My Vodafone Nightmare

dublinjoe · 29-07-2009 4:08pm #1

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to complain about an unauthorised porting performed by
your company as well as the insulting way in which I was treated by
your Henry St Dublin branch. It's a long story, so get comfortable.

On 28 July 2009 I went into your Henry St location seeking to switch
from my 3 prepay account to a Vodafone prepay account. I wanted
Vodafone because I was told on by a Vodafone operator the day before
that I could receive the €9.99 500MB add-on with a pre-pay account
(when I was told this, I even confirmed with the operator that this
was available with pre-pay). I was also impressed by the fact that the
data charges are the same in the UK and Northern Ireland.

However, at the Henry St location, after the customer service rep
entered the phone number to be transferred and handed me
the sim pack, I asked him how I could add-on the €9.99 deal. When he
said that deal wasn't available for prepay, I gently tossed the sim
pack onto the counter and said that I didn't want it. The customer
service representative asked me to leave the store. I asked why and he
said that I can't throw around sim packs. I was taken aback frankly
but left the store after a security guard was called over. After a
minute I returned to the store to ask for a manager. He was helping
other customers and since I was in a rush for another appointment, I
left the store and content to leave the issue alone.

29 July 2009, I woke up to find my 3 mobile service to be shut off.
When I called 3, I was told that my 3 account was cancelled. First I
called 1907, but could not reach an operator because the touchtone
service was not working. When I called a second time, I got connected
to an operator, but it was immediately disconnected. I decided to go
back into the Henry St location to discuss this situation with the
manager. When I arrived, I was told the manager was on a lunch break.
When I explained the situation to another customer service rep, she
looked up my number on the system and discovered that I was not active
with Vodafone. After calling customer service, she said that she
activated a new sim card and told me that it would be ready to use in
30 minutes. I asked when the manager would return from his lunch
break. She said about 30 minutes.

I returned 30 minutes later and met with the manager. I explained the
situation - including the fact that I was kicked out of the store the
day before, that my number was ported and that I had to come all the
into the Henry St location - and asked him what restitution he was
prepared to offer. To my shock, he said there was none. He also
characterised my behavior towards the customer service rep as
'aggressive' which, frankly, is insulting. When I told him I would
leave Vodafone, go to Meteor and file a complaint with Comreg, he
seemed to be OK with that. Again I was shocked. As a former retail
manager myself, I always operated under the mantra that the customer
was always right. Additionally, I am aware of the cost and effort
involved for your company to add new customers, so his casual attitude
towards losing a customer was surprising and unfortunate.

I promptly went next door and signed up for a Meteor SIM which is to
become active within 24 hours.

However, at this point I was still left without mobile phone service
so when I got home I inserted my vodafone sim and topped up with €10
of credit online. However my sim was still not active (this was 90
minutes after the customer service rep supposedly activated it). I
called 1907 and managed to reach an operator. She was very helpful and
told me that the store had activated the sim incorrectly. I gave her
the new sim number, she added it to my account and said it would take
30 minutes to activate.

One hour later I tried to connect and the SIM was not working. I
called 1907 and was told to shut off the phone and restart it in 5
minutes (even though I had powered down and restarted 3 times). Five
minutes later, still no connection. When I called 1907 AGAIN, I was
told that the wrong SIM number was associated with the number (even
though I was told on the previous call an hour before that this issue
was resolved). After spending another ten minutes on hold, the SIM is
finally worked but not without a whole lotta effort.

So that's the story. To recap, I am particularly disturbed by a number
of issues in this experience:

1) I was kicked out of the store for merely tossing a simpack onto the
counter which caused a great deal of embarassment to me
2) I was misinformed by the 1907 operator about the data plans
available for pre-pay
3) My 3 account was cancelled without my authorisation
4) I was without mobile service for 24 hours on a day when I was
expecting important texts and calls
5) The situation took four hours and three calls to 1907 to be
resolved on 29 July
6) I had to take time out of my day to physically go down to the Henry
St location
7) The manager of your store was more interested in losing a customer
than rectifying this situation

I expect the following financial restitution:

1) Refund for the €10 that I was forced to purchase in order to have
mobile access
2) €100 for the time I had to spend on this issue (my hourly wage is
€25 x 4 hours)
3) €3.52 for mileage incurred to/from Henry St location
4) 22 cents for costs incurred in calling customer service via Skype
(22 minutes total at 1 cent/min)

Total: €113.74

Additionally, I would like an apology from the Henry St store manager
and the customer service representative who kicked me out - and
assurances that proper re-training will be conducted with those
involved so no one else has to go through this experience again.

I am told you have 10 working days to respond or else I will go back
to Comreg and escalate this complaint.

