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Hi There,
This is my first posting on here so i will thank you in advance for any responses.
The Situation:
My partner and I are both Vodafone Customers with more than 10 years loyalty thus far. Vodafone have been attempting to contact my Partner for several weeks, and yesterday managed to track her down by contacting her via my number (two phones on one account). They were calling to discuss the other phone on the account (hers) in respect of the fact that they wished to offer her an early upgrade. Her contract expires in August, with an actual upgrade date of June.
Discussions were undertaken, on my phone, with the operator in question and a deal was struck on a new 16gb iphone 6 plus, the deal being 24 Months £43 a month with £99 upfront charge for phone with Unlimited Minutes and Texts plus 1Gig data on a 3G Contract.
Bearing in mind this was a cold call, with no expectations or prior knowledge on behalf of my partner, she undertook some research and found that this was in fact a pretty awful deal, especially for a long term, loyal customer. We did in fact find that for the same monthly price she could have a 64gb Iphone 6 Plus, on 24 month 4G contract for no upfront charge, £20 cashback, and extra 3Gig data and all with the same provider.
As she had been advised during the call that she had a 14 day cool off period, she elected to cancel the upgrade immediately. As such, she called back, 10 mins after agreeing to accepth the offer of an early upgrade, and thats when the games began......
At 1925 yesterday evening (upgrade agreed at 1915), she contacted Vodafone, went all through the options and ended up with somene in upgrades. This operator informed her, having let her deliver the full transcript of the upgrade discussion, that she would need to deal with another dept (returns) but advised her that there was a long queue. She accepted this obstacle and waited in this queue for 8 mins before, again, delivering the whole tale to the (2nd) operator. This operator heard her out and advised that he could not assist in this matter and advised again that she needed to speak to another advisor. On requesting she be transferred, the operator told her that the dept was now closed for the evening and that she should call back in the morning. As it was not a standard time for a dept to be closed and in fact 15 min or so within the 2000 closing, she asked him if he was sure the dept was shut and asked for the opening hours. At the third time of asking the same question in a different way, the operator crumbled and confessed that they were still open and that he would transfer her.
So onto the next operator (3rd) and this one was as much use as the proverbial chocolate fireguard, merely returning her to the dept that she contacted first, upgrades. On re-gurgetating the, now finely polished, transcript, this operator (4th) notified my partner that he could do nothing for her and that she needed to speak to returns, who were now closed!!
Can you see the pattern here?
On calling back this morning, as advised, she has been told that she needs to wait for DPD to attempt to deliver the phone and that she should not accept it. Thereafter, the phone will be returned to the warehouse, where, after up to a week, the upgrades team may call to check that it has been returned. If they forget, or choose not to chase this information, and the return goes unnoticed during the 14 day cool off period, then the contract stands, regardless of any discussion you have had with Vodafone to the contrary.
She was further advised that, if she chooses to write to Vodafone to cancel the upgrade, the letter may be lost in post and the message goes unnoticed, resulting in?....you guessed it, upgrade stands contractually.
So to summarise:
1. Vodafone upgrades team makes its uber simple to upgrade on the phone.
2. Vodafone make it impossible to cancel over the phone.
3. Vodafone upgrades deals with selling upgrades and arranging delivery.
4. Vodafone returns deals with (or doesnt) the cancelletion aspect of phones returned but does not deal with this aspect of phones that havent yet been sent.
5. Vodafone are legally obliged to give 14 day cool off for contracts sold over the phone, but advise heavily that all measures to uptake this cool off are fraught with the dangers of not being able to comply. This is mostly due to their inability to ensure phones are tracked properly and that mail/emails are actioned in a timely manner.
So what do we do?...My partner agreed something that she changed her mind about with 13 days 23 hours and 50 mins of the 14 day cool off period remaining. She actioned this before Vodafone had taken any, physical, action to fulfil their contractual obligation to provide her with a new phone. Vodafone are extremely reluctant, or unable, to interrupt this seemingly unstoppable roller coaster of a process that will furnish her with a phone and/or contract that she does not want.
Vodafone operators are either trained exceptionally well at avoidance techniques or are unfit (through lack of training and/or common sense) to tie their own shoelaces never mind operate a mobile phone network. So you help me make up our minds, are they devious or just incredibly stupid, whilst you kindly advise any poetential way forward for our dilemMa.
