How do I get Vodafone Nottingham to talk to me???

[ciaskin]

Hi.  I live in Surrey and my son is at Uni in Nottingham.  His phone has died and I am trying to buy a Vodafone PAYG for him that he can pick up from the Nottingham store as his accommodation is not secure for post.  It's impossible to order online - as it has to be delivered to the bill payers' address - so I need to check stock at Nottingham.  There is no centralised stock-check facility so HQ have given me a mobile [Removed] for some bloke called James who apparently works at the Nottingham store.  Trouble is, he has it on voicemail for the last 5 hours and is not returning calls. Do they have a landline? No. Can I email the store? No. What If i wanted to warn them (hypothetically) that there is a bomb on the store?  'Sorry, I've not been trained for that!!'  How do I complain?  Go online - but that only works if I am an existing customer!  How hard can Vodafone make it to even become a customer??  OK, rant over, but if anyone has any suggestions on how I can talk to someone at the Nottingham store, I'd be very grateful.

MOD EDIT: This post has been edited to remove personal information, please see Community Guidelines

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @ciaskin 

I totally appreciate your viewpoint on this.

However certain processes are in place to protect the account and card holder hence the stipulation to deliver to the card holders address.

I'm really suprised Vodafone have given out an employee's mobile number.

Especially if its a private number. Privacy laws such as GDPR might come into force on this.

The stores are in place just to sell in house and not field calls or emails.

Customer services via 191 or Live chat should be able to check with the store for you. 

Then I'd suggest to maybe transer the funds to your son.

You could also try places like.Argos where you can purchase online and collect from a store with stock.

I wish you all the best. 

[ciaskin]

Thanks for the reply and yes, I  understand if it needs to be delivered to a home address for security purposes.  However, what I don't get is why I cannot speak to anyone (either centrally or in store) to check stock in Nottingham.  Just spent a fruitless 90 minutes on the Tobi chat with five different agents and ultimately their best suggestion was that I drive to my nearest store in Surrey on the basis that they MAY be vale to call Nottingham as they MAY have a landline for them.  So a local branch MAY be able to contact another store when central HQ can't...???  This is the 21st century for goodness sake. UNBELIEVABLE

[MarkD]

Hi @ciaskin, trying to find out if a device is available at a local store should be a simple process and we're sorry to hear that you still haven't got the answers to your query. We know that you've tried speaking with our live chat team, we're unsure why they unable to check. As suggested by @BandOfBrothers, if you give us a call on 191 free from a Vodafone mobile or 03333 040 191 from another provider, the sales team will be happy to check the stock. Standard call charges will apply and the team will be available between 8am - 8pm. You'll have to keep us updated with how you get on. 

[ciaskin]

I did exactly that yesterday and was told there is no way they can check centrally.   However, I have just done so again - as you suggested - and they have confirmed that THEY HAVE NO SUCH FACILTY.  Why don't you try it yourself - then apologise instead of trying to waste my time??  Incidentally, I also spent over 90 minutes yesterday between 16.26 and 18.05 on your ' Live Chat service' with 5 different agents/managers and they were totally useless.  And to make matters worse, I clicked the link to send me the email transcript of the 'chat' both during the call and at the end and you have sent me absolutely nothing.  (And yes, before you ask, I have checked my Junk Folder)  In the meantime, I have texted the only mobile number I was given for Nottingham - [Removed] - and I am still deafened by the silence.  You wanted to know how I got on?  There you have it. Your company is a disgrace.

MOD EDIT: This post has been edited to remove personal information, please see Community Guidelines

[MarkD]

Thanks for your feedback @ciaskin, we're sorry to hear about your experience, this is something that we'll feedback using our internal system. 

[ciaskin]

Well that's nice of you - though I fear that if you use your 'internal system' it will simply disappear into a black hole never to be resolved.  I therefore won't hold my breath for anyone from Vodafone to contact me with anything approaching a solution.

[MarkD]

The feedback that we send will be used to improve the services that we provide, we wouldn't come back to you with an outcome. If you did want to discuss this further, you can do this over Twitter or Facebook channels, the details can be found here. It's worth noting that the social media team does not have access to sales system to check the stock, this does need to be done on 191 or live chat. 

[ciaskin]

AARGHH!!  Mark, I have already told you that 191 DOES NOT have access to store stock.  NOR does Live Chat. So why do you keep just trotting out the same corporate rubbish when it is clearly not true???

Here's a challenge - try it yourself.  See if YOU can ascertain if the Nottingham store has a PAYG Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G in stock.  It's such a simple question. Do let me know how you get on...

[jeffkinn]

In the absence of any other neat solution, surely the best thing is for your son to find his local Vodafone shop and go in there to see what they have.