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?

[davee_bs82bn]

I've had shockingly bad service from EE too - they've rearranged the install date 3 times and still can't confirm when it will be. I've had to rearrange travel 3 times and decorators/building work so thoroughly annoyed and have just cancelled my transfer to EE. Logged into Vodafone out of interest and they are no longer offering me any upgrades which I wouldn't take anyway.

Thus it seems EE are almost as poor as Vodafone - although when I did actually get thru to customer service they were more helpful than Vodafone and actually could access my account information.

A few weeks to calm down and I'll try another provider after my rescheduled (3 times) decorating/building works have completed ...