[Closed] Are Vodafone really this bad?

Utterly the most appauling service ever. Offered to refund monies but never did a and ultimately ended in court. I will never have another phone contract with them even if they were the only choice.

Yep....

Yes, X 1000!!!

They've gone from being head and shoulders above the competition ten years ago, to a pitiful mess that really just doesn't care anymore.

Sad, but roll on December when I can finally jump ship. 13 years I've been with them and the decline is truly shocking.

I'm surprised they scored so highly.

The product is cheap, the service utterly hateful. I spent about 10 hrs (no exaggeration, I documented it in a complaint) recently trying to transfer a number from a Voda SIM to a Voda SIM...

If you can get anything like a decent deal elsewhere, do. You'll save yourself masses of aggravation.

So bad that I left despite them being the only company to have a signal where I live

Steer clear...!

My experience of them has been pretty good so far. I needed to transfer my old number back into my name (my wife took it over and added it into a household plan) this was all done in one phone call, my plan is better than any other networks and the signal is great.
I've only been on the plan for 3 months but I've had them as my provider for the past 2 years without issue.

ellohell

There's always one.

And just for balance - I've never had a problem with them (nearly 10 years now) Multiple phones, transferred number a couple of times, all worked fine.

Voda's Business services have caused me big headaches since last June, I have never experienced an outfit be so consistently rubbish at every single opportunity. Do not consider their voice and data services because if anything goes wrong you're doooooomed. Vodafone Business are seriously shit.

Vodafone still offer a choice - you can have dreadful coverage and dreadful customer service with them, or dreadful coverage and reasonable customer service with Telefonica (with whom they now share their network infrastructure)

EE have left them standing on coverage and now that EE have won the emergency services tender we'll see EE extend their network even further to 99.7% coverage on 4g. As a comparison Vodafone were still at around 90% coverage on 3G last time I checked.

http://rootmetrics.com/uk/blog/special-reports/2015-2h-national-uk

Pretty bad here - my wife left them for EE as we had little or no Vodafone signal at home - despite being out of contract they charged a £160 early termination fee with no warning and weeks later we are still trying to get it back despite numerous promises that it will be refunded in "3-5 days"

I spent about 10 hrs (no exaggeration, I documented it in a complaint)

They are ok if you don't have a problem or it is something very simple beyond that they are utterly hopeless. There initial support is all abroad, they work to a script and make it as hard as possible for you to leave. They were unable to port my number to a new phone and I spent hours trying to sort it with repeated promises it would be fixed in 48 hours and told I couldn't leave after giving them 14 days to fix it. When eventually I spoke to someone in the UK ( who didn't cut me off) I was able to leave in 5 mins. Also there shops seem to be completely separate from their on-line business.

I will never go near them again.

Been with them since 1987 and never had a problem. Currently paying 20 quid a month for 20 Gig and unlimited everything else....includes a subscription to Spotify.

Personally I'd recommend them.

Been with them for 3 years now and all problems have been dealt with as well as any other provider that I've been with

Been with them for years and never had a problem.....that may be the key though to my perception of them.

Keep wanting to leave them, but they're the only provider with sufficient dB signal to get into the house, and their £3 per day European roaming is important. When EE unveil a promised new 4G mast 4 miles away, I'm looking forward to swapping.

and their £3 per day European roaming is important

That become irrelevant when they abolish EU roaming charges next year. Three have already done it in most European countries.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/27/europe-abolishes-mobile-phone-roaming-charges

I've used them for work, they seemed fine for corporate accounts but then someone else was sorting out billing and so on.
Bought a handset from them, it seemed more convenient to click and collect than be around to take delivery. I was sat for about 15 minutes with 3 or 4 of the staff in an otherwise empty shop while they tried to get their heads round HANDING ME A F***ING BOX I'D ALREADY DONE ALL THE ONLINE FORM-FILLING AND PAYING FOR ONLINE. I eventually left with the phone and a paper invoice thing on which one of them had laboriously written various IMEI and order details which were already on their online system.

0.3 out 10. Someone must have been feeling generous, no way do they deserve such a high score. Shame it can't do negative figures.

