Raising a formal complaint? This is getting ridiculous now!

[maxwilkes]

Ok...so a brief history...I have been with Vodafone for well over a year now and have 3 active lines and have NEVER missed a single payment. A few weeks ago (yes WEEKS) I tried to open a 4th line and was referred to the credit assessment team who approved it within 5 minutes. The agent went to proceed with the order but was met with a greyed out button which he didn't know how to fix. He put me on hold, went to speak to the manager, and a few minutes later said he would cancel the order completely and try to reorder it. Again, referred to credit assessment who manually approved it and again he got met with a greyed out button. At this point he cancelled it again and said to go to the store and try there. So I walked over half an hour to the store and they tried to place the order...again referred to credit. But unlike customer services who actually ring through to the team the store were talking to them over some sort of instant messenger. This time, however, it came back as completely declined! I was like...I was LITERALLY just approved for this? Nothing we can do they say.

So I walk home and again immediately send an appeal to the credit team before contacting customer services who loaded up my account, read all the notes, and rang through to them. A different advisor from the credit team then overturned the declined decision and said I was now approved for up to 5 lines. The agent, once again, tried to then place the order for me but was again met with the greyed out box. At this point he put me on hold and after an hour of on/off hold they informed me they didn't know what the problem was but assured me it was an issue on their end and nothing to do with the credit check and that they had referred it to the back office team for a fix and that somebody would ring me back in a few days...a few days later nobody had rang so I rang again and the issue was still there so they escalated it again. The following week I called back again and was further informed that there was still no fix and they'd escalated it to management and somebody would call me back on Monday. Well Monday came...and went...nothing.

In the meantime I received a response back to my appeal from a person called Leanne at Identify Me @ Vodafone confirming that I had been approved. See below screenshot...

Credit Check Appeal

After a few more days I was advised by live chat to try placing the order again so this time I did it from My Vodafone instead of over the phone. The order appeared to go through but informed me that it had not yet been processed. When I tracked the order it said status "Received" not "Confirmed". About an hour later I received the following email from Vodafone...

Hello,

Thank you for your interest in joining Vodafone. 
 
When you place an order with us, we check your information with credit reference agencies. Unfortunately, as a result of these checks, we won’t be able to offer you the product you’ve ordered. 
 
Your order (order number retracted for security reasons) has now been cancelled. Don’t worry, you haven’t been charged. 
 
Your credit report 
If you’d like to see a copy of your credit report, please get in touch with a credit reference agency. Go to www.experian.co.uk or www.equifax.co.uk for more information. 
 
Good news - you can still join us! 
If you’re interested in buying a phone, our Pay as you go plans offer a range of great value ways to get connected. Head to www.vodafone.co.uk/payasyougo to find out more. 
 
Or if it’s broadband you’re looking for, you can still get mobile broadband with us on Pay as you go. Check out our range of mobile Wi-Fi or data dongles now. "

I am beyond annoyed now...MULTIPLE HARD SEARCHES from Vodafone have appeared on my credit report which is undoubtedly going to negatively affect my score. What's worse is I have it in writing that my credit check appeal was SUCCESSFUL. So I'm literally going round and round in circles here. And I still don't know if the issue with the box being greyed out for customer services when they try to place orders for me has been fixed yet...

But the credit check problem SHOULD DEFINITELY no longer be an issue.

The screenshot above is HARD PROOF that my credit check appeal was successful.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @maxwilkes 

I can understand how this must be frustrating for you as you say you have passed the Credit Checks and it's Vodafone systems not letting this go ahead for some reason.

Maybe their systems identify too many lines have been taken and there's a concern over a person overstretching their finances or their system determines that a period of time , bill payments need to have elapsed before another line can be opened. These are my personal thoughts on this you understand and not officially how Vodafone conduct providing extra lines.

As I was reading your post the first thing that started to come to mind was that this could be affecting your Credit Score due to the checks being carried out.

It can take approximately 90 days for a Credit Score to recover. It's recommended to wait that period of time before applying again.

You can certainly speak with the Vodafone Social Media Team's via Social Media Team's Link  ( there is no account access via this forum ) 

And or raise your concerns via Complaints/code-of-practice. 

I wish you all the best with this. 

[maxwilkes]

I shouldn’t need to apply again or wait 90 days and I shouldn’t have to keep being credit checked every time the order is placed when I already have it in writing (as per the screenshot) that I’ve been manually approved by the credit team. As for the system glitch that’s not my fault.

I’m not trying to order a fourth phone. I have two phones, one tablet and am trying to order a watch to accompany one of the phones.

This isn’t about any credit concerns…this is purely a consistent error on Vodafone’s side. What is the point in having a credit check appeals team if the appeal is successful but they ignore it and conduct a further credit check anyway? A hard credit check was done on 29th June 2021 when this whole drama began. The decision was overturned by credit check appeals team on 6th July as per the screenshot (which still needs to be moderator approved for some reason).

Ever since then operators have had a system glitch placing the order and eventually I was advised to try placing it via my online account instead. And the outcome of that was as above and I can confirm a further hard credit search dated 16th July has now appeared on my credit report even though I shouldn’t have had to go through a credit check again as one had been done in the last few months AND I had official confirmation from the appeals team, in writing, that I’d been approved…

so this is Vodafone’s problem and they need to fix it. You can’t turn round and tell me to wait 90 days…that only applies if you actually failed and want to reapply. I’ve been approved on appeal.

[BandOfBrothers]

@maxwilkes 

“ You can’t turn round and tell me to wait 90 days…that only applies if you actually failed and want to reapply. I’ve been approved on appeal. ”

To quote from my reply…  It can take approximately 90 days for a Credit Score to recover. It's recommended to wait that period of time before applying again.

I'm certainly not telling you that you have to wait 10 days, only that's it's recommended advice to let a Credit Score recover.

Just to reiterate from my first reply “ these are my personal thoughts on this you understand and not officially how Vodafone conduct providing extra lines.”

We are customers here like you helping in our personal time.

I understand it's not your fault, I do.

The Vodafone Social Media Team's are here to help but can't from this forum due to no account access from here which is why I offered the link.

Due to being a new member to the forum attached information needs to be moderated.

The team will get to your post and allow the attachment as long as the information contained does not breach forum guidelines.

I truly wish you all the best with this. 

[maxwilkes]

While we wait for a moderator to approve the screenshot which you can clearly see is from Vodafone so not me talking out my ##~##…but I’ll just put a text version of what they said here (minus my account details which…in the screenshot I’ve blacked out anyway):

“Good afternoon Max,

Thank you for contacting Vodafone.

I have reviewed your loan application and can see you have since successfully gained approval from us. I can confirm there was a decline originally due to links with an adverse individual however upon review I can see the links are not valid.

If not already done so to complete the request please call 03333 040191 and our sales team will be more than happy to fulfil the request for you.

Kindest regards,

Leanne”

[donnyguy]

Hey,

Something similar happened to a friend of mine. You're right in saying you do need someone to own this through to resolution. I'd recommend visiting vodafone.co.uk/complaints and raising a case.

The irony is, if you have multiple hard searches on your credit file then these do harm your credit score. They need to remove any duplicates from your file. Thats what they did for my friend (after lots of back and forth) who ultimately went to EE as a result.

[AnnS]

Hi @maxwilkes 

What surprises me here is the need for Vodafone to do any additional check, as a existing Customer you would have already been credit checked, plus you have a good payment record, indeed your credit allowance for the account should have been increased. 

Let's hope someone in Vodafone puts this right for you, and you are able to get your watch connected to an existing plan.