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[alancolhoun]

I have been trying to upgrade 1 of 3 handsets on my account since 15th March (the date shown from at least February when I first checked, as the upgrade date) - I ticked the box, filled in the query form and waited, and waited, and - you guessed it - I'm still waiting!  The query status shows "OPEN" and my upgrade page tells me that upgrade status is "UPGRADE NOW" (as it has been since 15th March).

My local Vodafone shop tell me that I'm not due an upgrade until 4th April - when I asked why the discrepancy, I was told "They've changed it to 50 days early upgrade" and that "The website must be wrong" - fair enough, mistakes happen, and if no-one points them out they can't be rectified.

So, in my naivety, I decided to ring 191 to confirm the situation, and to get a definitive answer on when I can actually upgrade - the most confusing and frustrating thing I could have done, as it turned out!

A very pleasant and polite female, who spoke English rather poorly and appeared to understand it even less well, informed me that I was not eligible for an upgrade until 7th April NOT the 4th - however as a "special case" to me, she could upgrade my handset immediately, and my existing contract would run alongside the new one until it expired, which would mean me paying TWO tariffs for one month??

All attempts by me to clarify this only resulted in her repeating the same phrases over and over again - and my frustration (and confusion) level rapidly increasing to the point where I thanked her for her 'assistance' (only because politeness costs nothing and her English is undoubtedly much better than any attempt I could make at her native tongue) and I hung up!

Where have the UK Customer Service centres gone? - overseas obviously!

I've been a satisfied Vodafone customer for 14 years and have had dealings with Customer Care in the past - and had no problems whatsoever, with great service and any issues being resolved promptly - one of the reasons I've stayed with Vodafone in fact.

But I really am so frustrated at this whole upgrade debacle that I am for the first time seriously looking at my options with other providers. 

Can anyone shed any light on this? - am I eligible for upgrade or not? - ok, rant over ....... until the 4th ...... or is it the 7th April????  

[Nabs]

Hi alancolhoun,

Best thing to do is contact the @vodafoneukdeals twitter team. They specialise in great upgrade deals! For info on how to contact them head over here and follow the instructions. They are a small and very popular team so they may not reply straight away, stick around though as one of the team will get back to you as soon as they can.

[PaulE]

Hi alancolhoun, 

The recent changes to our upgrade policy has caused some confusion around when you can upgrade, but don't worry - I can help

Nabs is spot on with the advice about contacting us - I've checked our Twitter and email queues and can't see any contact from you in there so I've sent you a PM with some info on how to contact us - once we get your email we'll give you a call to get you aorted out

Paul

[DenaDavey]

I was offered an upgrade last Oct but declined as I liked my phone. However,it has now stopped working but I have been told that I can't get a new phone until September.Am I being unreasonable? They would have given me one in Oct but when I need one I get told to bog off. I won't be renewing my account this year.

[grolschuk]

DenaDavey
If your phone has stopped working and it isn't self-inflicted damage, then it should be covered by a 2 year warranty, send it away, get it fixed, all will be well again.

A 12 month early upgrade would have been strange, and would have either meant that you had the 12 month added to your your new contract (making it upto 3 years) or you would have had to pay a lump sum to bring you upto your upgrade date early, thus buying you out of your commitment.

To fix your problem, you could get a cheap PAYG handset unlocked to keep you going until the renewall date, or hang around for one of the tech team to have a look at your account and see if there is anything they can do for you.

If the damage to the handset is self inflicted, then maybe a longer term upgrade isn't the best thing to go for, as it will need to work for 24/30/36 months to cover the new contract.

[Amanda]

Hi DenaDavey

Thanks for your post. I’d love to help with this and see what options we have available for you.

I’ve sent you a Private message with details on how to get in touch with us, once we reach your email we’ll get back to you to help.

You can find your PM inbox here.

Thanks

Amanda

[alancolhoun]

PaulE sorry for the delay in replying and thanks for you offer of help - I don't use Twitter, but received your PM and followed the instructions to email - after completing the email page and clicking 'Next' an apology for the function not being available at that time was displayed! Any ideas?   

[alancolhoun · Accepted solution]

ok - tried again this morning - seems to be working now.  In the words of the great Homer Simpson - This internet thing will never catch on!  

[alancolhoun]

Problem now sorted following call from VF Web Relations team - more than helpful! - thanks to all!