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Original poster

Vodafone Customer Service - Just unacceptable

43 replies

Losttheplot23 · 27/09/2023 17:13

Hi,

So I should start by saying, I know I'm not being unreasonable. I have received absolutely dreadful customer service from Vodafone, especially over the past year or two, but I wanted to know if I'd just been incredibly unlucky or if this is a common theme, as it's honestly been one thing after another, so can't imagine it's just me.

Their chat is painfully slow and am often just passed around various departments where I have to explain the issue again...and again...and again. Their over the phone customer service is hardly any better. They never listen! Just keep repeating that they appreciate your patience etc, but nothing really gets resolved. I often feel like I've just wasted an hour of my day going through security questions, confirming that I am me, basically on a loop.

YABU - I'm a Vodafone customer and have never had any complaints.

YANBU - I'm a Vodafone customer and yes, their customer service is generally shocking.

OP posts:
MokaEfti · 27/09/2023 17:15

YANBU they are absolutely dreadful

desperatelyseekingcaffeine · 27/09/2023 17:17

It's shocking! They misadvised me about renewing a contract and applying existing discount, then refused point blank to rectify it. Eventually refunded me a fraction if what they owed me. I left and went to giffgaff

Gensola · 27/09/2023 17:20

They are appalling - I am trapped with them til April but will be leaving as soon as I can

NumberTheory · 27/09/2023 17:21

YANBU but it’s been that way for well over a decade and I haven’t had a good experience with a telecoms company this century.

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 27/09/2023 17:23

They are absolutely consistently appalling. I'm so sad about their proposed merger with 3 (with VF being the major partner), as 3 have always been so good.

RudsyFarmer · 27/09/2023 17:24

If it’s just mobile phone then Lebara have given me zero issues for two years. SIM only account.

OldTinHat · 27/09/2023 17:24

YANBU. Two weeks ago I spent 3hrs on the phone to them after I had cancelled my contact in June. When I cancelled, they said my account balance was zero. Then the invoices started arriving!

I ended up saying I would pay the imaginary invoice under duress and they could check their recorded calls to confirm I was correct (gave them the exact date and time of my call in June), and as soon as our call was ended I would hit every social media platform and the national press about their unlawful actions.

Guess what? They decided after all that I was right and cancelled the imaginary invoice. THEN asked if I would return as a customer as they have some great deals...

Vodafone are absolute crooks imo.

PinkMoscatoLover · 27/09/2023 17:25

They’ve always been helpful over the phone. I spoke with someone today and he amended my wifi dongle saving me £13 a month. I was well chuffed😂

I tried the online chat once and it was bullshit. Never went back again

OldTinHat · 27/09/2023 17:27

Oh, and I'd cancelled my contract after about ten years because I applied for their social tarriff in October last year, again in January, again in April and they never contacted me until the day my new providers turned up to install my broadband in June.

LoveStHelier · 27/09/2023 17:30

I’m about to leave and get O2 to buy my contract out. Absolutely useless and no service here even though they say there is.

Topseyt123 · 27/09/2023 17:32

Their online chatbot is shit and I do also find it very time consuming and difficult to get through to an actual human being on their customer service line.

When I do get through they often pass me from pillar to post before getting down to the issue at hand.

My contract is up next August so I will be looking elsewhere then.

HerAvatar · 27/09/2023 17:38

So bad, I left them about 6 years ago after spending hours and hours, month after month trying, unsuccessfully, to pay my bill!! Yep, that's right, they can't even get it right when you owe them money! I requested a callback from a supervisor to sort the issue (which was a problem with their computer system apparently) on a total of 15 occasions and never once received a call. In the end I notified them I would no longer be using their services and took out a contract with someone else. They've never chased me for the money and it's never showed up on my credit file so no idea what happened their end but it was quite a lot of money by the time they stopped sending bills. I was quite willing (and able, the money was sitting in my account waiting for them) to pay what I owed but they literally couldn't/didn't give me a way to do so Shock

Rockbird · 27/09/2023 18:04

Four hours on live chat this week, couldn't get through to a person. They cut us off because they said the bill wasn't paid. Luckily I know what they're like and I had screenshot payments, confirmations etc. Was furious with them.

