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I would like to convey my disappointment at my first experience with Vodafone UK. I will share my experience with you.
29th April 2009 (4pm)
Attended a Vodafone shop in Bracknell and advised them I would like to take up a mobile broadband contract that I had seen on the Vodafone website. After speaking to an extremely rude lady that worked there who tried to convince me that the plan did not exist, I dealt with Aaron who was much more helpful. After telling him what I required, he arranged the 'Mobile BB Small Bus 30d' plan, however he didn't know how to put it through the register and asked me to come back in 20 minutes so he could telephone his manager and sort it out. I returned at about 4.35pm and we completed the transaction.
30th April 2009
Loaded the Vodafone Mobile Connect software and plugged in the USB stick. I noticed the that USB Modem light stayed red, but didn't have time to look into it as I was moving house - the whole reason for getting 'mobile' broadband.
1st May 2009 (Aprox 11am)
After moving house to the other side of London, I tried to use my mobile broadband but it wouldn't connect. The lights on the Vodafone modem were still red - according to the manual these should be blue - so I contacted Vodafone support on 191 as the manual said. I got through to Tech Support and spoke to an Ashley from Customer Service. Ashley told me that I had to return to the store to get it sorted as the account hasn't been set up correctly. I explained to him that this was not possible as I had now moved to the other side of London. He said and I quote "there was nothing he could do" and proceeded to end the conversation. Once again I explained that I would not attend the original shop and I offered to fax him the invoice so he had something to work with. He agreed and said he would call me back once he had the fax. I faxed the invoice (like most people, I didn't have a fax machine, so needed to walk down the street for 10 minutes until I found a place that would send it) at about 12:30pm and waited for a phone call.
After waiting until 4.30pm, I could wait no longer and called back Vodafone. I got through to someone in Tech Support who brought up my details on the screen and could see the note from Ashely. He put my on hold while he went to look for Ashley, but returned to tell me that there was nobody there by the name of Ashley even though the Vodafone system had a note entered on the system by an infamous Ashley!!
After once again explaining the problem, this guy told me that the SIM had not being activated and that he would do that over the phone and within an hour the light will turn blue. We ended the conversation and after a few minutes the modem flashed blue as expected.
2nd and 3rd May 2009
Opened up the Vodafone Mobile Connect software and tried to connect to the Internet. Error - RAS error code 635. Now I'm a Microsoft Certifed Systems Engineer and have 10+ years in IT support, so I've seen my share of COM port issues and conflicts. I tried all the regular things - change COM ports, check driver levels, reinstall drivers, download latest version of vodafone software from website, reinstall software many times, try to create manual dial-up connection, etc etc. Spent 2 days trying to get it working but no luck.
4th May 2009
Spend 2 hours on the phone with Vodafone technical support, going through exactly what I had done the previous 2 days. After 2 hours, the support person hadzno further ideas and said that a 2nd level engineer would need to call back, however it was a bank holiday and they wouldn't be available until the next day. The tech promised to call between 3.30pm and 4.30pm.
5th May 2009
I headed home early to wait for my Vodafone call. By 4.40, I could no longer wait, so called Vodafone technical support. After getting transferred to 3 different departments, I spoke to a lady who looked up my case and put me on hold while she chased up some further information. After being on hold for exactly 2 hours my phone hung up - looks like it has a maximum of 2 hour calls. I knew that nobody would believe my about being on hold for that long, so I recorded it and took photos of my mobile phone's timer.
After phoning and being on hold for another 30 minutes, I spoke to support again, who this time told me that I would need to now go into a store so I could try another modem - brilliant - now that it's 7pm, I have to wait until tomorrow.
6th May 2009
Attended the Tooting Bec store. After waiting 40 minutes in line, I thought that it was going to be a disastrous day however I was pleasantly surprise. I spoke to Nigel who quickly identified the issue - the SIM card was set up on the wrong 'price plan' on the Vodafone system - nothing wrong with my hardware, nothing wrong with the configuration of my laptop! Nigel had it sorted and running within about 30 minutes - I'd wasted 6 days of my life dealing with Vodafone technical support who obviously hadn't bothered to check the basics. I would be very hesitant to use or recommended Vodafone UK after this experience.
At least you got a blue light on your modem, that's more than a lot of us ever get
Changing my username to 2g-user
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Hi Danovich,
Wow.
That has not been the best of experiences for you, for which I can only apologise, however I am glad to hear that the cause of the issue was finally identified for you.
Can you just advise if this has worked and you're all resolved? Given the false dawn with the blue light I'd rather make sure that everything is now OK than simply assume.
If there is any further issue with the service, or if this is still reoccurring, please get straight back to us here and we will be happy to assist and take direct ownership of the issue for you.
In the meantime, whilst I note from your post that you have a high level of technical knowledge, you may also find some useful specifics regarding Vodafone services on our Mobile Broadband Help thread.
DaveN
eForum Team
Wow.
That has not been the best of experiences for you, for which I can only apologise, however I am glad to hear that the cause of the issue was finally identified for you. Can you just advise if this has worked and you're all resolved? Given the false dawn with the blue light I'd rather make sure that everything is now OK than simply assume.
If there is any further issue with the service, or if this is still reoccurring, please get straight back to us here and we will be happy to assist and take direct ownership of the issue for you.
In the meantime, whilst I note from your post that you have a high level of technical knowledge, you may also find some useful specifics regarding Vodafone services on our Mobile Broadband Help thread.
DaveN
eForum Team
