Vodafone Ex Staff Member

[OUTSOURCED]

Ok here we go I worked for Vodafone @ Brindley place they recently made us redundant.
When you call customer care most of the general options got to companies who vodafone pay ie:If you speak to a scottish,Welsh advisor then they are NOT vodafone but Outsourced through Conduit privs.
If you speak to anyone about your Bill then you will be talking to an outsource company called GARLANDS in Hartlepool.
For upgrades it will be Stoke on trent the people who worked for Singlepoint but were taken over by Vodafone if you upgrade through them they promise the earth but if you ever try to get to talk to the same person again you will find this impossible-we used to email them to talk to customers who were promised a new handset with BLUETOOTH headset thrown in they would swear the customer was lying and refuse to call them back and even had managers who supported them.
Calls have to be dealt with in 230 seconds or the advisor gets into trouble.
This is the scary part if you ask for a manager anybody who is not on a call will take the call and pretend to be the manager and say exactly the same as the advisor.You would do better to write to the head office and sent your letter to the DIRECTOR or **** ***,**** **** they are head of the contact centres operations.
If you have a DATA QUERY basically your stuffed they didnt train us and never invest in training staff properly.for example when they had issues with 3G or DATA CARDS we were told to do basic checks I had never even seen a data card and did not know how it worked but I got no support from the company this resulted in long hold times whilst my team members and I waited to call an OUTSOURCE call centre in SPAIN to get help!
Vodafone obviously need to make money but to be honest after working for them they don't care much for customers.they will tie you into an 18month contract and then your stuffed.My advice ,when looking to upgrade DON'T ask for upgrades ask for the PORTING TEAM and request a PAC code to move your number to another network,even if they give you the code you don't have to use it and someone from sales will call you within 10 days of asking for it and offer you much more than you would of got for an upgrade.
Actually my advice is to leave them and go to another network O2 for example give you more and the staff know what they are doing.

[banwell]

This seems about right.

Well done for sharing this as well all suspected as such.

Sometimes you get decent people on the other end of the phone. But you just know that they can do nothing.

I've been shocked with the level of care they show their customers.

Put all complaints in writing and refer it to the ombundsman. (and/or watchdog)

[JATT]

Regarding OUTSOURCED.

I am also an employee from the same place.

I think is comments are near on libel and should be very careful of what you say.

You were clever enough to mention the outsourced call centres and where they are based. perhaps you could explain the name of the company that is outsourced to Spain.
I certainly am not aware of it!!

You have never seen a data card - ok,
But does the company not promote self learning?
Were you not provided with a dedicated support line to a specialist dept on the 4th floor?

Vodafone is a very good company to work for and it is because of people like you which is why Brindley Place closed.

[ash1476]

HI
I use to work for Vodafone in brindley and really enjoyed it but was sad to hear the redundency but i ve restarted my career again in telecomms but as Test engineer for Motorola and its on contract basis. Im hoping to gain the ISEB foundation sortware testing and complete more contract work in the future. Well the money is excellent than Vodafone but im not complaining cause Voda has been good to me in the past.

[Buy]

Fair comments OUTSOURCED, but I don't think for a second that any of the other major networks will treat their customers/staff any better than Vodafone.

[banwell]

Rubbish - vodaphone has the worst customer service.

I know numerous people who won't do anything with them and have change provider and moved on.

I am a long standing 02 select customer for my mobile phone ~ 7 yrs +. And they provide a much better, well educated, and able support staff.

Vodaphone have been nothing but appalling for 3g data services.

Its not a reflection on the people who work there, but the management of the organisation (who've put front end support staff in a helpless position.)

If you want anything done at vodaphone - put it in writing. Call staff are powerless.

[stickystickman]

i've been with all the networks and found voda staff to be fine. o2 were the best and 3 the worst. i think all big companies have similar probs.

[markwilson123]

I think these comments seem spot on. In the 3 days I've been with Vodafone I've regretted it every second. The salesperson would have told me that I got a free lifetime supply of champagne if he thought it would help his sales figures. He in fact went into great detail explaining the Student deal with unlimited text also meant free data within a very generous fair usage allowance, he went into very specific details. Needless to say this was a downright lie and I will be reporting Vodafone to ofcom and claiming back every penny I paid them and more to cover my expenses and onconvenience.

Ever since I received my phone and it was activated I've had endless problems and every time the answer seemed to be "leave it for a bit till midnight when the systems reset and then turn it off and on", every single useless troglodyte in that place tries to offload the problem down the line. 3 people have all promised to ring me back but they never do, I was even given a false name by one of them, he answered the phone in one name and gave me another when I asked for his name, he claimed I must have misheard.

