Vodafone New Zealand and customer services
It looks like people are always complaining about Vodafone's customer services (ref 1, 2, 3). I have experience their "customer service" myself before porting my number out to Telecom.
The most common issue seems to be customer services people promising to fix things and not doing it. Or promising to call back and not doing it. Or people sending e-mails to Vodafone and no receiving a reply.
Every week I receive one or another email from someone trying to contact Vodafone to solve account problems. Why they contact Geekzone instead of Vodafone is something else to discuss - blame "browse by Google" - but I read some interesting stories, mostly people complaining about requests to the customer services not being actioned.
It seems the main problem is "not doing it". Well, "not doing it" doesn't cut, specially now that Vodafone is charging prepay customer $1 per call to their help desk when a human being is involved (and don't worry, you don't count - it's the human being on the other side of the line).
Of course problems happens with other operators and Internet providers - actually it happens so much that an industry body was created to help resolve problems that are not solved.
The Telecommunications Dispute Resolution (TDR) is here to help. There are rules you must follow. Before going and filling a complaint you should read How the Process Works and How to Make a Complaint.
The TDR issues a quarterly report of its activities. In its second report you find that Billing and Credit are 45% of the complaints, with Service/Product Deliver coming in second with 31%. Customer Services comes in third with 11% and Network Performance is fhourth with 8%.
Perhaps after you lodge a formal complaint Vodafone and others will fix their customer services?
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Comment by PaulBrislen, on 5-Aug-2008 12:02
And once again, flaming.
have you actually read the TDR report you're fondly waving around, Mauricio?
Comment by Paul Brislen, on 5-Aug-2008 12:10
You seem to have a bee in your bonnet about the TDR. Vodafone is a member of the TDR and helped write the codes of practice that the TDR are using. What you suggested in the original post was that the customer should call us and then IMMEDIATELY call the TDR.
I objected to that so you've changed your post and are now trying to make out that Vodafone is somehow opposed to the TDR process.
This is simply inaccurate and you'd know that if you read the report you're pointing to.
Comment by stuart, on 5-Aug-2008 12:11
Paul, why are you flaming Mauricio for telling people to go to the TDR if they don't get proper customer support from Vodafone? Isn't that what the TDR is there for?
Comment by Paul Brislen, on 5-Aug-2008 12:14
@ Stuart, that's exactly what the TDR is for. What Mauricio originally said is that cusotmers should phone Vodafone and then IMMEDIATELY call the TDR. As someone else said in the thread, this is not accurate and all that will happen is the TDR sends you back to the telco to resolve the problem.
It wastes the TDR's time. It wastes the customer's time.
What I'm trying to get Mauricio to appreciate is the difference between ringing the telco and reaching a stalemate and THEN going to the TDR and ringing the telco and IMMEDIATELY calling the TDR. The first is the correct process, the second is not. Mauricio was suggesting the latter approach.
Comment by PaulBrislen, on 5-Aug-2008 12:22
Mauricio, as I said to you on email and as I've said to you in the thread, I know there are issues with the service. There are always going to be issues with the service.
What I'm objecting to is you giving out inaccurate information, CHANGING that information and not acknowledging it and alleging that somehow I'm at fault for pointing this out to you.
I'll say it again: Vodafone supports the TDR process. Vodafone helped WRITE the TDR process. There is no mysterious disconnect here. You're the one who took a perfectly ordinary request for help from a customer and turned it into "another rant" (your words) about Vodafone.
Comment by RedJungle, on 5-Aug-2008 12:30
@Paul: I'm sorry, but customer support letting a customer down so thoroughly that he has to resort to asking for help on Geekzone should not be the definition of a 'perfectly ordinary request for help from a customer'.
I know what it's like. It's been several weeks since I myself e-mailed via the website (didn't have another 40 minutes spare to call another CSR again) about a billing issue where Vodafone have incorrectly charged me - have I recieved any reply... I'll let you guess.
Something really must change.
Comment by PaulBrislen, on 5-Aug-2008 12:40
Believe me, I understand there are issues getting through to the people you need to talk to.. we're a big company and we're in a growth phase that means we're not responding as well as we'd like to customer requests.
