cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
1

Ask

2

Reply

3

Solution

Cannot buy a data pack

janescl
2: Seeker
2: Seeker

Is there a problem with buying data packs using vodafone accounts?

 

I now have a second problem.  After topping up my credit successfully using a voucher I tried to buy a £5, 250MB for 30 days data pack for my dongle in the same way I always do.  This time it said "Success!" and the balance went down £5 however the data pack was not listed under My Allowances.  I waited a little while and the data pack is still not listed however the £5 does seem to have been credited back to the account balance.

 

So my first £5 topup disappeared just after it was applied, and the £5 seems to be gone forever (still unresolved by vodafone)

And now I cannot top up at all, but at least now it isn't stealing (any more of) my money.

 

Has anyone had a similar experience?  This is getting so frustrating.

 

 

28 REPLIES 28

CHRIS-CHRIS
4: Newbie

"Hello janescl",

 

I also had some problems buying Data Packs - here is an example of this that I posted on another thread about the changing of the Non Expiry on Top Ups / Credit Balances and people arguing for a Refund of their Credit Balances - I think that I posted it on / about the 22nd May:

 

 

QUOTE:

 

"Hello All",

 

I have not bothered to try and get a refund because of all; the hassle that other Members have described on here so I have purchased Data Packs from my remaining Credit for top ups on the `No Expiry on Top Ups / Credit` Account that We all used to have.

 

As I am going away at the weekend to somewhere that does not have any Broadband I wanted to purchase a Data Pack using a Credit card  -  everything seemed to go O.K. until instead of getting a Confirmation of purchase type message I received the on screen message - `Sorry there seems to be a problem`.

 

This has happened once before and I had to telephone Vodafone Customer Services who simply applied the £10.00 - 1GB - 30 Day Expiry Data Pack.

 

Here is what they informed Me Today:

 

`We can see that You did attempt to purchase a Data Pack which has not completed the process and applied the Data Pack` - `We cannot know whether the Credit Card was charged` - `We will NOT be applying a Data pack` - `Wait until you get your Credit Card Statement [about 20th JUNE] and if there is a charge for the Data Pack take the Statement to a Vodafone Shop who will give you a Refund` - `You should not try to purchase another Data Pack using your Credit Card` until this is resolved`.

 

 

What a ridiculous suggestion - IF I could go to a Vodafone Shop and present my June Credit Card Statement to them how would they know that I was entitled to a Refund on the £10.00 charge showing for Vodafone - it is nonsense to have suggested this !

 

Unless of course Her suggestion that I do not use my Vodafone Mobile Broadband between now and then would enable the Vodafone Shop to check that a payment had been made by seeing it on my Statement - but that they could see that I had not used a Data Pack during the period 22nd May and 17 June [Credit Card Statement Date]

 

So now according to Her I cannot use my Vodafone Mobile Broadband for at least another Month - IF I was stupid enough to follow Her suggestion about going to a Vodafone Shop for a Refund towards the end of June before trying to purchase another Data Pack  -  although obviously I don`t want to keep getting Errors during purchasing with charges being made to my Card - as my Credit Card provider would be entitled to state that I should not have kept attempting this transaction.

 

 

So now I cannot purchase a Data Pack online using a Credit Card because there could be another Error /  `Sorry there seems to be a problem`. and I would AGAIN have no proof that I had been charged until my June Statement which I will not receive until the 20th June at the earliest - even then I would never by able to go to a Vodafone Shop to attempt to obtain a Refund. 

 

As I really need to be online at the Weekend I will probably try to put a Credit Card Top Up onto my Credit balance and then purchase a Data Pack using the Credit Balance to pay for it - theoretically this would be `Proof of Purchase` if the Data Pack was not applied to my Dongle / Account.

 

I will check with my Credit Card provider by telephone next Week whether the £10.00 was transacted / charged by Vodafone Today.



Although I telephoned what I thought was the `UK Vodafone number ` - 01635 33251 - I am fairly sure that I was diverted to a South African Call Centre  -  the 2 people that I spoke to had South African accents and there was some strange Music playing during the `On Hold` periods which had an African feel about it - to say that the Customer Services Representative was unhelpful and `blunt speaking` would be an understatement.

