moving to vodafone ??????

holly9

I have just become a vodafone customer (hence my username)
My unhappy experience began on 25th feb when Vodafone salesman called to my house offering vodafone home broadband packages.
The offering was priced pretty well so i expressed interest. I told sales guy I worked from home as a web developer
and my one concern was that there would be any downtime inphone and especially broadband during transition. He sat at my kitchen able and asured me it would be seamless and no downtime would result.I duly signed the contact. The nightmare began last tuesday March 9th when my broadband suddenly Dissappeared. A call to my provider informed me that VODAFONEhad taken over my account. I called the vodafone "HELPLINE " which welcomed me as a new customer then curtly
informed me that it would be 21 days before my broadband was activated and that my previous service provider was at
fault in cutting off my broadband before VODAFONE was ready to take it over.
A subsequent call to previous provider and to comreg established that it was VODAFONE's responsibility to ensure
services were transferred iAn a timely manner.
A new call to VODAFONE put me in touch with a helpful staff member who aplogised and on hearing of my situation began to try to resolve my predicament as my whole livelihood was in danger and my business could not function.
He contacted the data people and escalated the priority of the broadband activation. He then left a message on my phone advising that the broadband would be activated by close of business on thurs march11th.
I called Vodafone on Fri 12 march as unsurprisingly the broadband had not been activated. This time I talked to a most unhelpful person who said "no way" could anything be done to expedite the process and that 23rd of March was
soonest I could expect my broadband to be activated. I expressed my dismay at this and asked to speak to a manager.
I was told this was not possible and one would call me back. I got this call later and was told in no uncertain
terms there was nothing that VODAFONE could do to expedite matters and that the broadband would be activated on 23
march and that subsequently my router would be sent to me. I asked why router could not be issued sooner but was
told it could not be sent until broadband had been activated. She did some calculations and said it could be 29th ,
30 th or 31st of March before I could use my broadband. She also informed me that the employee who attempted to
help me had no right to do so and would be disciplined as would the salesman who looked me in the eye and told me no
downtime would occur but that there was no process by which VODAFONE do anything to spped up the activiation of
broadband and it was "all the fault of my previous service provider" who incidentally had provided reliable service
at all times.
This leaves me without any internet connection for 3 weeks and probably mean the loss of a large number of clients
and untold damage to my livelihood in addition it also leaves my autistic son with no access to the internet where
he has begun using a lot of childrens learning and games sites and is unable to understand why the internet is gone.
So now I am looking at 2+ weeks of constant calling to vodafone for updated giving the same information each time
and getting a different story each time I call.

My main issue is with the fact i expressly asked if there was a possibility of downtime and was told this would not
happen instead it has turned into a total nightmare
to which there seems to resolution.
IF I WAS TOLD THERE WAS ANY POSSIBILITY OF BEING DISCONNECTED FOR 3+ WEEKS THERE IS NO WAY I WOULD HAVE CONSIDERED A SWITCH !!!!
I ALSO FIND IT HARD TO BELIEVE THAT VODAFONE HAVE NO PROCEDURES IN PLACE TO RESOLVE SITUATIONS LIKE THIS OR INDEED
PREVENT THEM From HAPPENING IN THE FIRST PLACE as the manager whom i spoke to told me there were no procedures to ensure this cannot
happen or no procedures to rectify in a timely manner................

Any one else been on the end of treatment like this or any advice on how to get things resolved ?

brian ireland

Can you ring your last provider and ask them to reconnect you and tell them you will take a year contract.
Ring vodafone and tell them you changed your mind, I think you have a thirty day cooling off period to change your mind with a new service.

holly9

Thanks Brian
Have tried that, Talk Talk have said at least 4 weeks as broadband has been cancelled would have to go through whole connection process again

brian ireland

How about getting one of those dongle things.Tell them you want to try it for a month before committing to it and then hand it back (to vodafone of course)

oisin

I rang Vodafone yesterday to ask about the same thing, I was thinking of switching from Eircom to Vodafone and I was assured there would be no downtime.

