Clarity needed - Note 4 stock and confused customer services staff!

[chaos_1234]

I upgraded on a great deal on the 21st November for the Note 4 and was told my phone would be with me in 2-4 working days. I received the phone on 27th November however, the seal on it had been broken and the box was in a bad state. From experience I decided that rather than keeping the handset I should contact Vodafone and arrange for an exchange.

I rang them straight away and explained the condition of the box and was told to ring again on 2nd December to arrange for the exchange as they had no Note 4s in stock and were expecting a delivery on Tuesday. 

I rang 191 around 8.30am on Tuesday morning only to be told that the stock would update around midday so to ring at 12ish. So I rang again at 12 and was now told that the delivery hadn't come (!!) and I should ring again around 3/4ish when the stock list will update. Can you see the pattern here? Again at 3ish I was told that I had previously been misinformed and another rubbish excuse. I rang a final time and the advisor very kindly rang the warehouse for me (well she claimed to...) and said that Samsung had not delivered anything today and it should come sometime tomorrow. I was also told to expect a call from her tomorrow as soon as the delivery came in. 

Obviously the call didn't come as this was another way of fobbing me off.

I don't really mind being told fibs about the delivery etc, however, what has really frustrated me is the different things I have been advised regarding my contract.

1) I have done my duty and called within the cooling period so I can just "relax" now as the ball is in Vodafone's court. As soon as stock is available Vodafone will arrange for the exchange to happen - and it doesn't matter if this is after the 14 days. 

2) If I am not able to arrange for an exchange by the 11th (end of cooling off period) then I will have to send the phone back as a return.... (not sure what the consequences of this were on my contract/phone as the advisor sounded very annoyed and happy to get shot of my call). 

3) I have to now cancel my upgrade and return the phone within the cooling off period, and then ring again and re-upgrade my contract (not being guaranteed the deal I was offered). 

After becoming frustrated with 191 I tried the live chat - and no surprises here the woman had no idea what she was saying, didn't email me the transcript ( I had to screen shot it all) and also was very patronising.

"You can expect it within 4 working days"

"Don't worry this has been now communicated to our dedicated sales team and they've taken this on top priority" (Whatever that means)

"Yes, I might get it on Tuesday"

All I want is someone from Vodafone to tell me what the way forward is as surely the four statements above can't all be right!! I'm sick of hearing different stories and being lied to.

I don't mind cancelling my upgrade if I can be guaranteed the same deal when I "re-upgrade", and if that also ensures that I receive a Note 4 within two weeks. 

I would also appreciate some clarity regarding the whole 14 days cooling off period. What will happen if the exchange hasn’t happened by the 11th? Do I lose the right to get a new one? The phone is sitting unused/ unopened in the box.

I will be calling once more tomorrow as I have been told that deliveries come in on Thursday too, however, I don’t expect any different responses.

I never dealt with customer services at Vodafone before so took the warnings with a pinch of salt. Lesson learned. Thanks in advance for any help.

[gram1210]

I'm not in the same boat but I too feel your pain with the 191 service.

I was phoned by Vodafone on Tuesday and offered an early upgrade so I chose the Note 4. I wasn't offered a colour choice but was told that it would be with me in a couple of days. I was also told I would receive an e-mail with all of the upgrade and order details (which I am STILL waiting for). I have phoned 191 about 3 times now for an update and was finally given my order number this afternoon, at the same time as being told that there is definitely a delivery of Note 4s tonight. The Vodafone webstore seems to corroborate this story as the delivery timescales have reduced from 1-2 weeks to 2-4 working days.

Vodafone please sort out your communications - I would have thought this is quite important for a Telecomms giant!!

[chaos_1234]

Hope your phone arrives in a good condition.

I've just been told another thing by vodafone chat! (I went to ask if they could confirm stock but alas, no such luck).

Voda Chat: " Don't worry we will extend your cooling off period but make sure you haven't use this phone"

At least the guy had the decency to then back track and say he will check with the returns team tomorrow... Not holding my breath. 

I don't understand why it's so hard for them to give a definite answer for this question?!

[Retired-Laura]

Hi @chaos_1234

I’m sorry to hear of this experience.

Has this now been resolved?

If not, get in touch with us here.

Cheers,

Hi @gram1210

If you’re still waiting for the phone to be delivered, you can track your order here.

Cheers,

Laura

[gram1210]

Laura,

Initially the problem was that I wasn't given an order number for 2 days, despite repeatidly asking for it. Now that I do have it, and I have been very regularly checking the online order tracking service, it is 'stuck' on Stage 3. Apparently my order has been packaged and it waiting for the courier to collect it.

If this is actually the case, I would suggest Vodafone need to find an alternative courier to DPD as they are not effectively managing their service. However, I don't believe for one second the phone has been packaged. I strongly believe there is a stock issue, granted these things do happen. It would be nice for Vodafone to actually admit it and to tell the affected customers to manage their expectations, rather than hundreds of people anxiously awaiting their shiny new toy and constantly ringing the call centres, clogging telephone lines for everyone else.

It's not rocket science to provide good customer service - just plain lazyness from the management.

@Laura, I know this isn't your fault in the slightest, nor any one particular person at Vodafone. There must be someone though that knows how much stock there actually is of these devices, and also how long the 'waiting list' is. It would be nice to know that my phone will actually arrive in (for arguements sake) exactly 5 days instead of being told "I'm sure it's being sent out tonight" everyday for a week.

[Retired-Ian_]

Hi @gram1210 

I can understand your frustration about this.

So we can get help, please get in touch.

Thanks,

Ian

[gram1210]

My phone has arrived today - my box seals were also broken however there appears to be nothing missing from inside, although I cannot be sure if there is any damage yet.

[kaytronika]

Looks like I came to this party late.

Ordered last night 2-4 days delivery.

Today I get told it's out of stock, still says 2-4 days delivery on the site.

Hoping that means it's only just out of stock, but we'll see!

EDIT: Yep, looks like it was, allocated stock yesterday, despatched last night and being delivered in the next hour. Another painless upgrade with VF so far!

[PeteSullivan]

On the 18/12 they definayely had stock of the black model (was the only colour in stock) I ordered a black one and it was with me first thing this morning, so it a +1 for that.

As for 191 that is definately a -99, internally Vodafone to to either start making monitoring calls or listen to more recordings.  I am sure they know it goes on, but not to the extent it does and web chat is no better.