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02-03-2023 04:23 PM
Hi, I'm hoping someone from Vodafone can look into this and help me resolve the issue.
I applied for Vodafone Essentials Broadband on 27th November 2022. I am eligible, being in receipt of one of the listed benefits.
Straight away I received an email confirming my application. Part of it read: "We've received your form and we'll be in touch soon to let you know if you qualify. What happens next? A member of our dedicated team will give you a call within five working days to check your eligibility and process your order. Our team will contact you from an 01482 number so keep an eye on your phone."
I never received a call from Vodafone within the specified 5 working days, neither did I have any missed calls from that 01482 prefix. Over the next couple of weeks I wasted ages on the phone and live chat, trying to find out the status of my application. The so-called 'support' I received each time was utterly useless. One advisor even asked me if I was applying for a business account, despite me making it clear it was the social tariff that I had applied for (and how can a business be on benefits?). Another advisor kept switching between telling me that my application had been refused (I asked how, given nobody had even been in touch with me to confirm my eligibility, but she couldn't answer that) and telling me that it was still in progress (but could give no indication of what stage it was at). And, obviously, she was at complete loss to explain how my application could be simultaneously rejected and still being processed. She clearly didn't know what she was talking about, and - like the other advisors I spoke to - was not at all interested in helping me. I got the distinct impression that I was low priority as I was applying for a cheap package, and, since I was technically not a Vodafone customer, they didn't really need to bother assisting me.
Eventually I gave up, as nobody I spoke to at Vodafone was bothered about helping me. However, I'm posting now two months on (yes, I know it's a long time, but I just lost the will to keep contacting them and being let down), as I need to know whether the application was processed or not.
I'm also concerned about the fact that a credit check may have been conducted by Vodafone as part of the eligibility check (the T&Cs state that this can happen). That would be fair enough if Vodafone had at least contacted me to let me know that my application had been refused on credit grounds.
So, at the moment, I've no idea what happened. Since nobody contacted me to discuss my eligibility as per the application confirmation email, I'm assuming that Vodafone never even started processing my application. But I don't know for sure, since Vodafone haven't gotten back to me at all.
Even without being a customer (yet), I feel very let down by Vodafone's exceptionally poor customer service. Somebody should have contacted me within a week of my application as stated in the email, but nobody did, and my attempts at chasing up the matter were frustrated by clueless and very unhelpful advisors.
Two months down the line my application seems to be in limbo. I'm still interested in the Essentials package, so I would be grateful if someone here could look into just what happened (or didn't), and help me get some closure on the matter. I'm reluctant to make another application (either with another company or re-applying with Vodafone) in case Vodafone did in fact run a credit check.
I was going to say that I'm happy to share my application reference number, but looking at the aforementioned email again, I see that there wasn't one!
If Vodafone did run a credit check, and my application was refused, then they should at least have the courtesy to inform me, both of the fact that it had been turned down, and that a check had been carred out. But it wouldn't make sense for that to happen, since Vodafone never contacted me to even discuss the application as the email stated. So, on top of being very disappointed, I'm also understandable confused about the whole situation!
Any assistance from a Vodafone rep would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance.
04-03-2023 02:24 PM
I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to you about our Essentials broadband package @pauljcarr, as the Live Chat agent advised, the team dealing with these applications are extremely busy at the moment and we've been advised that it's taking 10-14 working days for the team to reply to everyone. If you've waited longer than 14 working days, we can take a closer look into this for you. As we'll need access to your account details to do this, please pop us a DM via one of our social channels.
04-03-2023 04:48 PM
@Mark- Hi, I'm glad you responded to Paul, but at the risk of sounding petulant, what about me? I started this thread because I haven't heard back from the Essentials team in over two months, as stated in the header - way longer than the 14 days you mention!
If I contact Vodafone on social media, will someone be able to look into this for me too?
04-03-2023 06:25 PM
Apologies for that @Yogafone, I meant to include both of you in my message. If you reach out to us by following the link, my team will also be able to help chase your application too.
04-03-2023 06:45 PM - edited 04-03-2023 06:47 PM
Thanks for offering to try to help @Yogafone and @pauljcarr , but why was it that @Beth thought the social media team wouldn't be able to help?
@Beth wrote:@Jayach is right, in that normally we'd advise you to contact us over Social Media so we're able to look into this further as we have no account access through the forum; however in this case, our Social Media team wouldn't be able to assist you with this
04-03-2023 06:54 PM
I'm not sure @Jayach, we're unable to process these orders, but we can email the team and try to expedite applications that have already been placed. I'm sorry if Beth's missed this and isn't aware of the steps we can take to help. I'll be sure to reach out to the rest of our team and make sure the information is readily available to everyone.
Apologies for any confusion.
04-03-2023 08:43 PM
Hi @Mark ,
Thank you for your reply. It is not over 14 days at this stage but given @Yogafone 's experience, I have no confidence that that will happen in a few days time.
As I said previously, it takes seconds (well it took BT seconds) to confirm my benefits status so how Vodafone is unable to respond in less than 10-14 days can only be down to under resourcing the process, or more probably not caring too much about it as any sort of a priority. I would imagine that it is simply a corporate social responsibility line in a business plan, rather than any genuine effort to support people with specific needs or challenges.
09-03-2023 08:53 PM
09-03-2023 09:04 PM
Have you tried the social media team as @Mark suggested?
Re: Applied for Vodafone Essentials Broadband over... - Community home
09-03-2023 09:07 PM
10-03-2023 12:35 PM
I'm sorry for the delay @pauljcarr, it's been a really popular scheme and I know the team are working through applications as quickly as they can. If you've not heard anything after the 14 working days, pop our Social team a message. We'll pass on your details and see if we can get it sorted for you any sooner.