Vodafone Mobile Connect Card - Read before you buy

If you are one of those people who is thinking of buying a Vodafone Mobile Connect Card, then I suggest that you take note of my experience of the marvellous service provided by Vodafone UK,  before committing to the wonderful Vodafone GPRS service.

 

I have given up trying to get a response from their "Customer Service" department, so I thought I would post details of my correspondence on the web for other potential Vodafone Mobile UK customers to read, and in the vain hope that someone from Vodafone might find this and give me a call on 01442 817817.

 

Why is it posted on this site.....? Because it's a site I manage, that has great rankings on Google, and it should only take a few days for this page to attract all you searchers for information about the Vodafone service.

 

Below is the letter that I wrote on 9 August 2004 to the Customer Service Manager. Nearly a month has gone past and no one has responded.

 

 

I wrote to Keith Colburn in Customer Services again and copied the Vodafone Chief Executive. The letter can be downloaded from the bottom of this page, if you want to read it. I told them that this page now holds position 10 on Google for their product.

 

I have heard nothing in response.

 

I rang Technical Support and told them what I had done.

 

20 minutes later I get their technical guru on the phone, who diganoses the problem as a malfunctioning card (which I told them ages back), and he arranges a replacement to be sent immediately.

 

And.........wait for it........it works!!!!!!

 

But this page stays up for all to see, until I get:

 

 

Here's my original letter:

 

Keith Colburn
Customer Services Manager
Vodafone Ltd
Croydon
Surrey CR9 3WB

Dear Keith

Re: Acct No: 227059394 Connect No: 07887 716843

 

Thanks for your letter closing down the account for the Mobile Connect Card 0787 6563692.

It’s only taken four months. And is yet another chapter in the appalling experience I have endured (and continue to endure) as a Vodafone customer.

 

In early March, I decide to buy a Mobile Connect GPRS card. I order it from telephone sales with a promise of delivery “in a few days”. I need it quickly for business travel. It doesn’t arrive, and the purchase process is a nightmare. (See attached email 1). I’m told delivery is now 28 days, that I should get one from my local Vodafone store, and that you’ll cancel the account set up via telephone sales.

 

So, I buy one from my local store. And a couple of weeks later the one from telephone sales arrives……

So, I ring and fax telephone sales several times to no avail. About two months later, the card from telephone sales is collected.

 

But every month, I get a bill. But, it’s for both cards. So every month, I spend 30 mins on the phone call waiting and speaking to a “customer service” representative to explain what’s happened.

 

“No problem”, I am told. It’ll be done straightaway.

 

But every month it isn’t done and I call again.

 

So this month, I call and demand to speak to the Supervisor…..and at last the duplicate account is cancelled.

Hooray.

 

The card works fine. I’m planning to take two weeks off in and it’s vital that I can connect to the internet everyday to support my business. I check on GPRS coverage in with the store. No problem, they say.

I arrive in on 15 July. I run MobileConnect…..but cannot get an internet connection. This is a complete pain.

I call technical support for the next four days or so. I tell them the error message that I am getting, and the network I’m connecting to (Orange F). Each time, am told that there’s a GPRS problem in and “we cannot provide an indication of when this will be resolved” (not even hours/days or months.

Around about Day 5, I speak to another Vodafone support guy. He says that the GPRS problem has been fixed. But I still can’t get a connection. “You never will”, says he, “Not through F.”

Marvellous, so why wasn’t this spotted on my earlier calls. It’s a coverage problem, and when I move out of the valley, where we are staying I pick up SFR and get a working (although atrociously slow, and almost unusable) connection.

 

Around 27 July, things go pear-shaped again. The Connect Card starts playing up. One in twenty times, I get a working connection, and the rest of the time I get a variety of error messages.

I call Support. “Reinstall the software – it’s corrupted”, I am told. So, I eventually locate a French internet café, where I can download the software, and re-install.

 

But it still doesn’t work.

 

“It’s the SIM card playing up”, I am told. “I’ll pick one up from the local store”, I suggest, but apparently that’s going to cost me £15 which you will reimburse me on my next bill (completely barmy). So, you send me a new SIM card.

 

But it still doesn’t work.

 

I call Support. “It’s the card”, I am told. “You need to go to your local store, borrow a card from them, using the new SIM card, and test it”.

 

So, off I trot to the Vodafone store. But, I cannot connect either with my Connect card or a borrowed card. And the store cannot get the SIM card to work with Vodafone Live.

 

That was last Wednesday, I believe.

 

“I’ll refer it to the Technical Team and I promise they’ll call you within two days”, said the ever optimistic Vodafone support guy.

 

…two days pass, three, four, five, and I ring back today. “It’s a fault that’s affecting several of our customers and we’re seeking a resolution”.

 

And I still don’t have the faintest idea when I will have a working Mobile Connect service. Give me strength.

 

My time is money. I work as a consultant. So far, I’ve probably spent three or four days hanging on the Vodafone support line, going to the store and trying to get the service working.

 

You owe me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Keith Pollard

 

PS: It would be nice if you could get it working in the next few days, and then I might stop telling clients and colleagues what a joke the Vodafone GPRS service is.

 

 

 

AND here is the email I sent to 'businesscustomercare@vodafone.co.uk'. I won't include the faxes etc etc that I sent because you're probably bored with it all by now......