Reference number: 9650709

[Shyam]

Hello,

I am writing to inform you that I am not satisfied with the solution provided (in Reference number: 9650709) and would like Vodafone to provide a solution that is satisfactory to both the customer and Vodafone. This is happening the 2nd time in the 3rd consecutive contract and it is rather annoying to me, as a customer.

Some pointers before discussion:
1) I have hardly logged into My Vodafone app in a year and most if not all, of my communication has been through customer service help.
2) In Sept. 2019, I got the BLoX bundle (1 GB) enabled via customer service help, and they helped disable it at the end of the month. But somehow, it got re-enabled (through their mistake).
3) To my surprise, I got to know about this in July, 2020 when I called up customer service. As per your email: "Toen u op 3 juli jongstleden contact opnam over deze BloX heeft mijn collega deze voor u verwijderd, maar ook meteen weer toegevoegd. Het gevolg is dat de BloX op de factuur van juli 2020 tweemaal is berekend." 

This is the exact thing that happened in Sept.2019 as well. When the colleague removed it, it got added again by mistake by customer service (I am sure this can be verified from your end).

Therefore, I have been charged from September 2019 - July 2020 (10 months/11 times), - EUR 77,50. 3 months have been reimbursed by Vodafone as a goodwill. Please note I have 10+ GB of data bundle, and I haven't even reached half of this data bundle capacity. Therefore, adding 1 GB BLoX internet as a customer every month - just doesn't make sense to me. Since, I have not used this extra data - Vodafone should not charge me for it - simple. 

I am looking for a reasonable solution. My apologies, but it feels like I am being penalized by Vodafone for no good reason. Looking for a solution that works out for both Vodafone and myself as Customer. I have been a happy customer with Vodafone for all these years, don't want this to be a reason for your customer to turn away.

Thank you,
Shyam
 

[Lycke]

Hey @Shyam . Welcome to our Community. 

First of all; this is mainly a customer-to-customer Community. There are some employees from Vodafone (like me) here, but it's mainly other Vodafone Customers that, of course, can't help you with this. 

Anyway. I am here . And since i do work for Vodafone, i'll try my best to help you. But know that I can't check anything in your account, because you haven't filled in any personal information in your profile (yet). 

If im correct you have paid for a blox you wanted to de-activate on sept. 2019 (and its only been de-activated now)? My collegues offerd you a compensation of 3 months and you don't agree because you want the complete period compensated?  What i don't get is that you diddn't notify this earlier. Diddn't you notice that you were still paying for the blox (when you de-activate a service, you'd expact to pay less from that month on, right?). I'm afraid i can't give you any more compensation than the 3 months that already have been offered. To be honest, i think that is already very reasonable. I get that a mistake has been made (cannot see what happened exactly, because i have nothing more that your post here), but its also your own responsibility to check your subscription and invoices. Cause let's be honest, what if you had decovered this after 5 years? Should we have compensate al these month too than? 

[Shyam]

Hi Lycke!

Appreciate your response. I will try to address the answers to your questions - on why I still find this an unreasonable offer and hope you would at least partially agree with my reasoning.

1) I have been Vodafone customer for many years now, and this is the second time this incident has occurred (first time, I lay low - and let go) - but this is the 2nd mishap. Let me explain why I am raising this as an issue now & why it is important this is addressed in the right way in the best interest of both, myself and for Vodafone.

2) In Sept. 2019, I had called up customer service to help me disable my Blox internet (I needed extra data only for a month). They disabled it for me (as per records) but they “also enabled it back immediately” (unintended). So, I had +1 GB extra (EUR 7,50 / month) running on top of existing 5 GB odd data bundle (back then).

3) The bill is auto-debit from my bank account & sorry, I saw the same bill amount being charged for months & therefore, had no reason/suspicion to think otherwise. I did not log into myVodafone for ages. I have always trusted Vodafone is fair & won't overcharge. Is it my fault I did not log in? Perhaps, not. Let me go ahead with the explanation.

4) I hardly used even 50% of my data package (10 GB by default now) BUT I had been paying for a year for the EXTRA 1 GB data bundle. I must pay for the data I use - simple. The actual data bundle (I subscribed to - I pay for it - very reasonable). EXTRA bundle (I unfortunately have been subscribed to - No I shouldn't pay for as it is extra & because I haven't used any of it as well). Does charging me for it make any sense? Not to me. It feels as if Vodafone is extorting money from the customer. A customer always must pay for the service they use.

