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When is a warranty not a warranty?

PaulSalk
4: Newbie

Way back in April, my daughter's iPhone 4, supposedly new less than a year previously, had problems. Since that time I have had and continue to have really major problems with getting vodafone's attention.

 

On Friday, I wasted another hour on the phone with someone from Customer Support. I have repeatedly been misinformed, and it appears that my initial attempts to lodge a complaint were blocked (I was told that this was only possible in a letter). So here is the letter I sent;

 

Customer Relations

Vodafone House

The Connection

Newbury,

Berkshire RG14 2FN

 

Dear Sir/Madam

I am writing to complain about (1) a faulty phone which should have been repaired under warranty and (2) the appalling customer service I have received.

My daughter’s phone (which is on my account)*specified in original* .This is an iphone4 bought, as we understood it, new. I had several problems, particularly that the internal earpiece did not work. It appeared loose, and I took it into Vodafone Bath, pointing out where we could see that the piece had come loose. They said, after a very long wait, that as it was still under warranty from Apple and I should take it to the Apple store. After a further very long wait, they said that the warranty was not valid as it had clearly been opened and “several components were missing”. They said that they thought it was a reconditioned unit, which would explain the changed. In any case, they would not honour the warranty, so I returned to Vodafone Bath. After a very long wait again, I explained this, and it was duly sent to your central engineering facility. After a greater than expected delay and a message being sent to the phone in your possession (despite my asking for messages to be sent to me). I was told that the engineers report (enclosed) indicated mechanical damage and therefore it was not covered by the warranty. The engineer apparently suggested that it may have been “sat on”. They included a photo (enclosed) which showed what we had originally drawn attention to. I pointed out that the unit was immaculate, that it was kept in my daughter’s handbag, there was no sign of external damage or distortion consistent with impact etc etc. To no avail. Eventually, the shop agreed to take the issue up with the repairing engineer, and an email was sent and I was copied into the email. You will see from the enclosed that this was a further series of nothing happening, and as I understand it from the most recent email, not likely to! In that it was suggested I take it up with Customer services, which I had done so previously. Fiona in customer services on 27th June said that she could do nothing because she had no records of my contact with the shop in Bath. After I pressed her, she looked into it and as far as a I could determine spoke with someone in enginerring, coming back with the previous line that as there allegedly was mechanical damage this voided the warranty. However, I could have it repaired for £300! After a protracted discussion which essentially went round and round the same script, I decided to make it a formal complaint and indicated this to her. She said that this could only be done in writing. I asked about email etc, but she was adamant that it had to be in writing which I found both odd and basically obstructive.

I have looked carefully at your complaints policy; your website says something rather different:

“If you're not happy with our service and would like to make a complaint, there are a number of ways to get in touch outlined below. (note: this as go into a shop or call 191) We aim to resolve all issues on first contact, but if we cannot we will escalate your call to a team manager. If the team manager cannot resolve the issue we will refer it to our dedicated customer relations team. In any event we will endeavour to resolve any complaint within one week. If we are unable to do so, we will notify you and provide weekly updates on progress”

Now I’m afraid that that was not what has happened here, so I suggest that as a matter of priority you change your website or retrain your staff.

I pay a great deal of money to your company and really don’t expect this kind of repeated fobbing off. I have also wasted an amazing amount of my time on this issue. Perhaps I should bill you for this?

I would be most grateful if you would deal with this as a formal complaint about (1) the handset which has now been unavailable to us for many months and (2) the really bad customer services provided both in shop and on the phone.

I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Professor PS***

Then I waited. No reply. just over two weeks from the letter being sent, I called 191....eventually a very nice man from Egypt sent me an email with the text of the letter (the letter itself arrived a week later!

 

Her's what the letter said:

 

 

Dear Mr.S*,

 

 

 

Thank you for writing to Vodafone.

 

 

 

This is in response to the letter you have sent us regarding handset issues.

 

 

 

I understand how frustrating this could have been for you and apologise if there has been any miscommunication from our end.

 

 

 

I assure you that we take customer complaint very seriously and we ensure proper feedback is given as and when required.

