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Extremely poor repair experience

CrispThirty
4: Newbie

As you don't appear to have any method of registering a complaint on this site, other than telling me to call customer services, I'm posting this on here so that everyone can read it. Firstly here's the background:

Tuesday 30th September
I took my son's Nokia Lumia 520 (which is on my account) into the VF store local to where I work because the power and volume buttons had stopped working and requested a repair under warranty.
The adviser in the store removed the back cover, battery and sim card and gave them to me to hold onto, while it was away for repair. He then filled in the repair form and said he'd send it away for repair and be in touch when it was ready.
At no point in this process did he inform me that I should have removed the sd card before giving it to them or make any attempt to remove it himself, so this was sent to your repair centre in the phone.

Friday 3rd October
We were notified via text message that the phone was ready for collection

Tuesday 7th October
I went into the VF store to collect the phone. The adviser, briefly showed me the phone and confirmed that it was a Nokia and then put it into a box for me which I took away. I was given no other additional information by this adviser other than that "the problem was fixed" and "they'd upgraded the firmware"
When I got home that evening, I unpacked the phone and gave it to my son, who noticed it was a different model because the camera was different. This was confirmed when we tried to put the original back cover on.

Wednesday 8th October
Thinking that I'd been given someone else's phone I went back to the VF store to find out why I'd been given this phone. I then spent a considerable amount of time while the adviser shuttled between me and "the manager out the back" asking me various questions that this manager had asked. Eventually they decided that the reason was that the repair centre didn't have any spare 520's so thay had "upgraded" me to a 620.
Would it not have been good customer service to have told me this when I collected the phone? Also, I was now stuck with a useless replacement phone because the repair centre hadn't had the common sense to enclose a battery or a back cover to fit it. As I said previously the 520 items I had been left with didn't fit.
The adviser then decided he would order the replacement parts for me. As he had no idea what the store's post code was(!), he said he'd get them sent to my home instead. He said this would be no problems because the cover and battery were in stock, and that they would be with me in a couple of days.

Saturday 11th October
The back cover arrived in the post but no sign of the battery

Monday 13th October
I received a text from VF saying "We're sorry to say that the accessory you ordered is out of stock at the moment. We'll send you a text as soon as it's available."

Tuesday 14th October
I received the same "out of stock" automated text

Wednesday 15th October
As I'd been assured that the items were in stock and the texts gave no indication of when the battery would be back in stock, I went back into the VF store to question this.
In addition, my son had noticed over the weekend that the replacement phone didn't have a memory card in it, so I also wanted to be given a replacement for this, as I realised that the adviser hadn't removed it from the phone I brought in for repair.
Yet again my conversation was punctuated by the adviser having to keep going out the back to talk to his manager. The upshot of all this was that VF can't do anything about either issue.
The options I was given for the replacement battery were to wait until it's in stock (can't tell you when though) or buy one myself from Ebay or Amazon and bring the receipt in to get the amount taken off my bill. To be honest, having looked on these sites, I'm not convinced I would obtain a genuine Nokia battery from there, and don't want to risk it. I'm also left with absolutely no confidence that if I turned back up at the VF store with my battery receipt, that I'd have any success getting my money refunded.
The issue with the memory card was "not their problem" and they "could do nothing about it" unless I produced a receipt for the memory card. As the memory card came with the phone I don't have a receipt. I tried to explain to the adviser that as it was actually the store's fault that I didn't have the memory card they should replace it but he wouldn't accept this (After going out the back to the manager again!) and distinctly implied that I was trying it on. So I'm left out of pocket, having to replace a memory card that was lost due to either the store's or the repair centre's incompetence.
At this point, I realised this was going to go nowhere, so I asked how I escalate the issue and was told to "ring customer services, but they'll just tell you the same". I asked for the adviser's and the manager's name which was met with a big sigh and another trip out the back to get the manager's surname. Strangely when he returned, the bit of paper just had first names on it though!

I've not given the location of the store or the names of the advisers or manager but can supply them if requested.

My questions to VF:
Why was I not informed that I'd been "upgraded" when I picked up the phone?
Why did VF think that a different model without a battery and back cover is acceptable to give as a replacement phone to a customer?
Why do I have to pay for a new memory card  when it is VF's fault that it's missing?
Do VF store managers ever leave "out the back" and come onto the shop floor? It is very frustrating to have to deal with someone who has to keep relaying messages between me and the manager
Related to this, are there actually managers in the stores or does the adviser just go out the back to ring someone? It seems very suspicious that they can't come out and personally deal with problem cases instead of the message passing that seems to go on.

Most importantly, when are you going to send me the replacement battery, so that my son can use this "upgraded" phone?

My question to the forum
Can someone confirm that the Nokia 620 is actually an upgrade on the Nokia 520. The Nokia site doesn't display the models in an easy to compare way

22 REPLIES 22

CrispThirty
4: Newbie

Here's a story for you VF

Dave takes his 11 reg estate car into a garage because he's having trouble starting it

Dave: Hi can you take a look at my car
Garage Reception: Sure. It's company policy that we remove the car battery and back seats and leave them with you in case they get damaged
Dave: Oh ok then

The next day, Dave returns to collect his car


Dave: I've come to collect my car
Garage Reception: Here's the keys, it's outside, you'll need to fit the battery and back seats yourself

Dave goes out of the garage and can't find his car and returns to the reception desk.