Don't touch Vodafone with a bargepole and listen to this ex staff member, he's spot on.

[sanctusmortis]

A friend of mine just got told she'd have to pay £200 to upgrade to the phone she already had when offered her upgrade. She paid £100 for it at the last upgrade.

CPW just bought her out of her contract, and gave her an N80 on Orange for free. Don't blame her.

[daveislander]

Lets be fair here guys... A majority of us use the company that offers the best deal at the time, and an even bigger majority never need to call any CS. For ME, Voda are No1 at the moment, but with the range of telcos we have to choose from, they may not be in six months... Yes I guessed they outsourced, yes they have some naff staff, yes I KNOW that a 'manager' is usually the guy in the next seat and yes they have some problems just like ALL mobile companies these days!.. If anyone here honestly thinks that Orange or O2 or Tmobile etc are 'better' than the others, and always will be, then they are a noob! Those of us mature in either years or experience know damn well that each and every company is subject to alteration at the drop of a hat.. anything else would be shown by 90% of customers changing to one company!
With ALL telcos the rules are the same... CS is for the initial complaint, after this you should go for visiting a store, writing letters, sending Faxes, telephoning the press office or sneaking into the back door by any means possible. If you insist on speaking to the 'manager' then insist on their name and tell them you will be writing to them via Head Office/ human resources/Press office/Executive office with a formal complaint if they do not provide the services they state... They usually (always!) suddenly find someone more able to deal with you!!
Disgruntled employees are going to be par for the course for a while... the same as Orange etc when they re-structured.. I am very sorry for the loss of these jobs, but I sincerely doubt that ANY other Telco will offer anything different.
We aint short of options these days, and CS are the same the whole industry over so the golden rule is "If it works for me, then its good enough..... for now"

[spartan73]

Ok here we go I worked for Vodafone @ Brindley place they recently made us redundant.
When you call customer care most of the general options got to companies who vodafone pay ie:If you speak to a scottish,Welsh advisor then they are NOT vodafone but Outsourced through Conduit privs.
If you speak to anyone about your Bill then you will be talking to an outsource company called GARLANDS in Hartlepool.
For upgrades it will be Stoke on trent the people who worked for Singlepoint but were taken over by Vodafone if you upgrade through them they promise the earth but if you ever try to get to talk to the same person again you will find this impossible-we used to email them to talk to customers who were promised a new handset with BLUETOOTH headset thrown in they would swear the customer was lying and refuse to call them back and even had managers who supported them.
Calls have to be dealt with in 230 seconds or the advisor gets into trouble.
This is the scary part if you ask for a manager anybody who is not on a call will take the call and pretend to be the manager and say exactly the same as the advisor.You would do better to write to the head office and sent your letter to the DIRECTOR or *** ***,*** *** they are head of the contact centres operations.
If you have a DATA QUERY basically your stuffed they didnt train us and never invest in training staff properly.for example when they had issues with 3G or DATA CARDS we were told to do basic checks I had never even seen a data card and did not know how it worked but I got no support from the company this resulted in long hold times whilst my team members and I waited to call an OUTSOURCE call centre in SPAIN to get help!
Vodafone obviously need to make money but to be honest after working for them they don't care much for customers.they will tie you into an 18month contract and then your stuffed.My advice ,when looking to upgrade DON'T ask for upgrades ask for the PORTING TEAM and request a PAC code to move your number to another network,even if they give you the code you don't have to use it and someone from sales will call you within 10 days of asking for it and offer you much more than you would of got for an upgrade.
Actually my advice is to leave them and go to another network O2 for example give you more and the staff know what they are doing.




I myself am currently working in a vodafone OUTSOURCE call center, Garlands to be exact, i don't no where you got your information from but we do not just deal with billing and general account managment... i myself deal with customer services and SPS (service provider support) which is basically technical issues with phones, blackburry and data cards. We do not have to deal with a call in "230 seconds" it was like that when i first started but the comany decided to focus on quality! i now have to make sure i have a good FOR score... which means first opertunity resolve. there is no minimum ammount of calls i have to take( but you do get in trouble if you take to many!)... we also have are part of vodafones realy time survey which rings a customer back after a call to see how we preformed... we also get monitored 3 times aweek by a team leader, twice by a customer quality advisor and randomly by vodafone staff, i do agree with what you said about stoke tho... i think it is probable the worst call center i have heard about... on many occasions i have been on the phone to members of their staff about bluetooth headsets and just blaintant mistakes on upgrades... for example yesterday i had a customer call because the new phone he got with his upgrade was reconditioned! where as the memos left by the stoke advisor clearly said customer would settle with re sale phone! ( he still payed £40 extra for the phone by the way) because i sent him out a brand new phone strigh away.

