Three broken promises = no service. BEWARE!

[Dee123]

What a farce that is trying to receive a broadband service from Vodafone! I have elderly parents who need broadband and phone services so I called into my local Vodafone store on 18th April to see what could be offered and how quickly a service could be provided to the address. FF200 was the best deal at the time. Advertised at £27 p.m on a billboard at the store and the advisor confirmed this. Went away for a think and when I returned spoke to the same advisor. I asked the advisor what was the quickest available date for delivery of the service as this would be the deciding factor and was advised that the next available date for installation would be the 24th April which I asked that this would be the following Wednesday. The advisor confirmed the date therefore I proceeded with the order. The advisor then told me the actual price was £30 p.m so in effect the price had gone up without any explanation other than the need for cobbling a sim to the order!

The following week, 23rd April, I contacted Vodafone via online chat to ask why my router had not been shipped as the installation date was looming. I was advised that the installation would not be until the 24th May! This wasn’t what was agreed in the store. The online chat advisor then promised a successfully amended appointment date scheduled for 3rd May and new appointment reference number was provided. This was subsequently cancelled and a notification given via text. I contacted online chat again and after much discussion I received a new confirmation date of Friday 4th May and a new reference number. I asked again was this definitely confirmed and they said yes. I contacted chat again on Wednesday 1st to ask why my router still hadn’t been shipped and was I to receive the new advertised Power hub router for new customers and was advised that the date of installation was still scheduled for 24th May and not the promised Friday 4th and no new power hub! Contacted complaints online and got a call from South African call center caller who just kept repeating the 24th May date and lame excuses for Openreach 'outside works' which, by the way, did not take place. I have been given the runaround by Vodafone with no real explanation as to why I have been given the wrong information on three different occasions and still no resolution! Online chat is completely useless and they have given me the wrong information on every occasion.

I could have accepted better deals with other providers but chose Vodafone because of the promised quicker installation date. This was the sole reason for taking this decision. I note that other providers currently have quicker installation dates available. It would seem that this was a great mistake choosing Vodafone and my elderly parents still remain without a broadband and phone service. This is exceptionally bad customer service and I expected better from such a major telecommunications company!

Still awaiting a resolution to this though I highly doubt it.

BEWARE!

[Cynric]

@Dee123 There are two things that may be explained.

1. The month difference in date could have been a simple mistake.

2. The prices have just gone up and they may have had an old poster still up on the wall.

Use live chat on https://www.vodafone.co.uk/bbservcd/ or call 08080 034 515.

[Dee123]

The difference in the date might have been a mistake but certainly not on my part. I asked the store advisor to confirm the date and actual day and this was  agreed to be the following Wednesday. I fail to see how the date could be misconstrued  when I explicitly asked for a quick install as the basis for the contract. The price was clearly advertised on a blackboard right outside the store as “this month’s special offers”. There’s really no argument there.  This still doesn’t explain the two other ‘confirmed’ installation dates I was given, and explicitly stated they were confirmed. I also note that I’m not alone in being lied to by Vodafone’s ‘customer services’ as regards installation dates on these forums. 

[Jayach]

I think the biggest mistake was doing it in store, over the phone or on-line would have been better.

Any dates given by Vodafone are subject to change, it's Openreach who have the ultimate say.

Hope you are able to get connected soon.

[CrimsonLiar]

On a final note, just make sure that a hard credit search has not taken place every time the order has been cancelled and resubmitted!

[Dee123]

How would I even know if this has happened?  

As for Openreach. Yes, I know Vodafone use the Openreach network, much like most of the fibre providers, though seeing that other companies have installation dates well in advance of Vodafone makes me wonder … do they all block book the Openreach engineer slots in advance? Before they even get an order? If so that would be very bad practice.

[Cynric]

@Dee123 VF offer competitive prices, so I would not be surprised that they negotiate hard with OpenReach and City Fibre and that may mean that VF get lower priority from the wholesale providers. This is just a surmised based on similar practices I have seen in industry.

[Jayach]

---

@Dee123 wrote:
Yes, I know Vodafone use the Openreach network, much like most of the fibre providers, though seeing that other companies have installation dates well in advance of Vodafone makes me wonder … 

---

As you say they all use Openreach, so any dates they give will still not be guaranteed, after all Vodafone gave earlier dates originally.

But yes, it does seem those providers under the same owner as Openreach (Plus-Net, BT and EE) do seem to get priority, although they deny that is so.

[Stumpy21]

£30 a month is the standard price for Full Fibre 200,  £27 a month is the discounted price if you also have a Vodafone Mobile contract. Should have stated that somewhere on the poster and the sales person should have been aware of this.

[Dee123]

Escalated the complaint days ago and still no response from Vodafone . Seems they don’t really give a ##~##. I think it’s high time I cancelled this order and blocked any payment to this sham of a company.