I have finally bitten the bullet. After three years the divorce is coming through. No more will I be tied to Vodafone. They have lost my business, worth over 200 Euros per month to them. Why has this happened? Well for one simple reason, they are absolutely fu***n’ useless (Pardon my French)
So let’s go into why Vodafone have lost my business and why they are losing the business of others.
Why Vodafone Are Losing Business
1) In July 2010 I was promised an iPhone4 as soon as they had them in. I am still waiting despite repeated promises. Just to remind Vodafone, it is March 2011!
2) They took six months to reduce my bill to manageable proportions, ie give me a discount on the ridiculous tariffs they were charging me. This brought my bill down from 400 Euros a month to a shade over 200 Euros but it was still too much considering the usage I have.
3) In December they tried to charge me 1287 Euros for a data connection as they hadn’t applied the roaming charges for the three days I was in the UK. Did you get that? They hadn’t applied the roaming tariff even though it was in black and white on the contract I had signed in their office. Suddnenly my iPad was cut off the 3G connection because of their mistake. They offered to allow me to pay it and claim it back, as if that was going to happen, in order to reconnect me. I got a Movistar data card the next day.
4) In January I asked for a Mifi unit so my Dad could use my USB dongle as wifi while over here. They said it would take a few days. I am still waiting!!
5) My Dad tried using my USB, which I haven’t really used since I got the iPad, whilst here. The speed was slooooooow. So anyway today I tried it because a friend has a problem with his connection and I was going to let him have the dongle until it is sorted. Oh his crappy connection is through Vodafone, what a surprise. My download speed was 0.08mb and my upload the same. In case you don’t appreciate how slow that is. Remember the 90′s and the screeching of the modems before connecting up a couple of minutes later? A 64k dial up modem like that would be eight times as fast.
6) My local rep has just left the company. He has been fighting a losing battle for his customers for the last ten months, since the last rep left the company, that one lasted a week after the previous one left the company. Vodafone has the retention rates of a call centre on its staff. Therefore it is not possible to build up a relationship with the rep and get help when needed because you never know who the rep might be.
7) ADSL broadband. Do me a favour. We have had to retain and pay for a telefonica line with adsl at a supposed 6 megs because Vodafone’s 4 megs line was actually giving just 1meg of download speed and the upload was just risible. Therefore we have paid for a year for an extra broadband that we shouldn’t have had to because of the awful “broadband” supposedly offered by Vodafone. I make that almost 600 Euros extra in the year. We upgraded to 10 megs supposedly half way through the year and that didn’t happen either
8 ) This tipped the balance today. I went into the shop to see if they could do anything about the usb dongle and they gave me a new card. It didn’t fix the problem. So I took it back. They said that I couldn’t change the usb stick they would have to send it away to be repaired. However I know something they don’t, the problem is not the dongle.
The problem is the Vodafone network. It doesn’t work.
Most people using the network with usb modems use it to download emails and little else. Anyone who has a necessity to download files and upload stuff too has a major problem. I have a mate in Murcia who is currently having the worst ten days of his life because Vodafone, the only supplier with coverage in his area have dropped off the scale on speed of their network. He cannot upload or download anything and can only just get mail as long as it is text based. His clients who rely on him are getting rather annoyed but not half as annoyed as he is!
Another friend of mine in Barcelona has just finally got his phone line after eight months of waiting for Vodafone to install it. He got it through Movistar, the worst company in Spain, in just a few days.
Vodafone have the most expensive tariffs now. How do i know this? Well I was told by a Vodafone rep. They have no plans to be able to tempt clients from other companies and when the other companies come in to poach clients they have no response therefore.
Their technical support sucks. How do I know? Believe me I know?
They use false advertising and lie when questioned about it. How many months since I was offered an iPhone4? Well every time I ring for it they have just ran out yesterday.
Their billing is often wrong. They didn’t apply reduced tariffs for me for 6 months after being told I would have them. And yes i did question the bill every month.
So why didn’t I leave sooner?
Fear of having to pay for the 18 month contract I was signed up for of course.
Why am I leaving now?
I no longer give a flying fig. I know that this blog post describing the litany of errors and useless service that I have had will be more than enough for the Telecommunications ministry to side with me and for Vodafone not to charge me anything for leaving a contract early. If they do I will be putting in a counter claim for loss of business. That is what I had to do years ago when I left Amena supposedly owing them 1050 Euros for seven lines taken out of contract early. Again, if they had provided what they said they were going to supply then they might have had a leg to stand on. Unfortunately they lost.