Regards,

whippet · 29-07-2009 4:21pm

mmmhhh ..... you should really had asked someone to proof read that letter before you sent it. If anything the tone, manner and attitude it shows will probably reduce the amount of sympathy any person reading it will show you.

As for trying to quantify an amount of money you want to be compensated, there is about zero chance you will recieve a penny of it !!!

please keep us updated as to how you get one.

neil_purdy · 29-07-2009 4:23pm

Wow thats a long letter.. I hope the grammer in the one you sent to Vodafone was a little better..

My 2 cents, i think all the representatives in all the network's outlets are unhelpful and unknowlegable of the phones and services they sell..(that is my personal experience)

Contacting Comreg on any issue is fairly pointless.. All they do is pass your e-mail onto the company involved..(Again my own experience having worked for a comm's company)

I hope it is successful for you though!!

Paulw · 29-07-2009 4:30pm

I can't see how you'll get anywhere with that letter. They'll probably just toss it back on the desk, like you tossed the SIM pack.

ScouseMouse · 29-07-2009 4:35pm

As someone who is completely unconnected to Vodaphone, I dont believe it happened like that.

You "gently" tossed it back onto the counter ! Yeah right. I can detect an attitude already and think you should learn to be a little calmer and more streetwise. If you want people to help you or fix something, a quiet chat can and does go down better.

I think there is more to this than you are admitting.

matchthis · 29-07-2009 5:52pm

I can see why you used to work in retail and the customer is not always right. Customer rep should've tossed the card back at you IMO. FYI, if that is your real number in your post, you should remove it

Cabaal · 29-07-2009 6:03pm

dublinjoe wrote: »

1) Refund for the €10 that I was forced to purchase in order to have
mobile access
2) €100 for the time I had to spend on this issue (my hourly wage is
€25 x 4 hours)
3) €3.52 for mileage incurred to/from Henry St location
4) 22 cents for costs incurred in calling customer service via Skype
(22 minutes total at 1 cent/min)

Total: €113.74

Joe you need to actually come back to reality now,
Charging your hourly work rate to something that you did in your personal time is nothing short of hilarious and downright silly and obnoxious.
In addition looking for a personal apology from a staff member that most likely had every right to get your thrown out, I'm sure its only fair your apologise for throwing items at him...but again they can also check CCTV to see what really happened

Looking for petrol charge is bull****, looking for call costs is also bull****

I can tell you from experience from just reading your post that you likely a very awkward customer to deal with and no staff member of any company is going to request a security guard to escort a customer from the premises for no valid reason, accordingly they've done nothing wrong.

Your port wasn't unauthorized as you allowed the port request to be placed and would have had to provide auth details before this could be placed if you hadn't got yourself thrown out for being aggressive I'm sure they could have dealt with any cancellations requests properly.

The customer may always be right in your mind but the customer can also make downright unreasonable requests (like yours imho) that do not have to be complied with.

If I was dealing with you you'd get back 10e and thats it and that would be purely goodwill as you clearly signed up to something you failed to read the T&C's for which its your job as a customer to do, your letter makes you look nothing but unreasonable and both Vodafone and Comreg (ha) will see this. The manager was right to stick to his guns imho

Paulw · 29-07-2009 6:32pm

Cabaal wrote: »

If I was dealing with you you'd get back 10e and thats it

I wouldn't even be that generous.

I'm sure the letter will be responded to, but you probably won't get a single cent.

Cabaal · 29-07-2009 7:55pm

Paulw wrote: »

I wouldn't even be that generous.

I'm sure the letter will be responded to, but you probably won't get a single cent.

Well I figure be it comreg or anyone else looks at the 10e refund and they'll clearly see the complaint has been dealt with it a more then fair and reasonable fashion because god knows he deserves 0c

krudler · 29-07-2009 8:04pm

I expect the following financial restitution:

1) Refund for the €10 that I was forced to purchase in order to have
mobile access
2) €100 for the time I had to spend on this issue (my hourly wage is
€25 x 4 hours)
3) €3.52 for mileage incurred to/from Henry St location
4) 22 cents for costs incurred in calling customer service via Skype
(22 minutes total at 1 cent/min)

Total: €113.74

Additionally, I would like an apology from the Henry St store manager
and the customer service representative who kicked me out - and
assurances that proper re-training will be conducted with those
involved so no one else has to go through this experience again.

That is honestly the funniest demand I've ever read from a customer:D

You expect to be reimbursed from time you took off work to get a phone sim pack? Get a grip

Gillo · 29-07-2009 8:09pm

dublinjoe wrote: »

I gently tossed the sim
pack onto the counter and said that I didn't want it.

And thats the precise moment I really decided not to care, with a attitude like that to someone doing there job you deserved what you got.

