Why I’m breaking up with vodafone
I signed up for a smart plan in February 2010. I bought a HTC Magic for the bargain price of $250, and committed to two years of $40/250mb per month. Good buying.
However, I found two massive faults in next few months:
- The software on my phone was not compatible with the wireless security system at work (wap2enterprise).
- Vodafone did not tell me that I had a temporary allowance of 3gig per month.
In April I decided to hack/jailbreak/root my phone. This was in order to update the software manually so that I could use it at work. No one at vodafone could help me with this. This was really frustrating, but once it was done, I had loads more freedom with my phone. I had access to wap2enterprise and the phone worked a lot faster. Problem ‘1’ basically fixed. Happy. I should note that this is not illegal. As the android OS is open source, it’s ok to put your own ROM on a phone that you own. I feel fully justified because before I did this it was quite simply was not appropriate for its intended use: on a wireless lan at work.
In July I happened to see a promo on the vodafone.co.nz website. 3gigs for all smart plan customers from last year to september 2010. I called 777 and they did not know about this. It doesn’t appear on my statement. It doesn’t appear on myvodafone. It doesn’t appear anywhere.
I convinced the 777 guy to look it up on the website and he found it. He told me it was the store’s fault, so I drove across town to the shop I bought it from. They said they couldn’t do anything and then they:
- emailed someone
- basically said to ring 777 again
I called 777 several times, and each time I was assured that it would be fixed and the technical department were onto it. Eventually, I called and asked to be disconnected. Anyone who has ever done this will know that it creates a real stir and you are directed to someone who knows what they’re talking about.
The ‘disconnection team’ person gave me a $50 refund and assured me that I was getting my full 3gigs and the monitoring software would work in the next billing period.
It’s now the next billing period. It doesn’t work. I am very frustrated.
Yesterday I made one of my routine called to 777. The call centre said something that I find quite shocking:
It’s become clear that you’re not the only person that has this problem and that means that it’s going to take longer to fix. No we don’t know when it will be fixed.
My plan for today is to take my phone back to the shop and present them with a small claims court form. Vodafone have not got the technical know-how to support me as a user. The 3g/smartphone market now has several competitors and I will try my luck with them.
I had a *very* similar problem!
Eventually I spoke to somebody in the Support team (the team the CSRs speak to for help) and she added 3Gb to my account.
The only good thing for this, is that the promotional 3Gb/month is now over, but I keep the data until I’ve gone through all of it.
Still quite upset at the fact that it took near-on THREE MONTHS to get this resolution though!
I had a *very* similar problem!
Eventually I spoke to somebody in the Support team (the team the CSRs speak to for help) and she added 3Gb to my account.
The only good thing for this, is that the promotional 3Gb/month is now over, but I keep the data until I’ve gone through all of it.
Still quite upset at the fact that it took near-on THREE MONTHS to get this resolution though!
Hey – I wrote to @vodafone on Twitter. That got a VERY fast response – a phone call, and an apology that night!
I’ve also had a good response from chris (@vodafonenz) but they still haven’t fixed the main problem -data reporting.
It’s really concerning me how many people have same problem.
Hey – I wrote to @vodafone on Twitter. That got a VERY fast response – a phone call, and an apology that night!
I’ve also had a good response from chris (@vodafonenz) but they still haven’t fixed the main problem -data reporting.
It’s really concerning me how many people have same problem.
I am sick of their broadband service. It’s not very good but I don’t know who is better.
Things have changed heaps regarding my mobile plan since I posted this blog. I managed to get to the point where I could do a complete review of my needs (landline, broadband, on account, prepay for my wife and son). I was surprised to find that the deals I had put together with vodafone (mobile) and orcon (landline and broadband) were by far the best I could find.
Telecom laughed embarrassingly.
With regard to broadband, here’s my advice:
– don’t trust your email account to your ISP. This seems to be vf’s main complaint. All my mail goes through my gmail accounts. It always works.
– the landline+broadband packages tend to be the cheapest (don’t get landline and broadband from different places)
– only sign a term contract when you’re getting something substantial out of it. I signed a 24 month contract with vf because I got a phone for a steal. No contracts with orcon, my ISP.
I am sick of their broadband service. It’s not very good but I don’t know who is better.
Things have changed heaps regarding my mobile plan since I posted this blog. I managed to get to the point where I could do a complete review of my needs (landline, broadband, on account, prepay for my wife and son). I was surprised to find that the deals I had put together with vodafone (mobile) and orcon (landline and broadband) were by far the best I could find.
Telecom laughed embarrassingly.
With regard to broadband, here’s my advice:
– don’t trust your email account to your ISP. This seems to be vf’s main complaint. All my mail goes through my gmail accounts. It always works.
– the landline+broadband packages tend to be the cheapest (don’t get landline and broadband from different places)
– only sign a term contract when you’re getting something substantial out of it. I signed a 24 month contract with vf because I got a phone for a steal. No contracts with orcon, my ISP.