E now that EE have won the emergency services tender we'll see EE extend their network even further to 99.7% coverage on 4g.

Any more info on this?

an alternate view. been with them over 10 years. Wife came onto my account a few years ago as we got a great deal. never had any issues with them in this time, get some cracking money deals as a result of being with them for so long. we have 2 Galaxy S6 edges, got them for 10% than leading open market contracts. really surprised the score is so low! might have to go an review to balance things up.

Another long-term customer here. Work used Vodafone and I've just stuck with them. Still the best coverage in the Highlands. In the 7 years I've been a personal customer (3phones simultaneously on contract) I've only once had a minor issue. As usual with online review sites, only the angry bother.

I had no problem with the signal coverage or the way the phone works, it's just when you ask them to do something they are shocking.
Transferring a Vodafone number to another Vodafone sim should not take the best part of 4 months.
I've been with them for 5+ years but will change this summer.

Pictonroad- see below:

http://www.mobileworldlive.com/featured-content/home-banner/ee-wins-1b-contract/

As well as adding cell sites over the next year EE are also turning on 800MHz coverage in March that will get 4g into the places that 2g doesn't cover now. EE are believed to be proposing prioritisation on their network for emergency services users with the result that the airwave contract for voice will be terminated over the next 18 months. All or which will be very good for phone coverage whilst biking!.

BAD BAD BAD. They are very BAD!!

I would probably give up owning a mobile phone if Vodafone were the only option, based on previous experiences with them....

Well. So far it's about 70/30 in them being a complete shower.

Even in lopsided internet statistics, that's not that encouraging.

used them for last 15 years... never had a single problem.

No choice - seems to be the only network that reaches my house - and I live in surburbia!!

EDIT - a question on that aspect. I'm on an old 3G phone, will swapping to a 4g phone change that scenario i.e. does 4G use the same mast network or could coverage be better than 3G in the same location?

My sister was missold a contract in a Vodafone shop before working in Greece. She was receiving calls believing that she was not paying for them, only to return home to find a huge bill and threats of debt collection. Vodafone were contacted but not interested. It escalated, my folks' address became blacklisted and Vodafone's demands became more insistent. My Dad ended up writing directly to the CEO and - long story short - the result was the bill was halved but still a hefty amount, especially for a recently returned holiday rep. On top of that my folks' address was still credit blacklisted.

Work phone is currently on Vodafone (not my choosing) and signal is noticeably less reliable than my personal Virgin phone.

Add that to corp tax avoidance and I wouldn't touch them with yours.

Incidentally, the deal is £20 p/m SIM only. £240 a year with £80 cashback, so £13.66 a month for:

Unlimited calls and texts.
20GB Data (unlimited for first 2 months)
Free Spotify/Netflix for a year.
Access to some WiFi hotspots

....not been able to find anything that comes close from anyone else 🙁

I have them for work, so I can't comment on the customer service aspect, but their network coverage is a mess. On EE I can get 4G on the train from Cardiff to London for over half the way, and 3G+ for the rest of it - only a couple of black spots now for a minute or two. On Vodafone, I can basically get bugger all of use, so I give up.

Utter crap. They've cancelled the direct debit for my son's SIM card 3 times and then try to bill me for late payment. They've sent out SIM cards that don't work and some that are the wrong size.

Their policy of notification of charging when you go over your data limit is not
suitable for kids and you can't stop data when you reach your pre-paid limit.

I've spent far too long on the phone and live chats to them. When my son's contract is up I'll be moving him to someone who will stop data when the limit is reached, even if that means having a box attached to my internet connection.

EDIT: If I hear the line, "I will solve your problem today Sir" again, I will scream down the phone at them

Yep, thats a great deal. So good that it convinced me to sign up. 14 days later I have no data service, no spotify, my billing is screwed and I can't cancel and port my number back to EE because I'm afraid I'll lose it in the process.

Customer service has been awful. apologetic but unable to fix my issues. I would not recommend based on this experience.

As often is the case with these big firms who have lots of customers who only make them a tiny amount each they put a huge amount of work into making sure things work 99.9% of the time, but don't really care an awful much about the .1% of people who have a problem, well they do care, but it's not worth investing a huge amount into it - it's just financially not - hence the terrible call centres, and slow responses.