Gillo · 29-07-2009 8:13pm

Cabaal wrote: »

Joe you need to actually come back to reality now,
Charging your hourly work rate to something that you did in your personal time is nothing short of hilarious and downright silly and obnoxious.

Don't knock it, by that logic Joe is going to pay us to read and reply to his post, the electricity our PC's use while we read and the data downloaded on this thread.

Lollipops23 · 29-07-2009 8:26pm

you had absoloutely no reason to "toss" the SIM pack,why couldn't you simply place it on the counter/hand it back to the sales assistant??

as Gillo said, that was the part wherei decided that no matter what Vodafone did you,it was probably deserved. i'd be amazed if you got anything out of them.

This is exactly what people in retail need, it's not like they're most likely fearing for their jobs or anything, they have to put up with this shíte too.

irishthump · 29-07-2009 9:18pm

neil_purdy wrote: »

Wow thats a long letter.. I hope the grammer in the one you sent to Vodafone was a little better..

That's grammar.

Rev. Kitchen · 29-07-2009 9:26pm

Paulw wrote: »

I can't see how you'll get anywhere with that letter. They'll probably just toss it back on the desk, like you tossed the SIM pack.

Aggressivly ????

Cabaal · 30-07-2009 7:03am

Gillo wrote: »

Don't knock it, by that logic Joe is going to pay us to read and reply to his post, the electricity our PC's use while we read and the data downloaded on this thread.

Nice one, oh and even better if dublinjoe posted this from his workplace he'll have to refund his employer for use of their net connection and time at work

Gillo · 30-07-2009 8:32am

Funny reminds me of a customer I had to throw out a while back for being incredibly abusive to one of the members of staff, it was the one time I was disappointed we didn't get a complaint as it would have been a prime example to our head office of the abuse some of our staff have to put up with. The funny bit for me was as I approached the customer in question a junkie in the queue stopped me and said "here do you want me to kick the $hit out of him". Ended having to get the cop's to throw your man out. Working next to vodafone I'd know some of the people in the store and in fairness they are a very sound bunch.

Mayoegian · 30-07-2009 12:42pm

Joe, you were unco-operative with them when you flung the sim-card on the desk, therefore you got your just desserts. You didnt have to react like that, you should have been more understanding and explained the situation without getting agressive.

We're all human, maybe the guy instore made a mistake, but you never gave him the opportunity to explain. I feel sorry for customer service people having to deal with people like you tbh.

Security would not have been called unless there was a reason, and you're behaviour was the reason.

Next time have a bit more patience and don't come on here looking for us to all agree with you by making yourself out to be the innocent party when youre not(gently tossed, ya right:rolleyes:).

jor el · 30-07-2009 2:11pm

Why did you toss anything at all? Surely you could have just handed it back and said no, you only bought that on the understanding that you could buy the data add-on, now please reverse what you just did there. It may have taken a little while, but that would have been the end of it.

Trying to get compo for your time, the car, missed calls and texts, etc is not going to happen. I don't think you'll even get the tenner back that your were "forced" to pay for mobile access, as no one really forced you to do anything. Your hotheadedness has made this a lot worse than it needed to be.

Also, putting your name and mobile phone number in a post on a public Internet forum was not very smart. You'll want to change that number again in no time.

Ah-Watch · 30-07-2009 10:59pm

Reading the OPs post made my blood boil in a way. I detest customers who carry on like this, I think the key to the whole thing is that he believes the customer is always right so he felt the need to be condescending and obnoxious when the customer is not always right. There is no way in hell I'd give him a cent, I'd take great pleasure in kicking him out of the store and yes it was authorised to port if you requested it and signed the form. got a grip, :mad: I'm mad at joes attitude just typing this. I hope you get a reply from vodafone, I don't believe you deserve ANY apology or redress as quite frankly your attitude is appalling and you didnt read the terms and conditions which state that the price plans are available online.

Thank you and good night!

dublinjoe · 30-07-2009 11:23pm

Just to be clear I did not sign anything so the porting was unauthorised and illegal. Also tossing a sim card onto a counter does not constitute abuse. If I was on the other side of that counter (and I have been in the past), my reaction would not have been to call security. Before I went to this store, I had spent weeks researching all four mobile carrier plans. I had some specific requirements (no contract, cheap data, cheap int'l texts, the ability to text to/from Malawi) and most of those answers are buried deep in the T&Cs or in some cases, are not there at all. I thought that when I call Vodafone customer service and ask them a specific question, they would give me the correct answer. This is why I was frustrated. But again, to clarify, this incident did not happen because I didn't read the T&Cs.

The fact that the replies so far unanimously think that I deserved to be kicked out of the store - and that this is an acceptable way for a company to treat a customer - shows me why Ripoff Ireland exists.

