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We've had a number of issues with Vodafone, we've detailed them below. This page is a running log of the problems we encounter.

history

On 20091121 we went to Maidenhead's Vodafone™ to change the name on my wife's account. To do this we had to take our marriage certificate with us to provide and evidence for the account holder's name change. This is quite a normal request by most people who do any account administration.

A few months had passed since we were led to believe this was carried out successfully. On 20100204 we found that the account names had not be changed. We made a phone call to Vodafone™ who, after 30 minutes told us that they would be changing the account name by deleting the original account and creating a new one.

We later received a text message with a verification code for us to create a new account.

This process was broken as the account pin number was no longer working.

We had to make a further call to Vodafone™ to try and rectify this.

This time we were told that we could not do this, so we asked spoke to their line manager, who this time said they would make a note on the account, since they could see that we had previously presented a marriage certificate to a shop (because on 20091121 the Maidenhead branch had made a change to the account although this is incomplete. The line manager Ann (who's last name is unknown to us but does assure us she is the only Ann at the Cardiff call center) said we should call back in the morning to their transfer of account department and they would definitely do this.

On 20100205 we phoned Vodafone™ to make this happen. However, this is where it really grinds my gears, firstly we were told this is not at all possible due to data protections.

# but maidenhead had already seen the certificate # This wasn't possible despite the process starting - the branch did see the certificate and did record this in some shape or form # can't the maidenhead branch forward a copy of it # ... apparently not, they're unreachable # but we can provide any required details # They have to see it on paper.

So as it stands yesterday we could see bills online, today we can't the account is inaccessible as there are two names registered against it and I suspect they have marked it for no further use as they can't tell which name is the current holder.

We're also out of pocket for approximately 3-4 hours worth of time spent to try and rectify this, plus the shoe leather and further time required to go to a Vodafone™ branch to wash, rinse and repeat the process. Only you can work out how much that time and effort is worth to you.

I seriously hope that something can come of this, perhaps Vodafone™ can sort out what can and can't be done on the phone and how to resolve problems without conflicting with their own staff.

It was at this point where the vodafone customer service assistant promised a £10 credit to the account for the additional leg work that we have to repeat to get the account details changed.

20100206

In the Vodafone™ Maidenhead shop we found that the assistant (who we shall call Alex) was able to speak to the customer services department and tell them that the name on the account should now be set how they have it there. This was very strange to us as their records showed that the account name was in the correct married name. This shows that their systems are fragmented and as broken as their procedures. We cannot control their account naming so why they can't fix this over the phone is peculiar.

update

We have now tried to log into the account online today, but this has just told us that the account couldn't be used because the pin number is not correct for the account. This is highly strange as the pin number works from the handset when we phone Vodafone™.

further update

So today we called them to find out that the financial details of the account were still in my wife's old name. The Vodafone™ branch customer assistant was told on the phone from the customer services department that there was no trace left of the old name.

So the pin number still doesn't work, so the customer services people assure me now that the financial details are updated again (I've heard this before).

We now have to wait 15-20 minutes before we can try and log in using a new temporary pin number (so we can create an account to see that the details are updated).

From the numerous phone calls to Vodafone™, my wife now knows her mobile number!

Right so, another call to Vodafone™ over an hour later, and neither pin numbers work. We ask for the account number and try to login that way. That doesn't work either, so they send us an email that should have a clickable link to log in with. Finally something works.

We login to find out that everything is UPPERCASE in the account (nice, did someone leave caps lock on?).

My wife found out on the phone that there was an account name STILL in the previous name, some head-chewing and this should now be right, but we've heard that before.

refund

Well, we were promised £10 compensation to be credited to the account, but however today we have noticed that there has been no credit to the account and this has required yet another phone call to the vodafone™ customer service department.

We have been promised this will appear on the next bill but we will see if that's true or not. However, from what we can see on the account all the places on the account where we can see an account name does appear to have been updated at last.

And it turns out today that the refund will have to come off the next bill as they've made some more mistakes so that the bill has already been processed. It looks like the promise for the £10 reduction in the bill was forgotten about.

email bills

The account has always had online bills, with email notifications. We have recently noticed that after making the adjustments above, somehow, someone in Vodafone™ has managed to turn junk mail on, and online bill notifications off.

billed from the past

Turns out from looking that the bill for Feb has a £10 credit attached on 20100403 we spotted a £0.42 charge for WAP. The phone doesn't have the ability to access the internet from the handset and my wife doesn't send MMS messages, we made a call to Vodafone to find more information. The customer services person refunded this cost as it can't be explained.

call regarding the account

On 20110523 we had a call from a customer advisor at Vodafone (08080600702). It turns out that the postcode for the account still isn't right. Apparently the account has now been updated to have the correct postcode, we'll see.