This issue has been sorted by customer services (they refunded the overcharge) but as no one I spoke to understood the problem I want to post it so something might be done to avoid this happening to others.
Whilst in Singapore last month I noticed my charges had shot up. I checked my recent usage to see that most SMS appeared three times (one appeared eight times) like this:
| 09 Aug 16 - 12:26 | SMS | 60167234594 | 1 | 0.7 |
| 09 Aug 16 - 12:26 | SMS | 60167784594 | 1 | 0.7 |
| 09 Aug 16 - 12:26 | SMS | 60167234594 | 1 | 0.7 |
| 09 Aug 16 - 12:26 | SMS | 60167784594 | 1 | 0.7 |
| 09 Aug 16 - 12:26 | SMS | 60167234594 | 1 | 0.7 |
| 09 Aug 16 - 12:26 | SMS | 60167234594 | 1 | 0.7 |
| 09 Aug 16 - 12:26 | SMS | 60167784594 | 1 | 0.7 |
| 09 Aug 16 - 12:26 | SMS | 60167784594 | 1 | 0.7 |
| | | | | |
After a 20 minute LIve Chat, I was promised it would be sorted before my bill. When I got back from Singapore and Malaysia and checked my bill, nothing had been done.
I called customer services and the lady I spoke with could not access my bill and the system she was using did not show the time an SMS was sent so could not see the problem. In fact, the triple charges did not seem to appear on her system.
She asked how much I thought I had been overcharged, I added it up whilst on the line. It came to around £15. She assured me that this would be checked and creditted to my account. She would call me when it was done.
I received no call and so called back after several hours, only to have to explain myself all over again. I was asked, after consultation with the manager, to go into my local Vodafone shop.
When I went into the shop, queued for twenty minutes, the advisor simply phoned customer services, and was given a promise that I would be creditted £15 and that was that. No one I have spoken with seems to have understood the problem, so I have no confidence that it won't happen again.
It took almost an hour and a half speaking to four people (20 minutes Live Chat, two 20 minute calls to customer services and over half an hour in the shop) for Vodafone to fail to understand the nature of the problem.
I was very disappointed with Vodafone's customer services. They were in complete contrast to Nationwide Building Society. We had a card transaction declined in Singapore and I received an SMS asking me to reply "Y" if I had tried to use my card. I replied three times to the same SMS which kept replying "we did not recognise your reply". In the end I gave up and used a different credit card, which imposed 2.5% transaction fee (Nationwide is free).
When we returned to the UK, we discovered that our Nationwide card had been suspended for internet purchases. I called Nationwide who went through the history, including the failed SMS. Their response was an immediate apology, a £50 goodwill gesture and the chance to record the problem on "Customer voice" where issues like mine are fed back and delt with to avoid them happening again. This all took less than 10 minutes. Vodafone could learn lots from the Nationwide on good customer service.
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