We are working to address that - part of it is charging $1/call for prepay customers to get those folk who don't want to use self service channels to make the switch. We're spending several million on new systems to help customers use the self service channels more effectively.
But part of what we're doing is me coming here to Geekzone and being visible so customers CAN contact me and get a resolution. That happens on a daily basis. It's very easy to find me, it's very easy to send me a PM. I respond almost immediately and generally speaking I can only think of one or two cases that haven't been resolved in short order.
What I objected to initially is, and remains, Mauricio's original statement, which he's since changed, in a thread about the TDR. It was unnecessary and it was wrong. He has corrected his post, but not explained what he's changed in the post as I'd expect him to do - this doesn't help the thread at all.
If the problem here is that you're not getting the support you need then email me. I will make sure it gets to the right department.
If the problem is that I'm representing Vodafone's point of view on this forum and you don't like that, well I don't see a way around it. I'm here to help Vodafone customers and to put forward Vodafone's point of view. That's why I visit Geekzone and why I post in the other forums as well.
Cheers
Paul
Comment by Tim Haines, on 5-Aug-2008 13:52
Hi Paul,
I haven't read the thread that caused this blog post (and I don't know your role within Vodafone), but I want to add to the voices that say your CSR service is crap. I had supervisors/team leaders tell me they'd call me back the next day, and they never did.
I don't know if outsourcing to Egypt (or was it Turkey?) is the best way to improve your service. Of the 10 or so reps I spoke to, there were atleast 2 I couldn't understand.
Tim.
Comment by PaulBrislen, on 5-Aug-2008 13:56
@Tim, that's one of the most frustrating things I've come across... and I wish they'd stop saying it! Believe me, that's something I'm keen to address.
As for the call centre, we added a centre in Egypt to our existing centres in Auckland - the biggest issue with the Egyptians is that they sound too posh. I'm guessing you struck a local 
. I can say that as I'm neither.
Cheers
Paul
Comment by Tim de Jardine, on 5-Aug-2008 15:06
In terms of customer service in general I have had no problems with Vodafone, generally they are able to solve my problems after a simple phone call, such as overcharges, not receiving bills, plan questions etc.
The issue for me is overall customer experience. The overall experience needs to be improved and by the looks of what Paul said, they are working on it.
Its one thing to have helpful staff but use disparate systems, or vice versa. I think that has limited them; which is a communication issue.
*on a side note, I dont remember ever having the ability to consult a PR Rep directly from Vodafone, so this is new too and a step in the right direction.
Comment by Andrew Coy, on 5-Aug-2008 15:18
Mauricio and/or Paul Brislen,
My problem with Vodafone - I moved from Prepay to OnAccount last Wednesday 30th July and since then my phone says "Inactive SIM", and if you call my number it just says "Invalid number" and of course I cannot make or receive calls or do anything. I receive calls from customers overseas on this phone and now they must think we have gone bust or something.
How much joy have i had with Vodafone customer service. Well frankly it has been worse than pathetic. It took 3 days before I finally got escalated to the escalation manager. I was promised first 24 hours, then 48 hours, and now 7 days to fix the problem. Can you believe 7 days without a phone ! I was constantly promised that someone would call me back. And noone has called - I have to keep calling back - going through the contact centre staff - etc - etc. I finally have someone who has emailed me once, but thats the sum total of support to date.
Well I am at my wits end and I don't know what I can do.
I looked at complaining to TDR but that takes 6 weeks - well, its no help.
Paul I would love your email address - what is it. I will talk to anyone who might be able to help.
Any suggestions from anyone in regards how I can get some action from Vodafone?
I wish my problem was just a lack of a phone bill.
Andrew
Comment by PaulBrislen, on 5-Aug-2008 15:23
@ Andrew, you can either PM me through Geekzone or send to paul dot brislen at vodafone dot com.
happy to help.
cheers
Paul
Comment by aaaccc, on 5-Aug-2008 15:35
I have emailed Paul - desperately hoping this is not another Vodafone rep who promises to sort your problem and call back and then you never hear from again...
