I'm well aware that VF are undergoing some major changes which will be unpleasant for all those affected (been there, done that), but I honestly did not expect to be almost completely ignored and treated so badly.

Last Friday week (29/3) I went into the VF WestCity store and bought an S10+ on my plan for the missus. I had Red+Essentials with 22Gb data (at $69.99) and 2 sharers, as well as 3 handsets on interest-free. My loyalty discounts were pretty sweet - I was getting $40mo off with the Red Plan Family discount of $30, plus another $10 "exclusive" discount. My total bill each month is around $310 - which I would say is a fairly decent amount. I had only 2 months left on the wife's original S8+ so I paid that off in-store. We are a data-intensive family (or rather, my daughter is) and we easily go thru 22Gb in a month.

I was told that this was a resign and that the price of the plan was now $79.99. I wasn't too happy about it, but I thought since I still had my discounts I would be sweet. After leaving the store and getting home I noticed the contract showed Red+Essentials with 15Gb of data, and the no mention of the discounts.

On Saturday I tried calling the call center to find out why I had been put on a MORE expensive plan with LESS data, and was advised to speak to the Retention Team (who BTW are in Manila now) - scripted response: "I'd love to help you but nothing I can do". Pretty pathetic response, so I decided to send a FB Messenger message.

No response for 4 days despite a follow up message, as well as posting on the VF FB page complaining.

I finally got a reply on the Tuesday saying "we simply cannot provide a new handset with your old mobile plan. Customers would need to resign onto our newer plan in order to purchase a new handset through their mobile plans. Loyal discounts and offers are only valid if the customer stays on the same plan hence cannot be converted over. Unfortunately we cannot offer something that isn't available anymore and if the retention team cannot assist you regarding this, I do not see any other channels capable of assist you any further. We would love to help but there isn't much we could do about this. We sincerely apologise for the bad experience."

Bollocks.

After this I called the call center again and ended up in Billing, with a nice helpful lady (from Manila) who said she could see I had discounts previously and didn't know why they couldn't remain since I was on the same plan. She escalated it to the store I went into and advised I would receive a call back within 4 hours. It's now Saturday and I'm still waiting.

Meantime, back on Messenger I decided to ask the question about alternative plans, and was asked if I wanted someone from Sales to call me back to discuss. I said yes. I'm still waiting for the call. This was on Tuesday and it is now Saturday.

During the week I called 2Degrees who were more than happy to offer me their 30Gb sharing plan at $40mo per person, with a $30mo discount for moving across.

Yesterday (Friday), I called the Retention Team again and ended up with someone in NZ. After explaining the situation to her and telling her about the 2Degrees offer, I was told there was nothing they could do for me and to call the WestCity store as it is their issue to sort out and resolve since they sold it to me - but she also said that it's unlikely the store will be able to do anything. SERIOUSLY??? WTH???

I really don't want to move to 2Degrees as we go to the USA and Oz a bit and VF's $5 roaming is great. Plus I now have a brand new shiny S10+ that I would have to pay for in full, so really I am totally screwed.

No one at VF seemed particularly helpful (except the Billing lady) and worse of all, no one cared. No one cared that I've been ripped off on my plan, no one cared I'd lost all my loyalty discounts, no one cared if I stayed with VF or left.

All I want is my damn 22Gb of data and my discounts back. Or if that can't be done, upgraded to a plan with MORE data (not less) and given some sort of loyalty recognition for the fact that I have been with VF for years, I upgrade handsets for the entire family every 18-24 months and I spend almost $4000 per year with them.

But this is obviously way too much to ask.

Jason (Parris) - if you are reading this, the entire customer "service" experience with VF is crap. It seems no one there has any empowerment to resolve a customer issue.

Sorry for the b*tching but I thought since this forum is frequented by VF staff that are quite helpful, maybe someone could look into this for me and give me back what I had.

B*tch session over and done.

Cheers.