Justin is CEO of NinetyTen, the people behind location based social network, BuddyPing. He dropped me this note to tell me about the experience his wife Aimee had with Vodafone. Deary me.
So Aimee and I spent the weekend in York with old friends, but alas, her phone was either lost or stolen on the train, and ended up in Edinburgh (I knew this because I did a lookup using buddyPing 😉
Aimee didn’t want to report it lost/stolen because we assumed as it was in Edinburgh, just near the station, it was in Lost property. Lost Property is closed on the weekend, so she rang them this morning. We were told the phone was not there, and had probably been nabbed by the cleaners. After asking to be put through to the cleaners, she was told she couldn’t do that.
Right, assessment so far: Phone Stolen
Step 1:
Rring Vodafone, explain what has happened, block the SIM and phone and get a replacement on insurance. Talked to a nice lady in customer services who blocked the phone and sim.Step 2:
Transferred to InsuranceStep 3:
A world of painIt turns out that even though Aimee was a responsible person who did not want to jump the gun and end up with 2 phones, wasting her and Vodafone’s time, they wouldn’t pay out. Why!? Well, you see, she had to report her phone lost or stolen within 24 hours of the incident happening.
After protestations from Aimee, she asked to talk to someone more senior than her.
She was told she was the most senior person.
Aimee asked if she ran the department.
No.
So can she speak to the person who does.
No.
Why?
They are busy.
Well, I want to speak to them now.
Please hold (another 5 minutes on top of the 30 minutes she has been trying to sort it out)
I’m sorry, she is not availableAnd that was how it was left. Aimee has been told she can appeal, which she will do.
She is now left phone-less, and very pissed off.
Even though she has only had the phone for 2 months (plus a renewed Voda contract), I am seriously considering advising her to leave them, transfer he number and go to someone else.
Aimee, take it to Mr Sarin and get him to fix it. If he can’t resolve it, swap to another network. Don’t reward ’em.
Feeling for you Justin.
The moral of the story is – don’t take out insurance with your operator/reseller. If you lose your phone etc beg steal borrow buy a spare. Shouldn’t be that hard given we’re all in the mobile industry. Once your 12 month contract is up on your deal, port to another network and get a spanking new phone.
Well it is clear Justin that Vodafone are correct in this instance. I mean, Aimee must have read line 96 of the t&c’s that said report it with 24 hours, and please make no excuses about why that wouldn’t have made sense.
For heavens sake Justin, Voda have got 15 million customers so why on earth should they drop everything for your wife just because she’s been silly enough to mislay her phone.
Totally your fault. Go to another network if you like, Voda really don’t care and have got enough problems paying off 3g licences and worrying about shareholders. In fact take your friends to another network too because if voda can get our customer numbers down sufficiently then they might actually be able to provide a decent service for those remaining,
Please consider yourselves told off and I hope you are standing in the corner like naughty schoolchildren for losing voda’s property.
😉
steve procter
ok bearing mind here i work for vodafone insurance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
so your wife lost her h/s
1. it makes perfect sense to bar the sim card imediatly or asap
2. she would not be wasting anybodies time as if she had found the h/s the bar would have been lifted from the sim so no need for claim
3. i agree with steve your wife should take better care of her property
you didnt state what handset she has but if it was £150 cash say she wouldnt leav that laying about would she
You guys, This is about customer service – and the apparent lack of it……….
If Justin’s wife goes elsewhere, that is churn, never to come back, pissed off with Voda and creating waves on the interweb about it. Surely, Voda can see [and understand] that customers can now discuss [as we do here] and create either positive or negative feedback/vibes. We have POWER…………
I think the exec’s in the big Red jackets should pull their finger out and create a happy ending to this story and create positive vibes for all other customers [and potential customers] to see. And, wait for it…………………..
Apologise for the way they have handled this issue, Give Justin’s wife a newbie handset that she can test for Ewan and make a sensible review that can be used in the public domain on behalf of the Red squad.
As for the 3G licence costs, nobody ever forced them to pay such a price to Tony. They fuelled their own money lust and will have to reap the rewards. It is just another case where the Red Squad never did any due diligence.
Here endeth the latest comments……………………
i never use insurance for my gadget cause there is to much issue about it
What's so wrong about it? I would be interested to know that! thanks:-)
Just came across your blog and liked reading it, just keep on posting this way, thanks.
Just saw this post and wanted to leave a comment, thanks for posting this case of yours, it is definitely going to help people!