broadband upgrade offer problems and false information

[davee_bs82bn]

I've been a Vodafone customer for over 10 years. I had massive problems last week trying to upgrade my Vodafone home broadband. I've tried sending the info below  (complete with PDFs of the emails/webpage offers I mentioned) to email addresses I'd found online but no reply after 9 days so I'm trying here.

I experienced several problems 9 days ago when trying to upgrade my home broadband :

• The "chat agent" TOBi was unable to help then crashed (I got a popup saying the Vodafone support systems are currently down ...) 
  
  
• The phone support has been useless - I spoke to the upgrade department who agreed with the details problem I described but were unable to help resolve them, they transferred me to another department to help. This department was also unable to help and after I had explained all the details again all they could do is offer to transfer me back to the upgrade department - I explained that was pointless as I had started via that route. I then asked to be transferred to the complaints department. At first I was told this wasn't possible but they eventually offered to transfer me, and after waiting for around 10 minutes they were unable to transfer me so I said I would use the support email and I  terminated the call. In total I wasted 31 minutes on the call to achieve nothing. And then another 2 minutes were wasted when they called me back and said they would connect me back to the upgrade department and I explained again this was pointless and I would email the complaints department instead.
  
  
• Initially I had problems getting all the details needed to write this email as the vodafone website was out of action (I included a PDF of this in the email I sent). Its now almost working again after a period of failing to text me a security code which prevented me from logging in for a while).

Thus my experience with Vodafone support hasn't exactly been awe inspiring.

The problem

I'm currently on Superfast 2 broadband (contract expired in May '22) and due to recently received emails about the price increase in April (totalling 14.4%!!!) I felt prompted to look at the upgrade offer to see if I can obtain a better price, or a upgraded features for the same price).

My current deal (with discount for having a Vodafone mobile) is £25.19/m . This will rise to £28.81/m in April (though these actual figures haven't actually been explained by Vodafone - all I have been told is the 10.5% + 3.9% increase was on the way - it would be far simpler and clearer to just explain what the new charge would be). I suspect this wasn't done as its an outrageous increase which doesn't appear to be applied introductory pricing for new customers ......

I've looked elsewhere and found some compelling deals which are available at my address:

• Onestream Fibre 80, 18m contract @ £21.95/m + £9.95 setup
• Onestream Supreme Full Fibre 115, 18m contract @ £23.95/m + £15 setup
• Now boardband Super Fibre100, 12m contract @ £23/m

I note that Onestream have a deal with Vodafone to provide the FTTP  infrastructure  https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2022/11/isp-onestream-sign-vodafone-deal-to-launch-uk-fttp-bro...

I also note Now broadband use Openreach as per my current copper Vodafone connection.

Thus I am not concerned that either would be an inferior service to the current one, and I can't imagine the support would be any worse to what I experienced today.

Now I had a baseline of alternative options, I used the vodafone website to get details of available upgrades and was sent the email attached (my email included a PDF of this).

This email offers:

• Pro II Full Fibre for £28/m 
• Specific details onthe cost (£28/m), a picture of the UltraHub, mentions 100Mb/sec, 4G backup, Wifi 6E, and "expert" support. 
• No lesser specification, or higher priced offers are mentioned and the only named contract shown is Pro II Full Fibre together with the £28/m cost.

However, when I click the link I'm taken to the upgrade site (the email I sent had a PDF of this) .

The upgrade webpage only offers Full Fibre 100 for this price - and specifies it uses the Vodafone Wifi Hub rather than the UltraHub, and does not include 4G backup) i.e. is clearly a lesser offering than that offered in the email.

The upgrade web page specifies Pro II Full Fibre 100 is as per the email I was sent offering this service at £28/m except 

• It contains an error specifying that the Vodafone Wifi Hub is supplied, not the UltraHub (which is necessary to enact the Wifi 6E and 4G backup features ...). Thus it is also a lesser offering than that in the email.
• It shows the price as £43/m not the £28/m in the email.

Thus both the email and the website are contradictory on pricing, features (4G backup, which hub is supplied etc.).

Thus a pretty poor show from Vodafone - overpromising upfront, then offering less, and errors in the deal offered ...

What I want to achieve

I want to upgrade to the deal offered in the email : Pro II Full Fibre 100 for £28/m with Ultrahub (Wifi 6E/4G backup).

Vodafone have actually offered this in the email, so I think its entirely reasonable that this deal is honored.

