2 year to fix a problem, compensation justified?

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › 2 year to fix a problem, compensation justified?

timbosan

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#33834 13-May-2009 11:52

About two years ago I had a Telecom account under my father-in-laws name and DSL with iHug. Then my father-in-law passed away and I transferred the phone Vodafone under my name. After a few issues (all minor) I had both services running ok.

However, there where a few quirks. We had voice mail that we weren't being billed for, which apparently was the TELECOM voice mail, and took a few months to get removed.

Then there was a problem with a toll bar. According to Vodafone and my account information, there was no toll bar on my phone line, however I was unable to make National or International calls unless I dialed 059 first.

I called up several times over the months and logged numerous faults, however nothing ever happened.

Now approx 2 years latter since the line was transferred and it is starting to get stupid. So I started to phone every couple of days, and after many attempts at raising faults, I finally got the issue sorted. However this was not without a lot of work and a huge amount of time on my part.

I was asked several times to perform some tests, dialing numbers and taking note of times, then calling back to open another faults, which I did on more than on occasion, however these faults still never got followed up.

All of this was also stopping me from signing up to a Vodafone Talk plan for fixed price tolls.

My question would be, since the problem took SO long to get fixed, and we got billed over $200 for international calls just last month because we couldn't sign up to the Talk plan, would I be justified in seeking compensation, after all 2 years must be a record! I think at least I should get the toll calls refunded.

Paul (from Vodafone), if you read this, PM me for my customer number to read the (apparent) many faults logged again my customer details.

I am interested in opinions......

marmel

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#214675 13-May-2009 18:20

Vodafone's customer service is seriously lacking and that is putting it nicely. If it has taken nearly two years to get something fixed that you have actually paid for how long do you think it will take to get some compensation. I suggest you hire "War & Peace" from the library to read whilst you are on hold....

eXDee

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#214696 13-May-2009 19:42

Wow, thats quite bad, if you cant get this matter sorted i'd suggest additional advice from the TDR. We left vodafone last year for poor service and latency (interleaving). Though switching to telstra marginally improved service at least latency is better.

honem

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#214732 13-May-2009 23:00

timbosan:
My question would be, since the problem took SO long to get fixed, and we got billed over $200 for international calls just last month because we couldn't sign up to the Talk plan, would I be justified in seeking compensation, after all 2 years must be a record! I think at least I should get the toll calls refunded.

As a former Telecom CSR i'ld like to put give you some feedback from the 123 side of the fence

You had a Telecom Call Minder and a Telecom Toll bar on your line for 2 years. Am I right ?

Everything provisioned on the Telecom network has a service order associated with it and a code on the line card denoting what knd of services you have on your line. Even if you had say a call minder like service from say Slingshot for example you would still have a code loaded against your line card. If a service order went wrong somewhere the services on a customer's line don't get loaded properly or taken off proper.

So for example to my mind If I were sitting at Telecom and put your phone number into the system in theory I would be able to tell right off what was wrong by looking at what service codes are loaded on your line card and if any service orders posted correctly.In theory it would either have the codes for the Telecom Call Minder and the Telecom Toll bar on your account or a service order history of a service order being posted incorrectly. From there it woud of been a matter of contacting the provisioning team via email/phone to sort out getting those taken off your account for you.

Now as for compensation yes you are definately due it. How much would be an area of debate. Yes you were inconvinienced by them taking 24 months to fix it. Which is definately a long time for them to get a service removed from your line from a previous service provider (never seen a service on a line from an old provider for that length of time during my time at telecom). And yes you did try your level best to get things fixed. BTW It is fixed now right ?

timbosan:
All of this was also stopping me from signing up to a Vodafone Talk plan for fixed price tolls.

This would be the deciding factor IMHO of how much you should be compensated. If the only option was this Vodafone Talk plan for fixed price tolls then of course the $200 is due to you. That is if Vodafone were making it physically impossible to use you phone with any other cheap calling option.

But the thing is if there were other options out there for you to get cheaper calling then no I would personally not be crediting you that amount. As a Telecom CSR I was allowed to give for each call $250.00. As this woud of been audited eventually I would of been seeking the advice of my team supervisor for this one ($200.00 in one call is unusual). What he would of pointed out that despite not being on the calling plan you wanted at the end of the day it was your choice to pick up the phone and make those calls on your current calling plan. You could of used your other options to make those calls like a calling card or a Home 0800 number or some fancy mobile calling plan. So my supervisor would of told me to offer you just one months free line rental for undue circumstances.

But let me play devil advocate here to my own opinions. If you were being chargeda anything for these 2 services that were not removed then I do believe you should be given a credit equal to 24 months x the cost of the services. This could work out more than the $200 asked for here.

These are my opinions , let me know what you think of them.

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- Hone , Often accused of Excess Verbosity
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alvstar2001

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#214761 14-May-2009 07:49

well most or maybe all vodafone csrs are outsourced to different companies like salesforce, or only salesforce? perhaps its salesforce management that are slack as well as the trainers.. ok, ive been to a "salesforce" site and found a unprofessional environment where csrs had psp's, laptops, stereos all set up next to their desks that would contribute to slack of customer service, and a bad customer experience... i think its time for the employer vodafone to pay salesforce a visit..

alvstar2001

tripp

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#214847 14-May-2009 15:42

Now timbosan, who do you think you are :P

Vodafone has given you bad service for the last 2 years, you will shut up and enjoy it otherwise they will make you run some more pointless tests and transfer your problem 1/2 around the world (or if you really lucky into the black hole that seems to be customer service).

I am still waiting for a credit from 2 months ago when they told me i would get a free 0800 number setup, next bill they charge me for it and the number did not even work after a week of getting the text message saying it was up and running, then had to call the "black hole" and they told me i had to goto a shop to get the credit, told them that was bull and to remove the 0800 and credit the setup back (which should have been free like i was told). Next bill came still no credit so they can keep the $20 because it is no point yelling at them anymore as things just don't get done, really not worth my time running around after them, maybe this is how they make their profit, give bad service and wait for the customer to get so <insert bad word here> off they just dont bother.

So good luck getting anything out of them apart from a few text messages and maybe a few free mins.

They really need to return to how they were back in 2000/2001 you could call them anytime, get a kiwi who had access to do things.

The only good thing about vodafone is JohnR the day he goes i will pay out my contract as he is the only person there that seems to know how to fix things or how to get things sorted.