Vodafone complaints

mobilejunkie · 9 September 2008 at 12:05PM

Can't say I'm surprised. They are absolutely appalling to deal with and their customer complaints department is good on platitudes but very poor on actually putting things right. I wish you luck - your very long and detailed synopsis should draw the total lack of customer service at Vodafone to the attention of others as a warning. In my experience, the underlying problem is that they are slaves to ancient systems and don't worry too much about actually putting anything right, even when they tell you they will. Maybe the Executive will help, but it really shouldn't have to be that way, should it?! It IS a maybe as well....

Hopefullyuseful1 · 10 September 2008 at 10:22AM

Hi iouliafenton,

I'm sorry about what's happened with your account. It sounds like there's been a fair bit of misinformation along the way and I'm going to get this all fixed for you.

If you head over to the Vodafone Online Contact Form, fill in the boxes and include the code FIT135 in your message, your email will come through to the Forum Intervention Team and we'll take a look at this for you.

Speak to you soon,

Hopefullyuseful1

Vodafone UK

supertsik · 29 October 2008 at 3:35PM

My Vodafone contract was eligible for an upgrade and I emailed Vodafone with an offer I found from Dialaphone with Orange with a free Samsung Omnia. Next day someone called and made a better offer that included half price line rental, which I accepted. Being very cautious I repeated the offer and made that person repeat it twice. Next day, I called 191 to make sure that everything was applied on my contract as I was offered. IT WAS NOT! Only half of the things were in and full price line rental!

On 191 they didn't take any responsibility. In addition, they refused to transfer me to the person I originally talked to, even though I knew the specific extension. I asked for my contract to be canceled and I was on hold for 1 hour, after which I hanged up. It is worth saying that the same thing happened again at my previous upgrade, only that the 14 days had passed when I found out, and it took me 8 months to find a partial solution.

I have now sent a formal letter and an online complaint (using FIT135). Furthermore, I am about to file complaints with Consumer Direct and Ofcom. Once I do all this, I will tell you exactly how to file complaints, so we can put an end to mobile phone providers deceiving us like that in order to earn more money.

In the meantime some piece of advice:

When you speak to customer services, ALWAYS ASK for the NAME and EXTENSION of the person you are speaking, so if something goes wrong you know who to blame.
When you are offered something, ALWAYS CALL BACK and CHECK the following day. If you find out that something went wrong when the bill comes, it will be too late.

I would also very much appreciate, if Hopefullyuseful1 could provide some honest comments for us.

John_A_2 · 3 November 2008 at 9:36AM

My contract was to end on 31/10, I understood at midnight, but my service was cut at approx 6.00 p.m. I phoned and renewed my contract at 7.00 p.m. on 31/10 and was told I would be reconnected overnight and would have service when I got up the next morning. Next morning, NO SERVICE. Midday 01/11 phoned 191 from another phone and was told it could take 48 hours to reactivate my service. It is now 03/11 and still NO SERVICE. Have now contacted Vodafone as suggested by Hopefullyuseful1. Hopefully I will get an answer and some service. Will keep you posted.

Bikerchick_3 · 27 November 2008 at 1:53PM

Hi, I have had a problem with Vodafone in that I was going to cancel my contract back in Feb 08 and change to a payg but when I spoke to someone they offered me a good deal to stay on contract and it would only be £7.50 a month since I didn't want a new phone. They did at no time mention it was a new contract for 12month and the discount would only apply for 9 month of it. As far as I was led to believe that was it and I would be paying that for as long as I stayed with Vodafone. To my surprise my bill came in this month and it was back up to £25 so I immediately phoned them to ask why and was told that it was at end of offer and that I would be paying that till the end of my contract in Feb. I emailed them to say I was not happy with this as at no point was I told any of the above and I did not sign into any new contract as they said I had, I recieved no paperwork from them at the time other than my bill at the reduced rate. They replied to my email today saying that they will refund me £15 for this month since I was unaware of the deal and that they cannot change it for the rest and I will have to pay £25 until the end of my contract in Feb. I feel this is a real con on their part as I would never have agreed to stay on contract and would have changed to payg back in Feb. Any advice gratefully recieved, thanks. :mad:

supertsik · 27 November 2008 at 3:09PM

Bikerchick,

1) Call 191 and ask that you are indeed in a 12 month contract and not 18.

2) Fill in the form (it will only take a minute) to inform Ofcom about this. They will not respond to you, but they will take action against Vodafone if the number of complaints is large
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/mobile/company/billing/formal/?itemid=316147

3) Write a brief letter to customer services. The address is at the back of your bill. The letter should be in the form:

XX date I was offered a SIM Only deal. On this deal I was offered:
- SIM ONLY deal
- X free minutes and Y free texts
- Monthly line rental of £7.50 including VAT
- no fixed term contract
- cancellation with 30 days notice.

