Vodafone problems setting up payments

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kiwifidget

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#179239 1-Sep-2015 12:07

I thought I was on to a winner when I switched BB, Homephone and Sky to Vodafone back in March.
Indeed the changeover was almost without incident.
I thought all those people complaining about Vodafone were just bad luck.
Now I know different.

Since July when I tried to setup automatic payments to my Credit Card its been no end of trouble.
Both June and July payments failed to be processed at all by Vodafone.
The call centre people are no help whatsoever.
Indeed they have tried to blame me, my bank, the credit card.
Everyone but themselves.
This month they finally processed a payment on my card, for completely the wrong amount.
$9.26 instead of a much larger number.
Now its all "you haven't paid your bill. Pay now or get cut off!"
Despite the balance of my CC being in excess of $5000 at the time of the payment they expect me to believe that it is somehow a bank or CC issue.

In fact I think I know how the $9.26 happened, but they wont listen.
It seems under no circumstances can it be a Vodafone error.

Seriously, what do you have to do to get them to do their jobs properly?
Once more I have to make an interim payment and hope like hell they get it right next month.

I was hoping a wee rant might make me feel better. It didnt. :(

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johnr

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#1377677 1-Sep-2015 12:09

Why not make the thread title about the actual issue? This makes it easier for staff

A VCC (variable credit card payment) can only take what is owing after the credit card details were added not prior / ovedue to them been added

So if credit card details are now loaded it should take full amount owing the following month as long as nothing is overdue

I take it you filled out the form from the main Vodafone site?

' It can take several weeks to load your Variable Credit Card Authority onto your account Please continue to pay via your current method until you receive at the bottom of your invoice confirmation of your deduction via your new preferred payment method '

If any issue happens next month then let me know

Thanks

kiwifidget

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#1377692 1-Sep-2015 12:25

johnr: Why not make the thread title about the actual issue? This makes it easier for staff

A VCC (variable credit card payment) can only take what is owing after the credit card details were added not prior / ovedue to them been added

So if credit card details are now loaded it should take full amount owing the following month as long as nothing is overdue

Hi John,
Sorry for the vague title, can I change it?
Your reason here is what they told me for June and July payments.
I lodged my CC too late for June and not early enough for July.
It seemed a bit lame at the time but I went with it.
I was assured that everything would be sweet for the August payment.
But that did not come to pass.
So for the 3rd month in a row I'm trying to sort out a mess.
And no reasonable explanation for only charging my CC $9.26.

If all that wasnt bad enough, trying to converse with the accent-du-jour on the phone just made it all doubly difficult.

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johnr

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#1377694 1-Sep-2015 12:27

Edited my post above added further INFO did the previous month/s invoice show it was going to be taken from VCC on due date?

kiwifidget

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#1377785 1-Sep-2015 14:40

I filled out the CC bits on the website early to mid-July. I was waiting for a new CC to arrive as my other one expired end of June.

The August invoice (due last week) says "This amount will be deducted from your CC blah blah".
The amount on the invoice is July + August, though I paid the July amount on 7/8, leaving just the August amount to be processed on 25/8.
There was supposed to be an "adjustment" to prevent the July bit being paid twice come the 25th of August.
So it was with genuine surprise to get the call this morning saying "I have not paid blah blah not very nice things to hear".
On checking my bank account I see only $9.26 was charged to my CC on 25/8 instead of the full August amount.

$9.26 is no random figure, it is what you get if subtract the July amount from the August amount. Exactly. To the cent.
I raised this with the call centre person (yes, I have her name if required).
"Is this some massive coincidence or did someone make a mistake?"

The call centre person was adamant they do not make those sort of mistakes, and started, I'll say "suggesting" though there is a stronger word that is more befitting, that the fault must lie with my CC or the bank or anything else but not Vodafone.
This doth butter no parsnips, so I persisted that the error is most likely with Vodafone.
The call centre person is now completely out of her depth and has to consult with AR.
AR, it seems, is some sort of hallowed place that does not deal directly with customers though I insisted someone from there should ring me, sooner rather than later.
This seemed to have been accepted but I have not heard anything since 11:30.

I have again paid the August outstanding amount manually today.
I can only presume that the September invoice will arrive any day now saying I owe Aug+Sep.
Another adjustment should be required to prevent Aug being paid twice, according to what the call centre told me last month.
My greatest fear is that Aug will be paid twice, and I suspect getting money back from Vodafone is even more difficult than giving money to them.

Is there any way off this merry-go-round?

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graemeh

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#1377808 1-Sep-2015 15:58

kiwifidget: Is there any way off this merry-go-round?

I suspect the easiest way off the merry-go-round is to stop trying to get the call centre to fix things, just put up with the extra payment let the system figure it out on the next bill.

The billing system will be configured to take the "outstanding" balance each month.

I assume your manual payment is showing up eventually and the problem is that the amount to charge to your credit card has been determined before your manual payment is applied to the account.

Edit:

I think I've figured it out. The call centre staff are reducing the payment by $xx for the credit card and it looks to me like the system is reducing the payment by $xx when your payment is received so the payment amount is adjusted twice instead of just once.

kiwifidget

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#1377814 1-Sep-2015 16:21

That's a terrible position to put customers in.
Dont pay the outstanding amount and get your services cut off, or pay the outstanding amount immediately to avoid getting cut off and have it charged again on the due date.

