Ongoing Account Unbarring Issue - Locked Digital Services

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › Ongoing Account Unbarring Issue - Locked Digital Services - Getting Impaitent

Chippo

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#18745 22-Jan-2008 14:26

Has anyone else had issues getting the digital services going on their mobiles after having them barred? I'm having an ongoing issue with Vodafone over the past few days and getting it resolved is winding me up.

Friday - I left my Phone (A Samsung z500v for those that are interested) in a Taxi, so Friday Night so called 777 to have my account barred.

Saturday - I recovered the phone and called Vodafone to have the account unbarred. Calling worked again immediately but later I found text messages didn't (Sending or receiving).

Sunday - A night and 3 phone restarts later I decided that they weren't coming back on their own so called Vodafone back and was told to "Try my Sim Card in another phone". I did one better and went to a Vodafone store where they took my sim, put it in another phone and fiddled with the settings before confirming that it was an account issue, not the phone, and that I would need to call 777 and have them recheck the settings. Which I did.

This CSR had me check the message center number as well as delete all my messages and do another couple of reboots. When that didn't solve the issue he redirected me to Technical Solutions support.

Technical solutions support repeated steps 1-4 and then said that it all looked fine and it would have to be escalated to Tier 2 and that it would take up to 24 hours.

Monday - 25 hours later when sending messages still resulted in "Sending Message Failed" I called back and I was told there was no update. In the last day I had found that MMS and Vodafone Live were also affected so we did some more troubleshooting and he said it could take up to another 24-48 hours.

Tuesday - Called Vodafone, Their phone system is broken.

Early afternoon I got through to a Technical Support person (After speaking to several accounts people because their phones seemed to be spitting calls out at random) and he said there was still no update on the issue but decided he'd push out some software updates to the phone - Just to check the settings. I protested, saying that it was confirmed there was nothing wrong with the phone and that it was an account issue, but he told me that the phone would be receiving 3 messages that would update its settings.

I'm yet to receive those updates - probably because my account is broken.

freitasm

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#106121 22-Jan-2008 15:20

It is a shame, and I feel sorry for you.

johnr

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#106129 22-Jan-2008 15:43

Hi best way to show its not a handset issue is try sim in another handset. I have sent you a pm that should help.

mikal

172 posts

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#106181 22-Jan-2008 20:28

He went to a VF Store and used his sim in another handset so that confirms it.
It has to be the VF System.

Also Barring and Unbarring a phone will not bar Text Message and Data capabilities i.e. people can still text when they go over their credit limit as well as go on the internet with their phone.

That brings up another point say Chippo's phone is stolen he requests his phone to be barred and someone racks up a huge Data bill while its barred whose liable then?
Chippo is because he signed in the T&C's that ultimately he is liable for all charges?
Or VF because Chippo requested his phone to be barred and was expecting all services to be barred?

johnr

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#106184 22-Jan-2008 21:00

mikal: He went to a VF Store and used his sim in another handset so that confirms it.
It has to be the VF System.

Also Barring and Unbarring a phone will not bar Text Message and Data capabilities i.e. people can still text when they go over their credit limit as well as go on the internet with their phone.

That brings up another point say Chippo's phone is stolen he requests his phone to be barred and someone racks up a huge Data bill while its barred whose liable then?
Chippo is because he signed in the T&C's that ultimately he is liable for all charges?
Or VF because Chippo requested his phone to be barred and was expecting all services to be barred?

A credit limit bar is applied very different than when a connection is barred cause the device is lost or stolen!

freitasm

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#106187 22-Jan-2008 21:16

Many times I told people I know that I don't trust help desks. By default I believe they are going to do a poor job. And many times I contacted Vodafone I wasn't disappointed in my believe.

A few months back my wife forgot the phone in a cafe. I called Vodafone on 777 and asked to have the phone barred, because I didn't want people placing calls out.

The next day we retrieved the phone. Once we had the phone in our hands, I tried calling the number just to test. I got the expected "The phone is blocked".

But then I tried placing a call - and it worked!

The Vodafone CSR blocked incoming calls, but left outgoing calls unblocked.

How dumb is that? Even if we wanted we couldn't call the number because it was blocked, but whoever found the phone could place as many calls for as long as they wanted to.