The 'that's just the way it is' attitude in this country is why multinational corporations can come in, charge exorbitant prices, and offer subpar services - and no one complains.

I sat on a panel last year with the Senior VP of strategy for Vodafone and he said straight out that the reason Vodafone doesn't offer unlimited plans is because they would have no other way to make money off of their customers.

Communication and internet access is a utility - a necessity for a wired, interconnected world and those of us who work in cyberspace. To be charged €10 for a mere 500MB is a RIPOFF. To be charged €1 for 50 MB is a RIPOFF. And yet Irish consumers don't complain and the MEPs obey GSM Association demands.

You guys can continue to be RIPPED OFF. But not me. I know it comes off as obnoxious, but if you have a better way to battle these corporate beasts, I'd love to hear it.

Greenmachine · 30-07-2009 11:51pm

Wow am I glad to come into this post at this late hour. Your 2nd post has completely changed my position on you. i will do everything in my power to ensure you get your own mobile phone operators license because you sound like the type of guy who isn't interested in profits and running a sucessful business. Instead you would happily bend to the demands of even the most unreasonable customer. Why should you have dealt with the original situation any differently. I mean then you would have had no cause to complain. Then where would you be.

Whether you were told something seperately on the the phone to instore does not justify your throwing sim pacs on the counter. I don't care how gentllly you tossed it on the counter. You said yourself that it was done in frustration so it came across as aggresively. Have you really worked in customer services before or did you simply feel like decorating your letter of complaint with some floral comlaints.

If you had the decorum to simply take a deep breath and wait your opportunity to explain that you were sold on a particular point told to you over the phone and since that information was infact incorrect; you would like to withdraw your request to port your number to Vodafone.

It's that simple :eek:

dublinjoe wrote: »

Just to be clear I did not sign anything so the porting was unauthorised and illegal. Also tossing a sim card onto a counter does not constitute abuse. If I was on the other side of that counter (and I have been in the past), my reaction would not have been to call security. Before I went to this store, I had spent weeks researching all four mobile carrier plans. I had some specific requirements (no contract, cheap data, cheap int'l texts, the ability to text to/from Malawi) and most of those answers are buried deep in the T&Cs or in some cases, are not there at all. I thought that when I call Vodafone customer service and ask them a specific question, they would give me the correct answer. This is why I was frustrated. But again, to clarify, this incident did not happen because I didn't read the T&Cs.

The fact that the replies so far unanimously think that I deserved to be kicked out of the store - and that this is an acceptable way for a company to treat a customer - shows me why Ripoff Ireland exists.

The 'that's just the way it is' attitude in this country is why multinational corporations can come in, charge exorbitant prices, and offer subpar services - and no one complains.

I sat on a panel last year with the Senior VP of strategy for Vodafone and he said straight out that the reason Vodafone doesn't offer unlimited plans is because they would have no other way to make money off of their customers.

Communication and internet access is a utility - a necessity for a wired, interconnected world and those of us who work in cyberspace. To be charged €10 for a mere 500MB is a RIPOFF. To be charged €1 for 50 MB is a RIPOFF. And yet Irish consumers don't complain and the MEPs obey GSM Association demands.

You guys can continue to be RIPPED OFF. But not me. I know it comes off as obnoxious, but if you have a better way to battle these corporate beasts, I'd love to hear it.

jor el · 31-07-2009 1:07am

dublinjoe wrote: »

Just to be clear I did not sign anything so the porting was unauthorised and illegal.

You went into the shop, you asked them to port your number over, you were there when they got all the details from you and ported you over. That's not unauthorised or illegal, but I'd like to see you try to convince a judge of that. You don't have to sign anything to give authorisation, all you need to do is tell them.

dublinjoe wrote: »

Before I went to this store, I had spent weeks researching all four mobile carrier plans.

You didn't try very hard. 2 clicks on Vodafone's website, and I got this.
http://www.vodafone.ie/vlive/internetmobile/
If you're a Prepay customer

You pay daily as you use the service. You are only charged on days that you use the service. That's 99c for the 50MB daily allowance and 2c per KB thereafter.

That's the only option for pre-pay, plain and simple. Why go ringing customer service to try and get a contradicting answer to the one written down and easy to find?

dublinjoe wrote: »

But again, to clarify, this incident did not happen because I didn't read the T&Cs.

No, it happened because you didn't read the very easy to find information that answered your question clearly.

dublinjoe wrote: »

The fact that the replies so far unanimously think that I deserved to be kicked out of the store - and that this is an acceptable way for a company to treat a customer - shows me why Ripoff Ireland exists.

