Vodafone minor annoyance today

[tinman0]

This isn't name and shame but a genuine appeal to the PHers who work at Vodafone.

Today, I decided that I wanted a new phone. Main contract is long since up, and have 5 contracts in total, in fact most of them are also out of contract time as well at the moment. Not a heavy user and the account is worth between £100 and £200 a month. Been with Vodafone for 10 years now.

The phone I have is a Sony Ericcson W880i, and the phone I want is a W890i. Not exactly cutting edge. Not exactly iPhne, HTC, or N95 at the end of the day. Just a small moderately equipped mobile.

So after the shop messed me around, I called up customer services.

For a new W890i they wanted £87 for a 12 month contract. But I protest - the website says I only need a £30 a month contract to have the phone for free. My main contract is £45 a month. Ah, "new customers only". Never have I heard the famous line from the Halifax in my life. "New customers only". Its an insult. And they don't have any in stock.

To make matters worse the guy in the call centre couldn't help. The second comedy moment came with: "Computer says no"

I point out that if I'm spending £87 on a new phone it will be towards an iPhone and I'll leave for o2. Something rumbles in the operators mind. He has a solution. He puts me through to the business team that handles my account.

5 minutes later, I have a W890i sourced from somewhere in the depths of Vodafone, it'll be here tomorrow, free of charge and on a 12 month (not 18 month) contract.

I hate battling companies for decent service, and I got decent service in the end from Vodafone, but come on guys, why make your customers work the system to be treated properly?

I pay good money for my contracts, and quite frankly I could find better deals from other companies like Phones4u or Carphone Warehouse, so when a customer phones up for a poxy phone, why not just deal with them properly and sensibly?

[DRIFT KING]

I hate dealing with networks in general.

When I call mine up when my contract is up to upgrade, like you say, they say the price is for new customers etc. Then I say, OK I quit, they change their tune.

They try to squeeze you for every penny in my experience.

[jamoor]

I have given up on contracts
O2 simplicity £20/month plenty of minutes and texts and unlimited data you can buy whichver phone you want off eBay

[Ry_B]

Voda have always been good to me...been on them for a long time now and have no reason to change!

[Vixpy1]

Ry_B said:

Voda have always been good to me...been on them for a long time now and have no reason to change!

Me too, they gave me an N95 for £15 the other day, and i'm not exactly a heavy user.

[The Ben]

working in the industry tells me that the networks dont give expensive new phones to low users,they want to recouperate the cost of the phone through your tarriff charge but mainly through your over spends,this happends regardless of your length of time with the network. Righty or wrongly this is just the way it is.
People tend to forget that the networks are a business and not a government public service, any 1 here understands that profit maximisation is fundemental. I dont neccassarly agree with it but thats how they roll!

[JamesM]

I just play the "I'll change network" card and last time Vodafone practically threw themselves at me and offered me a better phone than what I wanted. I didn't complain

[Glosphil]

"Not a heavy user and the account is worth between £100 and £200 a month. "!!!

Hell, what is your definition of a heavy user?

Guess I'm a light user with a bill of less than £4/month.

[LDNrevs]

JamesM said:

I just play the "I'll change network" card

I tried that with Orange a couple years back and it backfired - they just said 'ok see ya' - I was baffled but left anyway.

[The Ben]

i know your account is heavy but they will be all treated as seperate contracts,(unless it a business account with sharers then that works slightly different 4 upgrades!) , so each of your users on the contracts maybe offered different phone options unless they are similar users!

[The Moose]

always play the im leaving card with voda. they will try to get you back. when i got my first iphone, they were like what can we do to keep your business blah blah blah and i was like gimme an iphone and they started offering me everything else for free and great packages etc. the customer service is st though!!

The Moose

[tinman0]

The Ben said:

i know your account is heavy but they will be all treated as seperate contracts,(unless it a business account with sharers then that works slightly different 4 upgrades!) , so each of your users on the contracts maybe offered different phone options unless they are similar users!

My contract for this phone is worth in the last 3 months getting close on for £100+ a month. The rest of the accounts make up the rest. I don't think £100 a month is a light user. Probably doesn't qualify me for anything close to a top end phone but a W890i isn't top end. Its stylish middle range at best.

In the past where my contract alone was worth £200 a month, aiming for a top end phone really was game on, but I'm not in that sphere any more, don't need a high end phone, don't want a high end phone, yet still pay good money. I don't think I'm being unreasonable either. I just hate playing this stupid "if you don't give me what I want I'll cancel" game, especially on an account that isn't a bottom feeder either.

[andyquantum]

LDNrevs said:

JamesM said:

I just play the "I'll change network" card

I tried that with Orange a couple years back and it backfired - they just said 'ok see ya' - I was baffled but left anyway.

Orange told me to do this a while ago. Had been on contract with them for a good couple of years, then got a business phone so to keep the number I moved it to PAYG. Then wanted to bring it back onto contract about a year and a half later but was told I couldnt unless I left and came back To me it would have been easier to sell me a new contract and port the number but they werent interested in doing that

TMobile who I'm currently with wouldnt give me a new handset unless I signed up to an 18 month contract, they're not doing 12 month deals to existing customers with the handset I want. Been with them for about 18 months and quite happy, but dont want to sign into 18 months at the moment

[Swillsy]

tinman0 my best advise for dealing with call centres for the mobile companies is to complain in writing to them via a letter.

Say you are a long term customer, disappointed by service etc etc.

It has worked with me twice when dealing with vodafone and orange when they have made mistakes.

[jonmac73]

tinman0 said:

The Ben said:

i know your account is heavy but they will be all treated as seperate contracts,(unless it a business account with sharers then that works slightly different 4 upgrades!) , so each of your users on the contracts maybe offered different phone options unless they are similar users!

My contract for this phone is worth in the last 3 months getting close on for £100+ a month. The rest of the accounts make up the rest. I don't think £100 a month is a light user. Probably doesn't qualify me for anything close to a top end phone but a W890i isn't top end. Its stylish middle range at best.

In the past where my contract alone was worth £200 a month, aiming for a top end phone really was game on, but I'm not in that sphere any more, don't need a high end phone, don't want a high end phone, yet still pay good money. I don't think I'm being unreasonable either. I just hate playing this stupid "if you don't give me what I want I'll cancel" game, especially on an account that isn't a bottom feeder either.

I know it can be a bit of a pain to some BUT it's just the same as insurance really.
Just got my wife a new SE C902 with some extras on a business tarrif after literally 5mins searching on web & call to customer services at 02. She gets a number of free landline numbers and several hundred minutes/texts also.

[Neil_H]

Vodafone have been doing this for a while, I had an argument with them when I last upgraded my phone (almost 2 years ago now). I checked the price of the phone I wanted on their website and then phoned up expecting to be given a better deal since I've been with them for years and I was only upgrading.

The feckers tried to charge me about £50 more! "Fine, give me my PAC and I'll go elsewhere". I then get passed to another department who tried to give me a better deal and matched the price eventually - but tried to get away with giving me an 18 month contract! The feckers didn't tell me until they were reading the T&Cs I tell them they either give me a better price than advertised on a 12 month contract or I will leave, and they finally conceded.

Customer loyalty means nothing!