It is one m*** up after another with these cowboys! (as someone edited my title!!)

[jonb]

Due to repeated and ongoing issues, consistent lack of customer service, and repeated broken promises (I would even go as far as saying deliberate lies in some instances), Vodafone finally agreed to release me from contract early if they could not fix the latest issue in a week.

I gave them 3 weeks, to resolve the issue (the issue itself is  irrelevant now), which they failed to do so. So we agreed to part company

I checked, and doubled checked. There will be no early termination fees. There will be no hidden charges of any kind. We will email you your final bill (as i will not be able to access My Vodafone as the account will be closed)

Nov 13 I get an email saying my final bill is ready and the amount is almost 4 times my usual amount. To see the details i a, to log on to My Vodafone to download my bill! Which of course i cannot. 

After multiple chat and phone calls, including asking me for my bank account details (which i refused to disclose) my final bill is emailed to me. There is a one off fee for about £200, but no explanation of what it is for.

So more time on phone/chat to be told it is an early release fee, as i still had time on my contract. I exploded!

So, early  termination fee finally removed, and i requested a revised bill, because i simply do not believe it is sorted. Gentleman refuses to send, stating i will get it in December. I am not prepared to wait until Dec, this has already gone on far too long. If he is not prepared/able to do it, please get someone who can to contact me.

He explains there is no process allowing him to do that. I point out that there is, as it has been done many times before. He still maintains he cannot/will-not

So, yet more calls, and yet more verification processes - I have now asked 3 times if we cannot go down the PIN route, and been told 3 times that there is no PIN on my account, as my account is closed.

Told a new bill with the corrections has been emailed to me, and he will ring back in 30 mins. I ask about what is happening with the money Vodafone now owe me. he asks me how much that is, and I say "it will be on the final bill you have just emailed me, but I have not received that yet!"

Needless to say, 1 hour later i am back on the phone as neither the promised revised bill, nor the promised phone call have materialised. 

For verification i am now asked for part of my PIN! So a number of people have stated (verbally or in writing) that there is no PIN on my account - not that they have not been given that option, or anything such as that, but categorically that there is no PIN as my account is closed!

 This person states that there is no revised bill being sent, and i am to wait until Dec 12th. At this point i requested a formal complaint be raised about the previous employee who had apparently blatantly lied to me about the actions he had taken.

 I have been promised the revised bill tomorrow. But I am pretty confident that i will not hear a thing from Vodafone tomorrow as a) I doubt a formal complaint has actually been raised, and the complaint reference number is probably just made up b) Vodafone have not removed the incorrect charges c) Vodafone will expect me to go through this whole farce again in the middle of December to get another incorrect bill

 If you have it in your power to move away from this disaster of a company, then all I can advise you to do is to take it. It really is not worth your time and money having to deal with them

 This will be raised with Offcom (following proper process).

[Colleen]

@jonb I'm sorry to hear about what's happened regarding your account. 

If there's anything you'd like clarification on or further help with, please see the private message I've sent you, with details on how to get in touch.

[jonb]

Colleen, thank you will respond soon.

However, unsuprisingy no one contacted me today as i was promised, nor have i received the revised bill i have been promised twice.

it almost appears pathalogical with Vodafone, their ablity to make promises they fail to fulfil.

[Colleen]

@jonb I'm very sorry to hear you were expecting a callback and this wasn't fulfilled. Please make sure to tell the adviser who picks up your email about this - they'll be able to feed it back.

[Makelo]

 I can't help but feel this has the makings of a drawn out epic, unfortunately not it a good way.

 What the agent told you about having to wait until the next bill to see what happens is, in my experience anyway, what you will need to do. As far as I can tell Vodafone have no ability to manually create bills mid-cycle.  What makes this process even worse is that should you be in credit there is no automatic repayment of that credit via direct debit. Unlike every other company who utilise direct debits in both directions, with Vodafone you have to ask for it and they will manually process it which can take another week.

If you agreed there would be no termination fee over the phone, put them on notice now that you want that phone call recording listened to as part of your complaint and retained so the ombudsman can listen to it should it need to go that far.  They may still delete the call anyway but that should only enhance your complaint with the ombudsman.

