VF Customer service - Non-existent :(

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quickymart

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#2360682 25-Nov-2019 22:48

networkn:

The irrational hatred for Vodafone is a bit over the top IMO.

Not really. When they were (mostly) mobile-only, I always found their customer service to be excellent - I even aspired to work for them once upon a time (this is in the early 2000's). No one let them/made them get to this point but themselves. I've always felt after they bought Telstra Clear, everything started going downhill, mostly post 2012 - maybe they got too big and grew too fast, and simply couldn't keep up with the changes that had happened?

Like I say, I can see what Jason is trying to do to turn it around, but given he said things would be better by December, and December is next week...what I'm hearing about their customer service so far doesn't really bode well.

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#2360685 25-Nov-2019 22:57

quickymart:

networkn:

The irrational hatred for Vodafone is a bit over the top IMO.

Not really. When they were (mostly) mobile-only, I always found their customer service to be excellent - I even aspired to work for them once upon a time (this is in the early 2000's). No one let them/made them get to this point but themselves. I've always felt after they bought Telstra Clear, everything started going downhill, mostly post 2012 - maybe they got too big and grew too fast, and simply couldn't keep up with the changes that had happened?

Like I say, I can see what Jason is trying to do to turn it around, but given he said things would be better by December, and December is next week...what I'm hearing about their customer service so far doesn't really bode well.

You are seeing one example. Cases presented here seem to have slowed down some. I am not saying it's 100% isolated (of course it's not). It's worth noting that someone from VF got in touch quickly with the OP and will probably work their way through it.

I don't have much in the way of evidence to support the fact it's improving, but it's plain to see and hear that VF is at least trying and making some steps in the right direction.

I agree that their acquisitions were poorly handled. Stanners was not a suitable acquisition's CEO and they obviously have had some serious issues with customer service, which in my opinion was largely due to the purchase of Telstra which was a complete trainwreck and digital mobile is about as bad as you can imagine, but there is a lot of stuff happening with them being bought out, getting a new CEO. They have changed helpdesk suppliers overseas which will take some time to bed in, and they created a Xsquad thingy aimed at resolving these cases which fall between the cracks. None of that fixes everything all at once, but they are trying and I think that's worth acknowledging. Before they were rubbish and no-one was really taking responsibility for it.

quickymart

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#2360687 25-Nov-2019 23:07

I agree their customer service was poor - remember, I used to work for them (as TCL) in a different life, so I've seen lots of examples of it. But after the merger, they stopped really doing anything about customer service and it just got worse and worse. Kudos to Jason for trying something though, I do agree with you on that one (more than Russell ever did - he probably thought their customer service was excellent, despite all the complaints and Fair Go stories about how crap it was), but I personally don't see offshoring the call centre to a different supplier as being an improvement.

Yes, you're right that people on here from Vodafone are responding quickly, good to see. But my response to that is if their new improved call centre did their job properly, there wouldn't be a need for people to message for help on a public forum in the first place.

I realise it's cheaper, yes, but for many years (I'm talking the TCL period here) it was in NZ and the service was a lot better. Hell, when I worked there offshoring the call centre was the last thing they would think of doing. Now it seems to be the only way forwards, but I'm yet to see any improvement. Some NZ based call centres can be crap though (I'm looking mostly at the power companies trying to do broadband with that statement) but on the whole NZ-based call centres - from my personal experience - give a better level of service than offshore ones.

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#2360688 25-Nov-2019 23:16

quickymart:

I agree their customer service was poor - remember, I used to work for them (as TCL) in a different life, so I've seen lots of examples of it. But after the merger, they stopped really doing anything about customer service and it just got worse and worse. Kudos to Jason for trying something though, I do agree with you on that one (more than Russell ever did - he probably thought their customer service was excellent, despite all the complaints and Fair Go stories about how crap it was), but I personally don't see offshoring the call centre to a different supplier as being an improvement.

I realise it's cheaper, yes, but for many years (I'm talking the TCL period here) it was in NZ and the service was a lot better. Hell, when I worked there offshoring the call centre was the last thing they would think of doing. Now it seems to be the only way forwards, but I'm yet to see any improvement. Some NZ based call centres can be crap though (I'm looking mostly at the power companies trying to do broadband with that statement) but on the whole NZ-based call centres - from my personal experience - give a better level of service than offshore ones.

I don't have much in the way of evidence to support this, but Stanners ability to fix the customer service was partially at least to do with pressure for greater profits and lower costs forced on them by the UK parent.

