Looking at Vodafone broadband? Look elsewhere!

[darren18]

Honestly, vodafone are a complete shambles.

I signed up to there broadband for 80mb fibre, and was given an activation date. I was told the engineer would be there the day before to install my line (I didn't have existing line)

OpenReach came to install it ... it took them 4 days to get it working. 4 days all day where I lost time off work at my expense. This also involved routing me to a different telegraph pole further from the exchange in terms of cable length. I got less than the minimum guaranteed speed. Voda seemed ok with this (so much for guarantee). I did not consent or know about there plans to route me to another pole and lower my speed.

Unhappy but left with no options, they leave after completing a shabby half arsed installation ... and within 1 month it all goes down. No internet. Phone vodafone only to be told they would raise a fault but only if I agree that there is a possibiliy I could incurr charges if the fault is in my property. Based on this shabby install they provided only about 1 month ago. I could understand if this was an old existing line, but not a line they JUST provided.

The manager I spoke to said he did not feel comfortable raising a fault unless I accepted the possibility of charges. I refused. I was tempted to ask him if he would feel comfortable with the router shoved where the sun doesn't shine.

I got nowhere trying to raise a complaint .... failed to even get that.

I am left paying for a broadband, faulty since the 3rd.

I will be cancelling the direct debit, and will only be paying the mobile phone portion of the bill and I will be making a formal complaint to the regulators.

Vodafone are great when they want to get your money, but once your in that contract you are at there mercy when it comes to issues.

[Alex]

@darren18 Thanks for providing us with an update - have the team been in contact with you yet?

@killach I'm sorry you feel this way - if there's anything we can help with, please let us know. 

[darren18]

His experience mirrors my own.

I was getting told they are allowed 8 weeks to resolve it before I can complain to the regulators, in which time I am expected to keep paying.

There is another option. If your dispute is going nowhere you can ask for a deadlock letter. This allows you to escalate the matter to the regulators now. This is what I asked for, when suddenly there attitude changed and they actually started trying to resolve the issue.

Sadly the vodafone team have gone back to ignoring my complaint - I am now in day 3 of my 2 day callback wait....

[killach]

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/vodafone-uk/complaints/form/

[darren18]

Well I just contacted them .... They said I should just "wait" as the line is getting more stable .... ##~## it's getting SLOWER.

I rejected that as I've waited long enough paying for an unusable, endless fault service.

They've booked an engineer visit for tomorrow.

I am so sick of endless visits. I have no faith. Vodafone keep blaming OpenReach, OpenReach blame Vodafone...

In the meantime the customer just gets left with sod all.

I'm going back to training my carrier pidgeons.

[darren18]

Well some progress to report.

Last week when the engineer fitted, he removed my phone socket that was initiall fitted (this had a curved top) and replaced it square type one. He said he did not like the type I had...

Well today the engineer visited and he did not like the type I had, and replaced it with the curved type again...

Amazingly I now sync at ~64mbps.

Could this be the light at the end of the tunnel?

[Mark]

@darren18

Sounds like everything is working fine for you now.

Thanks for the update.

[killach]

Hi Darren,

What you get is sync speed, go to

www.speedtest.net

and check real speeds you are getting. The modem\router might be synced on 10 000 Mb it won't matter if real speeds you are getting are 4Mb which is a pain to stream anything for one pc at home :). Do some tests with speed test especially during rush hours between 6 pm and 10 pm if you are getting below 50Mb during that time contact Vodafone to get their S**T together

[tihad1434]

 Umm I have just signed over to Vodafone 76Mb fibre and after reading this horrible service the above user is experiencing  this has now made me wonder if i made the right decision. No one should be experiencing this seriously terrible service.

I have one question. If Let's say i have an issue within  first 30 days, how would I get it cancelled? Do i have to look for another ISP or go back my old one as a default?.

Thanks

[okecokey]

Think it's down to you to make any arrangements but if you already have another ISP's router then you can get your ID & password from VF and if as suspected most problems are router related you should be ok.

[darren18]

Day 472 ..... (ok slight exageration but it does feel like it)

Still no call from vodafone.

In an attempt to get better service I've been exploring alternatives. I've had some limited success transmitting information via Indian smoke signals, but it's one direction is a limiting factor.

My plan B for two way internet communications involves implementing https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149 and https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2549.

Currently I am feeding up the pidgeons. They also leave a lot of mess but still preferable to dealing with the **** that I have been getting recently from Vodafone . The pidgeons are also quite cute when there young.