Obviously I still don't trust CSRs will do their job right.

grant_k

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#106189 22-Jan-2008 21:24

Chippo: Monday - 25 hours later when sending messages still resulted in "Sending Message Failed"

It reminds me of the 2 separate occasions (approx. one year apart) when I requested Vodafone to change my Data Plan.

They did change the Data Plan, just as I requested, BUT:

I could not send any Text Messages at all because I kept getting the same message you are getting: SEND FAILED.

I could still receive Text Messages OK, but I needed to call the Help Desk, and wait forever on hold, while they fixed this problem each time.

It was really annoying that Vodafone did this to my phone (On Account connection) on 2 different occasions. Since that time, I hardly use Vodafone's Data Service any more. I have switched to a Telecom Mobile Broadband plan.

johnr

19282 posts

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#107041 27-Jan-2008 13:53

Chippo:
Has anyone else had issues getting the digital services going on their mobiles after having them barred? I'm having an ongoing issue with Vodafone over the past few days and getting it resolved is winding me up.

Friday - I left my Phone (A Samsung z500v for those that are interested) in a Taxi, so Friday Night so called 777 to have my account barred.

Saturday - I recovered the phone and called Vodafone to have the account unbarred. Calling worked again immediately but later I found text messages didn't (Sending or receiving).

Sunday - A night and 3 phone restarts later I decided that they weren't coming back on their own so called Vodafone back and was told to "Try my Sim Card in another phone". I did one better and went to a Vodafone store where they took my sim, put it in another phone and fiddled with the settings before confirming that it was an account issue, not the phone, and that I would need to call 777 and have them recheck the settings. Which I did.
\
This CSR had me check the message center number as well as delete all my messages and do another couple of reboots. When that didn't solve the issue he redirected me to Technical Solutions support.

Technical solutions support repeated steps 1-4 and then said that it all looked fine and it would have to be escalated to Tier 2 and that it would take up to 24 hours.

Monday - 25 hours later when sending messages still resulted in "Sending Message Failed" I called back and I was told there was no update. In the last day I had found that MMS and Vodafone Live were also affected so we did some more troubleshooting and he said it could take up to another 24-48 hours.

Tuesday - Called Vodafone, Their phone system is broken.

Early afternoon I got through to a Technical Support person (After speaking to several accounts people because their phones seemed to be spitting calls out at random) and he said there was still no update on the issue but decided he'd push out some software updates to the phone - Just to check the settings. I protested, saying that it was confirmed there was nothing wrong with the phone and that it was an account issue, but he told me that the phone would be receiving 3 messages that would update its settings.

I'm yet to receive those updates - probably because my account is broken.

Hi Chippo

Can I please have a update I sent you a PM (very quickly) advising my role at Vodafone NZ and offering help!!

Even Paul from Vodafone sent me a Email asking me if I could help you! (he is well known on GZ)

The PM was ignored I am wondering how big this issue really was.

John

Wise

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ajobbins

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#107047 27-Jan-2008 15:01

freitasm: Many times I told people I know that I don't trust help desks. By default I believe they are going to do a poor job. And many times I contacted Vodafone I wasn't disappointed in my believe.

A bit OT, but in my experince the issue here is that the CSR's who know what they are doing quickly get promoted or reassigned to high level responsibilities, which leaves the others to be the face of the company. It's an unfortunate paradigm however one I doubt will change. CS isn't a glamorous or particularly rewarding job, and the fact it doesnt pay particularly well means you rarely get people who excell in their jobs. This has been the case in at least 2 companies I have worked for.

Chippo

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#107048 27-Jan-2008 16:10

Ok, so an update.

Wednesday morning I called Vodafone and spoke to someone that actually seemed to care about getting the issue solved.

He offered me 30 minutes of calling and said that he would personally take responsibility of the ticket. He was going to confirm all the settings on my account and call me back later that afternoon with an update. He was also going to contact the "Text and Vodafone Live Service Team" and have them investigate the fault. Apparently that can take up to 5 days.

At this point I pretty much gave up in disgust. Luckily for me he must have found at least something wrong because at about 5:30 Wednesday a balance message from the outbox automatically sent and the auto reply gave me quite a fright.

Unfortunately MMS and Vodafone live are still broken but these are services that can wait till after Auckland Anniversary Day (Monday) before chasing them around anymore. As you can immagine I'd had quite enough of hold music for one week last week.

I work for a global Data Protection Software company - But my opinions are my own.