with reguards the the bit you wrote about not being trained on data cards... i had 3 weeks training on data cards and blackburry devices and can say i have a gud understanding of how they work ect.

as far as the manager sitteing next to you goes... i don't know what happened at you call center but i've certanly never seen it in garlands... if it has happened i've never seen it... my team leader is usually more than willing to take over a call for me if the cust requests it..

it seems to me that outsorce centers like garlands have a lot more traning and completely different way of taking calls as shown by quality first or brinly places you have to finsh in 230 seconds. i think this is maily because if they arent good and well trained they may loose their contract with vodafone... also just a little bit more of a insight Garlands call centers take around 80% of all vodafone calls, they have 4 call centers based in hartlepool and have just built another 3 in middlesbrough.. altho not all of these take calls for vodafone as we have contract with bulldog boradband, virgin, DOT and numerous other comanys

[jim_v11]

I can't believe some of the horror stories i've heard here I have been a vodafone customer for over three years and am a high user and have had nothing but excellent service.

My tarrif is perfect and they inform me of extra options and offer me promotions regulary and have recently offered me a part in a free trial for downloading free videos for which they will pay me £30, and after that want me to take part in a customer focus servey and will pay me £150.

I upgraded last week to a samsung D900 and hated it. I phoned them and they changed it the next day to a Nokia N80 at no extra charge. After a few days the slid became a little loose and I rang them and they again changed it via contact with a local vodafone shop with no questions asked. Everyone I have spoken to have been very helpful and they always have my account updated with my calls, so when I ring others are aware of my queries.

Sad to see so much bad service but i'm very happy with vodafone as are many of my mates who are with them from my recommendation

[daveislander]

It does seem that your experience is mirrored many times over with ALL the companies about. Each to their own in my opinion, but having said that, we now have 7 family members on Vodafone, and to date we know of 6 other friends who have also changed, so unless they screw up in the near future, I guess that Vodafone are one of the very few who have their act together,, and aint it a joy to have one at last? We must also consider that truly british thing of building up a person or company, only to take great pleasure in trying to knock it off its perch as soon as we get a little bit bored with it! Bad service is a matter of course for any international company, the trick is to listen to customers and make changes where and when they need to. If they could now sort out the coverage and data charges then they may well become the first telcom to grab a huge majority of customers!

[mmc1502]

I have just started working for Vodafone's latest outsource process in Belfast. I find it incredibly hard to believe you have had such problems working for them in relation to alot of queries regarding upgrades, customers accounts and dealing with other outsource teams like Garlands and Conduit.
The queries we deal with surround Pay Monthly Account Management and I can say Vodafone have a strong emphasis on quality and getting things right first time. I would safely say things have been turned around and its sad to see that you've had such a bad experience with them.
If anyone was going to change mobile services i'd definatly reccomend Vodafone because of outstanding service, products and price.

[JATT]

You are 1000% correct - they are a very good company to work for. Ignore the comments made by the other person. I also worke din Birmingham and there was alot of wasters which was a big reason it closed down.

[spartan73]

i have to agree with both of you, i'm working in the garlands call centre for just over a year now... things have totally changed since i started there. for example the first few weeks i went live your sttats were based on your call handeling time! and you hat to take so many calls! now its FOR (first opportunity resolve) i'd also like to add with dealing with the likes of o2 and orange who i have contracts for i can honestly say i can do more for customers!

[mmc1502]

Good to see you appreciate the changes working for Garlands, FOR (First Opportunity Resolution) is the best thing ever to combat repeat callers for the same problems. I'm glad to see you can all agree we clearly our flying the flag to be the preffered network in the UK.
I've not long worked on the Vodafone outsourcing process in Belfast but I can safely say in the month I've been operating as a Team Manager that my experience of being on the phone and being able to do something for customers has been a positive one!

[mmc1502]

Following on from my comments, Vodafone have so sorted out their priorities in relation to quality and the companies who they decide to work with via the outsourcing channels.
Vodafone have been working with Vertex in Scotland for ages who service the Pay Monthly Account Management, Pay as you talk and collections calls. These services with Vertex have now came to an end due to the way in which that call centre was being run and have been passed to other centres like conduit and garlands and is the reason why they've now passed things to ICICI OneSource in Belfast which is the company I work for.
Vodafone clearly do have the service standards right it's just about how each outsourcing centre put that into practice and I know ICICI won't let Vodafone down when it comes to meeting the grade required.