Oh and one more reason. They used to sponsor Manchester United! Despicable company.
Why Vodafone Are Losing Business
Other Classic Rants
1) Why Spanish Banks Are Absolutely Useless
Points 1 , 2 & 6 as well as numerous others you haven’t mentioned apply to us as well! We are in the process of changing, but the problem is Movistar have an antenae down in our area at the moment, so the coverage is not good. As soon as they have fixed that we are off! We have 8 lines and large bills, and they couldn’t care less. The worst thing of all is there attitutude. If we treated clients the way they do we wouldn’t have any- then we wouldn’t need the phones!
Well put.
When I moved to Orange in December they tried to get me to stay but their best offer would have cost nearly €100 more over the 18 month contract. After being a customer for 5 years they didn’t seem bothered that I was leaving.
Last year data charges were 8 times those of Vodafone UK. Now it is only 2.5 times. They have kept the price the same but have increased the allowance from a miserly 150MB per month to 500MB.
I have been a customer of Vodafone UK for over 15 years (as I still have a PAYG sim) and have never had any problems with them. Perhaps it is just standard Spanish customer service standards that make them so poor here.
My 100 euros difference is per month Ian!
ah gawd, what a horror story, we’ve had similar with all the alternatives. I am about to transfer from Mov to Vod because the carrot of a free Nexus S looks so tasty. Before I do I will literally find out from neighbours if Vodafone coverage in my area is worthwhile, at the end of the day it’s your luck of your local cell coverage and the bloke at the call centre on the day you call.
Love to hear the numerous others Jacqui
I don’t agree with one thing about that comment Paul. I actually think Vodafone couldn’t give a toss because they know they will get the churn from other companies and they are working with higher margins and bigger marketing budgets
Oh Graham, dont start me off again- but just as a taster – 1012,36 Euros overcharge, built up over a 3 month period, that eventually after MONTHS, of daily phone calls they are refunding as a “discount” of 100 Euros a month on our bills! They will have finally refunded the amount in April which is when we will be off! Oh and a fax line in the office that we never asked for, have never had, will never have – we have been paying 10 Euros a month for that for 14 months, but I almost lost the will to live arguing over that, so I am ashamed to say, I just pay it- believe me its easier.Unfortunately that is what they rely on,their “customer service” is so poor, that in the end the alternatives are give up – or put your hand down the phone and strangle someone!
An amazing tale of woe! Where is that strange thing ‘customer service’? Clearly an unknown commodity which will lead to an ever greater loss of clients – and deservedly so. Fools…
@Nick Customer service Nick? Hold on I remember that.
, however I got it back in a month and a half
@Jacqui I can beat you in the overcharge of course Jacqui
I want to add my name to the list of unhappy customers .
I have spent nine years trying to to put my phone into my name due to an erra by the vodafone shop staff ,But I am still waiting as the shop assistant put the phone in her name by mistake (Good training Vodafone) And without her permission I cant have the phone put into my name .Unfortunately six month after I bought the phone and chip on pay as you go the lady who sold it to me no longer worked for Vodafone. By this time I have made a lot of publicity for my then new business and felt sure they (Vodafone ) would soon put this matter right .Nine years and a lot more publicity for my business later I am still waiting .More recently I had a problem of Vodafone sending me more than ten text messages per day trying to make me go on contract .It took a six weeks to stop the harassment and only then after I sent them a copy of a newspaper cutting showing this type of over the top sales technique was in fact illegal .In stopping the advertising from 1441 they also stopped all information from Vodafone .The first I knew of this was when I went to get a new phone using the 2500 points I had earned with pay as you go.
As soon as I mentioned the word points the shop assistant said POINTS, POINTS DON´T EXIST. If you have a problem with that call customer service. ( zero out of ten for staff training again Vodafone ) This I did and after three phone calls and ten e-mails later .The short answer was .You have lost your points .POINTS NOW DON´T EXIST .
As I need this number for my work ,I now use two phones .Incoming on my old Vodafone number who a losing a minimum of ten euros a day.And outgoing on Yoigo who I am happy with and are four time cheaper than Vodafone .
The news I would like to hear is….
VODAFONE, VODAFONE THEY DONT EXIST ANT MORE
So normal service from Vodafone then Paul