Comment by Glenn Andert, on 6-Aug-2008 00:07
Let me join the ranks of people that have complaints about Vodafone customer service. Here is my complaint:
http://glennandert.com/2008/08/05/vodafone-customer-service-is-bad-real-bad/
Comment by wmoore, on 6-Aug-2008 03:10
It all went down hill after Tim Miles left.
Comment by Andrew, on 6-Aug-2008 10:57
No response from Paul. No response from Vodafone. My phone has now not worked for a week. 7 days.
Mauricio, do you know if I can start a TDR process if I don't have a deadlock letter, simply because noone from Vodafone will talk to me?
If anyone has any suggestions about how I might be able to get Vodafone to take action please let me know.
Does anyone else have experience of a phone/sim that worked fine for 7 years now not working for 7 days (potentially longer) ?
Andrew
Comment by Andrew, on 6-Aug-2008 11:28
Why stay - good question.
1) I got an iPhone and moved onto the iPhone plan.
2) Better international cover - I travel a lot.
3) Are telecom any better ?
I am seriously thinking of taking the phone back, getting a refund and moving.
I guess the problem is I cannot move until Vodafone fix whatever the current problem is? Any techies know if that is true.
I am told my phone is stuck in a no-mans land somewhere between a pre-pay and onaccount phone.
Seriously, for any vodafone people reading this, if you bothered to call me and keep me up to date, you would not have such a furious customer on your hands.
I will start the TDR process anyway and see what happens.
Andrew
Comment by Andrew Coy, on 6-Aug-2008 16:50
Well finally, it is working, exactly 7 days without a working phone.
Steps taken to get Vodafone NZ to take this seriously over the last week
1) 8 phone calls to customer service
2) 4 emails to an (apparent) escalation manager
3) 3 posts to geekzone website
4) 3 emails with Paul Brislen
5) 1 complaint to TDR who called vodafone today
6) 1 email to Russell Stanners, Vodafone CEO - (I have no idea if he got the email)
7) 1 phone call to vodafone head office
And in return I had
1) 4 promises to fix the problem that day which never happened
2) 4 promises to call me back at 4pm which never happened
3) 4 promises to escalate the problem which never happened
Today, thank god, they did escalate it , they did fix the problem and they did call back at 4pm.
Andrew
Comment by mickmok, on 10-Aug-2008 19:42
@Andrew Coy
I had a similar problem when I switched to on account a day before you did. I had no luck with customer support on the phone, the online web help doesnt repond so i came here.
Paul B. is good and gets your complaint and problem put up to the right people. However I think Vodafone is having major issues with the problem you and I experienced including billing. My thread is listed as #1 in Mauricio's original post.
I think it is worth noting that there are people in Vodafone who WANT to help you, Paul is one of those people and he is in my opinion the best person to do that for you at this stage. I think that using the TDR or whatever it is will only be a further waste of your time as it will be a long formal process. I think that you are better off with Paul helping you. Make sure you have his email right or PM him as he has responded to my emails in literall seconds.
Comment by richms, on 10-Aug-2008 22:59
The 6 weeks thing is total crap IMO.
If I am missing phone calls (I was till I found the problem and went back to carrying more phones) - and they dont answer their customer service queries in a timely manner, and 777 tell me that I have to call back during business hours (ahh, no, I wont) then waiting a month and a half to get a complaint actioned is totally lame.
Comment by Gary, on 2-Oct-2008 11:24
I've found the Vodafone mobile (on account) support to be good, although I haven't had to call them recently.
However, I made the mistake of switching to Vodafone for landline calls and broadband - and then switching to their 'Red' network. They have managed to do what I thought was impossible - they've Telecom/Xtra look good to me.
I won't go into all the details but it took many, many, many calls over about six weeks to get most of the problems resolved, and the three bills we have received so far have all been wrong. I experienced the usual issues of return calls not be made, long waits on hold, incorrect services being setup, promised actions not being taken, etc.