[Larn]

Right then its time for me to add a few comments. I'm a former employee at BP too and some of you may know me (my full name is Simon Larner). I started in 2000 and was made redundant in 2006 however I was off on long term leave for most of 2005 due to work related stress partially caused by the incompetent management employed there (in fact I believe that around 40% of BP's workforce were off sick at one point for pretty much the same reasons)

I would say that almost all of the points raised by the person who started this thread are correct, and those who disagree such as Jatt (is that you Jeet?) obviously never had to deal with all the politics that went on there because if you did then you too would have to agree the call centre was a complete disaster.

I'm not going to go into much detail about all the horror stories I was witness to during my 5 years of working there, but I will openly state that the only reason BP was chosen to be closed was because of the poor management and disgraceful recruitment policy (First Contact anyone) It was nothing to do with the cost of running the call centre as they would have you believe.

With regards to the so called support team on the 4th floor, it was called KAST and it was staffed by some of the most incompetent advisers I've ever met. They had only one person with any technical knowledge and he was carrying everyone on the team. The team leaders were just as bad with absolutely no technical knowledge and they were only chosen for the role because those who were suitable refused to be associated with it. It should also be noted that this support team was only set up as a 'quick fix' due to the hundreds of staff complaints of BP having no second line support team (there used to an excellent one called CRU but it was dispanded by managment in an attempt to improve customer service, yes management really were that backwards) and if my memory serves me correctly KAST was only operational for the last 6 months or so before the call centre was closed.

With regards to the outsourced call centres, some are good (Garlands) but all the others were shockingly poor. Hopefully this problem has been, or will be resolved for the sake of the customers. In my experience though customer service was never the first priority of Vodafone management as they were clearly only interested in furthering their own careers.

I would very much like to hear what all other former BP employees have to say on these matters.

Regards

Larn

[R White]

I'm also an ex-member of staff from Brindleyplace and wanted to add my opinions.

I disagree with comments of people on here who seem to say anyone who didn't think Vodafone was a great employer was a waster and was responsible for BP getting shut down. I was damn good at my job and yet I was delighted when the centre shut down because of how incompetent the management were.

First of all, this mostly seemed to be the management at Brindleyplace, not nationally, so I hope things have improved.

There are two different groups of people who worked at BP - the 'old-timers' - who'd worked there for 3 years plus, and the newish people. Now no doubt someone will come on claiming they were there since the centre opened and they loved it - they're lying. Every single old timer there hated the place.

This is all because a few years ago the centre was doing extremely well. Then for no real reason management decided to change everything. Teams, shifts, opening hours, pay, shift allowances - and they created a class system, which meant there was a level of advisors called 'Experts' who in theory would take the more technical calls and receive three grand more than the rest of us.

How to decide who should be an expert? An assessment centre, yeah fine good idea. Except the major test wasn't even about a Vodafone product, in fact it wasn't even a telecoms product. They wanted people who could sell stuff rather than actually answer queries.

So you ended up with people who had no technical knowledge - most of whom didn't know the difference between a Mac and a PC - taking calls on Mobile Connect cards.

After a few months management realised it wasn't working so everyone started taking the calls - without any extra training. That's right, the 'middle classes' were expected to do exactly the same job as so called experts, yet still get three grand a year less. As you can imagine, morale was none-existent (except in the sales teams, as they were basically a totally different department from customer services, with different managers etc).

Training packages consisted of nothing more than the marketing presentations. Going back a few years, when Vodafone live launched, we had an all day training session. We spent about half an hour looking at the adverts. We didn't spend a single second on how to sort out the problems customers would have, because they didn't know themselves.

Other things I could tell you, you wouldn't believe. Managers have lied to us, contradicted each other, one senior manager moved to BP and had one of his normal managers moved with him as he knew he had to have an eye kept on him! Career progression was based on who you knew.

So these people saying it was great - they were probably there for 18 months max. As I said I'm sure they'll know claim there were there for years - and they're lying. They didn't experience the politics and back-stabbing that went on there.

On and JATT - the Spanish call centre was the replacement for CTS - which was only available to experts and then Kast. Guess you don't know as much as you claim to?

[mmc1502]

It's sad to see that you have had such bad experiences with Brindley Place, to be perfectly honest with you I completely understand why you have had these problems.
The company have now put into place so much more and quality and service our the key componants of any call. First Opportunity Resolution (FOR) is something we now strive on to avoid customers having to contact us contiually regarding the same issue and the score for every advisor has to be above 85% as standard.
Brindley Place contact centre closed simply because the company could not afford to keep it in house, after all we know how cheap it is to outsource positions to other companies which is the reason they now use Garlands, Conduit, Vertex and their recent addition ICICI OneSource in Belfast.
Vodafone are the UK's leading mobile phone network and in my position at the moment I know that the advisors I manage strive to achieve top quality.
We've been fully made aware of the problems Vodafone have had in the past and have been briefed on what they have put in place to change things.
Yes you've all had bad experiences but at the end of the day wrongs can be made right so forgive and forget, the company know they have messed up and they are putting it right and I've saw that first hand I guarantee you all 100%

