Plugged back into the Matrix (Now includes video rant!)

[Mokong]

Finally got internet on in the new house I moved into back in Mid November.

 

WOHOOOOOOOO

 

(I know I made a post in a thread here last night, I been going to my parents house every now and then for a quick internet fix)

 

 

Long story

 

So finally we got a council house with dirt cheap rent after 4 years on the waiting list. Got keys mid November. Previous tenant just up and left, abandoned the house and took all their stuff bout 4 months ago so al utilities were still in her name.

 

Called Electricity and Gas companies, requested a scan of my proof of tenancy which I did and emailed to them. Those accounts were changed into my name and services turned on in 3 days nice and fast.

 

But the broadband was a hell of an ordeal.

 

Found out previous tenants had it with Vodafone, couldn't open an account with another provider while there was an active account on the line so I called Vodafone, explained, they wanted the proof of tenancy also, sent it to them and was told.. "yeah 3 - 5 days" and should be sorted. If that had happened I would have been more than happy to then talk to their sales team about setting up my account with them like I did with power and gas

 

5 days passed, called them up for an update, still nothing, told a "few more days"..... this went on for 3 weeks, no real reason for why it taking so long other than "it is being worked on but will take time" Or something similar.

 

At this point I ruled out any hope of me opening an account with Vodafone when it does finally get sorted.

 

Then on the 4th week got a bit pissed off, called Vodafone again, explained everything from the start. Then I get told "Oh we need you to fill in a Change of Ownership form"...I was like "WTF? I've called up how many times now in the last 4 weeks and all I was ever asked for was Proof of Tenancy, nobody said anything about filling in any forms"

 

 

After a bit of back and forth said feck it, tell me where to download the form I'll fill it in, scan it and email it. ANd I asked her "if I fill in this form you're not going to stick me with the previous persons unpaid bill or open an account in my name? I just want the line freed up and then I'll decide which provider I want to go with, don't want to be forced into picking you just cause that's who the last people were it"

 

She said no, nothing like that would happen

 

So I go d/l and print the form, start filling it in then realise it requires the signature of the previous tenant who I've never met and as I said earlier in post and told every VF agent I spoke to including teh one who told me to fill in the formjust up and left never even told the council. Nobodies seen them in 4 months (from what neighbours told me the girl who used to live here up and ran away with another guy and the guy she was living with in now my house stayed for awhile on his own slowly moved out his stuff then left....but all accounts were in the girls name)

 

Also last page of the form, Direct Debit details....Bitch was trying to trick me into setting up an account

 

Rang back, got another guy explained EVERYTHING....AGAIN, including the bit about this form...he asks me "so do you not know the previous tenant"

 

 

I JUST TOLD YOU I DIDN'T!!!!

 

 

Finally he says he'll look into it, says doesn't need the form filled in, Proof of Tenancy is all they need and they already have it (4 frakking weeks now)

 

Puts me on hold comes back and says "oh sorry reason we haven't been able to cancel it is cause the previous person only had Home Phone with us, Broadband with someone else and they need that cancelled before they can cancel the landline account.

 

I was like...FRAK OFF... nobody gets home phone with one provider and broadband with another.... companies don't even give that option, if you get broadband you get home phone too it all works off the same line.

 

Then he says "oh the the broadband with us has been cancelled since December 1st the previous person must have moved it before you moved in"

 

NOT FRAKKING POSSIBLE, I've been in the house since like 10 Nov, the previous person not seen in 4 months, she hasn't cancelled anything and I couldn't have moved it to another provider cause I'm obviously waiting on you and why would I be still calling you if I had already gotten another provider:mad:

 

He says "oh sorry" goes off checks a few other things and says he'll get it sorted but as it is/was Saturday won't be able to do so till Monday he'll call me back.

 

So I wait for that Monday go to work (Dec 22nd) no call all day, so finish work go to me moms house (I had to make all these calls from my parents house to use there phone as I had none...no not using my mobile, mobile charges would have run out of credit before talking to anyone), ring again, ask for teh last guy cuz he said if he doesn't call me to ask for him and he'll "take ownership" (I hear dthat a few times before that from other agents who just then forgot about me I guess)

 

I ask for him, I'm told he's there but on a call can call me back later. I'm a bit pissed off so I say I'll either wait for him or you deal with the call. SO the girl puts me on hold comes back and reiterates whats been going on...so luckily notes have been left so I don't need to explain.

 

She then says "Oh the reason it taking so long is because of a stuck pending order because there is an outstanding balance on the account"

 

I SAW RED...is she suggesting that if I pay the previous persons balance I can then have the account?

 

WTF, any outstanding balance has nothing to do with me, you cancel the account and send a debt collection agency after the previous person for all I care that is not my problem. You have the proof of tenancy, you know I am in the house and the other person is not, you could have had my business had this been sorted nice and fast but not a hope in hell will I be taking a contract with you now. The previous account is dead now I dont care if you get the 4 months unpaid from teh last person but you are certainly not getting it from me.