 

 

 

In order to resolve any customer issues we follow an internal escalation procedure. Whenever customers contact us with any issue related to their Vodafone account, we try to resolve the issue first. We only escalate an issue in case it is not resolved. I have already discussed the issue with my manager.

 

 

 

I am sorry about the trouble you faced with the handset. Vodafone does offer a variety of handsets however holds no responsibility for the phones performance. We are only able to help customers get the device repaired.

 

 

 

Vodafone will only repair agreement handsets that are under warranty and were purchased directly via a Vodafone channel. Out of warranty handsets may be repaired but will incur a charge.

 

 

 

If the phone has suffered physical or liquid damage, the warranty will not cover this. A charge might get applied for an out of warranty repair/replacement. I am afraid we are not able to override the decision taken by the repairs team.

 

 

 

They have agreed to offer you a replacement handset in exchange at a one off cost of £325.00. As a gesture of goodwill, we can credit your Vodafone account with £100.00. Please revert with a confirmation if you agree to this offer and we will apply the credit and place an order for a replacement handset at the earliest.

 

 

 

As our valued customer, we request you to co-operate and give us another chance to raise our bar to serve you.

 

 

 

I trust this helps.

 

 

 

Regards

 

Nathan (Surname removed for security)

 

Vodafone Customer Services

 

 

This was clearly boilerplate. Interesting to see that the cost had gone up by £25. Thats inflation for you . So i replied to the email address asking for contact details for Mr D, saying:

 

Dear Ahmed,

 

Many thanks for forwarding this to me. The printed letter has yet to arrive.

 

I also notice that Mr D has not included any contact details.

 

 

 

I would be most grateful if you would therefore forward this email to Mr D.

 

 

 

Dear Mr D

 

 

 

Thank you for your brief letter in response to my detailed complaint. I note that your response falls outside the target you set for dealing with complaints, which of course adds to my concerns about the way this has been dealt with by Vodafone.

 

 

 

I was a little shocked by the content. It is clear that you have used a template and provided standard answers, and have either not read my letter or are choosing to ignore it.

 

 

 

To simply re-iterate what I had been told in the shop and on 191 is simply not good enough. Please deal with the issues I raise; in particular I maintain that the phone was under warranty, that physical damage was not, according to the apple store, involved. Even the most cursory inspection of the phone itself indicates that it is in perfect condition and unmarked. Under tha sale of goods act Vodafone is responsible for correcting the faults which occurred within the warranty period.

 

 

 

Your offer of a replacement handset risks being derisory; Three minutes search indicates that I can purchase a new, sim free unlocked iphone 4s from a reputable shop for £199.

 

 

 

You also failed to address the customer service issues I raised.

 

 

 

I am surprised that, in the copy of the letter (which has yet to arrive physically) you do not indicate the options open to me should I not be satisfied with your response. Would I be right in thinking that this should now go to OFCOM?

 

 

 

I await your speedy response with mounting impatience. May I remind you that my daughter’s phone has now not been usable since April?

 

Cordially (signature)

 

I also sent it to the website for complaints, which indicated a reply within 48 hours. 52 hours later, a phone call from someone who had skimmed the letter. It was a long and frustrating call, I'm sure for him as well as me. Substance was he believed what the services folks said without question, so that was it. He also said that what the apple store folks told me must be untrue. However, vodafone aprarently cant communicate with apple.

 

 

Also nothing he could do about the second part of my complaint (regarding the terrible service) other than "provide internal feedback. Ha!

 

So phone out of action for coming up to 6 months, failures all round in communications from vodafone. And I'm again waiting. I said i wanted to take it to the next stage, at which i was told he would get back to me. Nothing so far.

 

Fact of the matter is that this has been a horrendous waste of my time with probably the most unresponsive customer service/complaints system I have experienced. A couple of false starts where it seems that someone in the organisation is going to take ownership, but then.....pfft.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Paul

41 REPLIES 41

Its all a ploy to browbeat consumers into throwing in the towel out of frustration as the contact options are overly restricted.  

Contacting customer relations should be a swift efficient & private process but Vodafone do not want complaints to touch base with ease as they are getting overrun due to abysmal customer service.

 

Look at the complaint number assigned when you get the mythical email that is a representation of the scale of complaints lodged (IMHO).

