vodaphone stealing from a disabled child

[andyinlondon]

really not happy with vodaphone, i think they are (unprintable)

forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Pay-monthly-services/why-does-vodaphone-steal-from-disabled-childrem/td-p/1587050

Hi Nacerama good advise and i will be doing that tomorrow when i have calmed down a bit :)

The problem is acting so up in arms and throwing in ridiculous claims about human rights is making people think they are a loon. If they came here and said vodaphone have done x,y and z calmly and without such claims people would have advised them and understood more. Hence many posters pointing out that they are making themselves look unhinged and that no one will take their complaint seriously.

If I was you OP I would delete that forum post and rewrite it without the details of your sons disability and outrageous claims. You will get a lot further that way.

Also the monthly fee generally covers your talk time with a 'free' phone, you can put the sim into any cheap phone and use what your are paying for whilst the battery for the other phone is sorted out.

If like you say these batteries are not available anywhere and even Sony don't have them yet then what do you expect vodaphone to do? They can't just magic up a battery that dosnt exist.

I can understand your frustrations and they come across in your post on the Vodafone forum which makes your post hard to read. Can I suggest you re-write it calmly, re-read it, edit it to make sure it says what you want it to say then send it as an email to them.

Have you looked at Trading Standards to see what tools you can use from their websites.

YABU. If being out if the house is so risky, get a lifeline, motion sensor or similar. Yes, Vodaphone are crap, but playing the disabled card for extra effect is rather shameful in this case.

Being upset is understandable though.

Protegemoi

what i expect them to do is to replace the faulty phone as they should have done in the first place, it was only 2 weeks old when it went wrong.

then there would be no problems about batteries and conflicting returns instructions.

if you had bought something and it went wrong in the first 2 weeks you owned it would you be happy when the retailer refused to replace it and then made it unusabe by taking out the battery when the supposedly repaired it.
i dont think you would be

and this item is even more important to us because of what it is

Good grief.
I know it is frustrating to feel helpless when dealing with big organisations but seriously?
'Stealing'? 'Obtaining money with menaces'? Human rights act?
It is all so totally melodramatic and I would wager will just make whoever gets allocated your complaint roll their eyes and make it low priority.

No. You raised the issue two weeks ago - but at that point the issue was a broken phone. They fixed the broken phone and sent it back. Then a second issue cropped up - the missing battery. That is the problem now. I actually don't see a problem with them fixing the phone rather than replacing it.

I don't care if you post on MN and don't bother proof reading or spell checking, but if you're going to make a formal complaint that you want dealt with, it benefits you to read it through and check that the company can easily understand what you are complaining about, what you want done and when you want it done by. Stops all the to-ing and fro-ing about who said what and when and why.

You've have bad customer service, complain. But don't start on about disability discrimination because this just isn't it. At all.

Andy - I wouldn't have purchased a phone from a company that only gave you 1 week in which to return or replace it. I would have also when taking on such an expensive phone contract have purchased the add on insurance to protect it meaning that I wouldn't have to be in this situation.

Of course they need to get you a new battery, no one is disputing that but if they haven't got any its going to mean waiting for one.

If your child is at risk of death while out alone then you really need to put something better into place than a phone. After all phones can be lost, stolen, have no signal, break etc. not something that I would trust to potentially save my child's life.

Thanks MrsDeVere

This smacks of someone trying to use a disability as a scare tactic to get the company to do what they want. Hoping the company will shit thensleves at the thought of breaching sone sort of discrimination law. Quite ridiculous in this case.

Stealing from a disabled child? Seriously?

Yes, you have had crap service, but get a grip FFS!

Being disabled isn't the only valid reason for a phone to be important for someone. We all receive bad service ocassionaly, think of this as Vodafone being inclusive.

you have had shoddy customer service but surely if this piece of equipment was so important you'd have a contingency plan, disability or not. Phone stop working all the time for a variety of reasons.

i think you are very unreasonable to use your child's health issues in this way and certainly it would appear based on the information you've given, no-one's human rights have been violated.

Its a battery FFS...

I'm sorry you are having such problems. The disability is absolutely nothing to do with it though and Vodafone are not stealing from anybody.

I am surprised so many people think that taking money for something and then not giving that thing is perfectly ok and that it is not stealing or even wrong..... clouds, lougle and others ?

Here, OP, have a grip.

Phone companies are shit and act as if the Sale of Goods Act does not apply to them. It does. Take 'em to the small claims court. And get a back up phone for your son.

When I clicked on this thread I was expecting a Daily Mail link.

Thanks Edam i am in the process of doing both

I can see why you're annoyed but seriously you are being waaaaay over dramatic....human rights?!

Vodafone have very poor customer service IME. YANBU to think that but YABU to suggest it has anything to with disability.

Waaaaay OTT.

Whats wrong with buying the child a cheap PAYG phone until its sorted?

I'm sorry OP but YABU.

While I sympathise with you for having to deal with a difficult mobile phone company you lose a hell of a lot of my sympathy for waving the disabled child card as if it entitles you to a better service.
Your original post (on the vodaphone forum) was also ridiculously over dramatic. There was absolutely no need to start throwing around accusations on them breaking laws you don't seem to actually understand, I mean human rights, honestly!?

It is awful that vodaphone are giving you such crappy customer service, but there is no need to be so over the top about it.

Out of interest, did you actually buy the phone, or was it received as part of the contract?