Anyone else having similar problems? And I wonder if Vodafone will actually reply to my emails to provide some resolution to this?

[Jayach]

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@davee_bs82bn wrote:

I've looked elsewhere and found some compelling deals which are available at my address:

• Now boardband Super Fibre100, 12m contract @ £23/m

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Are you sure about that? Now use only FTTC, and the max speed for that is 80Mbs, unless you have Gfast, which I don't believe Now support.

[Mark]

Hey @davee_bs82bn, we'll certainly be happy to look into the information you've been provided and check why this differs from what's advised online. If you can pop us a message via one of our social channels we'll be happy to take a look into this for you.

[davee_bs82bn]

Please send me an email address that works - I don't use social media and my experience with Tobi and the phone support was not sufficient.

[davee_bs82bn]

Vodafone didn't supply and email address and the support "muppet" that took over the case said I'd refused to accept their offer (which is untrue and their offer was totally wrong).

Thus I'm leaving Vodafone - lookup my review on TrustPilot and other sites if you want to see the full horror story.

Aside: Despite Vodafone's sob story on increasing prices, OpenReach are actually *REDUCING* costs to operators such as Vodafone ....

https://www.ft.com/content/237b1fcc-ae84-4bd2-8c3a-ac21484347ff

[davee_bs82bn]

Vodafone didn't supply an email address and the support "muppet" that took over the case said I'd refused to accept their offer (which is untrue and their offer was totally wrong).

Thus I'm leaving Vodafone - lookup my review on TrustPilot and other sites if you want to see the full horror story.

Aside: Despite Vodafone's sob story on increasing costs, OpenReach are actually *REDUCING* costs to operators such as Vodafone ....

https://www.ft.com/content/237b1fcc-ae84-4bd2-8c3a-ac21484347ff

[Jayach · Accepted solution]

Your link is behind a paywall, try this one instead:

BT’s Openreach reveals plan to cut broadband rates for providers

And as it says, it's a plan, it's not happened yet.

If you are unhappy, you are of course free to leave.

[davee_bs82bn]

I have decided to leave - hopefully the problems won't happen to others, but given independant reviews they already are ...

With an overall customers satisfaction score of just 77%, and just 41% customer complaints resolved, Ofcom has ranked Vodafone as the worst broadband provider in 2023.

https://usave.co.uk/broadband/providers/best-and-worst-broadband-providers/

EE are installed FTTP next week. Looks like my DL will be 2x current, UL maybe 10% more, price same as current and their customer support works so far .  And no price increase until 2024 (Voda said they *WOULD* increase prices in a few weeks, but it seems their online T&C's disagree with that too).

Re. Openreach pricing - they've been dropping their price to wholesalers for years, despite Voda increasing prices.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-11537225/Openreach-receives-backlash-proposing-w...

Voda marketing vs. implementation vs. customer support is [Removed]. I'm outta here.

[MOD EDIT: This post has been edited to remove inappropriate content please see Community Guidelines]

[Jayach]

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@davee_bs82bn wrote:

With an overall customers satisfaction score of just 77%, and just 41% customer complaints resolved, Ofcom has ranked Vodafone as the worst broadband provider in 2023.

https://usave.co.uk/broadband/providers/best-and-worst-broadband-providers/

But, as that report says:

"Who are the worst broadband providers in 2023?
Overall, it’s hard to categorically say which broadband provider can be considered the worst, as there are so many different factors at play, and customers will have different priorities depending on their needs. While Vodafone had the lowest overall customer satisfaction score, the difference between the top-ranking provider was almost negligible. In fact, what may the ideal broadband provider for one customer may be the worst for another, depending on their specific needs and budget."

Personally, when my previous contract expired, Vodafone gave me the best deal on a new one, and even allowing for "new customer" discounts and vouchers elsewhere I couldn't better it by moving. (it was close though, and I would like to have tried another ISP, but the thought of what can go wrong with a move made me stay - better the devil you know)

Hope moving to EE works out for you. Do post back on here exactly how it goes, it's always good to get an idea of peoples experiences on other ISPs.

[HappyNomad]

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@Jayach wrote:
Hope moving to EE works out for you. Do post back on here exactly how it goes, it's always good to get an idea of peoples experiences on other ISPs.

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I could probably be classed as a long term Vodafone broadband customer and it is only due to the shockingly bad service from EE that i changed to Vodafone.