~~Clear eyes - Full Hart - Can't lose~~
“As wars come and go, my soldier stays eternal”

My comments represent my opinion which is not affiliated or sponsored in any way. 

Re; When is a warranty not a warranty?

I am very intrigued to see if this was resolved, I am experience similar with an i phone 5. Customer services have not improved from your experience and I am at the stage of waiting for customer relations to call me.... 

 

kids
Community Champion (Retired)
Community Champion (Retired)

@coleen23 If your experience was that the phone contained non genuine Apple components then the warranty would be void.

 

Apple are themselves very hot on that subject and will often refuse to carry out any work on a device with third party components unless the work is paid for. Even then they have been know to refuse any help in such a situation.

@kids Thank you for your reply. I took out a monthly contract  iphone5 with vodafone in march this year, within 2 months I experienced problems telling me there was no sim card installed I had to keep rebooting missing calls and texts.

I went back to the shop  early june to report the problem they replaced a sim cardand told me if that did not work within 24 hours to contact customer services which I had to do. They put me on to uniparts(their repairs company) who said they would send out a courier and replace the phone. The phone is under a 1 year warranty

I recieved a reissued bill! on the 12th of july with payment due on the 13th of july for £300.00 , they are saying someone has opened the phone and put a non apple screw in the device.The only people who has opened the phone whilst in my possesion is the sales rep in shop to replace the sim and the repairs team that I know of.

Someone needs to take responsibility and find out about the phone before it came into my possesion or after it left my possesion .

kids
Community Champion (Retired)
Community Champion (Retired)

@coleen23 When you say the sales rep in the store opened the phone did he actually open the back or was it just a simple case of removing and reinserting a SIM card?

 

Also when you took out the contract was it for a new phone or a refurbished "as new" phone?

 

If the latter then there is a possibility that a non Apple screw was used during the refurbishment although it should not have been.

 

I would be inclined to write to Vodafone sending the letter by Recorded Delivery giving the details you have posted here. Meanwhile I would ask Vodafone to return the phone to you in the same condition it was when you sent it off and then make a visit to an Apple Store and explain the situation to them. Apple can connect the phone to their computer and track where the phone has been and what repairs have been carried out.

 

There was a spate of reports last year that items sent to the repair centre were incorrectly diagnosed and in some cases damaged. 

Hopefully one of the Vodafone Tech Team will pick up your post and contact you, as you say someone needs to take ownership of the problem and find out exactly what has gone on.

 

 

@kids At last Thank you for your helpful advice ,I will certainly be doing your suggestions. I am not a very tech person just know enough to get by nor do I know all the rights you are entitled to so thank you for your support. The store just replaced the sim card and only opened the sim tray. The store assistant manager has moved this to his regional manager as they tried to blame the store as well.

I am worried I will be cut off as I am refusing to pay the £300.00 I have paid my contract fee for this month manually after cancelling my direct debit.

kids
Community Champion (Retired)
Community Champion (Retired)

@coleen23 Unless you gave the OK for the repair to go ahead AFTER Vodafone quoted you the price they cannot ask you to pay. They should not carry out any repairs until the customer has agreed to the price.

 

Cancelling a Direct Debit always results in problems and could have an adverse effect on your credit file history. My advice is to reinstate the DD so that Vodafone can take money due under your contract although if you are paying everything due ubder your contract there should not be a problem. If they try to take the repair cost ask your bank to refund the money to you, they have to do that immediately, they cannot refuse.

 

Have Vodafone actually repaired the phone or are they still waiting for you to give your approval?

 

@kids they sent the bill to cover the charge of a new phone I was never asked about did I want to have the phone fixed.just issued a re issued bill 

I am going to ask for my original phone back as you suggested and take it to apple store. 

I will let you know how I get on 

Thank you

 

kids
Community Champion (Retired)
Community Champion (Retired)

Yes please do let us know how you get on, there is something strange about the whole thing.

If you received a new phone there is no reason a screw would be non Apple, a refurbished yes that would then be possible.

As soon as you have your phone back make an appointment to see an Apple Genius at an Apple Store and see what they come up with.

Best of luck. :smileyhappy:

kids
Community Champion (Retired)
Community Champion (Retired)