Rude customer is kicked out of the store = Ripoff now? How exactly were you ripped off? Did they take all your money as you were being kicked out?

dublinjoe wrote: »

The 'that's just the way it is' attitude in this country is why multinational corporations can come in, charge exorbitant prices, and offer subpar services - and no one complains.

I sat on a panel last year with the Senior VP of strategy for Vodafone and he said straight out that the reason Vodafone doesn't offer unlimited plans is because they would have no other way to make money off of their customers.

You're just veering off into the bizarre now.

dublinjoe wrote: »

Communication and internet access is a utility - a necessity for a wired, interconnected world and those of us who work in cyberspace. To be charged €10 for a mere 500MB is a RIPOFF. To be charged €1 for 50 MB is a RIPOFF. And yet Irish consumers don't complain and the MEPs obey GSM Association demands.

And even more bizarre.

dublinjoe wrote: »

You guys can continue to be RIPPED OFF. But not me. I know it comes off as obnoxious, but if you have a better way to battle these corporate beasts, I'd love to hear it.

And you wonder why they didn't want to deal with you?

If you knew anything about anything, you'd know that it costs a lot to transfer data across a mobile phone network, far more than for voice or text, hence the equivalent increase in cost to the customer. But it doesn't look like you do.

ArseBurger · 31-07-2009 1:44am

dublinjoe wrote: »

Communication and internet access is a utility - a necessity for a wired, interconnected world and those of us who work in cyberspace. To be charged €10 for a mere 500MB is a RIPOFF. To be charged €1 for 50 MB is a RIPOFF.

Why is it a rip off?

Do you know the costs involved in providing data over a voice network?

RodVelvet · 31-07-2009 1:45am

dublinjoe wrote: »

However, at the Henry St location, after the customer service rep
entered the phone number to be transferred and handed me
the sim pack, I asked him how I could add-on the €9.99 deal. When he
said that deal wasn't available for prepay, I gently tossed the sim
pack onto the counter and said that I didn't want it. The customer
service representative asked me to leave the store. I asked why and he
said that I can't throw around sim packs. I was taken aback frankly
but left the store after a security guard was called over. After a
minute I returned to the store to ask for a manager. He was helping
other customers and since I was in a rush for another appointment, I
left the store and content to leave the issue alone.
/QUOTE]

Since the data addon was your main reason for choosing Vodafone why didn't you check it with the customer service rep before they transferred the number? For someone who had done all there research confirming it with the customer rep before transferring the number would have been the pertinent thing to do.

People don't get thrown out by security for no reason. As someone who works in retail from the tone of your posts and your attitude with the simcard, I think you deserved the treatment you received. The oft quoted "the customer is always right" mantra for some people seems to mean that they have carte blanche to abuse shop workers as they wish.

tallaghtoutlaws · 31-07-2009 4:12am

dublinjoe wrote: »

Just to be clear I did not sign anything so the porting was unauthorised and illegal. Also tossing a sim card onto a counter does not constitute abuse.

Im sorry but I stopped reading here. I have worked in both Retail(phone store many moons ago), FMCG sector and Customer Service and while your act was not abuse, It was plain rude and bad manners. Im sorry to tell you my friend always expect people to treat you the way you treat them. You go in with an attitude, you will get an attitude. Im pretty sure they entertained your attitude to the best of their abilities until you crossed the line by flinging the sim pack. Having managed in retail I would have asked you to leave also if I felt my staff were trying to help you and you were nothing but plain rude to them.

I have read alot of threads on here bad mouthing companies especially phone companies and most are within their rights because they were actually treated unfairly. You play the hand you are dealt at the end of the day. But it seems in this instance you actually make Vodafone win. You fail to research properly, you claim scam when there wasnt one and you admit to being an a55hole. What were you looking for from us with this thread?

Cabaal · 31-07-2009 7:45am

dublinjoe wrote: »

Just to be clear I did not sign anything so the porting was unauthorised and illegal.

This is factually incorrect, you gave them your details, they could not have ported you without you giving them your details.

Also tossing a sim card onto a counter does not constitute abuse. If I was on the other side of that counter (and I have been in the past), my reaction would not have been to call security.

Both you and I know that a staff member of any company does not just call security for no valid reason, doing so could get the employee in alot of trouble. Accordingly we only have your one sided view on this.

I'd be curious does the CCTV show you "tossing" the SIM card gently onto the counter like you've suggested.

Before I went to this store, I had spent weeks researching all four mobile carrier plans. I had some specific requirements (no contract, cheap data, cheap int'l texts, the ability to text to/from Malawi)

You did a extremely bad job of doing research then and you may want to read things more careful and such info is very clearly displayed on the mobile providers website.

Did you simply visit vodafone.ie and not click on any links because thats the only way you couldn't see this easily available info.

most of those answers are buried deep in the T&Cs or in some cases, are not there at all.

