Sim Swap Farce

[moorw003]

Hi. I'm writing because I am at the end of my tether with Vodafone.

About 2 weeks ago, my mobile phone broke. I have external insurance and in the process of having this sorted out. In the mean time, I went out and bought a Moto G73 sim free, with the intention of moving my numbers across. Because on Vodafone, i was using an eSim, I went into a store in Guildford and they said no problem. They got a blank sim, said they'd transfer the number across and I'm good to go in 1-24 hours.

2 weeks later and I don't have an active sim. I went back into the store after a couple of days, they said there seems to have been a problem,talk to customer service.

Every day since, I have gone onto the chat, they've investiaged, put me through to a "manager", promised my case is priority, and that it'll be resolved tomorrow. On Saturday, I was promised that it was now "top priority" and would definately be resolved within an hour. They even gave me an order number which stated open. Every day it wasn't fixed.

I got onto them this morning and said I've had enough, I want to leave, and they said no, the ticket number says it'll be fixed on the 27th April. Well 10 minutes ago that ticket turned from open to cancelled.

What can I do. I'm in contract, but have a technical problem they don't know how to fix, and everyday I'm spending 30-45 minutes being lied to by Vodafone agents saying don't worry. I'm so upset and angry

[Gemma]

@moorw003 - I can understand your frustration with how long you've been trying to get the SIM activated for. This isn't the way we want to make you feel. My team can check your account and help further. Please contact us through Social Media. 

[garetc]

Social Media contact is all well and good but I would advise you to look up the CEO's email and drop them an email. The case will be handed off to the exec complaints team who are hands down brilliant.

I've had nothing but issues with my account since they migrated me to a 'new system' and the lady helping me is brilliant. As my case handler she keeps me updated with the progress, I can email her with any questions and I get a reply when she's in.

Best of all when they say they're going to call you, you get an SMS with a 2-3 hour window and you actually get a call!

[moorw003]

After 13 days, the problem was finally fixed yesterday. I got a message saying the sim swap was successful, and I could use my phone again. Hurrah.

However, I've just received an email telling me my airtime package was renewed yesterday and my contract is now for another 2 years. I've checked my Vodafone and yes... my new contract end date is 27/04/2025.

Seriously Vodafone, what the actual. Can you actually do anything right??

[garetc]

At a guess the back office team have put through a disconnect, cleansed your number and then reinstated/reconnected it. 

If you drop your complaint handler or whoever you’re interacting with a message they’ll be able to adjust your line back to the correct end of minimum term date.

[moorw003]

You know, I took the contract out in October. At the same time I asked to take out Home Broadband, but failed the credit check for the broadband. I was incredulous, as my credit is good. I appealed, and was ready to leave my phone contract which was in cooling off in principle.

I was told by the appeals team that the rejection was a mistake because the system thought the monthly payment for broadband would be £200, not the £19. Anyway, it was set up and I had 6 months of good broadband.

Then at the beginning of April I moved house. I rang Vodafone to change my address, and was told that the broadband although set up and working, hadn't moved from pending to open. I was told to keep my service, I'd have to take another credit check! I was furious, and it was raised to a manager, who said that I had to agree to a credit check or I'd not be able to keep it, there was no other option. I refused after the previous credit check debacle, and because I already had 2 Vodafone credit checks on my file. In the end, Vodafone had to let me leave the broadband contract without penalty as I threatened action.

A few weeks later I try to do a simple sim swap which doesn't work, and 13 days later, and 8 hours of my time chasing up, it gets fixed for my contract to be renewed and an addtional paid service I didn't ask for added (netsafe).

I have to hand it to Vodafone, for the attempted record for most creative ways to alienate a customer. It's fair to say going with Vodafone was just about the worst decision I could have made. Facepalm

[garetc]

Vodafone are great if you don't need to contact customer service but the minute you do it often goes very wrong. O2 and Three aren't better in my opinion. Three's CS has been historically bad, O2 used to win awards for CS but since COVID has dropped the ball. 

EE have very good customer service the majority of the time but they're quite expensive.

There's loads of factors that have caused it but great customer service is going the way of the Dodo. 

[moorw003]

I've needed to contact customer service to query a credit check fail with perfect credit, which was attributed computer glitch. The sim swap was a systems glitch. The failure of to move my broadband from pending to open was a systems glitch.

The customer service is diabolical, but the problems are deep rooted in systems, systems which the customer servicce team don't seem to know how to fix. I won't be staying with Vodafone a second longer than I have to, but I don't blame the customer services per se. I blame the systems.

[moorw003]

So I've been onto the Facebook page for 90 minutes. I was asked to show a screenshot, which I did. I then explained how unhappy I am. The message was seen, and I've had no response.

I am really upset atm. I feel like this company is trying to upset me for no good reason.

[garetc]

It can feel quite personal but it’s definitely not.

They’re either off shift or are looking into it for you. 

Give them a bit of time to investigate and follow up tomorrow. 

Good luck!