Regards
Derek
This is my first posting on here so i will thank you in advance for any responses.
The Situation:
My partner and I are both Vodafone Customers with more than 10 years loyalty thus far. Vodafone have been attempting to contact my Partner for several weeks, and yesterday managed to track her down by contacting her via my number (two phones on one account). They were calling to discuss the other phone on the account (hers) in respect of the fact that they wished to offer her an early upgrade. Her contract expires in August, with an actual upgrade date of June.
Discussions were undertaken, on my phone, with the operator in question and a deal was struck on a new 16gb iphone 6 plus, the deal being 24 Months £43 a month with £99 upfront charge for phone with Unlimited Minutes and Texts plus 1Gig data on a 3G Contract.
Bearing in mind this was a cold call, with no expectations or prior knowledge on behalf of my partner, she undertook some research and found that this was in fact a pretty awful deal, especially for a long term, loyal customer. We did in fact find that for the same monthly price she could have a 64gb Iphone 6 Plus, on 24 month 4G contract for no upfront charge, £20 cashback, and extra 3Gig data and all with the same provider.
As she had been advised during the call that she had a 14 day cool off period, she elected to cancel the upgrade immediately. As such, she called back, 10 mins after agreeing to accepth the offer of an early upgrade, and thats when the games began......
At 1925 yesterday evening (upgrade agreed at 1915), she contacted Vodafone, went all through the options and ended up with somene in upgrades. This operator informed her, having let her deliver the full transcript of the upgrade discussion, that she would need to deal with another dept (returns) but advised her that there was a long queue. She accepted this obstacle and waited in this queue for 8 mins before, again, delivering the whole tale to the (2nd) operator. This operator heard her out and advised that he could not assist in this matter and advised again that she needed to speak to another advisor. On requesting she be transferred, the operator told her that the dept was now closed for the evening and that she should call back in the morning. As it was not a standard time for a dept to be closed and in fact 15 min or so within the 2000 closing, she asked him if he was sure the dept was shut and asked for the opening hours. At the third time of asking the same question in a different way, the operator crumbled and confessed that they were still open and that he would transfer her.
So onto the next operator (3rd) and this one was as much use as the proverbial chocolate fireguard, merely returning her to the dept that she contacted first, upgrades. On re-gurgetating the, now finely polished, transcript, this operator (4th) notified my partner that he could do nothing for her and that she needed to speak to returns, who were now closed!!
Can you see the pattern here?
On calling back this morning, as advised, she has been told that she needs to wait for DPD to attempt to deliver the phone and that she should not accept it. Thereafter, the phone will be returned to the warehouse, where, after up to a week, the upgrades team may call to check that it has been returned. If they forget, or choose not to chase this information, and the return goes unnoticed during the 14 day cool off period, then the contract stands, regardless of any discussion you have had with Vodafone to the contrary.
She was further advised that, if she chooses to write to Vodafone to cancel the upgrade, the letter may be lost in post and the message goes unnoticed, resulting in?....you guessed it, upgrade stands contractually.
So to summarise:
1. Vodafone upgrades team makes its uber simple to upgrade on the phone.
2. Vodafone make it impossible to cancel over the phone.
3. Vodafone upgrades deals with selling upgrades and arranging delivery.
4. Vodafone returns deals with (or doesnt) the cancelletion aspect of phones returned but does not deal with this aspect of phones that havent yet been sent.
5. Vodafone are legally obliged to give 14 day cool off for contracts sold over the phone, but advise heavily that all measures to uptake this cool off are fraught with the dangers of not being able to comply. This is mostly due to their inability to ensure phones are tracked properly and that mail/emails are actioned in a timely manner.
So what do we do?...My partner agreed something that she changed her mind about with 13 days 23 hours and 50 mins of the 14 day cool off period remaining. She actioned this before Vodafone had taken any, physical, action to fulfil their contractual obligation to provide her with a new phone. Vodafone are extremely reluctant, or unable, to interrupt this seemingly unstoppable roller coaster of a process that will furnish her with a phone and/or contract that she does not want.
Vodafone operators are either trained exceptionally well at avoidance techniques or are unfit (through lack of training and/or common sense) to tie their own shoelaces never mind operate a mobile phone network. So you help me make up our minds, are they devious or just incredibly stupid, whilst you kindly advise any poetential way forward for our dilemMa.
Regards
Derek
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