Text and Web freebee

[woodstockthree]

Hi - can someone answer my question below? The staff on Facebook keep trying to refer me to live chat and I have "experienced" that before. I don't need anyone to refer to my account - it has been corrected, compensated and a fault raised (allegedly). But I think the person I spoke to has given me incorrect information and so I am trying to get clarification. Copied and pasted post shown below:

Hello. I have a question. I have the text and Web freebee with 500mb data and so many texts as long as I top up at least £10 within that 30 days. I have had occasions where the bundle has not rolled over although I have complied by topping up the required amount and each time I have phoned and got the bundle reactivated and a promise that it will be investigated and it won't happen again.

It has happened again this month and I have had to wait up after a 12 hour night shift to wait for you to open at 0800 to phone and sort it out. The gentleman I spoke to has refunded the credit I wouldn't have used if it had been in place as well as extra data and texts - thanks for this. He has also raised it as a fault to find out why it keeps happening and apparently it won't happen again - we will see.

However he said that I have to top up when I get the text that the bundle is about to expire and that credit added during the month does not count. I do not feel this is correct as I know some months I have topped up £10 during the month and it has rolled over, also some months I have topped up £10 for two or more weeks and this has resulted in the additional texts for topping up an increased amount. In fact when the last bundle expired, I actually did what he said, ie i got the text saying the bundle would expire, I topped up the day before it expired, but it didn't roll over. A subsequent top up of £10 I made the following week did not reactivate it either. It was only during my night shift at about 0300 today that I checked my balance and realised the total was lower than it should be and that there were no data/texts remaining.

It is not always convenient for me to top up on a specific day due to my shifts and as I said, this has never been the case before, and credit added during the month has counted towards ensuring the bundle rolls over as it should do.

Please don't suggest a contract - I had one with you many years ago and it was a nightmare and reading the posts here, things have not improved. However I would be grateful if someone could clarify the conditions regarding when to top up and by how much as I don't think I have been given the correct advice. I have used this bundle for many years and have always been able to top up when I need to and have the bundle roll over as planned (except for a few occasions every so often where it appears to fail and I have to ring you).

I look forward to your reply. Thanks.

[Amanda]

Hi @woodstockthree

Thanks for getting back to us, though I'm sorry to hear you're still having issues. 

We'll need to check your account, to see what's going on. 

Please follow the instructions that I've sent to you in a private message, with details on how to get in touch.

Thanks, 

[Annie_N]

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@woodstockthree wrote:
 it seemed a bit naughty to put me on something that would have cost me 5.00 next month if I hadn't noticed 

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On reflection, I wonder if they accidentally gave you the wrong product. I've had a compensatory bundle a couple of times when things have gone wrong, and it displayed as a "Loyalty Bundle (free of charge)" - so no question of it renewing at a cost once it had expired.

[woodstockthree]

Hi Amanda, done that. I've been on a night shift all night and then spent 30 minutes on the phone to South Africa so I'm going to bed :-). Thanks.

[Amanda]

Hi @woodstockthree

Thanks for getting back to us. 

I've checked your email address registered to the forum, but I can't see that we've received an email from you. 

If you've used a different email address, please let us know the reference number, it'll look like this [#1523456] and we'll check we've got it. 

Thanks, 

[Annie_N]

Hi @woodstockthree

It would be worth submitting your details as set out in the PM from Amanda, as the Forum Tech Team are excellent sleuths, and can spot issues that the main CS team sometimes miss.

As you work nights, do make sure that you specify a suitable range of times for one of the Team to contact you - they don't just work 9-5, but have a rota involving early and late sessions, so there must be some times when they'd overlap with your availability.

[woodstockthree]

Hi - I've just got up again now and found these comments and also a voicemail but I'm not sure if she said she would phone again. She did say regarding the email so hopefully mine got through. I've finished work now so should be easier to contact. Thanks.

[woodstockthree]

I've now woken up a bit and copied and pasted the post into a message and sent it with the code etc. As I said, I am pretty much available now so if someone wants to ring that would be great. I was told on the phone this morning that the tech team don't phone but there has to be a better way than going from month to month like this when it should be automatic. This has been going on for longer than this month/last month - I've had problems with it not renewing before and it has been fixed, has been ok for a few months and then goes again. But the lady on the phone seemed to think I could drop everything ie work, sleep etc to go out and do a top up when I cannot drive (you can't when you are visually impaired) and so I normally do this at the supermarket. The other suggestion was to buy a voucher from the Vodafone store and keep it to use on the day which seems a bit daft when we have swipe cards/e top up etc. Thanks in advance

[Annie_N]

@woodstockthree

As I mentioned, my T&W Freebie was due to expire at the end of yesterday, and the new one was in place by the time I checked my phone at 6.30 this morning - off a £10 top-up on 8 March, if my records are correct.

So it looks as though Live Chat corrected the problem on my account when I contacted them about the non-renewal at the beginning of March. The agent didn't specifically state what they were doing, beyond that they'd activated the Freebie for me, but the evidence from emails was that they opted me out then opted me back in again - after which they must have had to kick-start the Freebie in some way.

So, a guess on the basis of insufficient evidence, maybe it was the opting out and in again that cleared the problem, since it sounds as though simply kick-starting the Freebie isn't working for you.

But DON'T TRY OPTING OUT YOURSELF - or you won't be able to opt back in. Leave that for one of the Tech Team to try, always assuming that that is the correct way to tackle the problem.

[Colleen]

@woodstockthree Thanks for letting us know you've sent your email over to us. 

We'll be in touch with you again as soon as possible, with further help

[woodstockthree]

Oooh no you're ok.... it was the extra data at £5 a month that I opted out of (which the advisor purchase me on when she gave me the extra data as compensation) .... still in the text and Web freebee and intend to stay there unless they come up with something equal or better. Thanks.