Vodafone appalling customer care, can’t wait to leave!

[autopilot]

So I’ve been a customer with Vodafone for many years. I have my landline with Vodafone, My home fibre broadband, My Apple Watch contract, And four Sim contracts for my whole family. I pay well over £100 a month. Also I have purchased a few thousand pounds worth of iPhones through them over the years. 

Yet some reason, I’m a customer that Vodafone clearly want to get rid of. 

On 28/3/24 I ordered a 5th Sim card for an elderly relative who is staying with us now. The Sim card was never taken out of the envelope and never activated, and it says that we don’t need it. I called today to cancel and told I have to pay a large cancellation fee. I appreciate I am a few days out of the 14 day cooling off period. Surely some leeway could be offered here a loyal customer? Well, after an hour on chat, which in itself was a painful experience, it was a resounding no. The chat then unceremoniously ended before I had finished speaking to the (I think 4th) representative I got past to, to see what other options I have. Had spent an hour in Vodafone wanted to start the whole process again and would not call me back, unlike other providers do.

Well done Vodafone. I absolutely guarantee that I will not be continuing to pay for any services after my contract end, and I will be switching to a new provider. 

[Gemma]

Hi @autopilot - thanks for reaching out to us here. I'm sorry to hear the chat had ended and you had to start the process again. I can understand how frustrating it must be, with you being only slightly over the cancellation period. I wish we could change this for you, although it isn't possible with going over the 14 days. We don't want to lose you as a customer. If there's anything else you'd like us to look into, then please send us a message over on Social Media. 

[autopilot]

I appreciate the response, but this is what I find so frustrating.

I raised a complaint last night and received a phone call from a complaint handling agent. He had no issues with cancelling the contract, with no cancellation fee, even stressed that they did not wish to lose customers like me who spend literally thousands of pounds per year with them. 

So indeed it can be done and indeed it was done. It’s just that until I made a complaint you didn’t want to do it.  Even if the people I’ve spoken to had said ‘ We could cancel if we want, but we’re going to charge you because we want to and contractually we can’ I would’ve been somewhat upset by that, but at least it would’ve been honest. 

I am happy that this has been done now, but the amount of time I spent doing it was quite annoying and frankly insulting the way I was spoken to by one customer service agent. 

It was a very minor ‘mistake’ (the person it was for will not be around much longer, but at no point until now have I mentioned that) which I was being punished for financially, so I will no longer automatically just stick with Vodafone and I am actively looking  at My future options for my broadband and several contracts I have for phones, watches and landline, et cetera. But yes, I appreciate the terms and conditions that I signed up, more than anything it surprises me there is no give and take, and that up until complaints procedure. Vodafone was so happy to let some some of most lucrative domestic customers go. 

[Gemma]

@autopilot - thanks for the update. I'm pleased to hear the agent handling this, was able to find a resolution outside of the standard returns process. I'm sorry to hear about your relative. I can understand, that this must be the last thing you need to be thinking about right now. If you've mentioned the way you were spoken to, in your complaint or to your complaint case handler, then this will be investigated internally. I hope it doesn't reach the point of you leaving us and that we can turn things around for you in the future. 

[autopilot]

Thanks Gemma. It’s all sorted now. It’s certainly left me with food for thought when I come to renew everything. It certainly shines a light how things are dealt with when you have a problem. So in that respect at least I’ve learned something, I’ll take that as a silver lining. All the best. 

[Gemma]

I really do hope we can have another chance. If you ever need any help and it's account specific, we're available through Social Media. 

[szcad]

I wonder if you can really keep escalating the question to higher management until someone hears you? They go like "Sorry no can return the number". And instead of "ok bye" you go like "I want to talk to your superior manager". And so on.