I recall a time prior to Stanners where things were really bad at VF, and he really turned their customer service around significantly. However, if you are always being pressed to lower your costs, then things like customer service will take a significant hit, which it did. Add to this billing platform nightmares and clash of cultures from the acquisitions, and it's bound to be a horror show. Internal shuffles, especially continual ones create attitude issues in staff understandably, it's all just a recipe for failure.

I believe Jason was a coup for VF, I think he has what it takes, but it's a huge undertaking and big things take time to shift direction.

The thing I was referring to regards irrational hatred, is the 5-6 eye-rolling usual suspects who pile in, contributing nothing but making the usual comments about how terrible VF is and how everyone should move away. ALL organizations this size go through pain with customer service. Spark has it's fair share, I know plenty of unhappy Spark customers etc. There are always going to be cases that shouldn't be hard but end up that way...

snnet

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#2361115 26-Nov-2019 20:00

Watching with some interest - I ditched vodafone a very very long time ago (when number porting became available) because of *gasp* billing issues. I would like to point out without going into too much personally identifying detail of the people involved that I have done jobs for 3 clients that work/ed for Vodafone and for all of them it was rather amusing to see their painstaking attempts at organising service to be active for them as they called the proper customer service line before giving up and calling someone they knew in the company instead. Poor Jason has a huge huge ship to fix.

quickymart

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#2361142 26-Nov-2019 20:49

networkn:

quickymart:

I agree their customer service was poor - remember, I used to work for them (as TCL) in a different life, so I've seen lots of examples of it. But after the merger, they stopped really doing anything about customer service and it just got worse and worse. Kudos to Jason for trying something though, I do agree with you on that one (more than Russell ever did - he probably thought their customer service was excellent, despite all the complaints and Fair Go stories about how crap it was), but I personally don't see offshoring the call centre to a different supplier as being an improvement.

I realise it's cheaper, yes, but for many years (I'm talking the TCL period here) it was in NZ and the service was a lot better. Hell, when I worked there offshoring the call centre was the last thing they would think of doing. Now it seems to be the only way forwards, but I'm yet to see any improvement. Some NZ based call centres can be crap though (I'm looking mostly at the power companies trying to do broadband with that statement) but on the whole NZ-based call centres - from my personal experience - give a better level of service than offshore ones.

I don't have much in the way of evidence to support this, but Stanners ability to fix the customer service was partially at least to do with pressure for greater profits and lower costs forced on them by the UK parent.

I recall a time prior to Stanners where things were really bad at VF, and he really turned their customer service around significantly. However, if you are always being pressed to lower your costs, then things like customer service will take a significant hit, which it did. Add to this billing platform nightmares and clash of cultures from the acquisitions, and it's bound to be a horror show. Internal shuffles, especially continual ones create attitude issues in staff understandably, it's all just a recipe for failure.

I believe Jason was a coup for VF, I think he has what it takes, but it's a huge undertaking and big things take time to shift direction.

The thing I was referring to regards irrational hatred, is the 5-6 eye-rolling usual suspects who pile in, contributing nothing but making the usual comments about how terrible VF is and how everyone should move away. ALL organizations this size go through pain with customer service. Spark has it's fair share, I know plenty of unhappy Spark customers etc. There are always going to be cases that shouldn't be hard but end up that way...

Interesting comments and I agree with some of what you're saying here, and at least Jason is trying something, rather than the next-to-nothing that Russell (appeared) to be doing. But now they no longer have to bow down to their parent company in the United Kingdom - if you were the CEO, what would you do to improve their customer service? Would you press on with the (obviously poor so far) offshoring business, or would you bring all customer service functions back in-house, like they used to be?

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networkn

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#2361146 26-Nov-2019 20:55

Given that Jason has persisted with offshoring and he is well aware of the challenges faced with customer experience, then he obviously feels he can improve by moving to a different off shored team (he made mention they were migrating to a different overseas unit) and still have some profitability examples.

What I have seen online across various sites, is that service has improved, and they put XSquad in to handle cases that go awry.

I don't have the numbers so I can't say what I'd do specifically, but it's pretty cutthroat in the NZ broadband market, I've seen people switch providers for a few dollars a month.

Jason still has owners to report to, they will still expect a profit in the medium to long term one would imagine. I'm guessing he will give this new team set up a chance to settle in and then look at what things look like. I imagine if the overseas teams can't get the customer service he deems good enough, they will onshore again.

