Charged for a phone that I never received, customer service gives conflicting information

[JFairchild]

Hi All

After 4 LONG conversations with Vodafone customer service, I'm so exasperated.

I see in this community, there are many threads on poor customer service; has anyone managed to get a refund and/or apology for an incorrect charge to their account?

Precis of problem:

• Ordered phone upgrade online
• Vodafone addressed package incorrectly, so was returned by the postal depot (I never received it)
• Was told by customer service to go into Vodafone shop instead & upgrade face-to-face
• Paid for said 'new' upgrade in the store - all good so far
• Next bill, charge of £34.94 showing for phone that was returned by carrier, so phoned customer service
• Asked to prove that I'd returned phone - explained had never seen it as was returned by carrier due to incomplete address (Vodafone error)
• Had to wait until Vodafone could confirm receipt of phone
• Finally got this confirmation of return so asked for refund
• Advised refund would show in my account within 4 days
• No refund, so web chat with customer services (after 10 days - just in case slow refund process)
• Was advised that they're waiting for confirmation that I'd returned the phone - explained again that I didn't receive the phone due to Vodafone addressing package incorrectly advised
• Advised that I'd get a refund by the following Friday - no refund, so called again
• Advised that would get refund within 2 hours as operator could process it immediately & was told I'd receive £10 credit to my next bill for compensation - all good to go.....
• No refund - called customer service again. Told this time that refund release has been requested - will show in account in 5 days
• Asked why different to info given the day before - no answer
• Asked why refund has to take 5 days - was told that it's Vodafone process
• Questioned how Vodafone processes refunds - Swift/Bacs/Pigeon??? - Manager advises doesn't know
• Asked to speak with someone who does know - manager becomes very rude, telling me to wait 5 days as it's Vodafone process
• Asked 'WHY' - told that Vodafone have millions of customers
• Explained that it's 2017 & many companies have millions of customers but most are able to handle millions of transactions in any given day & systems available these days to process relative real-time monetary transactions 
• Was told to wait, like all other customers do & that "Your 1st call is history, it doesn't matter that you haven't got your refund yet, but you'll get it in 5 days"
• Questioned again the 2-hour timescale advised the day before
• Was told that refunds can take only 2 hours, or even 5 minutes, or up to 5 days.
• Requested that I could have that in writing, text message even
• Advised that that not possible, so I asked for himn to repeat the sentence, so I could record it - was cut off!

Yes, this is a rant, but I don't think an unreasonable rant....can't yet see any £10.00 compensation credit to my Vodafone account & will have to wait 5 days to see if refund hits my bank account & lost almost 3 hours of my life in total speaking with the most awful customer service operatives EVER.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @JFairchild

Your more than entitled to have a rant because of those sequence of events and the differing pieces of advice given !

We have a Customer Support Team here who read all posts and help where they can so please let them catch up with your post and I'm sure they'll help you with this situation if they can. 

Regarding the payment taken have you considered speaking with your Banks Customer Services to see if they can recover the monies on your behalf.

They may or may not be able to do this in your situation but it's not going to harm to ask. 

[AnnS]

Hi @JFairchild

When you are promised a refund, and your bill has already been generated for this months billing period, it is given by way of a billing credit and this will show on the following months bill, this will be the same with the £10.00 compensation credit.  However, Vodafone should send a text notification to let you the credits have been raised.

As far as the incorrect address is concerned, if Vodafone have not amended the details and to prevent an occurrence of the same problem, you need to make sure they have the correct address details.

This will probably sort itself out when you receive the following months bill and it is quite nice to know the credit is on the account and Vodafone will only collect anything above the credit.

The best way to get this solved and for you to get confirmation of the credits is through live chat.  That way, you will be able to download a transcript of the chat for your records.

[JFairchild]

Thank you - I have kept a copy of the web chat transcript - but the inaction meant 2 follow up calls.

The credit of the excess (illegal) charge should NOT go to my Vodafone bill, but be refunded to my bank account from which it was taken.

The compensation WILL hopefully be credited to my Vodafone account.

You don't seem to get it...you can't charge someone for something they've never had. I think that's called theft, is it not?

[Jenny]

You’re welcome @JFairchild.

Let us know your email reference number once sent (this will be sent in an auto reply and look like: ‘[#1698746]’) and we’ll check we’ve received it.

[JFairchild]

Many thanks, all resolved. 

Refund received at last

[Tash]

That's great to hear @JFairchild!

If there's anything we can help with in the future, please don't hesitate to let us know and we'll be happy to help.

[Jenny]

@JFairchild - I’m sorry to hear what’s happened.

So we can look into this further, I’ve sent you a private message with instructions on how to get in touch.