHE DOES NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT. She doesn't want to change her phone, she doesn't want a different bundle, she doesn't want a different tariff, she just wants to be independent, able to text her family and know that her bill's are being paid.

I tried their complaints dept last week.......I have ended up frustrated and in tears again. They wanted to speak to my mum; told me to use app; then told me as she is PAYG she can not set up d/d or standing order, which is the complete opposite to what we were told when we took out the contract. They then suggested she tops up online......or gets a top up card and go to nearest shop.

WHY DON'T THEY LISTEN?....WHY DONT THEY CARE?
SHE IS NEARLY 80 YEARS OLD, SHE IS ALMOST BLIND, SHE IS DEAF, HER MOBILITY IS POOR AND SHE NEEDS TO USE A WALKING AID....... AND SHE USES A 2G PHONE. SHE LOVES CHATTING TO HER FAMILY AND FRIENDS BY TEXT.

I can not believe in this day and age that a company can be so insensitive, narrow minded, inconsiderate and downright awkward.

Vodafone would be putting my mother in her grave if I had to tell her about their attitude towards her. I am spending hours and hours, days and days trying to sort this out to help her, and I am ending up frustrated and in tears.

Now Vodafone have rung me again today, again asking to speak with my mother. They want me to close my complaint.....I have refused, and will keep refusing. The agent told me I should close the complaint as otherwise Vodafone will keep ringing me about the complaint. They have no means of a solution, so they can not help me.

Anyone have any suggestions of what I can do? Please don't suggest moving account / provider etc....... mum is very anti-change and because of her disabilities she likes everything to be just-so.

[Deleted User]

How are you currently paying them?

[Deleted User]

fan-of-ezio wrote: »

Disgusting attitude towards my elderly, virtually blind and very deaf mother. I have authority to manage her account (arranged at a vodafone store). She has an oversized 2g phone which she ONLY uses for texts. She pays £5 a month for this (this also includes call and data which she can not use).
She has had an account with Vodaphone for over 15 years.

Mum is so frail now that she is having problems topping up her phone so we spoke with the local store to arrange a direct debit or standing order which I could pay from my bank account. In the last 8 months or so we have been sent around the houses trying to set this up. Store says go online, online says go to app - we cant use app as she has a 2g phone. Chat says use 18829....we cant access that either. ALL I WANT IS VODAFONES BANK DETAILS SO I CAN PAY THEM £5 A MONTH AUTOMATICALLY. I dont want anything else from them; my mum is completely happy paying £5 a month for unlimited texts......its the ONLY way she can communicate with her family. She doesn't need the extra data Vodafone keeps sending her texts about, she does not want anything from Vodafone ....WE JUST NEED TO BE ABLE TO PAY HER £5 A MONTH AUTOMATICALLY SO THAT SHE DOES NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT. She doesn't want to change her phone, she doesn't want a different bundle, she doesn't want a different tariff, she just wants to be independent, able to text her family and know that her bill's are being paid.

I tried their complaints dept last week.......I have ended up frustrated and in tears again. They wanted to speak to my mum; told me to use app; then told me as she is PAYG she can not set up d/d or standing order, which is the complete opposite to what we were told when we took out the contract. They then suggested she tops up online......or gets a top up card and go to nearest shop.

WHY DON'T THEY LISTEN?....WHY DONT THEY CARE?
SHE IS NEARLY 80 YEARS OLD, SHE IS ALMOST BLIND, SHE IS DEAF, HER MOBILITY IS POOR AND SHE NEEDS TO USE A WALKING AID....... AND SHE USES A 2G PHONE. SHE LOVES CHATTING TO HER FAMILY AND FRIENDS BY TEXT.

I can not believe in this day and age that a company can be so insensitive, narrow minded, inconsiderate and downright awkward.

Vodafone would be putting my mother in her grave if I had to tell her about their attitude towards her. I am spending hours and hours, days and days trying to sort this out to help her, and I am ending up frustrated and in tears.