I don't suspect any of the other providers are any better, it's just a case of rolling the dice on providers and hoping you're not one of the 0.1%.

It's worth noting that most businesses who use mobiles use a broker - it costs more but they deal with all the customer service crap, usually through dedicated broker helpdesks.

I've been with them for many years and not had problems. 4G coverage is good where I live and they have the best 2G coverage when I'm up in the Highlands. I pay £8 a month for about 2.5GB of 4G which I think is OK compared to listed deals anyway.

Yep, thats a great deal. So good that it convinced me to sign up. 14 days later I have no data service, no spotify, my billing is screwed and I can't cancel and port my number back to EE because I'm afraid I'll lose it in the process.

Did it ever work? The data that is?

Did it ever work? The data that is?

Did initially, got cut off when my number ported over and still not resolved. The spotify offer has not worked as yet.

I've gone out and bought a MiFi so I can use internet on my ****dy 4g phone 🙄

I have had a SIM from them for a few years now and I'm pretty happy. Reasonably priced compared to the competition, I have signal more consistently across the UK than I did with other networks, and they swapped my SIM for a micro one in the shop with no fuss when I got a new phone.
I've never had to try their customer service though.

To be fair i hardly ever get any issues with my phone/network/etc, its just that when you do that's when it gets painful.

I'm not really that fussed where a company chooses to locate/employ its customer service department, i just want them to be able to help me. I'm not even sure Vodafone have told theirs they are working for a mobile provider. Nothing worse than the sinking feeling you get having just spent 10 mins explaining how the latest number port now can't make outbound calls (after 45 mins on hold) and they say "So to clarify, you would like to buy some more credit for your pay-as-you go"... sigh never mind.

We do a lot of number ports on our business account and they just never work first time. Oh its simple they say - it never is. Business support team seem to be a lot better than the standard one however.

It does actually surprise me how a company that big can be that bad and still get away with it. unless they don't actually give a s**t

This is one company amongst many companies that petition the govt by trying to threaten the British people that BritLand EU exit harms employment?

Should this company fail and let better one takes their place rather then them preventing better company(s) appearing in the market?

This is the proof.

wat

proof of what?

Proof that chewkw is smoking way too much weed.

ghostlymachine - Member
Proof that chewkw is smoking way too much weed.

I ain't cool like you lot weed smokers so I shall stick to beardy's brand Virgin for non-clever mobile) for now.

Crap. Currently going through their complaints procedure due to mis-selling Mrs Feet a SIM.
Averaged 2hrs 5 dufferent departments to speak to the correct person. Managers never ever take calls.
They are the Dave Hinde of the communication world.

[img] [/img]

I had a good check of their coverage around the north of Scotland, which was the tipping point after putting up with utterly appalling service and customer service.

The image below is a comparison I created off the Ofcom mobile coverage checker, looking at 3G/4G.

They are the Dave Hinde of the communication world.

😆

I think that sums them up nicely.

Just remember that coverage comparison above is actually skewed in Vodafone's favour.

Vodafone have been deploying 4G in the 800Mhz spectrum which travels a lot further than the 1800 Mhz spectrum that EE have used. So to get to their superior coverage EE will have deployed thousands more masts in Scotland than Vodafone.

BUT - EE are just about to turn on their 800Mhz spectrum from those same masts -at which point the EE coverage will get even better with no change likely from Vodafone for many years to come.

I cannot comment on customer service, it is a work contract.

What I can say is what we pay is outrageous (poor negotiating on our part).

I can also confirm the network is sooooo sloooooow no matter where or what. My sons and wife are on EE and it is so much faster when in signal, and you get that signal in many, many more places. That map of Scotland coverage is spot on.

I would not use personally on performance alone.

Vodafone's customer service is down there with the other luminaries such as TalkTalk etc. Minimum wage drones or overseas agents reading from a script with absolutely no customer service training. The thing is they get away with it because they can. It's a bit of a merry go round between the main mobile companies as people switch between the networks so none of them ever see's a massive shift away from or to their network. If there was a massive switch from Vodafone to EE they'd have to up their game. More likely though is that they would just drop their prices by 10% rather than address appalling service. It's cheaper.

