Number lost/defective during port into vodafone

[ejb99]

Hey all,

Was wondering if anyone had any advice with what to do in this situation.

I joined Vodafone on 17th August and then requested to transfer my mobile number from Asda Mobile on 21st August. The port was schedueled to take place on 22nd August (Thursday). Here's the timeline of what happened.

Thursday 22nd August (Porting day)
On the day of the port, the first thing that happened was that the Vodafone Sim Card (esim on iphone 14) went to No Service at around 5pm. The Asda Mobile Sim (physical sim on the same iphone 14) was still live and functioning normally. Nothing else happened on this day.

Friday 23rd August
On the morning after the port I checked my phone (after restarting it) and expected to see Vodafone sim up and running and the old Asda one showing No Service. This was not the case. The Asda sim was still completely live and functioning (I could send/receive calls texts and use data as normal). The Vodafone sim was still showing No Service. I called the Vodafone customer services who were less than helpful and didn't really have an answer as to why it didn't happen. Dissatisfied with the response I raised a complaint using the Web Complaints Form. I included a temporary PAYG number for them to contact me on given the issues I foreboded with my main phone number (might get cut off per the porting updates)

Later that day (around 5pm) a complaint handler phoned me and said that she had escalated it to the porting team who were looking into it. She said she had marked it as a matter of urgency and that it would be corrected within 2-24 hours.

Saturday 24th August -AM
I receive an email on the complaint from the complaint handler saying: "to confirm that the services are active with Vodafone  now you will just need to restart your device"
I restarted the device and the same issue was occurring. Vodafone sim showing No Service and Asda sim still live and receiving calls/texts. I could not dial out nor send texts nor use the data service on the Asda sim. If I turned off the Asda sim card and someone phoned it went to Vodafone voicemail. If the Asda sim was switched on and I rejected the call callers just got a generic "this person cannot be reached". I replied to the complaint handler saying that it was not fixed and described these symptoms in the response.

Monday 26th August
I reached out to the twitter social media team who said they would reach out to the porting team on Tuesday morning to further escalate this (as the Monday is a BH and they are not in office). The complaint handler emailed me in the evening to say that I would receive a text message with when they were going to call me.

Tuesday 27th August
I phoned the complaint line around noon to ask for an update (complaint handler was unavailable so someone else helped me). They said the porting team will need to reattempt the port and asked for the PAC Code from Asda again, they said it would take 24-48 hours. Around 11am the Asda mobile sim went to No Service and the Vodafone sim was still showing No Service (and it had been in No Service since the day of the original port). I was assured by the agent that the Vodafone sim would kick in when the port was reattempted and I could begin to use my Vodafone services from there.

Thursday 29th August
I asked the Social media team for an update as the complaint handler had still not contacted me or emailed me with an update. They said that the porting team "had some issues reconnecting your number". At this point I lost access to MyVodafone both via the app and the website. I phoned the customer services who told me that they could see the number on my account was completely disconnected and assumed that I had requested this. I expressed that I hadn't and told them the issues I've had with number porting so the agent spoke to the Porting team. They advised that the only way for me to "try and keep my number" would be to go to a Vodafone shop and get a PAYG sim card for them to them apply a "dummy PAC code" to it to jolt the number back into action. I was told that I could then request a normal PAC code and move away from Vodafone if I wished. I went straight to the Vodafone shop to get the sim and the shop assistant gave me a blank sim card and loaded the dummy PAC onto it. He was shocked at the ordeal that had occurred after reading the account notes and apologised on behalf of Vodafone.

Friday 30th August
The PAYG sim card went from No Service to showing Vodafone service however it will not connect to mobile data (only connects to GSM, the EDGE logo keeps appearing for a split second and then disappearing. I cannot top up the sim card (can't dial out even to the free service numbers for topups and customer services) and when I try to log into MyVodafone using the new username (that the assistant in the shop set me up) it tells me I don't have an active line and doesn't let me log in.

Saturday 31st August
I tried to request a PAC code using the 65075 however it just says "Pac Request is failed". I phoned the customer services who can see that the port did not complete and was still in progress. The agent has escalated this to the porting team..

I really don't know what to do in this situation, I just want my phone number back and functioning correctly but I fear that Vodafone have completly botched it and I will have to get a new number which will be a massive inconvinience to me. Further I can't even log in to My Vodafone for either the old account or the new PAYG one so I don't know what it happening with billing for the PAYM account I orignally had. I may continue to be billed given the line was terminated as part of troublshooting. The complaint handler hasn't been in contact with me (they haven't phoned my alternative number I provided on the complaint form). I also can't access the complaints portal due to a technical issue (so I'm told by CS) so have to keep phoning for an update. Additionally, the Social media team are telling me I must go through complaints and keep giving me the number for that, but nobody there knows what to do. I honestly wish I had never taken the Vodafone contract out because it seems there is no ownership / path for resolution and it's just left me in the middle with a completely defective number of 12 years that is stuck on the Vodafone PAYG sim. Any advice would be appreciated for next steps.

[BandOfBrothers]

I'm disheartened to hear of the issues your experiencing with your port onto Vodafone @ejb99 

From what you write you've pretty much made all the contact to all the departments you can including the Vodafone Social Media Teams. 

Obviously you shouldn't have to go through all these hoops to obtain a working signal connection from Vodafone. 

Do keep a log to ask for a Goodwill Gesture to pay for the services you haven't been able to utilise. 

I hope this is resolved soon as possible. 

[Lucy_F]

Hi @ejb99. Sorry to hear about this recent experience, and for the trouble you're facing. Please message our Social Media Team via the contact information here and we can check for any update on this issue you're facing, and your complaint.

[ejb99]

I've tried to and they just keep directing me towards the Complaints number because I have a complaint open. Been promised callbacks all last week and had nothing. Was promised a call back today between 11-1pm when I phoned at 3 the operative doesn't know why they didn't call and assured me someone would call soon. But this is the 5th time I have waited and no one ever does. Genuinely the worst customer service from any company I've had the misfortune of dealing with. Been without my number now for 10 days which has been a nightmare for me given I am a carer and need to be contactable.

[Effie]

We're looking into the best way for us to get this all resolved for you @ejb99 As soon as we have an update and some confirmation of the best route to take, we'll let you know. In the meantime, if you need an update on your complaint, please do let the Social Team know. 

[japitts]

Not everyone would agree, but something really doesn't seem at all right when a complaints process includes the use of social media.

For starters, not everyone has it - are they excluded?....

[Lucy_F]

We often direct customers from the forum to contact us with account related issue via Social Media, as we are a part of this team. For any customers who don't utilise, or wish to contact us via Social Media, can use our Complaints Form found here. Anybody with an open complaint will also be provided a complaint reference number and a contact number to reach the team to discuss their complaint.