Vodafone Website Rant

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › Vodafone Website Rant

slotherby

85 posts

Master Geek

#38335 28-Jul-2009 12:27

Why is Vodafone's web site so crap?

I try to use the "My Account" section to change things but is always comes up with errors and tells me to try later, or I get page not found errors.

I also notice lots of 'Errors on page' but when I try to use the 'What do you think of this page' reporting function it doesn't work either!

I have tried IE7 & IE8, both have similar issues.

Even staff from the likes of Digital Mobile tell me how much the web interface sucks.

Please Mr Vodafone can you invest some more time and money into getting a website that has some use!!

Rant over.

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19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#239671 28-Jul-2009 12:33

Are you prepay or On account

If on account are you on a TLKer or TXTer plan?

John

slotherby

85 posts

Master Geek

#239673 28-Jul-2009 12:37

I am On Account - TalkZone Plan.

Need to change the FCNs, got two done but now only get errors trying to do the others.

Regs

4066 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Snowflake

#239680 28-Jul-2009 12:48

i second your rant. what a terrible site/interface. (on account, business account, talkzone)

Sales Engineer
Snowflake
www.snowflake.com

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farcus

1554 posts

Uber Geek

#239683 28-Jul-2009 12:54

yes indeed, possibly one of the worst unusable corporate websites in New Zealand. I have given up trying ot use it for any form of service. I guess they keep it crap to drive people to the pay for use telephone numbers.

MikeGayner

183 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#239707 28-Jul-2009 13:33

I agree totally, Vodafone's website is absolutely terrible. It took me 15 minutes to figure out how to make a credit card payment. I constantly get "page not found" and "try again later" messages.

littlescott

70 posts

Master Geek

#239891 28-Jul-2009 19:04

I would have to agree. Took me *ages* to find the section that shows me my data usage for the current month.

I only found it because I went to update some personal information (hint, it's hidden in the 'manage my account' window that pops up when you er.., manage your account).

allstarnz

1719 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#239963 28-Jul-2009 22:08

+1 don't like the vodafone website, can't ever find anything on there quickly.

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slotherby

85 posts

Master Geek

#242442 4-Aug-2009 15:52

I find it interesting that no one from Vodafone tried to even defend their website. Not even a - "What doesn't work for you?"

bcourtney

652 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#242455 4-Aug-2009 16:00

slotherby: I find it interesting that no one from Vodafone tried to even defend their website. Not even a - "What doesn't work for you?"

Vodafone has a forum on their own website if you'd like a more official response

ArranH

161 posts

Master Geek

#242487 4-Aug-2009 16:33

I complained about this the other day (in my recent regular problems I've had with Vodafone) and even after telling the rep that I tried it with both IE and Firefox on two PCs running two different operating systems he was still convinced that the problem was at my end.

I do know that at least some of the Business Analysts who are ultimately responsible for a poorly designed site are former super users with no formal training as BAs. As a former senior BA with a degree in it I've never thought much of super users becoming BAs. But thats just me, and no offense to those people out there.

Either way the site breaks way to many fundamentals in HCI design as well as being as poorly designed as their background systems. Just another reason I'm leaving Vodafone.

heavenlywild

5060 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#242494 4-Aug-2009 16:37

I tried topping up my mobile last week on Friday but it didn't load after putting my in credit card details. And yes, sometimes it comes up with an error page too.

Thank goodness Vodafone isn't a bank!

Buying a Tesla? Use my Tesla referral link and we both get discounts and credits.

CB_24

366 posts

Ultimate Geek

#242497 4-Aug-2009 16:46

I noticed the main 'Top Up' link doesnt appear to work and throws back all sorts of problems, but there is another 'Top Up' link further down that I use and it works fine.
Still not good though

Ashka

139 posts

Master Geek

#242584 4-Aug-2009 18:29

I've been complaining to Vodafone about their "Made by a badly addicted to flash 5 year old." website for over 2 years.
No replies & no improvement.

I had an on account Mobile phone and a mobile vodem 3 gig data plan. Trying to get any up to date information about vodem data usage and/or phone calls made via 'My account' would make a Saint swear. All made even worse as I was using Vodafone's laughingly called mobile broadband to get online.

My mobile broadband has been changed over to a XT Telecom, all mobile modem usage information is now easily accessed and the phone will be next if Vodafone doesn't improve.

littlescott

70 posts

Master Geek

#242597 4-Aug-2009 18:52

Ashka: I've been complaining to Vodafone about their "Made by a badly addicted to flash 5 year old." website for over 2 years.
No replies & no improvement.

I had an on account Mobile phone and a mobile vodem 3 gig data plan. Trying to get any up to date information about vodem data usage and/or phone calls made via 'My account' would make a Saint swear. All made even worse as I was using Vodafone's laughingly called mobile broadband to get online.

My mobile broadband has been changed over to a XT Telecom, all mobile modem usage information is now easily accessed and the phone will be next if Vodafone doesn't improve.

Take a look at other vodafone webpages (uk, german etc). It's the same site layout so the problems not specific to NZ. I wouldn't expect that any complaining we're going to do will make it any different :)

davidlegend

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#243643 6-Aug-2009 19:22

Hey guys - I understand your frustration. I'm part of the team trying to solve these problems and we're acutely aware there's a load of stuff to fix.

To answer a few problems:

Can't find anything
It's a big site with a huge spread of information, but we've been working hard to make it easier to find. We spent a good deal of effort reworking the information architecture recently, which involved 1,000s of people in user testing. We're pretty sure we've made a big improvement here - but if you have any specific issues, feel free to let me know.

Loads of errors
The back end of our site interfaces with a Siebel implementation, which hasn't been the most reactive or stable system in the world. There's all sorts of people trying to fix that, but we're taking a different tack to try and improve the website. By going straight to the system that is the source of the data, we're routing round Siebel so we should see an improvement in reliability and responsiveness. There's also a new UI element to the work, which is testing really well.

Feedback link
This worries me, because I can't reproduce an error with this. I don't have an IE7 to hand, but IE6 and IE8 are working fine for me. This is the way we monitor issues with the site, so if you have any specific problems, so click the feedback link at the bottom of the page and let us know. It's monitored the whole time to give us targets for continuous improvement.

I hope that's shed a little more light on the subject - and I'm sorry we're still causing so much pain.

If you want to follow up post to this thread or to our forum at http://forum.vodafone.co.nz/index.php?showforum=28

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