Then there are, amongst other issues, the test emails I was sent, various issues with number portability, having the promised 'Dual Number' feature dropped before we even got it, being told our second line was ready (& being billed for it) when it still wasn't physically connected to the house, receiving three 'Welcome' packs and thus having to setup voice messaging each time, having internet access barred because the bill was $7 overdue throughout this period, having to plead & plead & plead before they would agree to send a real person to the house, incorrect information shown on our online account, having my White Pages entry removed, and having a faulty DSL port at the exchange (& having to plead & plead to get them to swap it).
Most of the call centre people to whom I have spoken have been very friendly and have tried to help but it seems they are constrained by poor processes, inflexible company policies, poor internal communication, and inadequate systems. I'm guessing that Vodafone launched the landline, internet and Red network services prematurely and with inadequate testing - and then got overwhelmed with too many new customers all at once.
To be fair, there were issues found with the internal house wiring, but then I couldn't get them to check this for a long time - even when I was willing to pay.
I've no doubt Vodafone will improve over time, once they learn how to be a full-service telco, but my experience has ruined my perception of Vodafone and it will be a long time before I trust them again.
Comment by Gary, on 2-Oct-2008 14:12
Can anyone confirm that the Vodafone Red network issues affecting the Auckland region for the last two or three days are due to a firmware upgrade in the DSLAMs?
Very frustrating, especially as the call centre staff appear to get very few (no?) updates from the technicians as to the nature of the fault and the likely resolution time, even though it is a 'priority 1'. Thx.
Comment by Wolfgang, on 9-Oct-2008 21:47
Had a similar experience
Had an account with ihug for years and all good, then they sold out
Had still my phone account with Telecom.
So stupid me got on the web page to sign up for the phone and broadband package but it looks like you have to be a new customer to get the deal.
Existing customers have to pay more
So I made the mistake to phone
And yes you guessed my facial hair had grown considerably before a real person answered. Well I am persistent, but Vodafone beat me.
The guy could not help me and transferred the call to the Sales desk.
And yes you guessed right the waiting started again .
To prevent a divorce I had to hang up and wrote an e mail, I don't expect an answer.
Also was interested to get on the red network but it tells me it is in my area but not for my address
It looks like Vodafone to get more business so I am looking to move.
Can anybody tell me how Orcon is ?
Comment by Sue, on 29-Oct-2008 21:38
Man paul you sure no how to make a mountain out of a mole hill get over it!!!. personally i am with vodafone and there service is stink. the,re always having some problem with outages and such and will try to charge you if you dont say anything about it. And dont even get me started on the waiting time sheeeesh!!!! man the only way to get there attention is to not pay your bill this way they have to call you. of course i wouldnt recommend it especially if you live on you computer. Cut a long story short there service is the worst!!!!! i have ever experienced and you couldnt get any worse then that.
Comment by contactvodafone, on 31-Oct-2008 10:18
If you want to speak to vodafone's reps in NZ, dial 09 3552007. They were happy to help me, answered quick and got the problem sorted out in minutes. Forget about using the 0800 number!
Comment by DigiDog, on 25-Nov-2008 16:38
I'm another customer who's less than happy with Vodafone. We've had two DSL outages in the last week which required Vodafone to do a port reset. The first one was at 8:45pm one evening. "Sorry, but the technicians knock off at 8:30." The next was on a Sunday morning. "Sorry, the technicians don't work on Sundays." That's slack service from a major telco.
I've sat on hold waiting for a human to answer their phone for over an hour on more than one occasion. But I guess I'm lucky as I must be one of the rare customers who has actually had an email response from Vodafone. They had a connectivity issue that was only affecting their customers so I emailed rather than wait on hold for an hour. They finally responded a month later asking if the problem still existed. Duh!
Not good enough Vodafone.
Comment by DigiDog, on 27-Nov-2008 12:34
Update: We had another DSL outage earlier this week. That's THREE within seven days. While it's still a problem with the local exchange the clones who answer the helpline (I only waited on hold for 20 minutes this time) insist on asking "What make is your router?". They finally re-booted the port but the underlying problem continues.
