£100 Amazon reward voucher not received after joining Vodaphone Broadband

[Monkfish457]

OK, Hi to everyone, my first post.

Where shall I start. I have a dual 18 month contract for myself and my wife's phones. I got an offer to swap to Superfast Broadband and get a £100 voucher from one of a selection of associated retailers to Vodaphone. Sounded like a great deal so I chose to swap away from TalkTalk as their customer service was impossible to get hold of. I chose a £100 Amazon voucher and received a confirmation message informing me that after 3 months a voucher would be sent out to me after the validity period had been confirmed. Six months down the line and I've still not received my voucher.

I wanted to buy an expensive item off Amazon so this re-jogged my memory and I started to chase this up.  Eventually I was supplied with an Email to uk-vodaphonevouchers*awin.c@m to complain and ask for follow-up. (Note: the * and @ are substituted for '@' and 'com' to allow the address to be submitted)

Guess what.....I got a reply telling me the domain is not valid....great, and thought I had finally made the progress I needed. I Phoned again and they all say the same namely, 'thats the Email we have been given and should be used to complain'. I've now spent almost two hours on the phone to various Vodaphone departments and I feel like I'm bashing my head against a wall. I also hope 0808 numbers aren't premium or this will be costing me a fortune. Apparently it's via a third party company called WeGift, but the obviously don't!

Can anyone help with resolving this problem???

Stu

[AnnS]

Hi @Monkfish457 

There are plenty of third party and affiliate sites who offer incentives in return for signing up to a provider but it is important to remember the offer was made by the third party and advertised on the third party site. Vodafone couldn't be liable for honouring an offer they had not advertised and made.   

You will need to go back to the point of sale for this one and contact the third party direct, they were responsible for promising the Amazon gift voucher.  Presumably, the third party or gift card company will have terms and conditions and expiry date for the offer.

[Monkfish457]

Hi Anns,

Thanks for your reply. The original offer was from WeGift.io. I found a link to their 'friendly customer care team' and have sent an Email requesting an explanation. Third party or not Vodaphone's details and logos are all over the Email I received so this still falls on Vodaphone as a joint party or WeGift are breaching Vodaphones copyright and trademark use. I don't expect a reply but fingers crossed. 

[TJ]

Hey @Monkfish457, I'm sorry to hear you've not received your Amazon voucher. Have the WeGift team got back to you?

@AnnS is correct, this isn't an offer that we've run ourselves and looks to be through a third party. Please continue to keep me updated and let me know how you get on. 

[PaulH10]

Hi Stu,

Did you get a good result in the end? I'm in the same position. Been with Vodafone 4 months and no voucher received!  Vodaphone customer services told to me email uk-vodafonevouchers 'at' awin 'dot' com

who initially replied fairy quickly, asking to confirm my email address matched what I used on the registration form. I quoted all the references numbers too. I've heard nothing back since. I've emailed 4 times over the past few weeks. Nothing back. 
Vodafone - clearly this is some kind of scam. I not out of pocket but still feel cheated into signing up to Vodafone with false promises. Future customers be warned. I found this forum post easily via a Google search so hopefully others may find this too. 
If by some chance I get the voucher (or an account credit)  I'll come back and update this post. 

Paul

[Monkfish457]

Hi,

I've recieved multiple replies. Kept telling me to check my junk email folder but never any replies. Even tried an alternative work Email address which is unique and still nothing. As far as I'm converned it's a con to get you to join Vodaphone. 6 months left them I'm leaving, their loss!

Monk

[nathan-pac]

I too fell for this - it is a total SCAM!

The promotion was: a £100 Amazon gift voucher, if you purchased Vodafone broadband through uSwitch

I don't know how in this day & age companies are allowed to get away with this. These promotions are plastered across the front page of huge websites. In my case it was on uSwitch. With the Vodafone logo prominently there. Clearly an enticing offer - the "£100 Amazon voucher" was indeed the only reason I signed up for Vodafone broadband!

I don't accept that "it's operated by a 3rd party and nothing to do with us" thing. The "third party" hides behind an anonymous mailbox and does its best to stall, come up with invalid excuses or generally do anything not to pay.

I followed all of the terms & conditions of the promotion to the letter of the law, took screenshots / PDF's of the screens at the time. And now inevitably, 120 days has passed, and no gift voucher has been sent.

Contacting the WeGift fraudsters via their anonymous mailbox (uk-vodafonevouchers at awin dot com) resulted in first ignoring, and then random (totally invalid) excuses why it can't be paid, such as:

• "oh, it's outside of the date range"
  - actually, no it's not (provided proof)
• "nah, we don't handle that type of broadband - not sure why our e-mail address is on there"
  - really? you are listed everywhere (terms and conditions, offical websites, etc.) as the official contact for this!

I don't think this is fair, as it is massive false advertising. I intend to contact MoneySavingExpert and Which? about this, because there is something deeper here. It is against all consumer rights that such a widely promoted offer is a total fraud and scam.

[Mark]

I understand how frustrating this must be @nathan-pac As the the offer was made by the third party and advertised on their site. We're unable to help with claiming this as it's not an offer we've made. For more help with this, you'll need to continue to contact them directly through the email address listed in your post. 

[PaulH10]

Well thank you Vodafone. I never received my voucher. But - as you decided to put your prices up and I'd only been a customer for 5 months, they gave me the option to leave without penalty. Guess what....I left! I did call Vodafone first and complained about this voucher scam. They left me on hold for 90mins waiting for "customer care" before I gave up. Timed nicely with BlackFriday deals too. Note: I signed up directly on the new provider's website, not with ScamSwitch dot com. 

[charlieilok]

I've got broadband on the comparison website .bought before 15.October 2021..waited 4 months to claim £125 giftcard..and now they blaming Vodafone won't confirm my contract..I've looked on my bills..Vodafone canceled my web contract..made new one(,,over the phone’’ behind my back..(and changed my home phone number) and now I'm Not eligible for giftcard because it’s contract over the phone and contract date?? I just realized there@ hundred people like me tricked…Must be thousands of pounds involved in this scam…