Since trying to sign up with Vodaphone around 2 months ago as a first time customer, I've been lied to on several occasions, had to deal with one mess up after another, got constant re-assurance that everything is being dealt with.
I could write a book on how badly organised and incompetent the organisation is, but I'll try and condense the key points into a list:
1. Agreed to sign up over the phone on 25th September
2. Promised that the handset I'd ordered would be delivered 2 days later
3. Lied to by customer services on the evening of the 26th of September (they confirmed and promised me that the phone would be delivered the next day)
4. Told the following day (delivery day) that there was no chance and my account clearly showed the phone is on back order.
5. Lied to by the complaints team, telling me that the conversations I had would be listened to and I would recieved a response to my complaint
6. Lied to by several other advisors during the following weeks, with constant promises of 'everything is okay', 'I will personally take charge of your account and call you with any updates' - To this date I have never recieved a single call
7. Constantly advised to wait and assured that my phone will be arriving soon.
8. After around 6 weeks I was told there was an error with my contract and phone order and it had to be cancelled.
9. Had to wait another week and re-raise the order.
10. During the 6 week period I waited for the phone and recieved constant lies and false promises, I got a text message from vodaphone apologising for the wait and advising me that I would be recieving a portable power bank worth £40.
11. As I had to re-raise my order due to the incompetance of vodaphone, I was now NOT eligible to recieve this power bank, even though I had now waited even longer and the delay was no fault of my own.
12. 7 weeks later I eventually recieved my new phone on 13/11.
13. According to the Vodaphone app I am being charged from 8th November and have charges equating to almost double of the monthly fee I agreed even though I have only had the phone less than a week
14. When speaking with customer services about this, I have been promised and assusred that this is nothing to worry about and I will not get charged more that the price I agreed.... needless to say I have absolutely no trust in this advice whatsoever.
15. My 4g speed is showing as around 7mb/s which is way less that what I was initially advised. I was told that as I am on a 20gb plan, I get the fastest vodaphone speeds (if this is the fastest, it's a complete joke!).
16. Despite all the issues, incoveniences, lies and having a promised £40 power bank promised to me, I have been offered a grand compensation amount of.. £40, which is a complete insult.
Apparently nobody in the whole organisation can make a decision to award me more that £40 until my first bill is produced, which conveniently falls on the very last day in which I can cancel the contract and return the phone.
If I don't stay with vodaphone, I will not recieve a penny in compensation or any kind of offical apology.
I feel disgusted that they treat any customers like this. I'm really in 2 minds whether to just end the contract now, or take my chances next week and see if by some miracle somebody actually addresses the issues at hand and I get some reasonable explanations (and a reasonable compensation offer!).
It's really clear from all the conversations I've had that Vodaphone are only interested in telling you whatever needs to be said to appease you, even if promises made and information given is completely false. Nobody (apart from the last sales guy I spoke to - Thank you Dennis!) has ever tried to actually take any actions to solve the situation.
I hope anyone considering moving over to Vodaphone from another provider takes this experience into account before making any decisions. I presume that my situation must be one of the worst case scenarios, but who knows, maybe this is common.
Please be warned and approach with extreme caution!
