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[CharlieBallard]

I recently had my phone stolen (iPhone 4S 32MB), and while it was covered by my insurer, USAA, to process the claim they need:

1) A digital copy of my contract which shows that an iPhone was bundled as part of the offer

2) Anything which shows the value of this phone as 590£

However, I can't see to find anywhere on your site which provides documents like these. Can anyone help?

Thanks!

Charlie

[bertyb]

If you need details, it would be proof of purchase that would be supplied, which would contain your IMEI number which is unique to the phone, the best place to go is the contact us section at the bottom of the vodafone web site and send an email

[DaveCD]

Hi CharlieBallard

Thank you for your post and I am sorry you have been having difficulties.

In order for me to provide you with a proof of purchase I have sent you a Private Message and all you need to do is follow the instructions so we can get in touch.

You can find your PM inbox here.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Many Thanks

DaveCD

eForum Team

[CharlieBallard]

I have now sent three messages via the Vodafone site, the first last Saturday and the most recent this past Tuesday, and have to date received no response. I just emailed the customer support team as well using the info provided by Dave in the PM, fingers crossed that this gets a response.

[CharlieBallard]

And... still no response to either my messages or the email I sent. Is anybody there??

[Simon]

Hi CharlieBallard

Thanks for your reply and apologies that it has taken a little longer than we may have anticipated to respond.

Have you now received a response to your e-mail request? If you still require further assistance please let me know.

Thanks

Simon

[CharlieBallard]

Hi there. Wow, been having a really rough week with you guys. To summarize.

1) My phone was stolen two weeks ago -- one week after I signed up -- and I needed a proof of purchase to have my insurance cover it. I sent requests via your site three times but received no response despite automated emails telling me I would receive a response in 48 hours (and your site said 24 hours).

2) I called your customer support multiple times but they said that I could only get help in the store.

3) I went to your store in Victoria Station yesterday but the rep there said I could only get help from the call center. When I insisted they said I had to go to the store, the rep said there was no way he could do anything because the computer provided an unknown error code. I asked him to call customer service with me but he lied, saying customer service was closed at 7:10pm. It was not.

4) I called customer service 20 minutes later and got a woman to help, who could help herself but sent an email to another group in customer service for me.

5) I received a callback today from a gentleman named Phil who agreed to send me the proof of purchase, which I received successfully. Thank you Phil!

5a) I later today received another email from your customer service department named Rahul who said you cannot provide a proof of purchase, I have to go to the store... after you already sent me the proof of purchase.

6) My phone stopped working this afternoon. I don't know why. I received no alerts or emails saying there is an account issue, and my bill is only 8 days overdue. I haven't paid solely because of the issues above.

7) I called customer service tonight to find out why but they were closed.

8) I logged into my account on your site to check to see if there were any account issues but received a message saying only "Sorry. We can't find your details at the moment. Please try again later." I go to "Billing" and it says I owe nothing.

9) I went to submit a message on your site, filled out the form (which is always broken -- the "Subject" and "Problem" fields mix together), and submitted it, but was then told that Vodafone.co.uk has an issue that you're working on, and I should email you instead.

10) I sent an email and then came here to your forum desperately hoping to find a way to turn my phone back on. No luck.

Please help me. I want my phone active again, and I want your customer service problems to get better. Thank you.

-Charlie Ballard

(Removed for Security)

[CharlieBallard]

And the fun continues. I call 191 this morning to resolve my issue and every time I get one minute into the call I'm told that my handset is blocked from calling this number. My Vodafone handset is blocked from calling Vodafone customer support? Can you explain how this situation would ever be a good idea?

[CharlieBallard]

And the situation just gets worse:

1) A second customer service rep contacts me saying saying Vodafone customer service cannot provide me a proof of purchase, that I have to go to a store. This is after Vodafone customer service already provided me with a proof of purchase.

2) My phone stopped working yesterday, and I went to the store to find out the issue. I had told Vodafone when I signed on that because I was moving to a new country, funds for my first payment wouldn't be transferred to my account until 29 Feb. They said this was fine. Apparently they still charged me on the 24 Feb, however, and because the funds weren't there they froze my account.

However, when I tried to pay in the store today, they couldn't fix the problem and let me pay, saying I had to go back to my office to print a bank statement saying the funds were returned to my account, so they could fax this to their head office to show the funds were returned before they could unfreeze my account. FAX?! You're allegedly operating a modern telecommunications company and yet you require proofs of money that you didn't receive by fax?!

3) I also tried to replace my stolen phone today in the store, and was told it cost £590. The proof of purchase I was sent by Phil yesterday was £490, which is what I sent to my insurance company. When I explained this to the rep, he said no, it's £590 for a 32GB iPhone 4S. I asked him to look up my record and confirm the price of my phone and he said he couldn't, it doesn't show what phone I have. How do I simply get proof of my stolen phone's value??!

Is anyone there??!

[Dave]

Hi CharlieBallard,

I'm sorry to hear you're still having issues getting everything resolved.

With regards to the repeated emails saying you can't get the code, this sounds like your original emails to customer services, where they are responding directly to the request in the email itself as they as a team are unable to arrange the proof of purchase.

