free minutes/free texts/extra mb

[syzygy]

hi - i've just joined vodafone's online service, and this community, and i've had a very harrowing couple of days 'chatting' with several advisers on the chatline service.  one great adviser 'got my point' immediately (unlike others) and by way of an apology to me and as a goodwill gesture gave me loads of free minutes on phone, 300, or more, free texts, and an extra 500mb.  all i've got is an ancient nokia, which i use only for phone calls/texts.  one adviser swapped the mb's for free minutes on the phone.  how do i swap the other mb's for something i can use?  i'm very much in the market for a clever android phone linked to my computer so i can get up to date.  v. difficult to pick a phone.  function and economy is more important than frills and absurdities.......

by the way, i've been with vodafone for ages on this 'pay as you go', and it's only computers/smartphones/and vodafone's online services which baffle me.   are novices with old phones welcome on this forum, or should i go elsewhere?  you may have noticed that i avoid capital letters?  i just don't like them.

thank you in advance.

[jeffkinn]

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@syzygy wrote:

the Australian expression 'whingeing pom' comes to mind, but i promise that i'm not one.  sort of ironic - a multi-billion dollar communications company, and i can't get in touch quickly............................

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Unfortunately, when you have 19 million customers in the UK alone, communicating with the company is bound to be a bit of a tiresome affair. 

[syzygy]

thanks.  but with 19 million uk customers vodafone ought to hire more staff to look after them properly. am i not stating the obvious?

[jeffkinn]

No you're not stating the obvious. To get the type of response we'd like they'd have to hire tens of thousands of extra people pushing up their wage bill by many millions of  pounds and we as customers would have to foot that bill.

We are all looking to reduce our bills not increase them.

[syzygy]

i'd pay more for a better service.

it really is not asking too much to expect to be able to log on to my new account without waiting for 2/3 hours.  case in point: 1 1/2 hours ago i phoned vodafone's 191 service number.  i felt that i was close to a solution; then i was cut off midstream - not by the helpful vodafone employee, but by a recorded message saying that the 191 service was now closed, and giving me the service's opening hours.

perhaps i expect too much?  this morning i tried for 2 hours.  all my passwords/login details/pin have been confirmed numerous times.  this all started with a simple question about free minutes etc.  

it's an interesting point - recruiting tens of thousands more staff; and quite ridiculous.

[jeffkinn]

Of course you should be able to log in to your account without any delay.

Live chat operates 24 hours a day but the call centre does close at 8pm

[BandOfBrothers]

Has the Callcentre times changed ?

Clearly states 

"You can contact our advisers Monday to Sunday from 8am to 9pm."

Vodafone - contact-us.

[forumfairy]

Call centres are open until 9pm every evening although some departments do close at 8pm - general customer services (billing etc) are open until 9pm.

[BandOfBrothers]

Thank you @forumfairy

Im aware of certain departments not being available.

But the Op states "then i was cut off midstream - not by the helpful vodafone employee, but by a recorded message saying that the 191 service was now closed, and giving me the service's opening hours."

[forumfairy]

I realise that - my comment was in response to the one that stated the call centres close at 8pm.

[syzygy]

thank all you helpful people again. i logged on to the online account service  at about 0600 gmt,today.   i really do not care if i lose all those free minutes/texts/mb's - i'm just so relieved to be able to do something which should have been infinitely easier............  i'll stay with vodafone - the competition may be worse.  better the devil you know.......

just out of curiosity - do vodafone operate within the people's republic of china?  i touched on this topic earlier, but i  cannot find the 'thread'; if that's the right word.