 

 

I have submitted a detailed Complaint to Vodafone - I await the reply with interest.

 

 

Regards to All,

 

 

Chris

 

 

END OF QUOTE.

 

 

 

The end result after not being able to use my Mobile Broadband for over a Month [told not to try buying another data pack until Credit Card Statement arrived] was that my Credit Card had not been charged for the Data Pack that I thought I had bought - Vodafone gave Me a `Complementary` 250 MB / 30 Day Expiry Data Pack for the `Inconvenience` !

 

As I explained above the Transaction seemed to have completed - exactly as the previous transaction where my Credit card WAS Charged - I had to wait a Month to find out when my Card Statement arrived.

 

In the past there have been periods of time when I needed to use my Vodafone Mobile Broadband every Day - so this would have been highly inconvenient !

 

I could not contact my Card provider by telephone to ask about the transaction because I have had no end of difficulties in the past when speaking to someone in a Far Eastern location - they simply cannot understand my Accent / speed of speach and have previously carried out processes that I did NOT request after I tried to discuss something.

 

Even now I am VERY apprehensive about what is likely to happen when I try to purchase another Data Pack - the only [2] other transactions that I have attempted have Failed !

 


Although these details will not help You in any way they are an example of the `Customer Service` from Vodafone.

 

Regards,

 

 

Chris

Thanks for your posting.  Similar thing here, I don't want to try again in case they charge twice or the money is lost forever, particularly as they lost the last top up (which cost me £5) and I suspect cancelled the one before early, although I have no evidence of that.

 

One thing with buying top up vouchers, you do not have the uncertainty of charges on your account, the transaction is with Tescos or wherever to buy the voucher, then it's just credit on the vodafone account, not a credit card or bank account.  Cutting vodafone out of any financial transaction you can seems necessary.

"Hello again janescl",

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

Can I still but Top Up Vouchers ?

 

If so I would have to apply them as a Credit to my Vodafone Mobile Broadband Account and then TRY to purchase Data Packs using the Credit balance - to which I would apply only the cost of ONE Data Pack [£10.00] at a time.

 

Hopefully in the event of a transaction failing to apply the Data Pack I could then immediately prove that I had been charged for a Data Pack that I did not receive - this is assuming that Vodafone Customer Services could see the fact that at one point I had a £10.00 Credit Balance and then without a Data Pack being applied / used I had `Lost` the £10.00 Credit - ?

 

When We had the `No Expiry on Top Ups / Credit Balances` Vodafone Mobile Broadband Accounts We had to purchase £15.00 Vouchers for 1 GB of Data  -  I would now need to be able to get £10.00 Mobile Broadband Vouchers [are Mobile Broadband Vouchers different from Mobile Phone Top Up Vouchers ?] - are these readily available ?

 

Thanks very much for your help with this.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

You can buy top up vouchers in multiples of £5 in many places (Tesco, Sainsbury, WH Smiths...), then you apply the voucher code to the dongle account.  When the credit is visible on your online vodafone account you then buy a datapack using "remaining credit" (or a phrase like that).  Until now it's always worked fine.  By the way, if you're a light user you can buy a 250MB topup for 30 days at £5 instead of the 1GB top up for 30 days at £10, sound like you might be using £10 top ups.

 

I'm also one of the ones who used to have the £15 for 1GB option with no expiry.  Unlike many others who've posted here I actually had a smooth transition to the new way (once we worked out what to do, which we only found out from this forum).  The remaining balance left on the dongle in the old method stayed as a credit, and we've been applying it monthly to data packs since the switchover in January.  This is actually the first time we've had to buy a voucher.

 

Unless they've changed something without warning of course.  Maybe that's why it doesn't work now.

"Hello again janescl",

 

Thanks very much for the information about the Vouchers,

 

I have always wondered if there was a difference between a Pay as You Go Mobile Phone Voucher and Mobile Broadband Vouchers - I thought previously that the £15,00 Voucher was a unique denomination which could only be applied to the Mobile Broadband Dongle Accounts.

 

It obviously makes sense that there would not be different Vouchers - but I was not sure that a £10.00 or £20.00 Voucher could be applied to my Dongle Account Credit Balance.