Other than suggesting you keep detailed logs of calls/chat dates, times and names, I would also back up your complaint by letter sent recorded delivery. That will give you definitive dates to work with regarding your complaint and when you can take this to the ombudsman.

I wish you well.

[152bobby]

Based on past experience with customer services, I ALWAYS ask the Vodafone rep for their identification, for example,  their full name or company number, it's the least they can do, even if it's a coded dummy name to us, but is recognised within Vodafone.

I always get a emailed copy of the live chat, should I use that method, however, I do feel that the vodafone live chat reps are VERY limited on what they can actually help with and what they are allowed to do, so in  most cases I find them polite , but not that helpful.

In some instances, I have informed the vodafone rep that I am recording the conversation, for future reference.

PS: sorry about the underlined text, I can't seem to turn it off !!!

[jonb]

@152bobby - yes, i usually (but not alwyas I admit) ask for a name or id, but i do always get the transcirpt of any web chats sent to me.

Not that the web chats appears to make any difference. if i am told something in a web chat which later turns out to be untrue, it was a misunderstanding/mistake/miscommunication according to the next person.

But i agree, the people on the end of the webchats do  appear (at least in my experience) to be very limited on what they can actually achieve. I would say any issue usually took 10 or more calls/webchats, and each of those 

typically took at least 1 hour each.

In the worst case (getting conference calling to work) it was well over 50 phone calls, webchats, emails, and visits to stores before finally one person knew what to do and got it sorted. Only for other people to then repeatedly undo her good work and remove the feature - so another 20 or more webchats, phone calls, vists to stores before Vodafone stopped messing about.

[jonb]

@ Makelo

I agree, it is likley going to be a long, drawn out process. Everything is with Vodafone: over 4 months to get Conference calling to work, Over a year to get WiFi calling to work, over a month for Vodafone to fail to get Bill to Vodafone working; Over 3 months to repair a handset under warantee, ...

Confirmation there would be no early termination fee was made verbally and on web chat, yet still Vodafone add it to my bill. Gurantee that my final bill would be emailed (as i would not be able to access My Vodafone) was in a Webchat transcript i have, yet Vodafone fail to do this, and it takes multiple webchats and calls before the do send it.

I have been told verblly by 2 seperate people that a revised bill has or will-be sent, yet still no bill.

I am keeping records now (some of the early communication via phone i do not have though). Have now requested twice either revised bill or deadlock letter (so i can start ADR through Ombudsman Services) by specific dates. Unsuprisingly Vodafone have failed to provide either.

[Tash]

I can see we've received your latest email @jonb.

We'll be in touch to discuss this further as soon as possible.

[jonb]

OK, this is really getting silly now.

I have been told by two separate people at Vodafone that a corrected bill either has been sent, or will be sent. I have also been told that no corrected bill for Nov can be sent, and I have to wait until Dec. I have made it clear I will not wait until Dec, as this has already gone on far too long. I am not prepared to restart the whole process of being told there is a bill and to log onto My Vodafone. Having to make repeated calls/webchats to get someone to email me the Dec bill. And I am pretty confident that when I do eventually get my Dec bill, it will still be wrong.

Vodafone say I am to take their email as confirmation that it is now sorted. This is despite been told: verbally and/or in writing that

• I would not be charged an early termination fee, as Vodafone were unable to fix the issue in an agreed time. Yet I was charged it.
• That I was told that my final bill would be emailed to me, yet it wasn’t, and Vodafone made it difficult for me to obtain
• On multiple occasions I am told that someone would get back to me, yet no one does.

If the roles were reversed, and I were to repeatedly fail to do something I guaranteed/promised/confirmed/… such as pay my bill, Would Vodafone believe me the next time I said it? (rhetorical) But they expect me to take their word that this time they have got it right.

So come on Vodafone (if you are reading this). I have suggested 2 options to finish this matter, or at least to progress it. Yet you (Vodafone) just keep going in the same, tired circles.

As to the formal complaint I have raised. Well, it is no surprise to me that Vodafone have so far failed to provide any information on it, despite my requests.

I really do not understand how Vodafone continues to operate if they treat all their customers to only a fraction of the appalling level of Customer Service I have received.