[Larn]

It's good that they are getting things sorted but the problems I mentioned above are nothing compared to all the things that went on in the past (If I went on about everything that was wrong I'd be here all night)

Cost honestly wasn't the main reason BP closed down. I was made aware of the operational costs of the place before it closed and they're only saving around 3 million per year by outsourcing the calls that BP dealt with (which was everything but billing and we had to do that too for the last year too)

F.O.R was introduced at BP too and it clearly didn't work as well as they planned as no one got their bonus this year, something I know all former BP staff were relying on. I also find it outrageous that the management at VF have lowered their own targets so they can still get their bonuses but I cant say that I'm surprised by this action.

RWhite above hit the nail on the head when he said that anyone who had worked there more than 18 months hated the place. I started there only 9 months after the site opened and I noticed things were not running right as soon as I came out of training (which was only two weeks long at the time?) Every six month or so they'd introduce a new 'vision' for the company to follow. I'm sure many people laughed at 'The Passion For Vodafone' as much as I did. I guarantee that in 6-12 months time they'll scrap F.O.R for something else and all the hard work that staff do in the mean time will be for nothing.

Getting back on topic though, everything that went wrong at BP is due to poor management and as tempted as I am to name those managers I will resist as I may end up working with them again in the future (although I seriously hope not) In closing when the head of operations at BP resigned 8 months before it closed it was pretty obvious the place was going to the wall. It's just a shame they didn't have the decency to advise of this at the time.

Regards

Larn

[mmc1502]

Well just to update you all ICICI OneSource who I work for have just been ranked as Vodafone top outsourcing centre in RTCS score and CDI only after 3 weeks of operation, is it any wonder they got rid of Vertex.
I'm just saying Garlands, Conduit and TSC need to watch out because we're going to whip your asses when it comes to running this process for Vodafone!

[dav3y_b]

I would just like to say I only started working for Vodafone at Garlands a month ago and my 1st three weeks was 7 hrs training a day!! As far as ICICI OneSource is concerned...funny if you have been ranked as Vodafone top outsourcing centre when Garlands is opening another 5 buildings for Vodafone..So you better watch ur asses in case you close dwn :cheeky: As for bad customer service we at Garlands I think offer one of the best services around if we recieve a call and the call is lost we have to try and contact the customer back and as for the manager situation my manager is more then happy to take calls from me when a customer asks. Before I worked for Vodafone i used to work for the goverment and I must say the service we gave was rubbish i had 3 days of training then put on the phones to change people tax codes etc etc non of us knew what we were talking about and used to fob customers off with anything!! unlike Vodafone were if we aint sure about anything we can look on the system and it will tell us that the product is and what it does etc etc I do agree with you about the stoke call centre tho it can sometimes be a nightmare getting the person at the over end to do what you want them to do with out either being cut off or being fobbed off!! My last moan is...Us at Garlands deal with loads of types of calls from changes of price plans to stolen phones bars, PUK Codes, Payments the list could go on forever!!! and....we are the people Vodafone customers come through to first when they have dailed 191 from the handset!!! we then root the call to the correct department!!!:cool:

[spartan73]

spot on mate! and as far as quality goes garlands were the best in all vodafone outsourced call centers! and yes GARLANDS new offices in preston farm are massive... a sure sign that they are going from strength to strength with their vodafone contract aswell as talk talk, bulldog (techinical) virgin an dot mobile!

[mmc1502]

I am pleased to hear Garlands are moving from strength to strength with their Vodafone contract it's refreshing to know.
ICICI OneSource have also been coming on strength to strength due to continued performance, as it goes the main outsourcing partners Vodafone will be using our Garlands and ICICI who have now changed their name to FirstSource, simply due to the fact they got rid of the contract they had with Vertex.
We have been given more business by Vodafone which is fantastic and we have extended this into another site in Londonderry as well as the operation we currently have in Belfast so 3 brand spanking new call centres all dedicated to Vodafone and we also won the contract too manage Vodafone @ Home contract for the broadband launch, we're still doing core/medium account management and have also just started a collections team.
Garlands and FirstSource are clearly flying the flags for Vodafone's continued success and with the RTCS scores coming in neck and neck over the past few weeks it's hard to say who's the better of the two, clearly it's a winning combination from both outsourcers.

[spartan73]

exactly, i'm intrested to know does FirstSource have any other contracts apart from vodafone? two great call centres anyway, just a shame about vertex letting us down... there getting even worse as their time draws to a close aswell, shame realy.