Now Vodafone have rung me again today, again asking to speak with my mother. They want me to close my complaint.....I have refused, and will keep refusing. The agent told me I should close the complaint as otherwise Vodafone will keep ringing me about the complaint. They have no means of a solution, so they can not help me.

Anyone have any suggestions of what I can do? Please don't suggest moving account / provider etc....... mum is very anti-change and because of her disabilities she likes everything to be just-so.

First off your title is ridiculous, according to you it's you sorting this out (or not) so your mothers condition is immaterial.

If she's on PAYG then it's quite possible that you can't set up a DD although if it is then you can always put the sim into a different phone and use the app from that to set it up.

Why can't you top up for her every month? I am presuming it can be topped up without the phone itself.

Moving provider won't affect her if you do it for her, you could move her to a cheap £5 a month contract in your name. You would need to check the phone is either unlocked or use a carrier on the Vodafone network (Lebra for instance).

fan-of-ezio

I am currently having to remember myself to top it up for her monthly.

My mums condition is VERY material, she wants to be as independent as possible, which is getting more and more difficult. She is very reluctant to any changes around her as she struggles with her mobility, sight and hearing. She is a very determined person, who wants to stay in her own home for as long as possible. All I want to be able to do is to support her and make life as easy as possible for her.

[Deleted User]

fan-of-ezio wrote: »

I am currently having to remember myself to top it up for her monthly.

My mums condition is VERY material, she wants to be as independent as possible, which is getting more and more difficult. She is very reluctant to any changes around her as she struggles with her mobility, sight and hearing. She is a very determined person, who wants to stay in her own home for as long as possible. All I want to be able to do is to support her and make life as easy as possible for her.

So either put a monthly reminder on your phone to top it up or look at the other suggestions in my previous post.

JohnDorian

You could just port the number over to giffgaff or similar type pf provider. Basically PAYG but the allowance ends every month and you are free to leave whenever you want. You can set the top up to be recurring so that you personally don't have to intervene.

Neil_Jones

This might be of interest:

https://support.vodafone.co.uk/Search-only/38948020/Can-I-top-up-automatically.htm wrote:

Alternatively, you can call 18829 (free from your Vodafone Pay as you go mobile) from the mobile you want to register and make your initial TopUp. Then choose how often you want your TopUp to automatically activate – weekly, monthly or every 30 days.

Why can't you access that? Seems it would solve all your problems. Or is the issue here you don't have access to a debit card?

Or you could just call 2345 from her phone on the first of the month to top it up manually? It sounds like you're using an add-on bundle the price for which which should be taken out of your credit automatically if you have enough in the first place.

If so, topping up regularly should solve your issue?

stragglebod

Asda mobile do a £5 bundle with unlimited texts, with an option to automatically recur


https://mobile.asda.com/bundles

fan-of-ezio

Mum can not use phone to top up.......she is deaf. Its demoralising for her not being able to do things for herself, I am just trying to protect her sanity as that is all she has left. She has all her marbles....and more, she does not like being fussed over.......

We tried 11829 from her phone.... she does not have the required PIN. I spoke to vodafone about this, they would not give out a pin because they could not speak with her.

Neil_Jones

Well if that's the case all you can do is register on the website, get the bundle pack in question and top up on 2345 manually yourself (or through the website).

Or move provider.

Neither of which you want to do. So to get out of this situation you will have to do something. What's your pleasure?

Shedman

Just a thought but did you have a look at Vodafone's Vulnerable Persons Policy - link below - and have you tried calling the dedicated accessibility team on 0333 304 3222 on your mum's behalf to register her as a vulnerable person and to speak to the team that hopefully has more of an idea as to how to deal with this.

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/cs/groups/public/documents/webcontent/vfcon098647.pdf

Also below is the link to the accessibiity pages - hopefully there might be something on there that would help (although possibly this won't be of relevance as it seems you need a computer which I am assuming wouldn't be available)

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/accessibility-services/index.htm

I hope you manage to get it sorted as I can understand your frustration having dealt with various matters for elderly relatives and also coming across problems and misinformation.

However, like others, I suspect that you will either have to keep topping her phone via suggestion made by Neil above or move providers.