 

Thanks again for your messages.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

Hi Chris,

 

So that we can look into this further, take a look here for how to get in touch.


We aim to reply to emails within 48 hours. If you need a quicker response, please visit our Contact Us page.

Thanks,

 

Ian

"Hello Ian",

 

Thanks for your message and for the Private message.

 

What are You offering to look into ?

 

I posted my first reply to the OP of this thread - janescl to show that I also had problems with purchasing Data Packs - the ONLY 2 Data Packs that I have tried to purchase using a Credit Card have failed to apply to my Vodafone Mobile Broadband Dongle Account.

 

The first transaction seemed to have completed - including my Credit Card providers additional online Security process completing - but the Data Pack was not applied to my Account - my Credit Card had been charged.

 

A Vodafone Customer Services Representative applied the Data Pack to my Mobile Broadband Dongle Account during a telephone call to Customer Services - as they could see that a transaction had been attempted / failed to apply the Data Pack.

 

On the second occasion - the only other Credit Card purchase - everything about the transaction processed exactly as before - including my Credit Card providers online Security process completing - again the Data Pack was not applied following the transaction.

 

Vodafone Customer Services refused to apply the Data Pack - and instructed Me to wait until I could see from the next Statement if my Credit Card had been charged before attempting to buy another Data Pack - my Credit Card Statement was not due to arrive until about 30 Days later.

 

THIS WAS A WAIT OF A MONTH WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO USE MY VODAFONE MOBILE BROADBAND !

 

As it turned out my Credit Card had NOT been charged during the Second transaction - BUT I was completely justified in thinking that it had been because EVERYTHING about the transaction processed exactly as the previous one where my Credit Card was charged.

 

Before I knew that the Card had not been charged some of your colleagues replied to Me about this on another thread - as I anticipated `They could not over-rule a decision made by Vodafone Customer Services`.

 

 

With regard to my correspondence with the OP of this thread - janescl - My asking about using Top Up Vouchers to apply a Credit to my Vodafone Mobile Broadband Dongle Account Credit Balance and then trying to purchase a Data Pack from the Credit Balance - I am sure that You will understand from what I wrote what I was asking - could You please confirm that I will be able to do what I described.

 

I cannot imagine why I would need to give You access to my Account to get an answer to that ?

 

Thank You for your help.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

Gemma
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Chris,

 

You can still use a voucher Top Up.

 

You’d need to speak with customer services to transfer the credit to your data pack, once you’ve applied this.

 

Please find our Top Up options here.

 

Thanks,

 

Gemma

"Hello Gemma",

 

Thanks very much for your reply.

 

However what You wrote has confused Me slightly:

 

When I had a Credit Balance after Vodafone changed my Mobile Broadband Dongle Account from `No Expiry on Top Ups / Credit Balance` to having to purchase Data Packs which have Expiry Dates I was able to just purchase Data Packs online using my Credit Balance  -  from what You wrote this must now have also been changed - ?

 

I THOUGHT that If I purchased a Top Up Voucher - e.g: a Vodafone £20.00 Voucher and entered the Voucher Number using my Vodafone Mobile Broadband Dongle`s Computer onscreen display on the `Top Up by Voucher` section that the £20.00 would be credited to my Vodafone Mobile Broadband Dongle`s Credit Balance - and then AS PREVIOUSLY I would be able to purchase Data Packs using the Credit Balance - is this NOT the case now ?

 

I would be doing this ONLY to be able to PROVE that I had purcased a Data Pack in case the transactions go wrong again  -  the 2 previous attempts to purchase a Data Pack using a Credit Card BOTH Failed !

 

These were the only 2 attempts that I have made to purchase a Data Pack using a Credit Card - so far this is a 100% Failure rate between Me and Vodafone for this type of transaction !

 

 

Could You please explain why I would NOW have to involve Vodafone Customer Services to `Convert` a Top Up Voucher to a Data Pack  -  and would I have processed the Voucher / Submitted it online / added the amount to my Vodafone Credit Balance prior to telephoning Vodafone Customer Services - ?

 

 

 

Thank You very much for your help with this.

 

Regards,

 

Chris