I was surprised to find out when I got my 9th bill that instead of what I agreed I actually got:
- 12 month contract
- X free minutes and Y free texts
- Monthly line rental of £25
- discount of £17.50 for the first 9 months

You should specifically state that you have been "mis-selled" a contract, as it was applied without your consent. Ask for an immediate refund towards the discount you are entitled and a full explanation of why this happened.

At the end of the letter state that you are confident that the matter will be resolved, but if not, you are prepared to file a complaint to Ofcom, Otelo and Consumer Direct.

They will most probably give you the discount for the remaining of your contract, but after that you will keep paying £25. Therefore, make sure you send a letter 30 days prior to the expiry date, stating that you request your number to be transfered to a Pay As You Go plan.

If you don't get AT LEAST what you were entitled, proceed to step 4:

4) Read that and click on the "Complaint Form" link on the left hand side. They will help you resolve the matter.
http://www.otelo.org.uk/pages/39contactingotelo.php

5) Send an email to:
http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/contact#sendemail
They will give you further advice.

IN ANY case, even if they resolve the matter, do NOT omit to inform Ofcom about this. Let's fight for fair services!
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/mobile/company/billing/formal/?itemid=316147

I hope it helps!

supertsik · 27 November 2008 at 3:31PM

If you are offered a deal to remain with your current provider

CALL TWO DAYS LATER TO CONFIRM THE DEAL

There is no harm in doing that. Specifically ask the customer services advisor to read out to you your current price plan. Make sure you get answers to the following questions, if they apply to you:

How many free minutes have I got? Anytime+Crossnetwork?
Which free bundles are applied to my account? (e.g. Free texts, Vodafone Passport, Free Internet, etc)
Is there any charge for the new phone I received?
How much is the discount for the line rental?
When is the contract expiry date?
When is the expiry date for the line rental discount?
When is the expiry date for the free bundles?

Make sure that you get the answers to every question that applies to you. DO NOT ASSUME that you will always get what you are offered. Providers tend to mislead customers and mis-sell contracts to fight competition. And in any case, mistakes do happen. If you act within 14 days you can always cancel the deal and either get a new one, or go to another provider. If you leave it until the bill arrives it will be too late. They will blame you for any inconsistencies on your price plan.

And never forget to:
WRITE DOWN THE NAME AND EXTENSION OF THE PERSON YOU TALK TO.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/mobile/missell/

diamonds · 27 November 2008 at 5:24PM

make the most of now - leave

Voda are complete idiots & good luck having voda address your complaint - these are passed to 3rd party call centres - the ones you called that didnt resolve your issue, as for the forum team well they are just as hopeless ( as polite & sympathetic as they were at my circumstances )

" Yes Diamonds we cannot provide the plan you signed upto from our AUTH dealer, we have nothing suitable as a alternative & you will have to pay the remaining contract period out to leave "

Service with a F'in smile...I have had problems with all the networks monkeys over time, but Voda's sheer arrogance to force me to the T&C when from contract commencement they did not provide the plan VOIDED our contract & T&C.......
asked for my overusage to be credited back every month then........." NO that would run into hundreds possibly thousands of pounds for unlimited landlines "

Voda made thier dealer dept make the 3rd party pull the deal they were offering ( it took weeks to pull ) & even paid commission to the dealer for my contract.......gggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Awaiting thier court appearance thier debt collection agency keep threatening to make that court date ( & calling me several times a day everyday ) & will countersue for oustanding balance, breach of contract, and leaving a disabled person unable to work with no credit available thanks to the mis information reported to my credit file unable to buy on 0% credit which when you recieve DLA is your lifeline, 4 months I had no cooker this year as the old one broke...4 months to save £200 to replace as I was in a situation caused by Voda's complete incompetant to stand by there own T&C which state to MY detriment I can cancel.....but according to Vodafone that does not cover an alternative plan they forced me on to than I signed upto ?

PLEASE im studying for a LLB Voda, & i knew contract/T&C before that......

pennylane123 · 6 December 2008 at 1:29AM

I'm sorry to hear that so many people are having trouble with Vodafone, Many of you are right take the first name of the advisor that you were speaking to as we're not allowed to give out last names and also remember that taking someone's extention number doesn't mean that you can be put back through to them, its not possible for us to do that, especially as you will get through to a different call centre the majority of the time you call in.

mobilejunkie · 6 December 2008 at 8:28AM

It's "impossible" for you to provide ANY half-decent customer service. I doubt your organisation is at ALL "sorry", even if you are, since it NEVER actually DEALS with a problem, puts giant walls up against ANY chance of speaking with a manager and ends up making a simple problem a huge one which it still ignores. Emails take weeks to get any response from and "complaints" department is well-named indeed, since it merely invokes more complaints.

Vodafone complaints

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