Vodafone Chaos

Xx_Luchia_xX

Hello everyone

Hoping someone can help me with this as it's causing a great deal of stress.

My partner ordered a tablet from Vodafone which arrived on the 15th of September, The tablet arrived and it was far too big for what he wanted so he phoned them the same day to arrange a return.
He was told DPD would collect the tablet by the 17th at the latest, we waited in and no one from DPD came for the parcel so he phoned Vodafone back on the 17th and was told they no longer use DPD for collections and they sent a Royal Mail red bag out that had a pre-paid special delivery label and the address etc was already on the red plastic bag.
The red bag arrived on 21st, we packed up the tablet in the red bag that was provided and took it to the post office the same day(2pm so in time for the collection).
I checked the tracking number and it shows the parcel arrived back to Vodafone on the 22nd at 8am.
We was told to wait until today(Monday 27th) and phone to ensure the contract was cancelled.
Phoned today and the "Care Team" said they called the collection warehouse and they never got the parcel even though the tracking clearly states it was delivered at 8am on the 22nd, The person who received the parcel from Royal Mail even put the warehouses "CodeName" down which Royal Mail wouldn't know without handing them the parcel.
Vodafone told us to contact the Royal Mail about this as they have no idea what is happening so I phoned the Royal Mail and they confirmed the delivery was completed and they couldn't give me any other info as it is the person who paid for the special delivery is the only person who can go into further detail but they did promise it was a successful delivery without any issues.

I phoned Vodafone back again and they again phoned the Norwich warehouse which is where the pre-provided delivery address was for and they couldn't find the package or find out which member of staff accepted it.

Vodafone have said they can't cancel the contract until they have the tablet back but the tracking shows it was delivered back to them.....
After been passed to several different departments and the customer care rep speaking with 2 managers I was told there was nothing they could do and would call me back tomorrow.
But now he is left paying for a contract and tablet that he returned and have proof it was delivered back to the warehouse.
All we keep getting told is they can't cancel the contract unless the tablet is found but we did everything Vodafone told us to do to return it, we followed every instruction to the letter and even sent it out the same day.
Really hoping someone can help with this as it's causing us both a HUGE amount of stress.
I really can't understand why they are trying to pass the blame or just point blank not help when we did everything we was asked to do, the tracking clearly states it was delivered last week(22nd @ 8am) but their warehouse is saying they don't have it.

Tried to give all the details we have for this but if anyone needs more info I'm more than happy to try and answer as I just want this sorted

Thank you

Aylesbury_Duck

You are on solid ground, but it may take a while to sort.  You sent it back using their own courier, and that courier confirmed it arrived.  You've done all you can do.

I'd try calling them once more, and if they aren't helpful, send them a letter before action.  You would then go to small claims court for the return of any contract costs paid.  You have all the evidence you need to win the case.  I suspect a formal letter threatening court action will result in the tablet reappearing pretty quickly.

Xx_Luchia_xX

Aylesbury_Duck said:

You are on solid ground, but it may take a while to sort.  You sent it back using their own courier, and that courier confirmed it arrived.  You've done all you can do.

I'd try calling them once more, and if they aren't helpful, send them a letter before action.  You would then go to small claims court for the return of any contract costs paid.  You have all the evidence you need to win the case.  I suspect a formal letter threatening court action will result in the tablet reappearing pretty quickly.

Thank you for the reply.
We have been told someone from Vodafone will be calling tomorrow once the phone the warehouse again(4th time).
The rep said on the phone that Royal Mail isn't their courier normally and they only used them because it was easily accessible but they provided the plastic red bag thing that already had the special delivery pre-paid and all the address etc attached.
They kept asking us to contact royal mail in case a mistake was made but it clearly wasn't when they used the warehouses codename when they signed for the parcel.
I'll definitely ask for an address to send the letter of action to tomorrow incase that promotes them to magically find the parcel they have signed for.

