megawombat
16-07-2007, 02:36 PM
Hi folks.
I wish to share with you my experiences of Vodafone and their 3G connect card service (this was back in July of 2006 btw). Now, I am based in Spain and Spain is not known for its brilliant customer service, but Vodafone provide an English support line and one would assume it would be efficient. WRONG!
My problems started when I ordered a 3G connect card for my laptop, with a 5 Gig a month bandwidth. I asked for a system that I could roam with between the UK and Spain, and I was told this card would do this. It does but...
After returning to the UK for a week's business, I nearly had a coronary when my bill said 1500 euros! This was the most expensive Internet roaming in the Universe. Internet is cheap and what with WIFI and WIMAX hotspots just about everywhere, 1500 euros for a weeks general use was just mad! Vodafone's tarrif information was non existent and finding information about roaming was just impossible. This information should be on their website and there should be a place to log in, see bills, make queries, etc. Fat chance of any of this...
Anyway, I complained to Vodafone. Here the run-around begins. It transpired that I needed a "e-passport" service to roam between the UK and Spain, but it was news to me and the Vodafone shop that sold me the service. Vodafone didn't really know if this was required or not. Conflicting information was given by different people. I spoke to one gentelmen, and he asked me to fax my contract. Vodafone then went into denial mode and tried every trick in the world to wrangle out of discussing a refund.
People I talked to no longer existed (!) and some people did not even know that a 3G connect card could eveb be used anywhere in Europe. Vodafone's customer support was rude, inefficient and they told bare faced lies to avoid dealing with my issue. I cancelled the account and paid a hefty cancellation fee of some 300 euros. To add insult to injury they charged me after I cancelled, and gave me a 191 euro bill instead of the normal 42 euro per month bill. Since I had cancelled the account, no one would then deal with me, even though I had a mountain of paperwork to prove my claim.
Cancelling bank payments to people is very difficult here in Spain, and large companies like Vodafone fleece their customers through over-charging and bad or incorrect information when they initially sign up.
Please, do not use this company. They purposefully do not deal properly with customers on their support system and lose information on purpose to avoid dealing with you. Judge a company when things go wrong... and how they deal with you at that stage. On the Vodafone website they do not provide ONE support number or information on how to get support. This is a company in the business of communication but who do NOT want to provide customer support.
I learned the hard way and paid for 10 years Internet access in just one week! What an absolutely awful company. Avoid!!!
I wish to share with you my experiences of Vodafone and their 3G connect card service (this was back in July of 2006 btw). Now, I am based in Spain and Spain is not known for its brilliant customer service, but Vodafone provide an English support line and one would assume it would be efficient. WRONG!
My problems started when I ordered a 3G connect card for my laptop, with a 5 Gig a month bandwidth. I asked for a system that I could roam with between the UK and Spain, and I was told this card would do this. It does but...
After returning to the UK for a week's business, I nearly had a coronary when my bill said 1500 euros! This was the most expensive Internet roaming in the Universe. Internet is cheap and what with WIFI and WIMAX hotspots just about everywhere, 1500 euros for a weeks general use was just mad! Vodafone's tarrif information was non existent and finding information about roaming was just impossible. This information should be on their website and there should be a place to log in, see bills, make queries, etc. Fat chance of any of this...
Anyway, I complained to Vodafone. Here the run-around begins. It transpired that I needed a "e-passport" service to roam between the UK and Spain, but it was news to me and the Vodafone shop that sold me the service. Vodafone didn't really know if this was required or not. Conflicting information was given by different people. I spoke to one gentelmen, and he asked me to fax my contract. Vodafone then went into denial mode and tried every trick in the world to wrangle out of discussing a refund.
People I talked to no longer existed (!) and some people did not even know that a 3G connect card could eveb be used anywhere in Europe. Vodafone's customer support was rude, inefficient and they told bare faced lies to avoid dealing with my issue. I cancelled the account and paid a hefty cancellation fee of some 300 euros. To add insult to injury they charged me after I cancelled, and gave me a 191 euro bill instead of the normal 42 euro per month bill. Since I had cancelled the account, no one would then deal with me, even though I had a mountain of paperwork to prove my claim.
Cancelling bank payments to people is very difficult here in Spain, and large companies like Vodafone fleece their customers through over-charging and bad or incorrect information when they initially sign up.
Please, do not use this company. They purposefully do not deal properly with customers on their support system and lose information on purpose to avoid dealing with you. Judge a company when things go wrong... and how they deal with you at that stage. On the Vodafone website they do not provide ONE support number or information on how to get support. This is a company in the business of communication but who do NOT want to provide customer support.
I learned the hard way and paid for 10 years Internet access in just one week! What an absolutely awful company. Avoid!!!