[mmc1502]

Yeah FirstSource operate a few processes in Northern Ireland between two sites in Belfast and a larger site in Londonderry.
Our clients include Vodafone were we have 3 different processes, Sky were they do Sky TV and Sky Broadband, Lloyds TSB they do Telephone Banking, Marks & Spencer money, ICICI Bank and ESure Insurance so quite a few big ones there to say the least but Vodafone is the biggest it has nearly 1,000 staff across the three sites already and they have all their own management team from a vodafone recruitment team, vodafone trainers, quality team etc.

[spartan73]

yeh we have our owen vf quality team ect.. nice bunch of guys, Garlands has 3 massive buildings in hartlepool, 2 in middlesbrough, and just opened buildings in preston farm! vodafone estimate we take around 80% of their calls. departments ranging from customer services, upgrades, saves and collections!

we also have contracts with the following, orange PAYT, sky TV, Virgin PAYT, Bulldog broadband (first line technical) Talk Talk, wannadoo and probably some others i can't even think of!

[mmc1502]

That's pretty cool we're part of quite a big company it's Indian based and they have 3 call centres in the UK, 7 in India and asia and about 3 in the US doing loads of different things, Our main clients are probably Lloyds TSB and Vodafone. Lloyds is the biggest it operates a whole building in Inida as well as in Belfast too. They keep bringing alot of the Indian processes they've had over here like Sky was in India and they've moved it to Belfast and Londonderry and they've been doing all the Email work for Vodafone for about 2 years now in India aswell.
It's owned by a bank aswell ICICI Bank so it's quite stable too, they're really good to work for as far as the percentage rate of calls we handle for Vodafone it's hard to say we're opened round the clock so the percentages are pretty split between yourselves and FirstSource, because we were in early setup are call handling rate was really low but we've been operational now since July so I think it has increased but I don't know how much by, Collections seem to be really busy alot of the time and we generally are too just depends on the time of day really.

[Stu-]

Hehe, Its interesting to see you guys want the best for your respective companies!
I'm a former Garlands employee, The way some things were run was poor, Namely down to Team managers trying to boss there way round the place!

But all in all they did a cracking job with Vodafone! Although I think its suicidal as I heard that there giving Commission to Upgrade agents ! :(

PS... Now then Arron ;)

[spartan73]

orite stew me laddo, we get commission now! called soft selling, more stc, vp, itemised billing ect i sell i get a extra £50 a month for it, got me notice in now like, i'll txt yeh later bud

[mmc1502]

The advisors in FirstSource get no commission or bonus payments, what do you get these for?

[spartan73]

we get "insentive" and comission for selling additional products and services... such as itemised billing, online billing, sms packs ect... basically ever SOC on gemini! its does't have to be chargable ether... just so long as its benificial to the customer, its done by using a tool called real time marketing, through CCF? not sure exactly what systme you guys are traied on the so it may not of been rolled out ever there yet! i think they tested it at garlands an 2 other call centres... proved a sucess so there starting rolling it out over all the centres apart from vertex... as we all know there not going to be around to use it! lol

[mmc1502]

Yeah we used CCF from day one and we use RTM as well we just don't get any reward for offering any of the items on it to the customer, maybe something i'll bring up perhaps.

[spartan73]

af far is a know is just in the pilot stages so far, stay tuned i've heard that its a sucess at the moment and it it continues its going to br rolled out across vodafone... that along with the quality incentives :d don't know if you get them ether? :D

[Stu-]

Crikey are you still there?
I feel for you mate :D
Cant be long left now surely?

[spartan73]

aye hopefully not mate, just got full time for a month or two to get a bit of cash them am gone. got a apprentership nd stuff now... so its all gud

[Stu-]

Jees, Hard luck man! I hear Emma got a new crew in on PM's? Haha bet she's loving that!
Just stick it in for a few more month and you'll be alrite :)!

Good luck with the Apprenticeship man, Drop us a text or whatever at sometime :D

[spartan73]

shes on part time mornings? haha aint spoken to her in ages me so i woulden't know... shes added us on my space the other day ;) if only.. i'll give yeh a buzz sometime today anyways... ivr is down so no calls today

[peedoff]

Good to hear all you new employees at Vodafone and sub contractors are having such a good time, what about us customers who have genuine problems/complaints and cant get anywhere, the service ive received through your vodafones customer services phone line has been rediculous and arrogant! Ive been waiting on 3 12/24hr callbacks from a so called manager and have heard nothing, was given an extension no for him and when you call customer services and ask to be tranferred you find out that you are in Ireland, Swansea etc and they tell me i cant be tranferred......Am i speaking to a commumications company?
As a customer i now see whats going on behind the scenes . I suppose it all comes down to money..... just like my complaint/problem! It stinks!

