Vodafone don't want me to upgrade.

[Vamo]

So, I don't normally feel the need to come to a forum and voice my concerns/disappointment with a service or company, but after the most frustrating, upsetting and disappointing week of back and forth with more agents via the chat service than I can care to count, I most definatley feel the need to raise some awareness withing the community!

As of last Sunday the 21st of November, I was 2 weeks away from the end of my contract and thought to myself that I would quite like to get my upgrade done. Based on past experience, initiating a chat with the upgrades team and negotiating a deal has always worked well in the past, no complaints!

I proceeded to do the same thing this time and after around an hour and a half of back and forth, we settled on a plan for the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G 256Gb in Black, on the Unlimited Max plan with a 25% loyalty discount and £21 discount for trading in my current handset, this was a monthly costs of £40.25 to which I agreed.

Whilst waiting on this agent to run through the terms and conditions, he suddenly disconnected the chat, I later realised that this was likely due to the fact the time had rolled past 8pm and they had simply gone home rather than finish the sale.

The next morning, I got up and initiated a new chat at 11am, after running through the whole process again and securing the same deal (the previous agent did not leave ANY notes on my account), we proceeded to a "credit check", now, this disgruntled me immediately, as I have been a loyal Vodafone customer for 14 years and have NEVER missed a payment nor changed the bank account used for the payment, but I allowed it, answered the "affordability" questions and....nothing. the next FOUR AND A HALF HOURS were spent in that chat, with the agent apologising for the delay every 20 minutes or so, blaming busy lines, busy departments etc, until eventually, again, he disconnected without completing anything.

Seriously annoyed now, I immediately opened a new chat and this time the agent wasn't having any of what I was quoted by the previous two agents. He informed me that the price with all discounts was now £43 per month, and I agreed to this because by this point I just wanted it done. We went through the process and got to the credit check again, this time the agent said I needed to provide "proof of ID", like I'm some sort of new customer rather than someone that's been with them for 14 years. Despite this, I provided the passport they demanded and waited the 24 hours asked....

After a suitable time had passed, I went into another chat, explained the situation, the deal etc, and this agent once again quoted a different, higher price than the previous three agents! Now up to £46.50 per month! She states that the previous agents has given me a "misquote" and when I challenged this she stated that it doesn't matter what the agents had said, I would have been billed the higher price regardless! So blatantly false advertising, be warned that the price you get quoted in chat is by no means what you will be charged for! If the system doesn't agree it will bill you higher. And to top it off, they informed me that I also needed to provide a proof of address, which the previous agents made no mention of. Again, I submitted this and was forced to wait the requisite 24 hours.

Now today, I spoke with an agent and demanded to speak to a manager, which was ignored and I was once again connected to the upgrades team. Today's quoted price was the highest yet, at £48.25, and this agent demanded a bank statement! All of which could have been requested when they asked for the initial proof of ID!!! Instead of making me submit three different documents with a 24 hour wait each time.

Due to these delays incurred by Vodafone's ineptitude, I have missed out of the potentially great price I was originally quoted. Vodafone will NOT honor the price laid out to be in the email I received, and have also informed me that the trade in price I was to receive has been slashed from a £21 discount to £12 due to "Black Friday", which means I get.a WORSE deal on Black Friday than I was set to receive before! And they will not honor it, 14 years of loyalty, never missing a payment and they have treated me absolutely appallingly. The agents in question all need to be retrained, if they need three documents then ASK for them at the SAME TIME not in dribs and drabs.

If you quote a customer a price, HONOR IT, especially if the order is delayed by your incompetence.

It honestly feels to me like Vodafone do not care about their loyal customers and instead want to focus on bringing in new customers, offering them the best of deals and service whilst we get bounced around, disconnected from and given empty false quotes.

As I write this, the issue is not resolved, and as my contract ends on the 7th December, I think I will be terminating my 14 years of service with Vodafone, the way they have gone about this is disgusting and I don't want to be bound to a company that treats it's customers this way.

[BandOfBrothers]

I can understand and appreciate how disappointing this experience has been.

With the new evo plans because they include a handset that's paid for separately a credit check has to be performed even if it's with an existing customer upgrading. 

I do agree that if a deal is spoken about and agreed upon then Vodafone should honour said deal,  but until the order has been raised and confirmed its just that,  an offer.

Perhaps raise a complaint via complaints/code-of-practice and speak with the Vodafone Social Media Team's who are also a part of the Customer Escalation Team who help with complaints.

Contact-us-for-account-specific-queries. 

Link back to your thread here including your forum username so your not having to repeat yourself.

I appreciate your unimpressed and don't want to be bound to Vodafone however upto this point I assume they have been OK and provided you adequate signal and data speeds etc.

You could consider sim only on a 30 day or one of the longer terms or transfer Payg or Voxi as alternatives.

I wish you all the best with this however you decide to proceed. 

[Vamo]

Hi and thanks for your response.

Regardless of how the new Evo plans work, the process is unchanged, you still charge a monthly fee and that monthly fee is paid via direct debit, from the same account it always has, in terms of whom Vodafone should be glad to deal with it should be customers like myself with zero fraud, zero missed payments and zero issues. This behaviour does not explain the sudden demands for ID and address, like I am some new customer looking to take out my first contract.

What you said about an offer not being set in stone, on two occasions my "upgrade" made it through to the stage in which the order was placed and made "pending" due to the demands for documentation, these orders were cancelled by Vodafone and therefore not honoured, but they were quite happy to try and create a new one at the higher prices. Unacceptable.

I appreciate you trying to provide alternatives to being bound into a contract with Vodafone but after the way they have gone about this whole process, I will not be giving them a single penny more of my money, nor any other networks that Vodafone own or have anything to do with. This is the consequence of poor customer service and agents that can't provide accurate information or tell me to submit three documents at once!

Dale

[BandOfBrothers]

You're very welcome for my reply @Vamo 

Pending ststus awaiting documentation would I think mean the deal hadn't been sealed. I assume the deal timed out due to awaiting of the documentation  ?

I appreciate from what you say that your done with Vodafone and I wish you all the best with your new Network.

I assume you've checked out alternatives that they provide adequate signal and data speeds. Although not via online network checkers as they only provide an idea of what they provide, but not a guarantee.

Cancel-your-account and information on Pac and Stac Codes. 

Please don't cancel your direct debit until you receive a Sorry your leaving letter and a zero bill.

This would stop potential recovery action and any defaults hitting your Credit File as an extreme case. We do see posts where thus has happened. 

You'll probably find Vodafone automatically cancel the Direct Debit when this has been concluded.