Applied for Vodafone Essentials Broadband over TWO MONTHS ago - still no contact from Vodafone!

[Yogafone]

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.

[Yogafone]

@pauljcarr- Please pop back here to let me/us know how it went - if it went!

Between the fact that Vodfone still haven't acknowledged my application in two and a half months, the atrocious customer service I've received in trying to chase it up, and the fact that they perform what I consider to be an unnecessary credit check, I'm really not sure I want to go with this company just because they offer the cheapest social tariff.

My concern about the credit check is that I might fail it due to errors on at least one of my credit files. I've tried to get those errors corrected, but with only partial success. It's been a nightmare, and the best thing I can say about Vodafone's customer service is that it is not any worse than Experian's... I don't want an application refused because of those errors and have my creditworthiness further damaged by Vodafone's check.

However, I'd still be interested to know how you got on.

[pauljcarr]

@Yogafone I will most certainly keep the thread updated with how I get on, if I get on.....🙄

Like yourself, I have decreasing hope that there will be a satisfactory outcome. I appreciate @Mark responding to me and having worked in a customer facing organisation for many years, I appreciate how difficult it can be to keep up with demand sometimes. However it is clearly an organisational failure at best to not respond to a potential customer in over two months. At that point, and long before if I am honest, I would be going to another provider, and providing frank and forthright assessments to fora like Trustpilot etc.

[Yogafone]

@pauljcarr- Hi, Paul. Yes, I should probably be looking at other providers by now, but I was hoping for at least some closure on this issue first, although the chances of that are diminishing rapidly.

As for Trustpilot et al, to be honest I'm not sure I can be bothered. That may sound lazy and defeatist, but over the last few years I have received so much poor customer service from a variety of companies and organisations, and often posted reviews of my experiences , but it seems that no number of negative reviews from me and from others actually results in any improvement. Even when companies do respond, it is nearly always a generic message that does nothing to resolve the problem.

With no exaggeration, I could write a book about my appalling 'customer service' experiences (if I still had the details). It would only appeal to a small niche, but readers of Kafka might appreciate it! I'm going to stop there before I go on an off-topic rant!

Have a good weekend!

[pauljcarr]

LOL! You too

[Cynric]

@Yogafone Yes, you don't want the stress of all this to end up like Gregor Samsa 😄

[pauljcarr]

@Mark as expected, this is the 14th working day since I completed the webform (assuming that the team dealing with Essentials Broadband only work Monday to Friday, unlike any other Vodafone product which I can contract for 6 if not 7 days per week). I have had NO contact from Vodafone, in contrast to the 5 working days referenced in the auto reply after I registered.

I am now at the stage where I am reasonably sure that I will seek broadband service from another provider - any other provider. This has not just been the worst customer service I have experienced from a so-called communications company, it has been arguably the worst from any company seeking to be paid for the provision of a service. It is additionally insulting given that it claims to be designed to support users with additional needs.

Out of habit, I will say over to Vodafone to prove me wrong but I no longer have any expectation of a meaningful response. With respect, hearing that the scheme has proved very popular and the team is very busy does not make me feel any less frustrated. I wonder how many people make up this team and why there is a need for a direct engagement, when conventionally sold products are done without it.

Ah well.....

[Mark]

I can understand your frustration @pauljcarr, as I advised in my earlier post if the team hadn't reached out for you after the timescale I advised, we'd be able to look into this. If you can pop us a message via one of our social channels, one of my team will pick this up for you.

[pauljcarr]

Thank you @Mark for coming back - you remain the only Vodafone representative to actually respond to me. I will try the Facebook route now.

[Yogafone]

@pauljcarr- So, how did you get on?

[pauljcarr]

@Yogafone hi again - sorry for the delay in responding, I was in Italy for a few days.

Following @Mark 's interventions above, I spoke to a couple of Vodafone colleagues via Facebook. I had separately placed an order for Full Fibre broadband, as I was running out of time to leave my previous supplier, BT, within a cooling off period, and as this thread evidences, the Essentials broadband product was not delivered. The Vodafone reps advised that I couldn't proceed with both orders, and as I needed to "leave" BT within the cooling off period, I left the Full Fibre order in place.

My service went live last week and it is, so far, very good. No-one from the Essentials team has contacted me - it is now over a month since I completed the web form application. I will follow up this week with Vodafone to see what or if can be done.

Hope things have moved more satisfactorily for you.