[heyfella]

well i find the outsource call centre's the best i have been with orange and they would cut me off when i called them, 3 dont even go there! t-mobile i was waiting for 3.1/2 hours to get through to and o2 were pretty good in all fairness, vodafone customerservice have always been good to me but the outsource have always been the best i swear by them!

[yoohoo32]

I work for firstsource in belfast and i love it, however i am sick of those ****s in stoke! telling cust when they upgrade 'oh we'll throw in a bluetooth headset, 'oh we'll put you on a 12mth term, when really 18! and the icing on the cake is bloody cover me insurance!!!! cust DOES NOT want it but they still put it on!!!!!! and we have to take the sh*t from the customers! but i dont blame them! i have heard them my self !

[xxwelshboixx]

hey there , just read yoohoo32's comment. i work in conduit in wales and the upgrade dept are *****S ! dont get me wrong we are all human and we all make mistakes but all they do is lie! oh well no more lies for them ALL calls are now recorded! if someone upgrades id advise them to ask the advisor to email them everythinh that was offered to them before the upgrade is put through and ensure that u have the email before putting the 4ne down and takin the offer and that for everything because all sales dept in all companys lie not just us! in regards to ppl slagging customer service off very odd as i find customer service really really good there are some stuff that is beond our control and when customers are advised that we are unable to do anything at present they reflect that as bad customer service ! look at ntl or now virgin! thats what u call bad cs!

[yoohoo32]

hey there , just read yoohoo32's comment. i work in conduit in wales and the upgrade dept are *****S ! dont get me wrong we are all human and we all make mistakes but all they do is lie! oh well no more lies for them ALL calls are now recorded! if someone upgrades id advise them to ask the advisor to email them everythinh that was offered to them before the upgrade is put through and ensure that u have the email before putting the 4ne down and takin the offer and that for everything because all sales dept in all companys lie not just us! in regards to ppl slagging customer service off very odd as i find customer service really really good there are some stuff that is beond our control and when customers are advised that we are unable to do anything at present they reflect that as bad customer service ! look at ntl or now virgin! thats what u call bad cs!


couldn't agree more welshboi!!!, well i am glad to hear that ALL calls are now recorded in upgrades, but what really bugs me is that they are so desparate to get insurance on cust account it's obvious they get extra money, but if we offer on RTM and they accept, we get bugger all!!!

[xxwelshboixx]

i kno ! aint on at all as i do loads of rtm's! and also heartlepool get a 20% discount on linerental and they are and outsource and what we get ??? sucks megga! we get all the cra* and what we have in return? u in cardiff or swans?

[yoohoo32]

i kno ! aint on at all as i do loads of rtm's! and also heartlepool get a 20% discount on linerental and they are and outsource and what we get ??? sucks megga! we get all the cra* and what we have in return? u in cardiff or swans?

I know wat u mean! in house get that feast package, but it really bugs me when voda tell us we're just as much a part of them as in- house, well? why not give US feast aswell!!!!

and while i am on.......... AUTO D.P.A!!! we dont have it so regardless if cust enters mobile and pin we still have to ask for it!!!!!!!, plus we dont have e-mail!!!!

ans also i just learned that we get paid £3k less than in house for doing the same job!!!

BTW, i am in belfast cc


i could go on lol

[Jasmin100]

I think its good the telephone calls are now recorded, it catches the liers out in the Stoke sourcing department. I received a call where they offered me a 12 month contract with 9 months half price, this was quickly changed to a 12 month contract, 6 months half price and a new phone. I turned the offer down as I wanted to look at other companies. However when going into a vodafone shop I found out that the offer he had written on the computer was for a 18 month contract and a new phone. Where did 18 months pop up from, where did the half price months disappear?????

Do these people think customers are stupid and they won't notice they have been lied to??? The vodafone shop gave me the full name of the offending advisor and after complaining I now have everything I want and quite a good deal for the next 12 months!

[dyanburrell]

Can you ex employee's and current employee's help me with a problem. I have been told by vodafone that they cannot supply an unlock code for my phone, and that the manufacturers have to supply it. I have contacted the manufacturers and they say vodafone have to supply it?

Here is my story www.uktalentshowcase.com/vodafone

Is there a way around this that I may not be aware of... Up until the problems with service since the free weekend call and texts promotion came into force I have been happy with vodafone, and I only want to unlock my phone to use another sim on weekends because I cannot use my vodafone service on weekends (my son is disabled and I need to be in contact - this is why I went with vodafone as they were the most reliable (still are in the week).

