Around 10 months ago, the Mail on Sunday highlighted a catalogue of Vodafone complaints which included:
- Harassment by their overseas call centres
- Billing errors
- Poor levels of customer service
- Inadequate responses to complaints
- Customers credit ratings being wrongfully damaged.
At the time, Vodafone admitted there had been some teething problems when they migrated to a new billing system, a spokesperson for the company said:
“Unfortunately, there were some problems during the highly complex migration process. Now that the migration exercise is essentially complete, we expect our £2bn investment in our network and services will start to deliver a step change in customer experience,”
The high number of complaints resulted in customers being unable to get through to the customer care department, only compounding the irritation of those that were affected.
Ten months down the line and it would appear that the network operator has still not managed to get their act together. In the final quarter of 2015, complaints to Ofcom about Vodafone were more than three times the standard rate for pay monthly customers. In the final three months of last year, Ofcom were receiving 32 complaints per 100,000 Vodafone users – this amounted to more than the total of complaints received for all the other network providers combined in the same period.
Bear in mind that these results only represent a small cross section of disgruntled customers as the figures only represent those that went to the ombudsman. Many more complaints will still be going around in circles with Vodafone, while others have complained to independent arbitrators.
Customers experiencing problems with the operator are advised to keep a note of the time and date of each and every interaction with Vodafone. Should the issue not be resolved, try writing a letter to Vodafone’s complaints department at the following address:
Customer Relations Manager
Vodafone Limited
The Connection
Newbury
Berkshire
RG14 2FN
If, after 8 weeks, Vodafone have failed to respond or advise they cannot help with the issue, a complaint can be made to the communications ombudsman, who will take into account everything submitted and be able to make a fair decision.
The problem is that such a large company should surely be better versed in dealing with complaints. The biggest gripe of these wronged customers is not that a problem occurred in the first place, but the failure to rectify the problem when it was reported.
Customers have been writing in to complain in their droves, a particular case that has stood out was that of a gentleman whose phone had been wrongfully disconnected. He was also being billed incorrectly. Hours of wasted time on Vodafone’s live chat service failed to yield much of a result. The entire chat transcript can be read on the This Is Money website here. Along with numerous responses to their article which again highlight more failings by the operator.
Things are not looking good for Britain’s longest running network operator. In a society where switching is made easy, they really should be caring for their existing customer’s in a more diligent manor.