labby.co.uk

I just emailed this to the Vodafone CEO (personal details removed):

Mr. Lawrence

Re: order number [redacted], [redacted]

Recently I signed up for a preorder Google Nexus One phone and have suffered systemic failure after systemic failure which I would like to share with you.

My blog http://labby.co.uk covers my main issues, but I would like to give you a full summary in the hope that something can be done to prevent the errors reoccurring in the future.

Issue 1:
I preordered the Nexus One on the day the prerelease opened and was promised delivery on the release day.
The next day I received an email from yourselves telling me the Nexus One was out of stock and I would not be receiving it for at leat 7-10 working days.
I contacted the number on the email (0844 854 0430, please see issue 2 below for my problems with this) and spoke to one of your agents who told me that you were indeed out of stock and could not give any sort of delivery timeline at all.

I blogged about the email I received at http://labby.co.uk/2010/04/vodafone-nexus-one-preorder-out-of-stock/ and the story was rapidly taken up by the Metro newspaper and became a featured story on MSN Tech http://tech.uk.msn.com/news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=153203392 as well as countless other blogs and tech sites.

I started a thread on the Vodafone E-forums http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/topic/58308-vodafone-online-store-confirmation-needed-for-email-i-received/ to see if there was anything that could be done and one of the moderators on there informed me that it appeared to be in error even though the person I spoke to directly told me the email was correct.

After much going backwards and forwards I received an email telling me the original email was indeed in error, but the situation definitely removed the pleasure I had thinking about the phone I would be receiving soon.

Issue 2:
The email I received in issue 1 above gave me 2 options for help – the 0844 number or the info@ email address. I wanted the matter resolved speedily so I called the 0844 number.

I was waiting for over 20 minutes simply for someone to pick up the telephone which I find completely unacceptable – especially as it is a local rate non geographic number meaning that I would be charged for the cost of the call.

At the end of the telephone call I told the agent about the fact that I had been on hold for a very long time and it was unacceptable, her flippant reply was that I should have just called 191 and it would have been free. I told her that the email made no mention of calling 191 (“If you have any further queries please contact us on 0844 854 0430 or email info@v-store.co.uk, quoting your order number as your reference.”) and she agreed to credit me for the call charges involved once I received my telephone bill.

Issue 3:
The delivery address had been entered incorrectly instore when I preordered ([redacted] rather than the correct [redacted]). When I realised the error I called Vodafone and was told that web orders cannot be dealt with via the 0844 number (see issue 4 below).
I returned to the store and the store manager emailed your info@ address with me CC’d into the email asking for the address to be altered and for me to be informed when it was done. To this day I have received no reply regarding this, and after several attempts at trying to get the address changed both instore and via the telephone I was eventually told by a sales agent instore that the address had been successfully changed.

The phone was still delivered to the wrong address which is a clear systemic failure.

Issue 4:
As far as the customer is concerned it makes no difference whether an order is placed online, instore or using smoke signals. When a customer wishes to discuss issues with an order the last thing they expect to hear is that the person at the other end of the phone cannot do anything (“We don’t have access to that system”), they expect Vodafone to be able to deal with their account queries.

Issue 5:
Vodafone stores should give their contact numbers out as a matter of course.
I called the 0844 number and asked for a contact telephone number for the store I made the purchase from and was told that they could not give store numbers out.
I thought you were a Phone company, surely it makes sense to give store numbers out to resolve problems.

The above has been posted to my blog and I await your reply.

In good faith

[redacted]

Incoming search terms for the article:

• vodafone bad delivery 2010
• 0844 854 0430
• vodafone ceo contact details

Related Posts:

• I have one of the first Nexus One phones on release day!
• Nexus One box contents for Vodafone UK
• Vodafone Nexus One Preorder out of stock
• I have just pre-ordered the first Nexus One on Vodafone!
• Comet UK delivery problems and Belling Range cookers

As of 8:35 AM this morning I have become one of the first people to receive their new NEXUS ONE phones!!

After all the trials and tribulations it has arrived safely!!

I also have one of the easiest phone numbers I have ever had

I can remember this number \o/

Related Posts:

• Message sent to Vodafone CEO
• Nexus One box contents for Vodafone UK
• Vodafone Nexus One Preorder out of stock
• I have just pre-ordered the first Nexus One on Vodafone!
• Comet UK delivery problems and Belling Range cookers

Saturday 10 April update:
Delivery time was scheduled between 8AM and 12PM, I got a phone call at 7:11AM.

“Morning, we have your delivery and will be there within 20 minutes”.

7:30 AM We finally had our new cooker but in all the refunds and new receipts the part about removing the cooker from the packaging had been omitted leaving me with a cooker and enough polystyrene to build a – well something big made out of polystyrene.

Typical though – after all the time waiting for it to arrive it is perfect barbecue weather.

Now I just have to wait a short while for my tame gas fitter to wake up.

Good luck in the Grand National all :)

==================================

Friday 9 April update:
The store manager failed to contact me, instead getting somebody from the delivery depot to contact me to explain the problem

“The oven dial looked like it had a printing error and appeared to show the wrong temperature values so we would not ship it due to health and safety concerns.

We contacted Belling who told us that there was no printing error and the values were in the correct location.

We are willing to refund your delivery charges and can deliver at your convenience.”

I told him that I had not actually paid a delivery charge as it had been price matched from the Comet web site and said that I would happily accept the £44.95 as a goodwill gesture to which he said that he had the power to authorise that and he would indeed do so.

I asked for delivery tomorrow (Saturday) and he said he would check on it and get back to me within 30 minutes.

