A few months ago I was browsing the Vodafone online store. I found a nice plan which offered complimentary international roaming for up to 90 days in a calendar year. Since I travel a lot this was a really intriguing offering.

Late last year, when the iPhone 6 came out, I’d signed up for a new 24-month contract with Vodafone and got a new iPhone 6+ (after previously being a month-to-month customer), so I was curious as to what upgrade options Vodafone would offer me (as I was only ~6 months in to a 24-month contract, with the iPhone). I clicked through, and was pleasantly surprised to find they were offering a “Loyalty bonus, to help you [me] upgrade today”, which wiped out most of the early contract change fees (leaving only $159.99) that I would have otherwise been liable for.

Excited by this, I completed the transaction, switching to Vodafone’s $100 per-month plan, which included complimentary overseas roaming, and a Samsung Galaxy S5 phone (which I was interested in playing with, but not using). Everything went through, with the check-out process indicating that the loyalty bonus they offered had been applied.

Afterwards, when I logged into my online Vodafone account, I noticed that a few things were wrong. One of the things that was wrong was that the early-upgrade fee that was meant to be nullified by “Loyalty bonus, to help you [me] upgrade today” was being charged to me. I contacted Vodafone via their social media presence, and was eventually emailing with Ash, who was quick to fix everything up for me. Things were corrected in less than 24 hours and I was very, very impressed with Vodafone.

Everything was good. And I was so happy with the experience that I recommended my friend and business partner, Jon, sign up similarly. Jon did so, and was presented with a near-identical set of options and similar offer of a “Loyalty bonus, to help you [Jon] upgrade today”. Jon was excited and pleased by this offer, and took advantage of it, signing up for the same $100 per-month plan, with an included handset (in his case, a Sony Xperia).

Unfortunately, this is where Jon’s experience diverges from mine. Jon’s plan didn’t activate correctly (certain features, such as “Data Workout”, and a few other things didn’t appear). He was also being charged a full early-change fee, which differed from the “Loyalty bonus, to help you [Jon] upgrade today” that he was offered during the store checkout process.

Jon also contact Vodafone’s social media team, and again received totally different treatment to me.

First they asked him to sign a statutory declaration attesting that the screenshots he’d collected from the online store during the process (taking screenshots is something myself, and most of my friends are in the habit of doing after many years of shonky online businesses – just like Vodafone) were not faked. (Wow..!) Then it got worse:

Can I ask your opinion on whether you thought it was unusual that having only completed and paid 5 months of a contract for a phone valued round $1000, that the offer didn’t appear to be priced correctly?  (That there would clearly be a significant loss to Vodafone if it were to waive the termination fees original agreed to as part of your contract).  If that does happen with any transaction with us, make sure you give us a call to clarify that info.

Why would he think that Vodafone offering him a loyalty bonus, especially after his friend had just received one with minimal issues, was strange? (Incredible!)

We’re now nearly two months following this, and Vodafone have so far managed to setup his $100 per-month plan incorrectly (it doesn’t have “Data Workout” on it, nor does it have complimentary overseas roaming), constantly harass him for collection of money owing (despite promising in writing to put a hold while they look into it), and demand the return of the phone he received from them (while “allowing” him to remain on the $100 per-month plan that includes the phone!)

He’s had hours and hours of phone calls with them trying to resolve this, but they steadfastly refuse to fix anything properly, and prefer wasting (literally) days with Jon on the phone. They also don’t communicate with each other, so while one representative says the roaming issue is fixed, the other calls up demanding payment of roaming fees.

The TIO got involved, but claimed they couldn’t handle it. They are now in the middle of reconsidering their position, but this takes 8 weeks.

What’s the point of this post? Well, you should never use Vodafone. It’s not worth being accused of lying, being a criminal, and wasting days of your life on the phone to them.

Use another carrier. I will be moving the moment I get the chance, and despite my initial positive experience I will not be recommending any of my family members switch over (I was initially planning to do this).

If their store lies, then nothing they offer can be trusted. Nothing. Do not use Vodafone.

And besides, why treat one customer nicely and the other like a criminal, in exactly the same situation? Vodafone has a lot of work to do if they’re to hit their objective(s).

Update – 13 April 2015: the bag finally (it was dated mid-March!?) arrived, the phone was sent back, and this morning Vodafone called Jon to offer… the same thing they did last time. Useless bastards.

Update 2 – 13 April 2015 (afternoon): Now they’re saying that Jon can keep the phone. After it’s already been sent back. But they’ve also agreed he can port out to another carrier.

If anyone has any questions about this, please contact me (info at bottom of about page). Jon gave me his permission to post this, as well as the images of his emails.