Complaint about customer service and network

[sramsdale90]

Hello, 

I have writte a complaint to vodafone about the service I have received over the last few weeks. Can anyone help with an email address to send it to? Or am I best to post it? 

The complaint can be seen below: 

"I am writing this complaint as quite honestly I feel let down by the network and very disappointed in the service (or lack of) I have received in the last few weeks. I will outline below the recent events that have left me dissatisfied with the network:

1) My phone was stolen on 12th August whilst I was abroad. Whilst being very distressed, I still managed to use my sister's phone to call up Vodafone and report the device stolen, and request a block to be put on my SIM card. This call was at 03.00 am GMT.

When I arrived home and went in to the store to sort out a new phone, I was informed that there were charges of over £400 on my account. With further investigation it turned out these calls were made at 07.23 am. Seeing as I cancelled the SIM at 03.00 am, I was confused as to how these calls were possible, but trusted the employee in the store who assured me I would not be responsible for these charges. 

2) On the 22nd August I received an email from Vodafone stating that I was responsible for £100 of these extra charges as I phoned up after the calls were made. However, as I called up at 03.00 am and the calls were made at 07.23 am I was very confused as to how this happened. 

I phoned up 191 on the same day and expressed my confusion and concern. I was told that the block wasn't actually put on the account until later that day, resulting in these charges, despite the fact that I phoned up as soon as I noticed my phone missing (and definitely before the logged calls were made). I explained the situation and the timings, and I was told that they would put a note on my account to make sure I wouldn't have to pay these charges. 

3) 24th August. Imagine my surprise then when I received a bill on my account of over £500.  I phoned up 191 again and spoke to an employee (the first helpful one I came across!!) and he told me he would cancel the charges and would phone me back confirming this (which he did). 

I was only confident that I would not be responsible for these charges once the bill had come and gone from my account. 

In the meantime... 

4) I went into store on 16th August to get my new handset and SIM. My account was due an upgrade so I chose a new phone and set it up. I was assured my number would be transferred to my new SIM and that it would work within 24 hours. 

24 hours came and went and I still wasn't receiving any service on my handset.

5) I phoned 191 on 17th August and expressed my concern about the lack of network service. I was told to wait 24 hours.

6) 18th August - phone still had no service. I phoned up again and was told that because my previous SIM was blocked it would take longer to transfer over. I was told that a note would be put on my account and to wait 24 hours. 

7) 19th August, still no service!! I went in store an expressed my disappointment and concern. They were helpful and gave me a temporary SIM and told me to wait until Monday (22nd) when the pay monthly SIM should be connected.

😎 22nd August - Pay monthly SIM STILL not working! Went in store and they gave me a new pay monthly SIM with my old number which worked straight away. I left the store thinking this whole debacle was finally over. (After having no network coverage for a week which I was essentially paying for..) 

9) On Wednesday 7th September my phone suddenly stopped having service (AGAIN!). I phoned up 191 as soon as I could and explained. The employee talked me through some common fixes, none of which worked. I was told that she would do something to my account which should make it work and to wait 24 hours. 

10) 24 hours later, 8th September, still no service. I rang up again and was told it was because there were 2 SIMs active on my account. He said he could not fix it but would escalate the problem and I should expect it to be working within 48 hours.

11) 72 hours later I still had no service on my phone. At this point I am feeling incredibly angry, disappointed and let down by Vodafone, and quite frankly want to terminate this whole contract. I went in store and explained my disappointment. The employee went on my account and could see that the escalation was requested, but nothing had been done in response to this escalation request. He phoned 191 from the store and from what I understand was not met with much help. He gave me a new SIM and told me to wait 72 hours. ( I am still waiting....)

My main points of complaint here are: 

1) I have had a total of 12 days in the last 28 days that I have not been able to use my phone as I should. I have been paying for services which have been not been made available to me, through no fault of my own. 

2) I have been told to "wait x hours" several times in this whole process and have not actually received the help/ service I have needed in the time frame I was given. In fact, the only SIM card that has worked in this whole process worked immediately, so I don't understand why customers are being told to wait when it is evident a SIM can work immediately. 

3) The number of times I have been told a note has been put on my account about a particular issue, and then have had to explain the situation again to the next employee I speak to has wasted a lot of my time, and surely a lot of time of your employees. Maybe if these notes were clear and comprehensive, your employees could spend less time going over the same conversations, and more time actually fixing problems. 

The outcomes I would like from this process: 

1) Ultimately I would like to get out of the contract. It has been less than 30 days so if possible I would like to terminate my contract with no repercussions so I don't have to deal with Vodafone again. 

2) I would like a refund of the money I have paid for the days I have had no service. 

As far as I understand, both of these outcomes should be possible, under Clause 10 of the Pay Monthly terms and conditions. 

I would appreciate a fast and fair response from Vodafone, and look forward to hearing from you. Please reply by email as I have no service on my mobile phone."

Thanks for your help. 

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @sramsdale90

Vodafone do not have an email address for complaints. 

You can raise your complaint via the ways in Vodafone Code of Practice.

Also the postal address is  

Customer Relations Manager
Vodafone Limited
The Connection
Newbury
Berkshire
RG14 2FN

Perhaps send as Recorded Delivery. 

[kids]

@sramsdale90 We have seen posts in the past where when one sim is waiting activation and another sim is issued and activated the system gets confused as it is still trying to activate the first sim and then lo and behold neither sim works.

When you phoned to report your sim stolen did you also ask that the IMEI number of the phone be blocked so nobody else can make use of it?

Your story does demonstrate to some extent the importance of putting a simlock on the phone so that anyone removing the sim and try and use it in another phone will find the sim needs a passcode. Of course that will not be of any help if when the phone is lost / stolen it was either switched on or does not require a passcode to use it. Did the handset itself require a passcode to use it?