Stolen Phone/Bad Service - Still unresovled

[Dannyfleming]

I was on a rolling contract for quite some time and decided to upgrade my phone with Vodafone as they we’re offering quite a competitive deal at the time. I updated the contract via a phone call on 9th January 2015. The phone was upgraded to an Iphone 5S Gold 16Gig. However as I was house sitting for my Grandmother at the time I changed the delivery address to her address. Unfortunately when the phone was apparently delivered I wasn’t in. There was no DPD non-delivery note left through the door. I waited several days and decided to phone Vodafone to gain a tracking number to track my order, after using this on the DPD website I found out that my parcel was actually signed for by my neighbough bough, who then said somebody already came for the handset. 

This then basically made the phone ‘stolen’ so I reported it to the Police force and also Vodafone who said that it was not there fault and DPD’s fault, after calling DPD they denied this and said they we’re delivering the goods on Vodafones behalf and they could not start an investigation until Vodafone(Their Client) Started it as I was not a direct client of DPD. After several lengthy(1-3 hour phone calls) the investigation was started, after previously being told by several advisors the investigation was underway which was suppose to take 3-5 working days, I called back to check the progress and had been told on several separate dates the investigation wasn’t actually started. Eventually it was.. 

The investigation was finally complete a massive 1 and a 1/2 months after originally stated. Now only to lead Vodafone to say the phone will not be replaced as its not there fault and I should “sort it out with my neighbough”. This however is a problem as I am now at University 8 hours away from the delivery address. I decided to go into the local branch to be told by the manager it was ‘my fault’ for not specifying not to leave it with a neighbough. When ordering expensive items I’ve never known this to be the case, is this new? (I do a lot of online shopping and it goes back to the depo) during the same day I spent 4 hours in the store on the phone to customer services yet again which eventually lead me to speak to a very nice senior manager who offered to replace the phone finally after a good 1 and a half hours on hold,on the condition that it was delivered to my local branch, which I was thrilled with as you can imagine as I’ve been on a £8.00 courtesy phone(which I'm still paying for a smart phone contract) for a good 2 months now, only to be told the next day when I went to receive the phone with my identification in hand, that there was no order notes left on my account and I was back at square one..

Truly abysmal service and I geniuelly feel cheated, has anybody been in a similar situation? The advisor told me it would be close to £1000 to cancel my contract, so now I’m left paying for a contract for a phone which I never received…

P.S. There has been several times I have been hung up on on Live chat(Which I have a transcript for) and also Calls numerous times. 

I wonder if this email actually gets anywhere with this company.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi

I'm a fellow customer not Vodaphone officially.

However.

Until you have signed for the handset to accept receipt of the handset the onus is on the Network with the Courier company to sort out the red tape between them ,and to supply you with the phone of choice.

The phone will have been imei blocked now I suspect so its no use to anyone in the Uk.

If this was my situation I would

A, Log a formal complaint with Vodaphone through their complaint process. Both by call and any online form.

B, Copy this complaint to the courier company even tho my contract is with the Network not them. So the courier company is aware of my resolve.

C, Ask for a goodwill gesture from the Network as I'd not been able to utilise all the allowances as my account would support. Ie Little or no use of my data allowance.

[Dannyfleming]

Thank you for the reply and intrest. Its just been awful service from day one and I have already started the process of following your steps, hopefully something will come of it.

Its a real big inconvience as you can imagine especially living away from home for universty requiring a phone to contact home including skype etc awful service so far hence coming to try these online forums. 

Thanks for your advice, much appreciated!

[Jenny]

Hi @Dannyfleming

I’m sorry to hear what’s happened.

I’ve sent you a private message with instructions on how to get in touch, so we can look into this further.

We aim to reply to emails within 48 hours. If you need a quicker response, please visit our Contact Us page.

Thanks,

Jenny

y

[Dannyfleming]

Im truely disguisted at the service I've had with you guys, hopefully this will be sorted once and for all..

Thanks for your fairly brisk response to my "Question" though. Email sent.

Danny

[BandOfBrothers]

You're Welcome.

It's obviously not a straightforward forward 'lost' handset as your neighbour has signed for the phone. It's puzzling how they would then release the phone they have signed for to someone who's name is not on it. I assume they know them ?

I certainly wouldn't hand over a parcel to someone I didn't recognise and nor would I initially sign for it if I didn't know / recognise the neighbour.

I hope this resolves reasonably for all parties.