For the past few years I have had a pay as you go mobile phone account with Vodafone.ie – plus a separate Vodafone mobile broadband toggle I use with my iPad. In total this cost about €60 a month,
Last week I spotted Vodafone’s new Vodafone Red bill pay account and decided to for the €55 a month level and also buy a new iPhone – costing €99 (I had a basic model Nokia up to now). I decided to do the switch and order the lot online, this I did last week-end – so far so good.
I got an email confirming the switch and saying that my phone would arrive at my door within 24 hours. On Monday the money was taken from my credit card. Though I was not anticipating delivery of the phone until Tuesday I stayed around the house and worked from home.
I did the same on Tuesday – I worked from home all day – never left even once, but no phone arrived.
This morning (Wednesday) I went online to see what was happening – using Vodafone’s online chat service. While the guy in customer service was polite he basically suggested that there was nothing he could do – there had been a hitch at Vodafone’s end and my order had not been submitted – the money had been taken out of my account alright, but as far as Vodafone was concerned the order had “failed to be sent automatically, so the system will be processing the order again..”
He advised me that I had two options:
1. Go buy another phone from any Vodafone shop, and “the moment you receive the one we are going to send, you can send it back to us and you will be refunded back” or,
2. Wait at home for another 3 days for my existing order to be resubmitted. processed and maybe delivered.
I made it clear that neither option was acceptable and so chose to go to the Vodafone shop on Grafton Street to see if I could sort it out there and leave with a phone that I had paid for last Monday.
At the shop they told me that this was not an issue for them, but they put me through to the customer service desk via a phone on the shop counter.
I went through all the above with them and was again offered the two options above, though without any of the politeness or courtesy shown in the online chat encounter.
She told me that she was going to cancel my order, arrange a refund of my €99, but that this would take up to 5 working days. She said I could then decide what I want to do, but to do this she needed me to give her my Credit Card number over the phone… ie she wanted me to call out my credit credit number over the phone, standing at the shop counter in a busy shop in front of strangers! When I expressed reservations at doing this she became very indignant.
So – as a result of taking what I thought was the safer, more convenient option and shopping online with Vodafone I have:
1. No change of service
2. No new phone
3. Wasted a day and a half waiting at home for a delivery that was never coming
4. Had €99 deducted by Vodafone from my credit card account for two days so far – and in all likelihood for the best part of a week.
Whatever this is – it is not customer service!
POST SCRIPT
Since posting this I have been contacted by @VodafoneIreland who accept that this situation is unacceptable.
They have promised to sort this problem out in the morning. I will update then
derekmooney.ie 