This is both factually incorrect and you and I know your actually making stuff up at this state, the info is clearly displayed on the websites and is available for Vodafone, Meteor, O2 and Three.

Accordingly stating its not available at all is nothing other then a lie.

I thought that when I call Vodafone customer service and ask them a specific question, they would give me the correct answer. This is why I was frustrated.

Perhaps you worded the question poorly or shock horror the rep in vodafone made a human error...this can happen you know given you have customer servixce experience you should know this

Either way this gives you no excuse to throw the sim pack back at anyone or be aggresive,

But again, to clarify, this incident did not happen because I didn't read the T&Cs.

The data charge plans again are clearly outlined on the providers website,

The fact that the replies so far unanimously think that I deserved to be kicked out of the store - and that this is an acceptable way for a company to treat a customer - shows me why Ripoff Ireland exists.

Under no circumstances does that make it acceptable for a customer to be aggressive with staff members or to claim for simply exaggerated expenses like petrol :rolleyes:

The very fact that nobody here supports you in anyway should give you a hint that your not in the right here, now we all understand that such a position must be annoying for you but thats no excuse to try and throw your toys out of the pram by blaming users in this thread for high prices :rolleyes:.

The 'that's just the way it is' attitude in this country is why multinational corporations can come in, charge exorbitant prices, and offer subpar services - and no one complains.

People do complain, its just people don't complain in a hilarious fashion looking for simply funny expenses such as your person time with your business rate applied, again who do you think you are kidding?

I sat on a panel last year with the Senior VP of strategy for Vodafone and he said straight out that the reason Vodafone doesn't offer unlimited plans is because they would have no other way to make money off of their customers.

Find me one mobile provider that provides a unlimited data plan in any country, Vodafone is a business and is entitled to make money

Communication and internet access is a utility - a necessity for a wired, interconnected world and those of us who work in cyberspace.

EU law states the only internet access that has to be guaranteed is 33K on a PSTN line,

The internet is still not considered a utility like telephone, esb or gas so don't compare it as such.

To be charged €10 for a mere 500MB is a RIPOFF. To be charged €1 for 50 MB is a RIPOFF. And yet Irish consumers don't complain and the MEPs obey GSM Association demands.

Your trying to pick at Irish consumers, thats funny the UK is not very different....again find me one mobile data provider that has a unlimited plan?...what you can't..not surprising

Bandwidth costs money and there is no such thing as a truly unlimited cable, adsl or midband provider anywhere.

You guys can continue to be RIPPED OFF. But not me. I know it comes off as obnoxious, but if you have a better way to battle these corporate beasts, I'd love to hear it.

Your right it does, I'm just shocked that for somebody that appears to hate the "corporate beasts" your more then willing to use there services especially one of the (in many users views) most evil.

In addition lets not forget Meteor is owned by Eircom and Eircom have done the most in this country to limit Broadband rollout and insure that charges are kept high for line rental and bandwidth costs.

You don't want to support "corporate beasts" do you?, best you cancel now otherwise your only being a sheep and ensuring we continue to get ripped off :pac:

Paulw · 31-07-2009 8:18am

I must say, dublinjoe's posts have to be some of the best lately on boards. Very entertaining. His twitter posts have also been interesting. :rolleyes:

It's interesting though. Normally on boards people are more than willing to bash mobile operators for their costs, actions, procedures, etc. But this seems to be one case where boards members think the OP is totally wrong.

Maybe your actions in the shop, and your phone conversations to Vodafone were lost in translation or accent or something? It's clear that the info you wanted is easy to find on the Vodafone website.

Bottom line, you're going to get no where with your letter of complaint. Suck it up.

Lollipops23 · 31-07-2009 8:20am

i really couldn't care less about the porting issue; what's getting to me is that you think your carry on is acceptable!

i work in retail and am happy to run around for customers going the extra mile ensures a sale in these hard times. but i never, and will never take aggression from a customer. The CEO of our company has actually told us that such behaviour is not welcome or tolerated. I may not have called security on you but i certainly would have walked away.

you appear to have no idea of what it's like to be behind the til and the crap we have to put up with on a daily basis. your attitude seems to be "this little shop boy/girl is here to do anything i ask of them and so it with a smile". They're human, with feeling.

Gillo · 31-07-2009 9:07am

Paulw wrote: »

I must say, dublinjoe's posts have to be some of the best lately on boards. Very entertaining. His twitter posts have also been interesting. :rolleyes:

He's on Twitter, can you send me a Twitterific link, I checked his profile and couldn't find one.

I'm just wondering and I actually don't want to agree with Dublinjoe, but if he didn't sign the form legally speaking he may not have authorised Vodafone to port the number, obviously he intended to and took actions towards moving his number. I wonder how a judge would view it???? Still doesn't justify being a prat.