All guesses and speculation, but based on a bit of common sense hopefully.

quickymart

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#2361184 26-Nov-2019 21:51

Query, if they have this X-Squad thing, what/who are the Ninjas now? I thought they were meant to be like the X-Squad? Sorry, I don't see what the point of difference is.

guyl

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#2361275 27-Nov-2019 06:54

I too am stuck in the hell of Vodafone billing...

I requested a simple plan change 10 days ago. 6 calls later, and I am still on the old plan.

On my last call to them I said I wanted to raise a complaint about the total incompetence of the staff I had been dealing with. The person I was talking to begged me not to, as she said the person would lose their job?

I don't want someone to lose their job, but maybe if they did their job properly in the first place so I didn't have to waste hours on hold, then they wouldn't have to have their workmates begging clients not to get them fired.

And talking of X-Squad - how are you meant to get hold of them? I asked a couple of times to be put through to the x-squad, but kept being told I didn't need to be, and the person I was dealing with could sort my problem..

So, I've had enough. I will be moving my 3 connections to 2 Degrees this morning. I think I'd rather pay a few dollars more each month to a company with staff based in NZ, who seem to know what they are doing.

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#2361313 27-Nov-2019 08:27

Hi @guyl,

Let me know how I can change your mind. Happy to step in and make this right?

Cheers,

Erin

guyl

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#2361318 27-Nov-2019 08:35

rushtoe:

Hi @guyl,

Let me know how I can change your mind. Happy to step in and make this right?

Cheers,

Erin

Thanks Erin. I appreciate the offer, and also the fact that Vodafone staff do lurk on these forums and try to help out....

But, at the end of the day it shouldn't be like this. Your clients should be able to easily get simple tasks completed, with minimal levels of frustration.

The Vodafone Mobile product as a whole is great (Reliable and good value), but each and every time I am required to interact with customer service, it is an absolute nightmare.

So, I'm out....

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rushtoe

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#2361340 27-Nov-2019 09:04

Sorry to lose you @guyl!

Please accept my apologies and if there's anything I can do to help please don't hesitate to reach out.

Daff

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#2362354 28-Nov-2019 15:45

Just calling in to say all my issues have been resolved and I'm still with VF!

I even received excellent service yesterday when I had to ring faults for a new minor issue that came up. Sorted over the phone in a calm and professional manner.

Vodafone. It's the putting right that counts 👍

antoniosk

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#2362365 28-Nov-2019 16:34

Daff:

Just calling in to say all my issues have been resolved and I'm still with VF!

I even received excellent service yesterday when I had to ring faults for a new minor issue that came up. Sorted over the phone in a calm and professional manner.

Vodafone. It's the putting right that counts 👍

so what happened to make it right?

not talking $$ - that’s private to you and voda - but in general who called, what was done and how quickly, etc.

tbh I’ve never had problems with the former TCL services - I still have cable running on vintage kit, and the t-boxes which are now hitting 10yrs old which must count as a record - but if Voda stepped up (eventually), who did and what did they do. I don’t use their mobile services.

Use similar energy to the way they were first excoriated and let the audience here know what went well

________

Antoniosk

Daff

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#2362569 29-Nov-2019 09:03

antoniosk:

Daff:

Just calling in to say all my issues have been resolved and I'm still with VF!

I even received excellent service yesterday when I had to ring faults for a new minor issue that came up. Sorted over the phone in a calm and professional manner.

Vodafone. It's the putting right that counts 👍

so what happened to make it right?

not talking $$ - that’s private to you and voda - but in general who called, what was done and how quickly, etc.

tbh I’ve never had problems with the former TCL services - I still have cable running on vintage kit, and the t-boxes which are now hitting 10yrs old which must count as a record - but if Voda stepped up (eventually), who did and what did they do. I don’t use their mobile services.

Use similar energy to the way they were first excoriated and let the audience here know what went well

I don't use their mobile services either. What happened was rushtoe/Erin and I exchanged a few messages here on GZ and it all got sorted quickly from there. I didn’t have to do much more after my OP. My old telephone number was up and running within hours, direct debit cancelled not long after, and my other minor issues were looked after too.

So there you go, not a pleasant experience for me but a resolution was found and I’ll see out my term and go from there. I don’t think I have to make a change on my account for a while ;)

Fibre has recently been laid so that does give me a few more options going forward.

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