Ironically I received a call from a Vodafone call center (Mumbai?) the same day offering to save me "25-30% on my telecom bills" if I switched my landline & broadband to Vodafone. Duh!!! I've been with the company for more than five years now! Vodafone's internal record keeping appears to be almost non-existent.
I'm definitely on the lookout for a better service when my current contract expires.
Comment by DigiDog, on 2-Dec-2008 08:21
Update: We've just had our 4th major DSL outage in two weeks.
However I can report that the Vodafone call centre seems to have found a new tactic. They hung up on me after 6 minutes. I rang back, waited another 8 minutes listening to that annoying recorded message and they hung up on me again. Ten minutes later I was finally connected.
Despite their help desk telling me on my last call that that there was an exchange fault and they would definitely be sending someone out to fix it, this time I was told that simply wasn't true and that the fault was "probably" at my end. There was no record of Vodafone's previous promise to fix their hardware. The nice man with the Indian accent suggested that I try an isolation test at my end.
After letting him know that I was not a happy punter I went off and made a cup of tea. Mysteriously, my ADSL was active again as soon as I returned. Did someone do a port reset again?
The Vodafone call centre is crap. After waiting for up to 60 minutes for a reply, I'm getting a different story every time I ring. Vodafone obviously keep a record of individual complaints, so why do they need to ask me the make and model of my router every single time their service fails? Why have they told me it's a problem at their end then done a complete backflip the next time our DSL goes down?
Is Paul B monitoring this thread? If you are Paul, could you kindly pass on the message that I'm not happy with the level of DSL service Vodafone is providing and after being an iHug customer for almost ten years I'm seriously looking at alternative providers.
Vodafone stinks.
Comment by DigiDog, on 19-Dec-2008 15:04
Two weeks on and we've been through another THREE Vodafone outages. At least they answered the helpline within one minute today which took me by suprise.
While port resets seem to solve the problem temporarily, I do wish they'd fix the underlying exchange problem, but that doesn't appear to be a priority.
Comment by Sherz, on 23-Dec-2008 11:34
Having recently been "ported" from Telecom to Vodafone I have to say Vodafone has now officially become my new benchmark for appallingly bad service. I've had to deal with ignorant baffoons, non-return of phone calls and emails... the works. It's been a long and painful experience which I have documented in a 3-page letter, along with a complaint enquiry with the Commerce Commission.
These guys really are idiots. On their website they say: "Here at Vodafone we aim to provide you with great service". Unfortunately that have missed that target by a substantial margin. It's beyond my comprehension how an organiseation could get it so wrong and at the same time delude themselves into thinking they were doing ok. They really have no idea.
Comment by DigiDog, on 26-Dec-2008 16:51
And yet another Vodafone outage today. Another port reset by the techs and we're back in business. Still no sign of the underlying problem being addressed though. Whi;e a fault report had been filed last time, they apparently cancelled that when I was back online. Are Vodafone deliberately employing people of low IQ to man their helpdesk?
Comment by Pam, on 1-Jan-2009 01:28
just need to join the "vodafone sux" party! i have internet with Telecom and celphone with Vodafone. i have used the website help form, phoning a person on 0800 and being answered by a foreign person who i cannot understand, so have to say 'sorry, i can't understand you, goodbye'
also have been unable to use my phn as they say my bill is overdue by 100's of $s, then finding it was their mistake and lack of communication! i've been with them for years, first as prepay then contract customer, my contract expires in April of this new year, when i will become a Telecom celphone customer. they've been great with internet and home line.
Comment by Hamish Wilson, on 8-Apr-2009 17:16
I thought I might be able to google up and answer to what should be a simple problem - topping up my fairly new prepay 021 phone...
It used to be easy to phone Telecom and throw on another $50 and it always worked. First time I did it for the new phone it was OK, but now when I get thru the menu to the point where I enter the phone's number, i get told I've exceeded the allowable number of attempts.
So I tried to register Online. Actually I tried when I got the phone, and got error messages. I was apparently entering the wrong info, so I could not be registered. Wrong apparently, as now I'm told the phone number is registered, but as what? cannot figure out logins etc...