As for the mess-up with the sim's that's a separate unfortunate occurance, caused through not taking the sim with him, I'm assuming when the OP contacted Meteors and Vodafones customer care he was adamant that he hadn't moved his number to Vodafone, generally once a port is submitted it can't be cancelled but has to be let processed and then reversed which can take three to four hours on a good day. I've seen (and it's not unusual) customers getting confused between networks, sims and number- you ask a customer what network they are with and get told "I'm using an 087 number, it's on 086 but I have it in a 085 phone", it takes a lot of patience sometimes.

As Lollipops said about peoples attitudes to retail (and indeed customer care) staff, nothing wrong with a little bit of manners and courtesy, if fact it'll generally get you a hell of a lot more.

Blue_Wolf · 31-07-2009 9:13am

I think you were very rude to the sales consultant. Was not his fault. You did not ask him about the broadband package until after. Quite frankly I'm glad to see that your having issues

:D

Paulw · 31-07-2009 9:20am

Gillo wrote: »

I'm just wondering and I actually don't want to agree with Dublinjoe, but if he didn't sign the form legally speaking he may not have authorised Vodafone to port the number, obviously he intended to and took actions towards moving his number. I wonder how a judge would view it????

He entered in to a verbal contract, by providing the details needed to open an account with Vodafone and port his number.

Signing a form isn't strictly needed.

Blue_Wolf · 31-07-2009 9:31am

dublinjoe wrote: »

To be charged €10 for a mere 500MB is a RIPOFF.

Yet you were willing to sign up to this which totally contradicts your point.

speedfreak · 31-07-2009 9:36am

dublinjoe wrote: »

The fact that the replies so far unanimously think that I deserved to be kicked out of the store - and that this is an acceptable way for a company to treat a customer - shows me why Ripoff Ireland exists.

.

No what the replies show is that the posters here have a basic sense of common courtesy and decency.

How are you 'battling the corporate beast' by abusing/threatening a lowly paid customer service rep.

And I thought Walter Mitty was a fictional character....

Kensington · 31-07-2009 10:09am

dublinjoe wrote: »

Just to be clear I did not sign anything so the porting was unauthorised and illegal.

You don't need to sign anything for it to be legal. It's a verbal contract. By you walking into the Vodafone store and requesting the transfer, you're essentially agreeing to the contract.

dublinjoe wrote: »

Also tossing a sim card onto a counter does not constitute abuse. If I was on the other side of that counter (and I have been in the past), my reaction would not have been to call security.

Was it tossed lightly joe? I've had a customer throw a television remote at me and then insist, after they complained to my store manager, that they only threw it "lightly" (my lip just happened to burst itself open of it's own accord, of course - NOTHING to do with the remote). I would dearly love to see the CCTV footage on the day to see how lightly "lightly" actually was. As already said, staff DON'T call security over for no reason. There's far to much follow up hassle if staff just call security over the smallest thing.

dublinjoe wrote: »

Before I went to this store, I had spent weeks researching all four mobile carrier plans. I had some specific requirements (no contract, cheap data, cheap int'l texts, the ability to text to/from Malawi) and most of those answers are buried deep in the T&Cs or in some cases, are not there at all. I thought that when I call Vodafone customer service and ask them a specific question, they would give me the correct answer. This is why I was frustrated. But again, to clarify, this incident did not happen because I didn't read the T&Cs.

A quick 5 minute browse on Vodafone would have told you that Data Add-on's were NOT available to Prepay Ready To Go customers, only PostPay. Another 5 minutes here on boards would have confirmed this fact.

Why Vodafone gave you incorrect information is an issue alright, the person may be in training, having a bad day, or been confused as to what exactly you were asking them. This does NOT excuse your actions in any way.

dublinjoe wrote: »

The fact that the replies so far unanimously think that I deserved to be kicked out of the store - and that this is an acceptable way for a company to treat a customer - shows me why Ripoff Ireland exists.

The 'that's just the way it is' attitude in this country is why multinational corporations can come in, charge exorbitant prices, and offer subpar services - and no one complains.

No, the fact Rip Off Ireland exists is because the Irish don't complain to the right people. The people in the front line shops do not have any channel of communication to upper management. I repeat, the people in the front line shops do not have any channel of communication to upper management.

Going in and taking out your feelings and problems on shop staff is completely and utterly pointless. It achieves nothing. The shop staff don't make decisions, and have no direct channel of communication to upper management. In fact, I'd say the vast majority of staff don't ever communicate directly with any upper management in their time working for a company. But if the company head office starts receiving a lot of complaints from customers or ex-customers, then they'll quickly take notice. And of course, if you want to be taken seriously, don't go making completely ridiculous demands for recourse :rolleyes:

dublinjoe wrote:

I sat on a panel last year with the Senior VP of strategy for Vodafone and he said straight out that the reason Vodafone doesn't offer unlimited plans is because they would have no other way to make money off of their customers.