Regards
Dyan

[pctech]

Try complaining to ofcom Dyan, particularly as your phone is vital because of your Son

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/contactus/

Perhaps they can give Voda a kick up the behind to get your unlock code/sort out your original problem as a bonus!

I hope this helps

[faza20]

Can you ex employee's and current employee's help me with a problem. I have been told by vodafone that they cannot supply an unlock code for my phone, and that the manufacturers have to supply it. I have contacted the manufacturers and they say vodafone have to supply it?

Here is my story www.uktalentshowcase.com/vodafone

Is there a way around this that I may not be aware of... Up until the problems with service since the free weekend call and texts promotion came into force I have been happy with vodafone, and I only want to unlock my phone to use another sim on weekends because I cannot use my vodafone service on weekends (my son is disabled and I need to be in contact - this is why I went with vodafone as they were the most reliable (still are in the week).

Regards
Dyan

Hi Dyan.

Reading the link you've provided, I am very sorry about the problems you've had and can fully understand why it's a priority your handset is unlocked.

In situations like this Vodafone will use their own internal route to escalate it to the manufacterers. Although it does need to be the manufacterers who supply it, Vodafone have to be the one's to request it. The code is usually obtained within about 3 working days, but can take up to 10 working days.

If you use the Online Contact Form (https://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Page_Help_ContactUs&pageID=PCU_0002) on the Vodafone website to send us an email, including FIT135 anywhere in the body of the text and a link to this thread, I'll be happy to start the ball rolling for you and hopefully resolve your problem.

Faza20
Vodafone UK

[click23]

I too work for Vodafone and am gob smacked by some of the comments on here! I had a full time 4 week induction course making sure that I was fully aware of all the products and services we offer.
We hold a weekly meeting advising on any changes or new promotions running.
I deal with everything from sim changes to all data queries. We do have a technical team that we can call up if we need to but the training that we have is so spot on that we rarely have to use this.

With regard to the chap having an IMEI issue, we do hold some unlock codes but these do come from the manufacturer. Like the last post said, you can complete the online forms to get this requested for you.

I can't speak highly enough of Vodafone and it's staff. Everyone I work with is a fantastic advisor and we always do our upmost to help all our customers.
Our own coaching rely's highly on the quality of our calls, not only on our behavior but also the content, ie, what we are saying is accurate.
I can't fault Vodafone and it's always a shame that people are quick to pick fault but never praise.

[jonrms]

Click, I appreciate you work for vodaphone along with fazza.. and as you will note I have not only praised them after they dealth with my last problem... but I sent there manager a email and a card to there office. I was over the moon that two people... Amy and John were so helpfull...(sorry I wont put there sir names in for Data protection!)
But some of the VF staff are really ignorant or poorly trained. in my opionion. Because they (or at least the ones I have dealth with) have been rude, unhelpfull ( and this does not mean giving you what you want...) but unwilling to help or seemed rushed.
I am always greatfull to any call centre /or contact centre staff member because I know what there job is like. I used to manage a contact centre so I know the presures involved.
I also know that some people just dont care!!! sad part of life. and those staff I have put to a disclipinary or have dismissed them based on voice recordings...
So for Amy and John... who dealt with my claim before.. your top in my books.... for the current member of staff on my complaint at the minute... he can eat a rotten egg!!!
there I was polite!:mad:





I too work for Vodafone and am gob smacked by some of the comments on here! I had a full time 4 week induction course making sure that I was fully aware of all the products and services we offer.
We hold a weekly meeting advising on any changes or new promotions running.
I deal with everything from sim changes to all data queries. We do have a technical team that we can call up if we need to but the training that we have is so spot on that we rarely have to use this.

With regard to the chap having an IMEI issue, we do hold some unlock codes but these do come from the manufacturer. Like the last post said, you can complete the online forms to get this requested for you.

I can't speak highly enough of Vodafone and it's staff. Everyone I work with is a fantastic advisor and we always do our upmost to help all our customers.
Our own coaching rely's highly on the quality of our calls, not only on our behavior but also the content, ie, what we are saying is accurate.
I can't fault Vodafone and it's always a shame that people are quick to pick fault but never praise.

[yoohoo32]

well i KNOW that centres are putting advisors live on calls when they havent had full training!

[jonrms]

usually that is practice, and should be done with a senior advisor there besides them and or connected with a headset, this is sometimes when you get put on hold. I know all the tricks and trades..... but if they are going "live" with no supervision apart from being told they can always put the customer on hold and speak to a team leader than that is really poor. not only for the customer but also for the advisor....

btw... my previous management of contact centres was nothing in this field.... just for the record!!