So I emailed, and you know the rest...
OK, I'll find a vodaphone shop and buy a coupon. But what crap service this lot offer. I'll also load up the clunky old Telecom phone again for the times when 021 sucks.
Comment by Russell Budden, on 16-May-2009 14:10
We should congratulate Vodafone on their neglegent service. The issues that Mauricio has raised are spot on.
I have had 4 separate, honest issues over the last year. What they are is not important here except to understand they were separate issues but all required a refund.
Here's how it goes. You call. You get through. You state your claim. The call centre persion tries to understand the issue and when they do, they put you on hold. They come back and agree to the refund.
All good so far. But consistently in each of the four instances, this happens. They say we are just processing the refund now. After a pause they say it appears that the system has frozen. Always frozen - never crashed.
One two occasions they said it was all done. On the other two they said they would call back and didn't. Which is where the cycle ends, and begins again by calling and explaining again, this time with no knowledge of the previous call.
As I work in IT I know systems stuff up but the sheer consistency of this happening is, to me, not credible. Nor is the fact that it takes at least 4 calls to get the refund and for it to stick (i.e. not put back on the next bill). These more cynical than I may think this is part of Vodafone Policy. I often feel though that the Customer Support in NZ or Egypt just ain't that smart: I use to be in their world and I am honestly staggered by the collective incompetence shown by so many plainly untrained people. NZ needs to save them from themselves with genuine 3rd provider.
Customers have to be as clinical with Vodafone as they are cynical with us. This means getting the names of who you are talking to, insist on talking with managers not staff and most importantly, don't let them off the line until you have an email or text confirming what they've done.
It is this last tactic which has drawn in "system freeze" excuses as well as "rostered break" excuses, and once simply cut off (I rung straight back, got through to the same guy by chance and in moments, who interestingly had no recollection of the previous call). Bottom line: keep them on the call at all costs!
As a note, I am still genuinely owed money by vodafone for 2 of the 4 incidents, I have logged over 30 calls worth over $400 (inc Roaming charges).
Comment by Tai Leaf, on 9-Nov-2009 10:21
Spot on comments made by Russell Budden.
I decided to ignore the warnings given to me by my friends and joined up to vodafone's landline & broadbank package. As I live in their 'Red' network area, I got $10 off the regular $90 per month and the promise of super quick download speed.
Well what a HUGE mistake! I have had no end of problems as broadband died after 3 days. 10 days later, I am still trying to get this resolved. I won't go into all the details, but my cousin works at Vodafone as a Product Manager. I explained my frustrations and asked him to get me the contact details of the CSR team manager as I really needed to vent my frustrations at someone who could actually get things done. He actually gave me the e-mail address of the Vodafone's CEO and said that when he is e-mailed with issues, they get fast tracked. Lets just say that you are treated a little differently when you mention his name.
His name is Russell Stanners and e-mail address is russell.staners@vodafone.com
Comment by Brent08, on 20-Dec-2010 15:43
I've finally got an MP looking into the possibility of making a law to outlaw charging for what should be free customer service. This will apply to TradeMe as well but I've pushed for this soooooo hard becuase I hate VF sooooo much as they are an ignornant pack of so and so's.
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Comment by PaulBrislen, on 5-Aug-2008 11:58
Mauricio, once again you break your own rules for using this forum. How can you expect your forum users to stick to the rules when you yourself do not?
Yes, customer care is a huge issue. Yes, some customers don't get the care they feel they need. Yes, Vodafone has a lot of customers.
Telling customers that the first thing they should do is go to the Telecommunications Dispute Resolution service does nobody any favours. Why? Because the TDR is there as the last resort, not the first. They simply don't have the resourcing to handle the level of customer contacts and will simply tell customers to go back to the telco to sort it out.
You are acting irresponsibly by suggesting customers should ring Vodafone and then immediately call the TDR if they can't get through. That is what you told the thread although I see you've since edited your post without disclosing that you've made changes. That is also irresponsible.