5) To my surprise, I got to know about this incident in July, 2020 when I called up customer service. The email I received:  "Toen u op 3 juli jongstleden contact opnam over deze BloX heeft mijn collega deze voor u verwijderd, maar ook meteen weer toegevoegd. Het gevolg is dat de BloX op de factuur van juli 2020 tweemaal is berekend." 

So, as per Vodafone records - customer service mishandled the same incident the 2nd time (I understand mistakes do happen) and this was the exact thing that happened in Sept.2019 as well. When the Vodafone customer service removed it, it was added again (I guess, by mistake!!) by customer service (its part of your records).

Now, the question is: Is it the customer's fault? No, because the records show otherwise. Therefore, I think I do deserve the compensation. Well, what if I realized this after 5 years ? Yes, it is long duration - but still Vodafone should be kind enough to provide the reimbursement as much as possible to keep its customer base and esp. when the customer haven't used the EXTRA bundle (the customer already have enough data already + enabling this bundle was a mistake from Vodafone's end - I did not touch it (also, can be seen as part of your records I am sure). I could have logged in on myVodafone app to check? Of course, but not checking does not make it my fault as I did not enable it from my end in the first place. If i did enable uBlox internet myself, I am sure - it is my fault.

Also, why was I provided 3 months of compensation? If it was the customer's fault - then why did Vodafone even consider doing that? If it is part of goodwill, then Vodafone should comprehend the customer's pain and provide a more reasonable solution that keeps their customer happy and see the possibility of long-term relationship with the customer  (e.g. Amazon - even if it is a customer's fault - Amazon does all it can to retain their customers for long-term - they hardly do disappoint customers for small issues like these).

Yours Truly,
Shyam!

[Shyam]

Hi Lycke!

Appreciate your response. I will try to address the answers to your questions - on why I still find this an unreasonable offer and hope you would at least partially agree with my reasoning.

1) I have been Vodafone customer for many years now, and this is the second time this incident has occurred (first time, I lay low - and let go) - but this is the 2nd mishap. Let me explain why I am raising this as an issue now & why it is important this is addressed in the right way in the best interest of both, myself and for Vodafone.

2) In Sept. 2019, I had called up customer service to help me disable my Blox internet (I needed extra data only for a month). They disabled it for me (as per records) but they “also enabled it back immediately” (unintended). So, I had +1 GB extra (EUR 7,50 / month) running on top of existing 5 GB odd data bundle (back then).

3) The bill is auto-debit from my bank account & sorry, I saw the same bill amount being charged for months & therefore, had no reason/suspicion to think otherwise. I did not log into myVodafone for ages. I have always trusted Vodafone is fair & won't overcharge. Is it my fault I did not log in? Perhaps, not. Let me go ahead with the explanation.

4) I hardly used even 50% of my data package (10 GB by default now) BUT I had been paying for a year for the EXTRA 1 GB data bundle. I must pay for the data I use - simple. The actual data bundle (I subscribed to - I pay for it - very reasonable). EXTRA bundle (I unfortunately have been subscribed to - No I shouldn't pay for as it is extra & because I haven't used any of it as well). Does charging me for it make any sense? Not to me. It feels as if Vodafone is extorting money from the customer. A customer always must pay for the service they use.

5) To my surprise, I got to know about this incident in July, 2020 when I called up customer service. The email I received:  "Toen u op 3 juli jongstleden contact opnam over deze BloX heeft mijn collega deze voor u verwijderd, maar ook meteen weer toegevoegd. Het gevolg is dat de BloX op de factuur van juli 2020 tweemaal is berekend." 

So, as per Vodafone records - customer service mishandled the same incident the 2nd time (I understand mistakes do happen) and this was the exact thing that happened in Sept.2019 as well. When the Vodafone customer service removed it, it was added again (I guess, by mistake!!) by customer service (its part of your records).

Now, the question is: Is it the customer's fault? No, because the records show otherwise. Therefore, I think I do deserve the compensation. Well, what if I realized this after 5 years ? Yes, it is long duration - but still Vodafone should be kind enough to provide the reimbursement as much as possible to keep its customer base and esp. when the customer haven't used the EXTRA bundle (the customer already have enough data already + enabling this bundle was a mistake from Vodafone's end - I did not touch it (also, can be seen as part of your records I am sure). I could have logged in on myVodafone app to check? Of course, but not checking does not make it my fault as I did not enable it from my end in the first place. If i did enable uBlox internet myself, I am sure - it is my fault.