As you can imagine this is hugely stressful 

Xx_Luchia_xX

Unfortunately still not having much luck 😞 

Was told on the 6th(and got a confirmation text) that the issue was dealt with and the return had gone through and they issued a refund that went into my account this morning but checked my account and the contract was still showing.
Phoned them back today to be told the warehouse the tablet was returned to still hadn't issued a return code and they couldn't find the parcel......
Managed to speak to a manager who has asked for a manual search of the warehouse but lost on what to do now 

MattMattMattUK

Xx_Luchia_xX said:

Unfortunately still not having much luck 😞 

Was told on the 6th(and got a confirmation text) that the issue was dealt with and the return had gone through and they issued a refund that went into my account this morning but checked my account and the contract was still showing.
Phoned them back today to be told the warehouse the tablet was returned to still hadn't issued a return code and they couldn't find the parcel......
Managed to speak to a manager who has asked for a manual search of the warehouse but lost on what to do now 

Do you have any of the correspondence in writing, or has this all been conducted on the phone?

Xx_Luchia_xX

I have a text from Vodafone saying they have issued a refund for the upfront cost and line rental and another saying the return has been completed from last week.
When I phoned today to see why it was still showing as active on my account they said the person had done this before getting a return code from the warehouse.
They have emailed the warehouse today to ask for a manual search for the parcel but they said they can't tell me how long that will take to be actioned and someone will phone me back on Wednesday at 5pm.

They asked me to discard the text saying the order has been returned as it was invalid.
I don't understand how the warehouse still can't find it when they have had it since the 22nd of September.

The refund was paid into my bank this morning though.

molerat

They asked me to discard the text saying the order has been returned as it was invalid.

I am sure they would like you to delete it but I am sure you are not going to.

The refund was paid into my bank this morning though. 

You now need to raise the matter as a formal complaint. https://www.vodafone.co.uk/help-and-information/complaints/code-of-practice

You have proof from RM that it was delivered to them and a text to state they have it.  The fact they have since lost it is not of your concern.

Xx_Luchia_xX

molerat said:

They asked me to discard the text saying the order has been returned as it was invalid.

I am sure they would like you to delete it but I am sure you are not going to.

The refund was paid into my bank this morning though. 

You now need to raise the matter as a formal complaint. https://www.vodafone.co.uk/help-and-information/complaints/code-of-practice

You have proof from RM that it was delivered to them and a text to state they have it.  The fact they have since lost it is not of your concern.

Thank you for the reply.
I certainly won't be deleting them, I've taken screenshots too just to be safe.
I have the RM tracking that states it was handed to ANOVO team at 8am on 22nd.

I was told by the care team on 6th that because it had been 2 weeks since it arrived back at the warehouse they would do a manual return since the warehouse couldn't find the package.

But then I was told today that it didn't go through as the warehouse hadn't provided a return code and they couldn't remove the tariff without that.

Loza2016

Stop ringing them and write pen on paper a letter of complaint. 

I worked for a mobile phone company for 14 years and whenever I had a customer getting no where over the phone this was my advice. 

The letter will be opened and passed on to the top person in complaints and get sorted. This method only failed if customer was genuinely in the wrong, which clearly you aren’t. 

Xx_Luchia_xX

Loza2016 said:

Stop ringing them and write pen on paper a letter of complaint. 

I worked for a mobile phone company for 14 years and whenever I had a customer getting no where over the phone this was my advice. 

The letter will be opened and passed on to the top person in complaints and get sorted. This method only failed if customer was genuinely in the wrong, which clearly you aren’t. 

Will start a letter today and get it sent off tomorrow, I've also found the email address for the UK CEO of Vodafone so I shall send a copy to that too.
Will send the letter by recorded delivery so they can't deny they got it 

Xx_Luchia_xX

Loza2016 said:

Stop ringing them and write pen on paper a letter of complaint. 

I worked for a mobile phone company for 14 years and whenever I had a customer getting no where over the phone this was my advice. 

The letter will be opened and passed on to the top person in complaints and get sorted. This method only failed if customer was genuinely in the wrong, which clearly you aren’t. 

Do you think it will help if I print off all the proof I have so far and include it with the letter(RM Tracking, RM Proof Of Postage, Call Logs & Texts)?