Pay monthly services

[dhaighbooks]

I sent the following letter to two different Vodafone provided complaints adresses on the 15th February:

Dear Sirs,

Mobile Number –

In recent weeks I have grown increasingly disgruntled with the customer service offered by you as my mobile phone provider.

My reasons are as follows:

1. Last year I began having problems with my iPhone, this was purchased in September 2011. I had numerous phone calls with no answer to my issues; I reset my phone, did numerous changes to settings and eventually took it into the Vodafone store in Huddersfield.

Nothing could be done in the shop, a hardware problem was diagnosed but the man simply asked me to contact my insurers. I couldn’t afford to pay an excess and the remaining year’s payment to Protect my Bubble so I decided all I could do was leave it.

This was my first issue, firstly because I was paying a huge long contract for a broken mobile, but more importantly it took me three months and a phone call to Protect my Bubble to realise I had had this phone for four months and was therefore under warranty.

Bear in mind, an insurance assistant from a company who would be paid to fix my mobile told me this rather than a Vodafone employee who I assume is rewarded for customer service, I know who I’d award for honesty and knowledge.

1. When I found out my phone was under warranty I decided to take it back to the Vodafone store, after a phone call on 191 who arranged for it to be collected.

When I took it to the store they examined the phone, and left a note, which I have enclosed a copy of, saying the phone had MINOR scratches and wear and tear.

(cont…)

So as you can imagine I was somewhat surprised when the repairs team left me a message to say that I would have to pay £150.00 to repair the phone because it had external damage.

Due to the fact that it would be cheaper with my insurer I requested it to be recalled, at my expense for an 08 telephone number. Bear in mind by now I’d been paying for an iPhone with the relevant internet add on’s for a week without actually having the phone.

So I went to collect my phone, only to discover it was cracked on the back (a big crack at that), I made a complaint to Vodafone regarding this in the shop, but despite them giving me the paperwork saying minor scratches they disputed this. (So why put it, and more importantly why send it away for repair knowing there was external damage, doesn’t make sense does it?).

1. I forgot to mention that during this whole escapade I rang 191, asking about the status of my repair, the woman couldn’t help but said she’d ring me back at 9am (10 minutes from my phone call), the next day, still nothing I rang again. The best part about this was Vodafone sent me a questionnaire, scaling my satisfaction for the phone call in question, I replied to these with a score of 0 out of 10, but rather than get in touch asking what was wrong, I heard nothing more on the matter.

1. Leading me on to my final point, In January my bill was taken twice, £48.00 taken twice, when I rung to make this clear they offered me a credit on my account, this would have been fine but my tight finances currently give me a very strict budget, so I kindly asked for a refund. This was granted, I was told this would take 8 days to arrive in my bank, this was the 30th January, as of now I haven’t received this money in my bank, and with my budget the way it is this really is just not good enough.

As you may tell I have become increasingly annoyed and frustrated about the lack of service and aid offered to loyal customers (Of over two years now).

I joined a 2 year contract again because up until then I had no problems and only good words to say of Vodafone, but obviously this will be the case when things work, it’s when things don’t work you expect help and this hasn’t been received.

I look forward to your response.

I am yet to receive any response to my problems, or any confirmation a letter has been received. As you can tell from the above, I'm becoming increasingly irate at Vodafone's service and the fact a letter cannot be answered is adding to my frustration.

Any help is much appreciared, be it direct help through the forum or an adress that will guarantee me a response.

(I don't currently have access to a scanner to attach the scans I attached with my letters, these can be provided at any time if necessary)

Many Thanks

[bertyb]

Hiya, you raise some interesting points .......... I can see why you don't feel its a good experience.

For iphones, they are covered by a manufacturers warranty for the first 12 months, so it sounds like the store mis-advised you, the best course of action would have been to discuss this with the store, and understand if they made an error.    Was there advice based on there being physical damage to the phone ?

I can see a little bit of your other frustration with the failed call back, that shouldn't happen.

The other parts may have been a little out with Vodafone's control, if your phone is not covered by the manufacturers warranty then this is something outwith Vodafone's control, they still supply the sim and airtime during this time and that is why its still chargeable.

The double payment, was that from a direct debit or say an online card payment, these can normally be refunded within 10 days, however was another bill generated by this time, if so there would have been no credit balance to refund, could that have been the situation.

I would always recommend taking the phone to Apple, they are very protective of their product and can often be found swapping phones as a gesture of goodwill.

Good luck

[dhaighbooks]

Thanks for your reply.

I could understand it being Apple's problem had the phone been sent away in the state it came back.

The most infuriating thing for me, is that they wrote on the paperwork, condition: good, sligh scracthes.

The phone came back with a large crack in the back, I assume it's glass, which one part of the crack extends right across the phone, now surely this wouldn't have been marked as: good, slight scratches.

The man in store investigated the phone and put the coniditon as it was, when it was returned, I was given the phone wrapped up, as soon as I left the shop I opened the package and went straight back in, explained all of this, and they looked at me as if I'd walked out of the shop chucked the phone on the concrete floor and taken it back in.

I stayed in the store arguing my case for a good ten minutes, showing them the phone, the letter they gave me and telling of my dissapointment of the situation. In the end I had to leave, I was gettin nowhere.

The double payment was a direct debit, so if they couldn't refund it in that time they shouldn't have taken it in time.

I'm not proud of it but I'm on a debt management plan, you have to disclose all income and expenditure to your agents as they communicate with your creditors how much you can afford to hand over. Obviously when everything you do is budgeted, £48.00 is a huge dent to be missing for so long.

[James]

Hi dhaighbooks,

Firstly thank you for your post which outlines the issues that you have experienced and I would like to apologise for the service that you have received recently.

I can understand why you would feel annoyed when looking at the misadvice as well as what has happened to your repair followed by a double payment being taken.

As this is an account related query we will need to look at your account directly and discuss this issue with you further so we can get a clearer picture of what has happened on your account and with you directly.

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 can you follow the instructions on the PM and one of our team will be able to look into this further for you.

Our team is dedicated to offering the best possible customer service and have a long standing record of resolving a number of different queries for our customers on the eForum.

Once we have received your details one of our team will be in touch with you directly.

You can find your PM inbox here.

James

[dhaighbooks]

Thanks James, I'll do as you requested.