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dylanp

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#1377815 1-Sep-2015 16:23

Hi

I've got it sorted. Will message you details.

Dylan

Equinox IT

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networkn

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#1377816 1-Sep-2015 16:26

I have to say, billing is VF's biggest weak area and has been going on for about 8 years now. Getting forms filled out AND processed properly is something that has been an issue for YEARS. It's incredibly frustrating.

Having said that, obviously not all of VF is useless, and hopefully a moderator will adjust that title accordingly for the OP.

Sorry for your troubles OP!

kiwifidget

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#1377818 1-Sep-2015 16:31

Why is it so terrible?
My mobile billing to CC works a charm to the point where I dont even bother checking it anymore.
I mistakenly assumed Vodafone BB would be the same and confusion around this led to the issues around the June and July invoices.

Please, moderator, can you change my thread title to "Why is Vodafone billing so useless????!!!!!"

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Coil

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#1377825 1-Sep-2015 16:54

kiwifidget: Why is it so terrible?
My mobile billing to CC works a charm to the point where I dont even bother checking it anymore.
I mistakenly assumed Vodafone BB would be the same and confusion around this led to the issues around the June and July invoices.

Please, moderator, can you change my thread title to "Why is Vodafone billing so useless????!!!!!"

Imagine a donkey that can carry 20KG of stuff. That was the billing platform back in the ihug days.
Now imagine that poor poor donkey carrying 200KG. Thats it now. The poor thing is stretched to its limit and has stuff hanging off stuff off other stuff.
So to alter something sometimes it will require a few things down the chain to be changed which can be never ending.
It isnt as simple as clicking your fingers and its fixed or in this case changed to work in a completely different fashion.

That being said, John explained the VCC stuff quite well.

Cheers

gregmcc

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#1377840 1-Sep-2015 17:31

TimA:
kiwifidget: Why is it so terrible?
My mobile billing to CC works a charm to the point where I dont even bother checking it anymore.
I mistakenly assumed Vodafone BB would be the same and confusion around this led to the issues around the June and July invoices.

Please, moderator, can you change my thread title to "Why is Vodafone billing so useless????!!!!!"

Imagine a donkey that can carry 20KG of stuff. That was the billing platform back in the ihug days.
Now imagine that poor poor donkey carrying 200KG. Thats it now. The poor thing is stretched to its limit and has stuff hanging off stuff off other stuff.
So to alter something sometimes it will require a few things down the chain to be changed which can be never ending.
It isnt as simple as clicking your fingers and its fixed or in this case changed to work in a completely different fashion.

That being said, John explained the VCC stuff quite well.

Cheers

I agree, that donkey has been having a workout for about 10 years now, maybe VF would consider a new donkey instead of flogging the already dead horse oops Donkey

Wheelbarrow01

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#1377866 1-Sep-2015 19:16

kiwifidget: Why is it so terrible?
My mobile billing to CC works a charm to the point where I dont even bother checking it anymore.
I mistakenly assumed Vodafone BB would be the same and confusion around this led to the issues around the June and July invoices.

Please, moderator, can you change my thread title to "Why is Vodafone billing so useless????!!!!!"

I was under the impression that VF's billing woes are at least partially caused by their persistence in purchasing/absorbing other companies (iHug, Paradise, Telstra, World Xchange etc) plus partnering with others (Sky etc) and the incompatibility of the plethora of different billing systems that have resulted from said acquisitions/partnerships.

I can see how trying to get all those billing systems to spit out the correct figures on the same piece of paper, in the right order, at the right time could be problematic.

Disclaimer:
Please note I am certainly no authority on this subject - it's just something I heard somewhere, at some stage, from someone. It's probably wrong, possibly misleading, or at least wildly inaccurate. I therefore take no credit for the statement, you can't rely on it, it's not even an opinion as such, and I bear no ill will to my competition :)

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Chorus NZ Ltd

04fuxake

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#1378156 2-Sep-2015 11:54

Touching wood..... I've not had any issues with Vodafone in the couple of years I've been with them for broadband, phone and Sky. I know roughly how much I owe them each month and pay them half of that each fortnight. Sometimes I'm under, sometimes I'm over but it just keeps ticking over.

Geektastic

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#1378196 2-Sep-2015 12:31

TimA:
kiwifidget: Why is it so terrible?
My mobile billing to CC works a charm to the point where I dont even bother checking it anymore.
I mistakenly assumed Vodafone BB would be the same and confusion around this led to the issues around the June and July invoices.

Please, moderator, can you change my thread title to "Why is Vodafone billing so useless????!!!!!"

Imagine a donkey that can carry 20KG of stuff. That was the billing platform back in the ihug days.
Now imagine that poor poor donkey carrying 200KG. Thats it now. The poor thing is stretched to its limit and has stuff hanging off stuff off other stuff.
So to alter something sometimes it will require a few things down the chain to be changed which can be never ending.
It isnt as simple as clicking your fingers and its fixed or in this case changed to work in a completely different fashion.

That being said, John explained the VCC stuff quite well.

Cheers

Put it all on SAP. That will fix it with no problems......! ;-0