Is there a worse mobile provider to cancel with than Vodafone?

[CancelV0dafone]

In over 10 years of having mobile phone contracts I've never had as bad experiences trying to cancel a fulfilled contract that with vodafone.  Bought 2 services over 2 years to provide phones for my nephews and the cancellation last year was bad I thought.  Spend around 30 mins on phone (after gettting through queue) with someone trying to sell me on every single thing he could think of to avoid cancelling my contract.  Eventually settled on turning the contract into pay as you go.

This year the second contract ran out so I tried calling 1 month before end of contract to cancel.  After around 10 mins in queue I tried the online chat function the autovoice mentioned and got through there before the call went through.  After a few back and forth the online chat advisor flat out told me I couldn't cancel my contract until the contract end date which I'm pretty much sure is just flat out untrue.  Every other service provider I've had in the past 10 years have processed the end of contract with 30 days notice before contract end date albeit with a bit of trying to sell me on other services.

So a few days after the contract end date as I'd forgotten about it I again tried to call through to vodafone.  After another long wait I try out the online chat function once more and get through there first.  After another round of back and forth between me and the advisor where this one tried a new technique I've not seen before where they decided to ignore me for around 4-5 mins obviously hoping I'd mistakenly interpret it as the system disconnecting after asking to cancel I was given a link to a webpage where I could request the account be changed to a pay as you go and that it would be done in 30 days.  After filling in all the details here I get an email telling me thanks for my request and they'll let me know when it is done within 30 days.

Now 30 days later I check and surprise no change to my account.  A new bill and an estimated bill for the following month.  So yet again I phone up vodafone and have a look at the online chat before deciding I've been fooled enough online lets speak to someone in person and hopefully finally get something done.  The queue seemed a lot quicker today and got to speek to someone between 5-10 minutes.  A quick exasperated explantion of why I was calling and the lady I spoke to didn't even try to sell me on any new services.  Just gave me a few options which were the same as the previous time and told me that although I had filled out the webpage and had an email stating my request to be changed to pay as you go had been received there was no request on the account services.  I decided to go with the change to pay as you go again, (glutton for punishment I suppose), and was informed that I'd receive a text message that the request had gone through.  No message as of 1 hour later.

I suppose it is all my fault for trying to get it settled without inconveniencing my nephew.  I've now got a new sim card from giffgaff on it's way to his house and instructed my sister on how to request a pac code and set it up on his new mobile provider.  Hopefully an end to my involvement with vodafone and I definitely will not be getting entangled with them again.

I suppose I should have known how bad their systems were when after first ordering the phone from them I was sent letters with 2 other peoples details, (names, bank accounts) and after contacting vodafone was told to just bin them they'd sene me there had been a system mix up and I'd get correct details later.  Then for the following year where I was sent monthly bills to my email for another person and when contacting vodafone again they said they could not help and I had to contact that person directly.. That was an awkward conversation telling the girl that her monthly bill was coming to me along with her name and phone number and the only way she could stop it was by contacting vodafones customer support.  She must have had some luck though as the emails eventually stopped.

This will probably be removed I suppose as it's not asking for any support and I just couldn't be bothered contacting vodafones phone or online support yet again to make a complaint that would in all likelyhood be incorrectly filed as great customer praise if it was recorded at all.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @CancelV0dafone 

Cancelling a contract should be as seamless as possible but I see that unfortunately in your particular case it was not.

When a person calls the network for a Pac or to give 30 days notice it's understandable that the agent is going to try and retain that person by seeing if they can persuade you to stay via a deal,  however nothing should be pushy by the agent.

If a person wants to just cancel and lose the mobile number then 30 days notice is required.

Alternatively as you've experienced a person can change to Vodafone Payg which takes 30 days to complete.

A person who does not want to make verbal or online live chat can cancel via text via asking for a Pac or Stac or go through their myvodafone  " 

• Online - log in to your account online, go to Settings > Plan settings > View > Switch to another network > Switch my network "

From cancel-your-account 

" 

• Text STAC + PIN - for example, STAC 1234
• Remember to include a space between STAC and PIN
• Send to: 75075 "

Or 

" 

• Text PAC + PIN - for example, PAC 1234
• Remember to include a space between PAC and PIN
• Send to: 65075 "

I see no reason for your post to be removed as it does not infringe any Community Forum Guidelines.

You can raise a complaint via complaints/code-of-practice if you wish or engage with the Vodafone Social Media Team's via Twitter DM or Facebook Messenger Contact-us-for-account-specific-queries. 

Unfortunately there is no account access via this forum.

However you proceed I wish you all the best.