CeciliaMars · 27/09/2023 18:19

Don't ever go with Talk Talk - they nearly drove me to insanity!!

HerAvatar · 27/09/2023 18:39

Tbf I'm with Virgin now and they're not much better, it's shocking that the worst websites to use seem to belong to the major communications companies, surely they of all people should be getting it right?!

Rumblebear · 27/09/2023 18:51

Awful, I cancelled my contract (paid the penalty) when I moved overseas a few years ago. Continued to have monies taken via direct debit, didn't realise for a while as had moved pretty much everything to local overseas account. When I found out, cancelled the direct debit (should have called them maybe but was 13 hours time difference and I'd already paid to come out the contract!). They got bailiffs to get in touch with me and threatened me, I ended up calling them, they agreed I'd legitimately cancelled and paid over a year ago and called bailiffs off, acknowledged the error, agreed I owed nothing and said id get a refund of payments THEY had taken unauthorised from ME. Moved back to the UK a year later, took months and numerous calls before a refund ever materialised. A year after THAT, applied for a mortgage and got rejected because of default on my credit score - it was them, they'd never removed this from my record. Another round of calls threatening legal action and they finally removed it. Never again would I go near them!!!

Rumblebear · 27/09/2023 18:52

YANBU!!!

purplecorkheart · 27/09/2023 18:55

I am in Ireland so it maybe slightly different but always contact them via twitter/X and found them very helpful.

PingPongPiddlyPong · 27/09/2023 18:57

Worked for them years ago. They got rid of a large number of customer service staff (who were pretty good overall) as it was cheaper to employ customer service agents abroad.

New staff were appalling.

Wheelemin77 · 27/09/2023 19:06

It's not just customer service. Almost all of the contacts you have with them raise concerns. I was after the PAC code for my contract and after a number of minutes of high pressure sales techniques to try and make me stay, despite not offering anything worth staying for and my iteration of "please just send me the PAC code," they followed with an out and out lie that "Vodafone are the only provider to offer a frequency that can penetrate walls". I called the rep on out this straight away, but no apology for this was forthcoming. To get this I had to raise a complaint with OFCOM and Vodafone.

I will never use them again.

FatherJackHackettsUnderpantsHamper · 27/09/2023 19:18

Tbf I'm with Virgin now and they're not much better

We were with Virgin Mobile for years, when we realised that it wasn't actually normal to pretty much never have any signal anywhere.

We spent a lot of time at home, so automatically used our home wifi and didn't think much more about it.

We just assumed that was the norm for the industry, but then we switched to 3 and were gobsmacked when we got fast, reliable coverage in most places.

OdeToBarney · 27/09/2023 19:32

They are unbelievably bad. I knew this, but was still tempted by a good deal a couple of years ago. What a mistake that was, never ever again.

FoxtrotSkarloey · 27/09/2023 19:49

YANBU.

After DF died, we received a statement EVERY MONTH for FIVE YEARS after he died, for an account he'd tried to close three years prior to his death, which they themselves had chosen to temporarily put into credit to cover the time period he ported away from them.

He didn't even owe them any money. You can imagine how much my mum loved getting them through the post.

In the end they had no idea how to stop it, so they changed the address on the account to their office address! I wonder if they are still receiving them?

AtmosAtmos · 27/09/2023 19:50

They are bad. One explanation for slow webchat may be that the agent is dealing with more than one customer at a time. I was supposed to do this in a previous job (up to three at a time). Luckily for me webchat was dead as everyone wanted phone advice. Im
sure there will be companies enforcing multiple chats.

Mygazpachoistoocold · 27/09/2023 19:56

I left them several years ago after a bad experience. I'd been with them for years when they randomly cancelled my Direct Debit. I didn't realise until a letter arrived from debt collectors.
I couldn't get anyone to resolve it over the phone so ended up sitting in their shop for two hours with my newborn.
It did eventually get sorted and I did get a small compensation after writing to the CEO, but I was put off after that experience

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