@vodafoneuk UK - Vodafone ineptitude - How hard is it to refund a debit card? - WRT135 [#11898009]

[onebitten]

Hi Lee/Vodafone rep,

 

Ordered a Vodafone PAYG phone to be delivered to store. Never took delivery and so contacted Voda support for a refund to my debit card.However, promised refund still not received. Have chased multiple times since the beginning of October (phone & web chat) with no joy.

 

Please assist.

 

Thanks.

[silverfox1961]

Hi and welcome. Sorry you have been missed for so long. Has there been any movement on this matter?

[onebitten]

Thanks, and Hi silverfox.

 

Nope - no one from Voda has followed up at all. After posting on this forum, I followed up via live chat again per a response to a tweet I made to @VodafoneUKhelp:

 

 

Vodafone UK Help

 

@VodafoneUKhelp

30 Oct

 

We have to allow 7 days for this to be processed. If you'd like an update, please use Live Chat: vdfn.co/1MEeijn ^RR

 

View conversation

[/b

 

The person I spoke with asked me if it was ok for them to call me on my mobile. I agreed, he called and immediately said he would need to follow up with "his great team" :razz:for more information and he would call me back...no one ever called me back though, so I think it was just a trick to get me off the live chat.

[silverfox1961]

That is disappointing. I am beginning to wonder if the web team have been shrunk (for whatever reason). For a long time, Lee used to post regularly and give updates. This has now stopped although I know they are dealing with things off forum.

 

As to the phone call, if it was someone from the web team, they would usually follow this up with an email detailing what has been agreed so your suspicions may be right.

 

 

As VF have your money, they should immediately refund. You would think that as your money is taken almost immediately, the refund should be the same.

 

Once the 7 days are up, I suggest a Formal Complaint (in writing) to their head office. If you want to go higher. This is the email I have for the CEO.

 

[email protected]

 

Whether he is still in charge is another matter. VF are topping the list for complaints at the moment.

[onebitten]

Thanks silverfox. The 7 days are already up, so I emailed jeroen.hoencamp@vodafone. com. (below)

If I don't get a response before tomorrow AM, I will send a letter with recorded delivery.

 

The annoying thing is that after searching further on this forum and the web , there are absolutely loads of people with similar 'lack of customer service' complaints but there seems to be nothing an individual consumer can do about it. Their CEO posted in response to an OFCOM report here:blog.vodafone.co.uk/2015/05/12/vodafone-uk-ceo-jeroen-hoencamp-talks-customer-service

 

..like many companies their long term aim is to reduce amount of incoming requests dealt with by a human (reduce costs for shareholders), so it's probably the case that the support teams have targets like 'average call length should be less than x minutes', which is why they just fobbing people off wherever possible. If Voda were truly interested in improving customer experience they would also also be tracking metrics for averages of 'how many times to people need to contact support before their issue is resolved' and/or '% of issues fixed on first contact' ..but as they don't routinely given reference numbers for each issue, they have no interest in tracking this.

 

"

 

Since 11 Oct, I have been requesting a refund for a PAYG phone which I pre-ordered to store but never took delivery for.(WEB-0000000173933994)

 

I have tried been in contact with Vodafone's support team via phone and webchat multiple times to no avail.

 

Along the way, I have been told the refund is in process, along with ever extending, made-up sounding, ETAs. (My bank has confirmed that a refund to a debit card takes 3 working days)

 

I have also been promised callbacks which never materialised.

 

The impression I come away with from the teams I have been in contact with, is that they view your customers with contempt - none have apologised for my difficulties in getting a refund and their behaviour brings to mind a team of con artists making up any excuse to get rid of an especially dim-witted mark, post [problem],instead of a team whose mandate is to offer support.

 

Please can you forward this email to someone who can take ownership of my refund request? As this request has been open over a month and I have expended a lot of time and effort on what should be a simple request, it would be great if the refund payment could expedited.

 

"

[onebitten]

Update - So it finally looks like I getting somewhere.

 

Got a call from Lee from Voda's Social Media Comms team and he followed up with an an email outlining the call. He's arranged for the refund and will confirm once it has been processed.

 

I also opened a case with resolver.co.uk and will keep the case and this thread updated with progress.

 

The resolver service looks like it could of been of help, had I found it earlier. The complaint was passed to Sarah Green, Complaints Manager and if not resolved within 14 days , would be escalated to Neil Blagden, Customer Service Director.

Resolver offer an app to record phone calls and also collate emails regarding the complaint.

 

Out of interest , and for my future reference, has anyone else used the resolver service? If so, was it useful in getting your complaint resolved?

[citizenB]

Responding to S.O.S. Will start thread for Jockwav and leave a link here..

 

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?457122-jockwav-v-Vodafone

 

Link to jockwav's own thread. ^^^^^