Also, why was I provided 3 months of compensation? If it was the customer's fault - then why did Vodafone even consider doing that? If it is part of goodwill, then Vodafone should comprehend the customer's pain and provide a more reasonable solution that keeps their customer happy and see the possibility of long-term relationship with the customer  (e.g. Amazon - even if it is a customer's fault - Amazon does all it can to retain their customers for long-term - they hardly do disappoint customers for small issues like these).

Yours Truly,
Shyam!

[Lycke]

I do get where you are coming from, but still i wont offer you another compensation than you've already gotten. You say “ sorry, I saw the same bill amount being charged for months & therefore, had no reason/suspicion to think otherwise", but you did cancel a service (the extra data) right. So “the same amount being charged” isn't logical. 
And i don't say it's your fault. I believe that a mistake has been made. But i also believe that we both have to be reasonable about how long it takes to discover the mistake. So to awnser the question why we offer you 3 months compensation, that's because we probably made a mistake (and yes, twice, but thats already set straight, right?) and we compensate you for that. But we don't compensate the complete period of time, because you diddn't notify us earlier. And you did receive the extra data each month. That you diddn't use it, doesn't change the fact that you did reveice it.  I’m very sorry, but there is nothing i can do for you. You can still disagree, but that will not change the offer you got, unfortunately. 

[IntegriteitTele]

Long story short; Vodafone makes a mistake and you pay for it! 
 

You Recieved data you clearly don’t  need at all, and which you called and asked too cancel. But Vodafone like too use the “it is your own fault” method everytime too avoid compensation for their mistakes. 
 

This is normal procedure, my advice would be too think switch too an other telecom company that has decend services. 
 

[Shyam]

Hi Lycke,

Thank you very much for your explanation.

I thought about it. To be fair to both Vodafone and the customer - and yourself having rightly stated that a mistake has been committed. It was a mistake committed twice, until the customer himself noticed it & notified Vodafone - and that is when it got corrected. Yes, I could have noticed it and gotten back & in all honesty, I did. I did have “several” phone calls with Vodafone customer service team (early on and recently) - you may kindly revisit your records & they specified BLOX was disabled (but it wasn 't). In the process, I have been penalized for it. But I am not blaming anyone, I just wish to receive a fair resolution - I have received partial which is not acceptable.

But as I said I had no reason to have a suspicion until I saw my bill has exceeded by EUR 7,50/month all “throughout the year” on my bank giro). I have two proposals to Vodafone, and I would be happy if one of these is addressed in all fairness:

1. It is not a matter of costs, it is a matter of principle for me. Therefore, in all fairness - “the minimum” I could propose it to be 50/50 i.e. the loss was for 1 full year for the customer. Vodafone was never at a loss for this. Vodafone could help by compensating the customer for 6 months would be fair to ask. Given, the customer did not use the data package + nor intended it to have it in the first place.
2. If you would disagree with the above proposal, I would like to have the “possibility“ provided by Vodafone for early termination of my contract with Vodafone (without additional payments/dues for future months of contract) and I be able to humbly transition to “another telecom service provider” who would be fair to their customers (if 1 isn't agreed to). 

I very much hope that 1) is agreeable to Vodafone and thereby, helps me to continue having longer amicable relationship with Vodafone. I would of course, make sure I stay more vigil for any mishaps and be early to report to Vodafone. If not, 2) be agreeable and we can rest the case here, either ways.

Thanking You,
Shyam

[Lycke]

Hey @Shyam . 

Like i said; i can't offer you anything else/more that my colleagues did. So i'm very sorry, but for me it stops here. of course you can always make an official complaint. I don't know if the complaints department already has been on this case (are they the ones offering you 3 months?). Like i said; i know nothing more of you than your Community name and the posts here. 

[Shyam]

Hi Lycke,

Good morning and thank you for your patronage. Could you let me know the process for this official complaint? I certainly would like to make the complaint/escalate it and bring it to Vodafone's attention. I did send an email the last week but I haven't received the reaction yet - the reason I took to the forum.

Kind regards,
Shyam

[Lycke · Accepted solution]

On our contactpage, you can choose for “een klacht” (a complaint) at “Je neemt contact op over:” and fill in your complaint :-).