Dave: Where's my car?
Garage Reception: I'll go and ask the manager

10 minutes later


Garage Reception: We couldn't repair it, so we've given you a 12 reg saloon car instead
Dave: Oh ok then

Dave goes out to find his new car. It has no battery or back seats and when he tries to fit the ones he's got they're both too big, so he returns to the reception desk.

Dave: The battery and back seats don't fit
Garage Reception: I'll order new ones for you that fit. They'll come to your house because I don't know the address of the garage where I work or how to find it out.

One week later, and although the back seats have arrived (In a completely different colour), Dave hasn't received the battery, so he returns to the garage

Dave: I still haven't got the battery
Garage Reception: It's out of stock and I've got no idea when it'll be back in. Tell you what, you just order it somewhere else and I promise I'll give you the money for it.
Dave: Oh ok then. By the way I had a load of CD's in my old car, and I've noticed they aren't in the new one. Can I have them please?
Garage Reception: You should have taken them out when you brought the car in.
Dave: I didn't know I had to, and I definintely didn't know you were going to give me a completely different car. Why didn't you tell me at the time?
Garage Reception: Not my problem mate.
Dave: Well I'd like you to replace them, because I'm not paying for something you lost
Garage Reception: I'll replace them if you bring in receipts for them all.
Dave: I don't have the receipts. Anyway you lost them so you should replace them.
Garage Reception: I don't believe there were any CD's in there so no I won't
Dave: Oh ok then

Tell me VF is this the sort of experience you'd expect from a garage? If not, why is it acceptable in your store?

hrym
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

Yes, it would have made sense, wouldn't it?  I can understand the spare parts being out of stock as they'd be something Vodafone don't normally carry.  What you need is a complete exchange phone (let's not even think about the possibility that the back cover and battery were removed from one that was complete before being sent out!).

 

The forum team here should be able to help you.   It seems to me that what you need is a complete exchange, but I don't work for Vodafone, so can't make any promises about what they'll do.  The team aim to respond to all posts with 48 hours and will get to you.

Thanks for the reply hrym.

Under normal circumstances, I would understand the battery being out of stock, however the catalogue of errors and incompetence I've experienced throughout this, has made me less than understanding!

Also, why did the sales adviser tell me that the battery was in stock when he ordered it? I find it very difficult to believe that a company as large as Vodafone doesn't have a proper stock control system, so that accurate stock levels are displayed on the order site and adjusted when one is sold.

I don't think I've ever ordered anything elsewhere online, where at point of sale I've been told it's in stock, only to be told 4 days later that it's out of stock and that they have no idea when it'll be back in. Sorry, this is probably another question for Vodafone, when they get round to me.

And yes I agree, a complete exchange phone (including memory card) would have been a pretty good idea. It's a shame neither the repair centre or the Vodafone store are able to grasp this novel concept!

 

 

hrym
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

For obvious reasons, I'm not in a position to answer any of those questions.   Wait for the team and press for a complete phone.

 

Visibility of stock on the Vodafone system does seem to be, let's say, variable and it may have to do with their having multiple systems and sales channels (yes, I know they're not alone in that...).  It is possible, though, that there was one battery in stock, but it was ordered by someone else before yours got earmarked before the order could complete.  Maybe.  It's the back cover I wouldn't expect to be stocked at all.

Retired-Laura
Moderator (Retired)
Moderator (Retired)

Hi CrispyThirty,

 

Sorry to hear of your experience.

 

So we can take a look into this, get in touch with us here.

 

Cheers,

 

Laura

Laura,

 

I've just tried sending you an email twice via the link in your PM. Both times after confirming that I do actually want to send the email and not go through your "troubleshooting" pages, I've ended up on an unformatted page which if you scroll down through what appears to be multiple copies of the text that appears in your top nav,  you eventually find a message that implies that the message has been sent. Please can you confirm on here that you have received it.

So, I think you might also want to have a word with your web development team to let them know that they might have some CSS files (or JS?) missing on the "email sent" confirmation page:

For their info:

Firefox 33.0

Windows 7 (64 bit) on desktop PC

 

Yet another example of a poor Vodafone customer experience! :smileyhappy:

 

I've just checked my emails and I've got 4 "Thanks for contacting Vodafone customer care" emails so it looks like you might have got it!

Sorry for the multiple emails, I refreshed the confirmation page a couple of times while I was trying to work out why it was being displayed unformatted and it looks like this will have sent another email to you. Whoops! :smileyvery-happy:

 

I'm apologising to Vodafone after all they've done? #toonice

Jenny
Moderator (Retired)
Moderator (Retired)

Hi CrispThirty,

 

I’ve check our inbox and can see your emails - I’ve closed 3 of them and left one (ref: #8284820) open so that you don’t receive multiple replies either. :Winking_smiley:

 

We’ll be in touch as soon as we can

 

Thanks,

 

Jenny

Update

So, after sending the email on Friday evening, I heard nothing from Vodafone until late on Monday afternoon when I got an email asking me for additional DP information. I replied that evening, sending my bank sort code and monthly line rental amount as requested.

I then heard nothing again until I received an email tonight at 9:30 pm telling me "I am unable to understand your exact concern. I would request you to please elaborate your concern in email" (Exact wording). I have replied with a summary of what I've already posted above. i,e, Due to errors and incompetence by the Andover Vodafone store and the repair centre, my son has been left without a phone for over 3 weeks now. Is it really that hard for Vodafone to understand that a phone with no battery is of absolutely no use?

Aaaargh, slowly losing the will. Is there no one at Vodafone prepared to take responsibility for their mistakes and sort them out without me having to do all the work?