Businesses are there to make money, no?

dublinjoe wrote:

Communication and internet access is a utility - a necessity for a wired, interconnected world and those of us who work in cyberspace. To be charged €10 for a mere 500MB is a RIPOFF. To be charged €1 for 50 MB is a RIPOFF. And yet Irish consumers don't complain and the MEPs obey GSM Association demands.

So what, is the fact it costs me 29c/min to ring a landline from a mobile, as opposed to as little as 1c/min to ring a landline from a landline, a rip off too, by your argument? Good god, those evil mobile phone corporations!!!!

If you want cheap broadband, get a €20/month 3Mb upc connection in. If you want mobile broadband, which you can take with you anywhere, then expect to pay up for the convenience!

dublinjoe wrote:

You guys can continue to be RIPPED OFF. But not me. I know it comes off as obnoxious, but if you have a better way to battle these corporate beasts, I'd love to hear it.

As opposed to what, your tactic of going in and throwing stock back at shop assistants, hurling abuse at them and then making the most ridicilous demands for recourse?

Gillo · 31-07-2009 10:38am

Paulw wrote: »

He entered in to a verbal contract, by providing the details needed to open an account with Vodafone and port his number.

Signing a form isn't strictly needed.

Yeah, I accept that and obviously had the full intention of entering the contract, I suppose it goes back to the whole invitation to tender debate, at what stage is the contract actually set. I know in O2, it's very strict about the paperwork getting signed, either way I think we can all agree on one think regarding the OP and his "issues".

Kintarō Hattori · 31-07-2009 10:40am

Wow just wow Joe. I've been working in retail myself for the last 7 years but thankfully not for a mobile phone operator. When I think I'm having a hard day I just think for a brief moment the crap that the sales folk must get working in a mobile shop..... poor sods.

wmpdd3 · 01-08-2009 9:27pm

If I had a euro for every letter I've received like that!

I can guarantee you the cctv footage was saved the minute you left the shop, do you still stand by what you say?

I don't believe you because with 10 years experience as a retail manager, you only call in security when you really have to.

I can just imagine what a scene you made in the store.

I think the staff in Henry street should be paid €25 per hour for the next year as compo for having to deal with you.

Good luck with the letter, love to hear how they reply to you.

foggy_lad · 02-08-2009 10:33am

wmpdd3 wrote: »

If I had a euro for every letter I've received like that!

I can guarantee you the cctv footage was saved the minute you left the shop, do you still stand by what you say?

I don't believe you because with 10 years experience as a retail manager, you only call in security when you really have to.

I can just imagine what a scene you made in the store.

I think the staff in Henry street should be paid €25 per hour for the next year as compo for having to deal with you.

Good luck with the letter, love to hear how they reply to you.

would be great to see that cctv footage and see if it was the op or a snarly shop assistant that was having a bad day!

catch88 · 02-08-2009 10:53pm

Yeah, yeah, you gently tossed it back at the sales rep and were a complete sweetheart.

Working in retail should be like conscription so all of you civilians know what its like to be on the receiving end.

MunsterCycling · 03-08-2009 4:48am

If you want to get them back, serve them with a Data Protection notice for the CCTV footage, they must comply or be fined.

MC

Cabaal · 03-08-2009 7:01am

MunsterCycling wrote: »

If you want to get them back, serve them with a Data Protection notice for the CCTV footage, they must comply or be fined.

MC

I don't believe the DPA covers CCTV in the manner in which you think, it doesn't contain your personal details it simply includes your image

Its like I can take a photo of you on a street (public property) or on my property and there's nothing you can do about it by law, no amount of you believing you can request it under the DPA will allow you to have a copy or have it deleted

tallaghtoutlaws · 03-08-2009 3:29pm

MunsterCycling wrote: »

If you want to get them back, serve them with a Data Protection notice for the CCTV footage, they must comply or be fined.

MC

Eh no it doesn't work like that. DPA can't get video off any store if the store's security are following the correct code of using CCTV. The role of DPA is to ensure that all personal data is used in a professional and responsible manner, and to eliminate the usage of any data for voyeuristic or entertainment purposes. And as the OP was acting with what seems like a threatning manner and flung a sim pack at the staff the DPA does not cover him here.

Could you imagine if anyone could ask for footage to be destroyed if they were committing a crime or about to commit a crime or acting up. All video evidence would be useless in court as 90% of all criminals would use the DPA as their get out clause.