Pay monthly services

[horatio_nelson]

I have seen several similar posts by other users relating to the problem I am having.

In short, I have been without online billing for now 21 months of my 24 month contract.

In the first place, I could access my online account but no details were being shown for my line (only historic billing data for a previous line).

In recent months, I was advised that the only way to remedy the problem was to delete and reregister my online account. The problem is - as many others have experienced - that I am unable to re-register. When entering my mobile phone number, I keep receiving the error message:

Registration Error

We are sorry, we are unable to send the security code due to system issues. Please try again after sometime and if still problem persists, please talk to our customer services.

This message has appeared for me for months, from several computers, at all times of day/night. I have emailed customer care on several occasions over recent months, and have been told (as other users on here have) to reset my account, reregister, then when saying that there continues to be a problem I am asked what browser I am using etc etc and told to re-register... then the same again. Several calls to 191 have gone round in similar circles.

I have also written two letters sent by post to Vodafone which remain unanswered; one a few months ago, one two weeks ago. (From responses on here, it does not seem atypical that letters in writing are nowadays ignored?)

Vodafone - what is going on here? Having a faulty online billing (registration) system is one thing, but with it being a seemingly wide-scale issue and staff not knowing about the problem or how to resolve it is another. On top of this, and in truth of greater concern for me as a long-term customer, the unresponsiveness from customer service is really disappointing. My correspondence by email was especially infuriating (with Madhavi Tank, Jackey George, Disha Patel, Niraj Kothari and Kanika Dham) - why does a different person have to respond each time, leading to previous advice being repeated and each representative not following the history of my problem?

A response from a more capable team member who is able to acknowledge the problem (not an a surprised, apologetic tone, addressing me as if this problem is unheard of yet can be fixed easily) would be greatly appreciated.

[horatio_nelson]

Have received a letter from Vodafone but the problem has not been addressed, and I still get that message when trying to register online.

Is anyone at least able to admit/explain that/why this problem with users being unable to register for online billing exists?

[horatio_nelson]

Further to the above, is anyone at least able to admit/explain that/why this problem with users being unable to register for online billing exists?

[horatio_nelson]

Pursuant to the unanswered enquiries above, is anyone from Vodafone able to admit/explain that/why this problem with users being unable to register for online billing exists?

Or any form of acknowledgment of this message at least.

[James]

Hi horatio_nelson,

Thanks for your post here.

Basically we had logged your initial post to be worked by the team on the first come first serve basis that we operate.

When it comes to this type of error, it can be caused by a number of things however, to resolve this for you we will need to speak with you directly and have access to your account.

So that we can do this I have sent you a PM with details of how to get in touch with our team directly, please follow these instructions and one of the team will be able to pick this up for you.

You can find your PM inbox here.

James

[horatio_nelson]

Thank you.

I am sceptical about a solution being found, but appreciate the response.

[Lorri]

Hi Neslon,

My thread is here http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Pay-Monthly-Services/Cannot-view-bills-online/td-p/1041273

I am in the same situation as you - as are many hundreds of other Vodafone customers. It's becomming a topic of conversation at work now and I'm amazed to hear just how many people have the same probem and who have experienced the same lack of a resolution from Vodafone.

Whilst I appreciate James stating that it can be caused by a number of things, can it *really* be a coincidence that so many of us are following the same path? I think I would have a bit of respect for Vodafone if they addressed the issue and admitted that they have a problem with their software.

The highlight of my situation this week was finally getting an email in reply, which stated they were working on the problem and in the meantime they were attaching a copy of my monthly bill.....yet there was no bill attached.

I've remained a Vodafone customer for the past 20 years as I have always been happy with the service, but these past 4 months have broken any loyalty that I felt toward them.

Come on Vodafone, address the problem and fix it - stop treating each person as if they are the only ones with the problem

[horatio_nelson]

Lorri, my problem appears to be identical to yours.

I also had issues when registration had worked for a while, telling me that I needed administrator permission to use the account. (i.e. when I sent an email to remind the administrator to approve my usage, an email was sent.... to me, just as in your situation!) The next steps then involved the account beign reset, but then no security code could be sent out. It has been the case that the security code cannot be sent out for months (since February at least).

Where I got with this - I wrote a letter to Vodafone explaining the history and where I am now. They did give me a credit of £25 to reflect the general poor customer service I've had in getting it fixed and the fact that I have been without online billing for so long. But frustratingly, the letter was one step behind - they told me that they had removed the administrator settings from the account so I should be able to log on and use it freely. That is great... except there is of course no account for me to log in to, and I am still experiencing the problems when its comes to registration - a security code still cannot be sent to my phone. That side of things was not at all addressed.

If you are seeking monetary redress, I will happily forward you my letter from Vodafone (nothing was said or agreed about confidentiality provisions in my case, so I assume it will be fine me sharing with it for you as a precedent for complaint).

At the same time, because the problem was not actually sorted out, I've pretty much given up and will be moving networks in a couple of months upon cessation of my contract.

[Lorri]

Hi again Nelson,

I really appreciate your offer and will send you a message

I have subscribed to your thread and will keep an eye on what happens with your situation...but thought that you may like to know that I have just discovered that Vodafone have just emailed my last four months of fully itemised bills to another of their customers. I am furious, as I am sure you can imagine.

I didn't think it could get any worse.  I have been advised that the data protection team will be getting back to me within 48 hours.

[horatio_nelson]

Not connected with the problem at hand, but I've encountered a simialr issue recently the other way round.

Called up 191 to check a couple of details in a recent bill (which I can't see online of course), have my mobile number and four digit pin. Was told that my bill totalled an amount which seemed peculiar to me. I didn't recognise any of the numbers I was told long/expensive calls were made to.

The representative double checked my phone number and realised he had input one digit wrong at the start of the call. Quite how the two digits of my security pin (along with name and address provided) worked to allow access to someone else's account (the odds are 1% sharing those two numbers from the pin). I wrote to them earlier in the year complaining about this but never heard back. Or perhaps the reply to me was sent to another customer...

[warrenjones695]

I am having the exact same problem and am awaiting a response, have either of you having any joy?

It is quite frustrating not getting a reply, also when i try and ring customer services i am on hold for an eternity!

[horatio_nelson]

No, my problem has not been fixed.

Every time I chase up Vodafone (once every two or three weeks), they say the problem is being or has been escalated to the tech team. It's been six months since my above message and about 27 months since the problem started. I wouldn't hold your breath.

Would be interesting to know if others have had a resolution.

[Lee]

Hi there horatio_nelson,

Thanks for chasing this one up.

Could you please try a fresh registration with a new username? Your case (INC433977) was updated just a day or so ago.

Hi warrenjones695,

I've just replied to you here.

Cheers to you both,

LeeH

[saverio]

I'll join in and say I've had this problem also.

I rang the main customer contempt line and the guy reset it from his end - it seemed to work however, now I can't resign with my old user name as the name has already been 'registered'.

So I suppose I just had a new login workaround done, which although helpfull still doesn't fill me with joy.

Lorri, I sympathise, as after so many years it just seems to me that this last year either VF's own success has started to strain at the seams or there's been a complete shift in customer focus and perhaps they believe in the lowest common denominator school of customer care where the new customer is the most important, customer retention is pointless as anyone that doesn't proactively jump ship will just put up with anything thrown at them, and if customers are willing to put up with the likes of three and talktalk levels of ###### ups and customer contempt them why invest any more effort than that?

Lets face it, the twelve year old in the shop just points to the phone on the wall if you've got a problem, and they are the visible ambassadors of the brand... what hope is there for the back office systems?!