Here is a letter of complaint i sent to Vodafone over the way i was treated over a fault i had discovered in the town that i work in!
Vodafone Customer Relations Department
PO BOX 549
Banbury
Oxfordshire
OX17 3ZJ
Dear ‘Customer Relations’
I am writing to you today because I am appalled by the way Vodafone have acted in the last few days.
I have rung 191 to ask for my PAC code and I spoke to a reasonably helpful lady and she said that if I cancel my contract that I will have to pay the remainder of my line rental for the rest of the contract which is approximately £330.
I don’t feel that I should have to pay this because I am not being provided with the service that I am paying for as I am unable to make calls or send text in the BN18 9AJ area. When I took a contract out with Vodafone I was aware that a contract is a 2 way thing. I was paying for a service that Vodafone had promised to provide. If you are no longer providing this service that I am paying for then why should I still pay, you have broken your end of the contract.
The fiasco started on Friday the 6th February.
My partner Richard (who is also on Vodafone) was at work in the BN18 9AJ area. He could not make any calls or send any texts and the battery was going down at the rate of knots trying to go longer distance to find a signal.
My partner asked around at work and about 6 or 7 of his colleague’s phones were not working either. Including one persons Vodafone wireless mobile internet laptop.
Then when I went to work on Saturday 7th February (in Arundel, BN18 9AJ) I was having the same problems. No calls, no texts and my battery was down from 100% to 25% overnight when I hadn’t used it!
So on Monday 9th February I called Vodafone and spoke to a woman who told me to take my SIM card out and clean it. Which I’d already tried. Then she said I will put you through to Technical Support. So she put me on hold and I was waiting for about 10 minutes listening to the naff music they play. Then all of a sudden I was cut off and I found my self being connected to another lady who said our SIM cards are old and that’s why they don’t work. So I will send you 2 new SIMs, then it will work.
We called Vodafone again knowing for well that the new SIMs wouldn’t do the trick.
Finally got through to a nice bloke in Technical Support who told us that there was a fault with the BN18 9AJ mast and that he would pass this information on to an engineer to go out and check it and hopefully fix the problem and that someone from Technical Support would call me back in no more than 2 days to say when this had been done. Thought wonderful great sorted!
But then 2 days passed (3 in total/72 hours needed by engineer) and nothing had been fixed. So my partner called again to see why.
He spoke to one man who just fobbed us off with Technical Support again.
Through to a woman in Technical Support again and she says she will put us on hold for a moment while she checks the system for any faults. Came back and said no it’s all working fine. Then she waffled on for a while and we ended up on hold again.
Eight minutes past and then we were cut off, it went back to all our operators are busy at present. Then we got put through to another bloke and had to explain the whole problem AGAIN! And the said he’d put us through to Technical Support.
We were cut off again.
This went on through about 8-10 people who each in turn cut us off.
We then received our new SIMs. No note or letter to tell us we had to activate them so we had to guess that. So we both rang up to activate our SIMs. But they still didn’t work in Arundel as my partner found out when he went to work on Wednesday 11th February.
So my partner rang again and was transferred to Technical Support 4 times and cut off by another 6 people. He’d had enough and so had I. After a while I thought, perhaps I will give it one more go. I must find a useful person eventually who won’t cut me off. They can’t all be as rude and rubbish as the ones we have had so far.
So at 7-30pm I called them again and spoke to another man and asked for my PAC code so I can leave Vodafone and he asked me why. So I explained the situation for about the 17th time and he put me through to Technical Support AGAIN.
Then after I was on hold for 10 minutes I was cut off. Dead on 8pm when their office shuts.
We are so frustrated it was so obvious what the problem is but Vodafone will not acknowledge the problem or fix it.
Not only that but each operator that we have spoken to often contradicts what another had said.
- The first Technical Support man called me back on the house phone as my battery was low. Then another operator tells me that the Technical support team can’t make outgoing calls. So how did the man call me back?
- One operator tells me that she has checked the system for faults and says that there are no problems and that all is as it should be. Then another tells me she can have checked the system as the system is down. Was she lying?
My partner and I rely on our phones. He uses his AT WORK IN ARUNDEL. He needs to be able to be contacted 24-7 for his work. He has lost a few customers due to not being able to use his phone.
I use my phone a lot too. I work nights IN ARUNDEL. It’s my lifeline when I go out alone.
I pay £25-00
He pays £20-00 = £45-00 a month.
They are not providing a service that we are paying for. I wouldn’t treat anyone they way that I have been treated over the past few days. I feel like I am a piece of dirt on the bottom of their shoes. They have been no help WHATSOEVER. They are rude and I would not expect a company to have operators that hang up on their customers.
The problem is so simple. It’s blatantly obvious that the Arundel (BN18 9AJ) mast/s have a fault.
All it would have taken is for someone to put me through to Technical Support. I’d explain the problem ONCE. They’d say thank you very much for reporting a fault. We will look into it. Then send out an engineer to fix the problem IMMEDIATELY! Then we’d all be happy.
But instead we get treated like a piece of dog doo doo on their shoes and they are about to loose 2 longstanding customers.
Up until Friday 6th February the Arundel signal was fine. No problems at all.
I then rang Vodafone again to ask for my PAC code, spoke to a lovely woman who said she would need to authorize my PAC code with her manager.
So I spent 20 minutes on hold and I was amazed when she actually came back. She didn’t come back with good news though. She said if I want my PAC code I’d have to pay a shortfall of £330 to cancel it.
I was in tears. This whole experience has actually made me feel ill. I just can’t cope with your “Customer Care and Technical Support” departments anymore. We have explained the problem over 20 times between me and my partner.
Now as you can see I am not a happy customer and due to way I have been treated I do not feel I should have to pay this shortfall. I wish to have my PAC code and I will go to another network that can provide the service I need and doesn’t treat it’s customers like crap!
I look forward to hearing from you. Don’t ring my mobile because it doesn’t work!! Use the house phone!! Number is at the top of the letter.
From A Very Unhappy Customer
S Hills
All they could offer me in compensation for all my trouble was £25 off (1 free month!) PATHETIC!!!