Early upgrade fee taken but no upgrade options available on my account

[benspooner8]

*Apologies for the lengthy post*

So, to set the scene I currently have a iPhone 11 contract with Vodafone, 30% employer discount, due to end this September. A while back, I dropped my phone, smashing the screen in the process. The replacement screen was done at a non-Apple servicer, and it is seriously bad- to the point where the phone is unusable and the battery drain is massive.

Anyway, on the Vodafone app it is showing that I can upgrade my phone for a flexible fee of ~£165. Great. It also isn’t giving me any option to sort the upgrade myself, and is instead directing me to their 191 number or web chat. I went through the web chat process to end up with the billing team, who took my payment. As the payment was made on a Saturday, they advised it would take 24 hours ish to process on both ends and I should wait that long.

Comes to Sunday, and I can see my bank and therefore Vodafone have processed the payment. however, the app is still saying to pay my flexi fee via 191 or web chat, no option to add an upgrade plan to my basket.

Does anyone have any advise on this? Currently, vodafone have £165 of my money and I have no return. I can’t process an upgrade with the web chat or 191 call because I need to reapply my employer discount, a process that staff can no longer do apparently, it has to be done at checkout on the website (I.e. self serve)

Everyone on the Vodafone live chat was useless and their internal processes clearly don’t work. I just want someone to provide some help rather than fobbing me off and sending me to another team.

Has anyone else experienced this before? If so, how did you fix it?

[BandOfBrothers]

It maybe the case that your account will update Monday after the weekend @benspooner8 

And yes your correct the VEA now needs to be added at the checkout stage.

The Vodafone Social Media Team's via Facebook Messenger or Twitter DM should be able to advise too.

Contact-us-for-account-specific-queries. 

[benspooner8]

Ok, I will check my account via the app tomorrow.

do you have any idea why I couldn’t add my upgraded plan to my basket and pay the early upgrade fee when I sorted that out? Why did I only get directed to web chat and 191 phone line?

[BandOfBrothers]

I suspect Vodafones systems need to update hence why you were asked to wait out the timeframe the Vodafone Agent mentioned,  however from experience accounts tend to update on a weekday @benspooner8 

[benspooner8]

Hi,

thanks for your reply- it looks like I was unclear in my initial reply

what I meant was, in the first instance when I went to upgrade (before even paying any fee), how come I was not able to add any plans to my basket, as talking to agents they believe that this is the way it normally happens? I was only directed to 191 or web chat; wasn’t able to add anything to my basket even before paying a fee.

[AnnS]

The upgrade payment is still held as a pending payment and will be released by your bank the next working day @benspooner8 this in turn will update your Application and online account.

With the new Evo contracts you need to be out of contract before being able to take an Evo contract, when you paid the upgrade fee, you were effectively paying an early termination charge.  Most of this information is on the Evo link here: Evo .  As mentioned in the FAQ's to upgrade early you would need to pay off the device plan, this would in turn terminate the airtime plan.  Alternatively, take out an additional number.

With an Evo Plan as the device plan will be a credit agreement, you will be hard credit checked and will be reported as a loan on your credit file.

[benspooner8]

Hi; I have now waited and we are on working day(Monday), there is no change to my account.

to be perfectly honest, this is unacceptable service from Vodafone. Why not allow me to add a plan to my basket and pay the termination fee at the same time? Why pigeon hole me into a phone or web chat service with people who are clearly incapable of doing their job? Currently, I have lost £165 of my money with absolutely 0 return.

[MarkD]

Hi @benspooner8, we don't want you or any of customers to be feeling that way. To find our what's happening and where we're up to with the upgrade, we'll need you to send us a message using Twitter or Facebook please. All of the contact details can be found in @BandOfBrothers message and you're more than welcome to update us on the Community once you've spoken with the social media team. 

[benspooner8]

Hi, 

Thanks for your reply.

I spoke to the customer services team via 191 on Monday; they have apparently raised an ‘account cleanse’ request which is on high priority and should be done within 48 hours to sort my account out, as apparently the upgrade team can see that I have sorted my fee and can do an upgrade, which means the issue is with my account on my end.

I am still waiting for this account cleanse to go through (surprise surprise), although apparently it can take up to 5 working days. I’ll play it by ear. Still not very good, and if any community champion reading this thread can process this request quicker I would be really grateful.