True to his word he did call me back and offered me a Saturday morning delivery 8AM to 12PM and confirmed he was authorising a goodwill payment of £44.95 which would be credited back to my card and if it was not forthcoming within 28 days to contact the 0844 telephone number.

I will return to the store in the near with my card as I was informed previously that the only way I can get a refund is instore with the card.

==================================

A little background first: I am married with 3 children aged 5, 3 and 2 that purely because of what has happened with Comet are living on takeaway food as I have no cooker and therefore no way to cook for them.

I recently purchased a Belling Range Cooker CCANG from Comet Walsall. Let me tell you all about it.

We decided to purchase a Range sized cooker as we are a fairly large family and will make use of the extra rings and ovens on a daily basis.

We decided to go for an all gas model rather than dual fuel and discovered the Belling CCANG available on the Comet web site for £799.99 with free delivery.

We visited Comet Walsall and after asking a couple of pertinent questions regarding the gas we made the purchase instore there and then.

Comet offer a price match in their stores so they agreed to waive the usual £45 delivery charge and promised to deliver Easter Sunday, which to be honest I had to double check with them – who would want to be working on a weekend during a holiday – but it was correct.

I was given a timeslot of 8 AM to 6 PM for delivery which tied me down to the house – no delivering Easter eggs to my family that day but for a Range cooker it was worth missing out on my Smarties cup egg for a day.

Expecting the company to deliver as promised I sold my cooker ready for the new cooker to arrive and be fitted by a gas safe friend who was waiting for my call.

Comet have online delivery tracking available so I could check constantly which I did.

I checked just before 5 PM and all was well, the delivery was still proceeding as normal. At 5:10 PM I checked again and saw this message:

Delivery and/or collection not confirmed.
Please ring us on 0844 800 95 95 so we can advise you on your delivery and/or collection. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

I didn’t quite grasp the message – delivery not confirmed – maybe I had missed their phone call? I checked the telephone and nobody had called so that wasn’t it.

I called the number and a recorded voice informed me that the lines were closed at 5PM and to call back the next day at 9:00 AM.

This I found annoying – why have deliveries scheduled and close the call centre that deals with delivery issues before the deliveries have finished? Surely it would be viable to have call centre workers working between 8AM and 6 PM in case of problems arising in the course of a normal day.

I phoned back the next day (Easter Monday) and spoke to one of the call centre staff who informed me that the cooker had been damaged and could not be delivered.

I was asked if I wanted a new identical cooker delivered, but the first available day would be Wednesday (8AM to 12PM) which I accepted.

As soon as I got off the phone to the call centre I phoned back and spoke to their customer support line to let them know that I was upset at their failure to keep their delivery promise.

In the time between paying for the cooker and Easter Monday the price of the cooker had dropped by £50 from £799.99 to £749.99 so the call centre agent I spoke to informed me I was entitled to the price match guarantee and if I took the receipt into the store they would refund me £50 onto my card.

I went back to Comet Walsall with my card and receipt and asked them to price match me the difference which they did immediately, but the only way they could do it was to cancel my existing order from 26 March and create a new order. They put the new order through and kept the same Wednesday delivery slot.

Wednesday morning came and just after 9 AM I had a phone call. “Great the cooker is arriving” I thought so I cheerfully (yeah, me at 9 AM and I was cheerful!) answered the phone expecting “We’ll be with you in 20 minutes”.

What I got instead was a call centre agent informing me that the cooker had a problem and wouldn’t be delivered that day and that the next available delivery would be Thursday morning.

I again phoned customer services to register another complaint.

I made another trip to the store and talked to a sales manager who offered to upgrade me to the next available model as the problem was with the entire batch of Anthracite Belling CCANG.

He checked the computer and found that the next model up was £1200 so he told me that he would not make a goodwill gesture for that much.

He checked the computer and said they had a silver coloured cooker identical to the one I had originally ordered that they could deliver and would be willing to deliver it next day at no extra charge.

He said in conclusion to the conversation that if the silver cooker had a problem the only recourse he had would be to refund my money.

I accepted the silver cooker delivery promise and left the store.

Thursday (this morning) came and I got a phone call just after 9 AM. It was the same person I spoke to on Wednesday. My first words were “tell me it’s about to be delivered” and her reply was “I am sorry but the silver model has exactly the same fault as the anthracite model so we can’t deliver this one either”.

I was fuming at this point and involuntarily almost swore “oh for f” and cut myself off before I finished the sentence.

I phoned the store and spoke to the sales manager I had met the previous day. He told me to come back to the store and he would refund my card. I asked to speak to the store manager but was told he was off until Friday (tomorrow). The sales manager took my mobile number (he already had my home number from the order) and promised me the manager would call me tomorrow.

I came off the phone to the store and again rang the customer support line (option 4 option 2 – I know it by heart now) to complain again.

I told the customer support agent what had happened not once, not twice but three times now and that it was completely unacceptable.

I also told her about the conversation I had with the sales manager where he offered to upgrade me to the next model but balked at the £1200 price tag. I asked her if the store manager himself would have the discretion to upgrade me to the next model and she told me that he did have the power to do that but there was no guarantee that he would as £400 is a large amount and maybe he would consider meeting me halfway.

This puts me at right now, where tomorrow I will speak to the manager and find out where I go from here.

My ideal outcome would be a new cooker – the one I ordered or alternatively the next model up with the same features.

My guess is that they will refund me and lose a customer for life. A customer that impulse buys cookers costing nearly £1000 without thinking twice.

Incoming search terms for the article:

• belling gas cooker problems

Related Posts:

• Message sent to Vodafone CEO
• I have one of the first Nexus One phones on release day!