Upgrades - oh how I hate them!!!

[Stalyvegas]

Im sorry about this but I needed somewhere to vent my frustrations about vodafone upgrades - its way beyond a joke and I am so fed up of the whole thing. Why offer upgrades at all, you seem to end up frustrating and upsetting more customers than can be worthwhile. 

Being a customer of approx 9yrs I am well used to the indifference and rudeness but I thought it might be different this time, fat chance.

This morning after the upgrade man asked me what other deals I had seen, I reeled off the ones I had found that were comparable (but better than Vodafone) and he then snottily told me 'we dont compare ourselves to other companies'  Well why ask me what I had seen then???

When I told him the same tariff was available, on vodafone but through somewhere else and the phone would be free rather than the charge vodafone want to levy at me i was told to go to elsewhere then, they had nothing to offer me!

Why do I always feel like a very undervalued commodity - and in this age of cost cutting & recession you would think a business would be interested in customer retention and not sticking 2 fingers up to your loyal long suffering customer.  Why are offers better for new customers.

The only one redeeming feature last time was the web team who did everything they could from a customer service perspective to accommodate my phone request. Why cant the people at the call centre give the same service - or even pretend, rather than being the rude dismissive people they appear to be!

Fed up, hacked off, cant wait for termination date.

[Joemanu]

I know how you feel. I've been a Vodafone customer for several years and the best deal they could offer is ......well nothing!
One of my freinds who was on Tmobile was offered and he accepted -900m + 1000m landlines+ unlimited txt+ 1gb data all for the price of the 900 min contract. Vodafone say that contract is unavailable I even offered his number so that they can check-they declined. My contract is up in June and I've decided that loyalty counts for nothing with Vodafone.

[Joemanu]

I forgot to add that this deal was for the iPhone which Vodafone says that they can't do any deals as Apple do not allow any deals.
I don't believe that!

[Stalyvegas]

Thanks for your reply - my issues are iphone related too, very much along the same lines as you have mentioned. 

Im just fed up of being spoken to rudely, im a customer - im not asking for the earth, I didnt even get chance to tell him what I was looking for, I was just told 'we dont do it -'we dont compare ourselves with others'  and my favourite "go somewhere else" - well maybe you should compare yourselves, as you'd see we are telling the truth and not trying to scam you!

Sorry you have also had the bad response to an upgrade.

[Stalyvegas]

Just spoken to a much more polite lady - sadly with exactly the same outcome. She acknowledged how uncompetitive Vodafone are at the moment - and the best suggestion she had was wait for a while & see if we come up with anything better...... So I wait, lose out on the good deals elsewhere & Vodafone get no more competitive - how is that a good idea? The most ridiculous part is I want to stay with Vodafone, and the other deal with a free phone still enables me to do that - so its cheaper to go through a 3rd party! Unbelievable...

[Retired-Ian_]

Hi Stalyvegas,

Thanks for your post.

It’s disappointing to read about your experiences around upgrading.

The packages for iPhone 4S are set as you see them online. Third party companies will negotiate their own agreements with manufacturers and don’t just offer the phone on one network.

I have sent you an email. If you’d like to discuss this further, just respond to that and we’ll be happy to get in touch.

Cheers

Ian

[Stalyvegas]

Hi Ian

Thanks for the reply, I have received and replied to your email - and look forwarding to hearing from someone.

Whilst I can fully understand that you may have set deals that 3rd parties may not, it was more the manner in which I was dealt with that has really gotten my back up to be honest. The lady yesterday was much more polite about things but it still seems a much more cost effective way of doing things to pay off early, get a phone through a 3rd party yet still retain my number & network through vodafone - cray way round things but maybe its the only way.

Im not looking for a 4S, just a 4 though.

Thanks again for the reply

[Stalyvegas]

Just wanted to put a happy ending to prove some people do care - and are equipped with good customer service skills.

Contrary to my experience with the call centre I just had a good conversation with a lovely chap and I now have a new phone winging its way towards me. I havent had to terminate, pay off, or leave - I get to stay where I am with the minimum of fuss & a deal on a price/phone etc that I am happy with.  

I just wish that this skill set was rolled out to the customer service centre.

Thanks very much Web Relations Team.

R

[shaxi]

thanks  for your sharing , if i had the experience , i don't know how can i keep calm ! 

good luck guy !

 

[Em1ems]

Every time I speak to Vodafone customer service I come off the phone in a rage, don't get me wrong, the people on the end of the phone are pleasant enough and I do feel sorry for them, but over the years that I have been a Vodafone customer I have had some really shoddy service (except for upgrades, I think they put their money in the right place). But years of pulling money out of customer service (they made all the customer service staff in the Newbury office redundant) has left a system where the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing, you get passed from department to department, noone is able to make a decision without putting you on hold to check with loads of managers.

I know I can speak louder with my feet and come upgrade time I will be, but just wanted to vent my frustrations here that the fact that my bolt on for Netflix only covered half of my bound in subscription was not at any stage made clear to me (I still have the chat transcription and would recommend anyone to keep these) and it took a 36 minutes to come to this conclusion.

Again, the individuals that I speak to are on the most part nice, but they are wholly formulaic and unempowered