No way am I switching now after reading your story.

Axwell

I would suggest getting a usb dongle from Vodafone and I would ring them about it first and complain about the delay and ask that they cover the cost of the dongle as it was their employee who incorrectly told you there would be no down time and they also were at fault for not making sure the changeover was seemless between your last provider and them.

Kristopherus

Axwell wrote: »

I would suggest getting a usb dongle from Vodafone and I would ring them about it first and complain about the delay and ask that they cover the cost of the dongle as it was their employee who incorrectly told you there would be no down time and they also were at fault for not making sure the changeover was seemless between your last provider and them.

+ 1. And then ditch them like a hot potatoe. Vodafone are shambolic for broadband. Read the various threads here to get a taste of what they are up to.

holly9

I have already got the dongle after a lot of hassle. Was told by vodafone to get one my wife went into shop tot collect after ringing to ask if there would be any problem getting one. Shop manager said no problem but when she went into shop they asked for utility bill and photo id , She had photo id but utility bill was in my name so could not get dongle even though both she and I are vodafone mobile customers and she was calling voafone support and myself from shop.
Had to drive 25 miles next day to get one. No 3G coverage and connection speed is up to a blinding 37kbs. It is going back tomorrow. All alternate providers have said 4 - 5 weeks to get connected as DSL line has been cancelled and procedure has to be started from beginning. Will have to wait till Vodafone connect me and then move to alternate provider ASAP.

brian ireland

Long shot but do you have good neighbors who might let you us their wireless connection? Not sure what i would say if some one asked me the same question but you could offer to pay the month connection and explain you are in a real hole for work!!

I had a pretty identical experience when I switched from Eircom to BT. The saleswoman promised me on three different occasions that there would be no interruption in service. When my broadband went down, I was told it could be a few weeks before I got it back, and there was nothing I could do about it. There were vague noises about "retraining" the saleswoman, but no suggestion of an apology or attempt to expedite.

Having heard the same complaint from a number of people over the last few years, I can only believe that the sales team can lie with impunity to get the sale, and that the telecoms companies are aware of the practice and turn a blind eye to it.

I'd advise you to request an incident number from Vodafone for the purposes of opening a complaint with comreg. It may not do any immediate good for your situation, but comreg may escalate if they see enough cases suggesting deliberate deceit.

johnnyrotten

My Expierience:

I had phone and broadband with BT for past 4 years or so and was happy with it. My broadband stopped working on feb 23rd. Rang BT and was told that Vodafone had taken over all BT Ireland accounts (News to me) and I should ring Vodafone re my problem.

Rang Vodafone and was fobbed off telling me to reset modem etc.

Short version is that after more than 2 weeks and about 15 calls to Vodafone I am now told that it will take another 2 weeks to sort out. In fairness to the girl I spoke to last night , she authorised me to get a free wireless dongle - We will see what happens there!

Their customer service is the worst i have ever expierenced, one girl told me that she could do nothing, refused to pass me onto a supervisor, refused to pass me onto tech support and then hung up on me!!!

When you ring you could be on hold for 20 mins or more listening to Extreme's "More than words" being played over and over again.

Rant over ;0)

Shammy

When i migrated over from bt to vodafone ,i started experiencing unstable speeds, vodafone tech support are totally useless when a problem arises that isnt in the handbook.

Dilbert75

A lot of people on here have learned the lesson - don't use Vodafone at Home. I'm getting no satisfaction either. Shambolic is actually a good description.

lawrencesummers

i had a completley different experience with them.

i had 3mb with eircom, phone line barely used for calls, and changed over to VF, rang them when the eircom modem stopped working and they changed a setting on the eircom modem over the phone with me and its been working ever since,

im getting exactly the same thing with VF that i was with Eircom and its costing me less,

i check my speed regularly and its never under 2.5mb,

sure people have trouble but im a happy migrant and would reccomend it to people