Vodafone customer services- are they always this awful?

[eltax91]

his guys

a bit of a long story but I will try sum it up briefly if I can:-

• started a phone contract around 18 months ago
• back in July, applied insurance to the contract (switched banks, no longer had cover)
• had to go in the shop to "prove" I had an iPhone and that it was undamaged
• shop confirms to me verbally that insurance now added to contract
• I receive no more communication from Vodafone

Fast forward to today and I drop my phone, No problem think I, it's insured. I call up to discover that Vodafone has not applied the insurance to my plan. I had not noticed the £10 a month missing since my bill averages between £150 and £250 a month. Been through 5 different customer service people today, each time the case gets complicated they "lose" the call, or promise a call back which never happens.

I have been to an escalation person who also said they would not cover s replacement phone or a repair. They offered me a special early upgrade to an iPhone 6s, for a measly £3 a on the on my contract and ONLY £474 up front!

I am waiting for the next level of escalation which takes TWO DAYS. Meanwhile I can barely see my phone. Can receive calls, but cant make any or send texts.

Where do I stand here? In my eyes it's their mistake and they should rectify it. In their eyes I don't have insurance and although they admit they made the mistake there is, apparently nothing they can do to help me.

So, where does that leave me? Moaning on their twitter has failed, I doubt i'll get a Call back, they've failed to deliver on that promise already.

Anyone here work for them or know how I can get some common sense out of them. I have a contract till June 16 and it's a guaranteed £150+ a month for them, but yet they don't seem to care or want to help a high value customer.

[eltax91]

Thanks chaps

Good suggestion reference insurance. Actually, I do have reason for the insurance in this way, I expense my phone through work, work won't pay for any fixes, loss or damage etc, but they will pay for insurance.

If I pay the £55 to get it fixed then that's from my own pocket.

Work stipulate I use Vodafone and which contract I use. Which they commit to pay for regardless of whether I remain employed with them.

Does anyone think I will get anything out of Vodafone for my troubles?

[eltax91]

The Spruce goose said:

£2500 a year for a phone, fk..

Well, it's £57 a month for the phone, unlimited minutes and texts and 9GB of 4G data.

I travel a lot for work, and phone internationally quite a lot, so i spend minimum £80 a month on calls. Often much more, which runs my bill to £150-£250 a month. I've been with them 17 months and spent over £2k, but yet still i'm not valuable as a customer

[eltax91]

I decided to go to the ombudsman this morning, and they have given me a reference number and suggested that if it was referred to them, they would highly likely rule in my favour. Evidently a verbal confirmation is something that from a consumer perspective is considered "good enough"

It's only a circa £50 fix, but the principal of the matter is worse!

So, IF this senior manager calls me back, maybe the case from the ombudsman (including my reference number) will be enough to sway them into action.