I thought to test a bit further what the coverage is like in my area, I picked up a PAYG Voda sim. It never showed any 4G in multiple locations, so thought I would put some credit on it to checked the data speeds anyway. Put a fiver on it, bought what they described as a 500mb data extra and.....well....nothing. Apparently the data has been applied, my credit has had £5 taken, but I have no data.

Hardly encouraging.

I have a sneaky suspicion the data I bought only works in conjunction with one of their PAYG bundles....but if that is the case, then why could I buy it in the first place, and why is there no warning as such in the terms/info about that.

Harumph.

We use Vodafone in work, not very good at all, the other day I was within 300metres of a phone mast, line of sight and had no signal, my personal phone which was O2 had full bars. I stood in the same place about a month ago and the Vodafone was full bars. Just random coverage

The missus has been on the phone to them for the last hour trying to sort out the mess they promised to sort before she went on holiday.

I will be on the phone to them when my bill arrives if they haven't sorted my data usage when I was skiing. I tried to use their Eurotraveller service that allows £3 per day flat rate roaming but couldn't access it by text. I spent an hour on the phone without speaking to anyone. I eventually got a callback in the departure lounge at Heathrow, and apparently it would click in automatically.
It didn't, so apparently I spent £40+ on data .
Meanwhile, their sales team have phoned me half a dozen times in the last two weeks asking me to sign up for broadband. They expect me to hold while they check what they can offer. Shouldn't they do their homework first?

I've been with them for 15 years+ and they've generally been alright, but now, I'm moving ASAP.
To cap it all, they've recently "upgraded" their antennae in my area, so now I can't get a signal in my office.

Shower of shiite!

[url= http://eecomplaints.co.uk/make-a-complaint ]Seems they're not the only ones[/url]

Trailseeker - Vodafone get twice as many complaints per 100,000 customers as EE does - they were also the most complained about network operator for all 4 x quarters in 2015.

http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/2015/12/15/vodafone-remains-most-complained-about-operator-in-latest-ofcom-figures/

Hmmmm

Recently moved house and VF are the only provider with a signal that works inside our new house. Moved Mrs F over straightaway but I've got a month or two left on my 12 month SIM only contract before I can. I was going to get a VF sim but reading this thread has seriously put me off.

My main reason for moving from VF to EE years ago was 3G and 4G coverage was appalling. At least with EE if you get a signal it's at least 3G and more likely 4G these days.

And to be honest when you look at VF sim only contracts they aren't anywhere as good value compared to EE.

Decisions decisions.

Freester, if you've got an android or Iphone then even at home you can use app-free Wifi Calling on EE - no apps, your phone just uses wifi to make and receive calls / texts etc. Which is mostly a good thing apart from not being able to escape the boss at home with "sorry my phone doesn't get a signal"...

Truly appalling company with the occasional person in Belfast to resolve the problems. They actually took £473 out of my account last Dec and it took until July before they gave it back, despite admitting they had made an error! I won't bore you with the latest debacle...but its just as bad! 👿

I could tell you my experience with Vodafarkingfone, but you wouldn't believe me, I'd be typing til this time tomorrow, and I'd end up getting angry again.

So it's best that I don't.

Freester, if you've got an android or Iphone then even at home you can use app-free Wifi Calling on EE - no apps, your phone just uses wifi to make and receive calls / texts etc. Which is mostly a good thing apart from not being able to escape the boss at home with "sorry my phone doesn't get a signal"...

Only available on iPhone and EE Version of Android. I've got a Nexus so that's a no go.

In North Wales their signal is dreadful. I'd go for two days sometimes with no signal. Since been on O2 and EE, both vastly superior.

just5minutes - Member

Freester, if you've got an android or Iphone then even at home you can use app-free Wifi Calling on EE

3 have an app that automatically switches you over to Wi-Fi calls if you are out of signal, but have a Wi-Fi connection.
I imagine they are not the only ones to provide this service.
We've got decent signal at home, so have never used it, but thought it might be useful to mention it.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/23/ee_outage/