We'll certainly take a look at the issue with the payment and what sounds like a line suspension to get that tidied up for you as well. We would also be able to accept a photo or screenshot of a statement showing the information requested, however the store would only be able to use the facilities they have to hand to forward the document, which may explain the fax request.

As there is no email address attached to your eForum profile, I can't check if we have any email from you in our queue. If you do, please rest assured that we'll be responding back to that as soon as possible to help you get things sorted. If not, can you drop us another email using the instructions on the PM (or just replying back if the eForum or Web Relations team have emailed you back previously).

Dave

[CharlieBallard]

Hi, Dave. So a few things.

1) I have absolutely no idea how to add my email address to my profile. I used Facebook Connect the first time I logged on and posted here, but whenever I go to "My Account" to add more info, your site asks me to log in. It doesn't accept my email address as a login name as it's too long, and if I use the Username given after Facebook Connect (CharlieBallard), I have no password. When I click "Forgot My Password" I'm told my email address isn't in your records.

When I go to the main Forum log on page, I can't even use Facebook Connect as that option isn't there. It only exists on the main Forum homepage. Clearly your website developers are not even close to being done implementing FB Connect functionality correctly. If they were, you wouldn't need to request my email address, as FB provides it.

2) Phil just responded to my enquiry around the cost of the phone. He had made a typo, it was indeed £590 and not £490. He re-sent me the Proof of Purchase, this should finally satisfy my insurance company's need and get me the right amount back. Now apparently all London stores are sold out of my model of iPhone but that's another story.

3) I made another trip to the store after printing out my bank statement so they could fax it into your support center and they could reactivate my phone. After the poor Vodafone girl in the store was transfered five times and twice put on hold, having to explain the  situation each time, only having to explain it again after a new person picked up, finally she was told that my account was fine, it is reactivated, and she didn't need to fax anything. Why did I have to go back to the office and print out my bank statement for no reason? And why was the store unable to even take my payment once my account was suspended?

I think all my main issues are now resolved, except one: I'm terrified of the idea of having to deal with future Vodafone customer support issues.

[Dave]

Hi CharlieBallard,

I'm glad to hear this is sorted for you. It turns out your "Phil" is actually Phil from our Web Relations team so when he saw you'd posted this he mentioned he'd corrected the quote for you.

If you do have any issues in future, please come back to ourselves or our Web Relations team directly. We’ll be happy to help get things sorted for you as quickly as possible and with the least fuss manageable.

Dave

[CharlieBallard]

Thanks, Dave. New problem. I repurchased my replacement phone yesterday at 18:00 at the Vodafone near Oxford Street, and the rep activated and switched in the new, smaller SIM. He said the phone would be in service in about an hour after it lost the signal from my older handset and found the new one.

It's now been 15 hours and it still says "No Service". Can you let me know why?

A few things I would also recommend Vodafone look into:

1) The forum login functionality is broken. As I first logged in via Facebook Connect, that seems to be how I need to continue to log in, since I have no username/password. Yet when I come back to a forum post and hit "Reply", it takes me directly to a login page with no Facebook Connect login option. I have to randomly click around in your menus until I get back to the main Forum page which has Facebook Conncet, then try to go find my posts again, as there also seems to be no way for me to see "My Past Posts".

2) The integration between the "web team" and whatever customer service department receives my messages when I send them via the website is terrible. There seems to be no communication between the two. It's great that Phil helped finally after I emailed him using the instructions you provided in my PM, but why wasn't he brought in the three times I messaged for help in the week before? Shouldn't all customer service operators be trained similarly and have access to the same alerts and information?

3) When I submit a customer service request on the site, the site says "Thank you, someone will be in touch with you in 24 hours." I then receive an autoresponse email saying "Thank you, someone will be in touch with you in 48 hours." And then no one was in touch with me for four days or more. This isn't acceptable.

4) I can't understand why information around phones purchased and their values isn't shared between your stores and your central support centres via a centralized customer database. This would be unheard of with the mobile providers I've had in the past. You go into any store, they know what you own, as does their call center. I highly recommend Vodafone invests in better CRM systems, as right now there's no way I will return once my contract expires.

Cheers. The Web Team seems fantastic... I just wish whoever was overseeing Vodafone customer relations as a whole was paying as much attention. To that end -- and then I'll move on (once my phone receives service), would you provide me with an address of the executive in charge of Vodafone customer service? I'd like to write him or her a constructive letter summarizing these issues. Many thanks again.

[Lee]

Hi CharlieBallard,

Many thanks for your post and feedback. I'll ensure this is passed on for you.

I've just checked your number and it now appears to be registered. Can you confirm this is the case please?

Cheers,

Lee

[natfred135]

Hi,

I need a copy of my contract or delivery note for my current phone, I have gone into store and they couldnt help, i have phoned twice and had no joy either time and i have emailed twice with no response. Please can someone send me a copy of my contract or dispatch note for my phone so i can claim on my insurance!

thank you

[Lee]

Hi there natfred135,

Thanks for your post about your proof of purchase.

While we're unable to help directly over the eForum I'll be happy to assist in a private environment.

I've sent you a PM which can be accessed here. If you could follow the instructions in the PM and send us your details one of the team will be with you as soon as they can.

Cheers,

Lee