Lied to by Vodafone regarding a sim only plan

[Lee1986]

Hello

I need some advice. I was given a new number by Vodafone at the start of my contract a few years ago which turns out was a number used by a taxi company. Getting phone calls every day was understandably annoying me so I complained. Was told by Vodafone that I had to ask google to get rid of the listing of my number as a taxi. At the end of my contract last week I complained about this again and they offered to let me upgrade a week only to a sim only which against my better judgement I accepted. I was told by the phone operator that they would could give me an £22 a month sim only for 20GB and this would be before I ask for the advantage employees discounted added. I asked a few times for them to confirm this and they said yes. I've found out today when i checked myvodafone app that I have been put on a £35 a month plan. What rights do I have as they have clearly lied to me? I feel like the customer service is appalling. 

[BandOfBrothers]

You have a 30 day Network Satisfaction Guarantee to cancel the upgrade and revert back or even go to Payg @Lee1986

In regards to discount Vodafone cannot lower the set tariff amount so they add the discount at the bottom of the bill. 

[jeffkinn]

I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is that the £35 plan is discounted down to £22 - I have exactly the same plan and each month a £13 discount is applied to the bill.

The bad news is that this plan is NOT eligible for the Vodafone Employee Discount scheme as it already has a discount applied to it. So you will pay £22 but you won't get it any lower than that and to expect to pay £15.40 for 20GB (that's what the VEA would net down to if it were applied) is not realistic.

Vodafone does not make it at all clear that the promotional offers include a discount and this is something they really should address.

[Lee1986]

For me the real issue is lying to a customer to get them to sign up for another 12 months. I understand what you are saying but for me to ask several times to confirm this and the reason I was put on the £22 plan instead of the £25 for 25gb deal was because the operator insisted to me that I could discount it. I actually asked for the £25 deal originally. am I right in thinking all phone calls to Vodafone are recorded? If so at least I will be proven right. 

[jeffkinn]

They are recorded I believe. The £25gb deal is also promotional and not subject to a further discount.

[wwhyte92]

Hi Lee1986,

Can I ask, did you specifically ask when upgrading whether you would be able to get the Vodafone Advantage Scheme discount? And if so, did you do so over Live Chat and therefore have a record of the conversation?

I was in the same boat a few months ago and eventually after continuing to push on Customer Services, managed to get the price plan down to the amount I expected to pay with VEA applied. As others have already said, a second discount cannot be added to the same account, so they ended up increasing my previous discount by the amount the VEA would have been.

You'll meet a lot of resistance but I would strongly advise persivering if you have the proof that you were told the discount could be applied at point of sale. If you don't have the proof it will be difficult to evidence and you might be met with a very strong 'No'.

In terms of the recording of calls, not all calls are recorded and any that are are only kept for 60 days. So if you are going to request the call do it sooner rather than later. Though it is highly unlikely that they will send you the voice recording without lodging an official Request For Personal Information (which costs £10).

[Lee1986]

Thankyou for your response. I did specifically ask if I could add the discount to that price £22. The only evidence is the phone call which I have been advised by vodafone has been recorded. Seems the best way forward for me is to pay the money for the evidence and go from there. 

Geniunely thankyou for your response, you seemed to be one of the very few who has seen it from my point of view. 

[Alex]

@Lee1986 We'd like to look into this with you 🙂

As we'll need to access your account to assist with your query, please contact us using the information in the private message I've sent. 

[graham72]

I've got a similar story.

Got VEA and asked for it to be applied to a 20GB plan in March. I was on a £13/month from Three and didn't want to pay much more. Went for the £19/month plan which worked out at 0.7x19 =£13.30. I did all this in store. Then found out I was wrongly advised as the VEA didn't come off my bill as "the plan was already discounted".

After going back to the store various times, the advisor who set me up managed to correct things  (less data though) by putting me on a 16GB plan with 40% discount. This was fine for the first few months then it increased to £19.20 as that plan then jumped in cost £32  and 40% of that is £19.20! Again after considerable time I managed to get credit added to my account through online chat. This credit will only get used after the next bill is "generated"  - two weeks before the money leaves an account. Luckily, I have enough time on my contract for this credit to get all used up.

Vodafone's billing system is a mess and will continue to be as such as long as they have the madness of temporarily discounted plans. I'll be going back to Three when my contract ends.

Looking at their sim only offers now, there is only one plan with >4GB data that is eligible for discount and no doubt that will change soon and the people getting a discount on it will only get that discount for a while.