 

She then says "Oh I'm not suggesting you pay it, but while the 140 euro is outstanding we cant cancel it"

 

Wait what... so now you are telling me her outstanding balance... you dont want me to pay but you need it paid to cancel it....WTF" I go on another rant

 

 

SHe then puts me on hold says she'll see if she can doing anything else..... she comes back and says

 

Agent: "Right I think we have a soloution"

Me thinking: "yes finally its over"

Agent: DO you want to take out a Mobile Broadband account"

Me seeing red again: "WHAT???? Mobile Broadband??? HELL NO"

 

Big long rant about them holding the landline to ransom, I want use of the landline not Mobile frakking broadband. I demand a manger now....have to wait for a call back, wait 10 mins and get one.

 

Talking to manager now who apoligies and says there is some sort of "pending order" that is stuck and cant cancel account while it is but not actually to do with the outstanding balance.....yeah so why did the previous person say it was and she even told me the amount of the balance

 

Long conversation, she promises to "take ownership" and look after it and call me to give me an update as soon as she has any or every Monday even if no update...."EVERY MONDAY? How frakking long will this take?" I think.

 

The only reason I said ok was cause it was Christmas week and I wasn't gonna be bothering trying to ring agian till after Xmas anyway.

 

So I leave it, enjoy my Xmas....actually get a call back on Dec 26th from teh Manager saying the pending order no longer stuck, but account still not cancelled...will give me update Monday still.

 

I had work that Monday no call came but I was too tired after work so said would give it one more day. Tuesday at work had a missed call from them, then later a text saying "Account Cancelled, any questions or to open a new account please call...blah blah"

 

HELL NO will I be calling them back.

 

Went to me parents after work, called Eircom, asked them to check the line

 

Me: "Is the line free, can you now open an account on it for me"

 

Eircom: Yes....

 

Me:

 

 

 

Was told would take 24hours for phone to become active for calls, and up to 5 working days for broadband to become active and they'll send me a new router.

 

No problem, that is grand, I can wait as I know it'll be done. Next morning got a text from Eircom saying "Your phone line is now active, here's your new number" YAY

 

Had an old router plugged in and set up waiting for the light to turn blue to indicate has a net connection. Been turning it on every morning and when I get home from work to check. Turned it on today when I got home was still orange... then for some reason at 9pm turned it on again, waited and it turned BLUE...YAY so if new years day doesnt count as a working day and neither did the weekend it only took 2 working days for net to get turned on...still waiting on new router but sure that dont bother me, will just be a spare anyway now

 

 

 

(hhhmmm....think I should verbalise this story in a video????)

[Gizmo]

Bloody hell that sounds like an ordeal. I've had numerous issues along the same lines over the years but nothing quite as bad as that.

 

I've also worked in a call centre in the past and can appreciate the issues that are not always down to the person on the other end of the phone - eg not being able to cancel because of the outstanding charge. That legitimately is the fault of the guy that made the software, rather than the operator. They just can't do it. But also there are usually ways to override the system that a manager or such can do. On the other hand, what is the fault of the person you're talking to is failing to leave notes for the next time, so you don't need to repeat yourself over and over again every time you call. That one annoys the hell out of me. The classic "taking ownership" line is also frustrating, because I know for a fact that usually when someone fails to do that it's just them being lazy/incompetent. On the other hand, based on some of the people I worked with when I had that job, nothing ever surprises me.

 

Glad you finally got it sorted though - welcome back to civilisation!

[Mokong]

I actually forgot to mention I'm working in a call centre myself now and I did groan when the VF agents said they'll "take ownership". And I can actually understand about "orders getting stuck" as we have something similar where I work, I prolly would have understood it more had the first girl that brough it up not mention the balance...though I still think the manager was just back peddling on the "oh no its not cause by the remaining balance previuous girl was wrong".....so why did she tell me the amount and offer Mobile Broadband as an alternative? I'm convinced they were trying to make me so fed up that I might give up and say "ok if it'll speed things up I'll pay off the last persons bill" ha like hell was that gonna frakking happen

 

And yeah I understand it is not the fault of teh agents I was speaking to, but a bit of honesty from the get go would have been a lot more helpful, cant stand agents that fob off customers. Nothing annoys me more at work than a call coming in and a customer going "I spoke with 5 people already none of them fixed the problem" then when I take the time to listen and check teh account properly and usualy find a simple cause that while can be easy to miss on first glance but painfully obvious if you just take the time to check and I fix it and the customer is like "how come the otehr people couldnt fix it"...I'll then take all the credit and be "don't know they really should have but arent you glad you got me this time, if only you got me on the first call"

 

I think what annoyed me the most was nobody being honest with me at the begining, obviously after the first week something was wrong but nobody wanted to tell me, bet the "pending order" was stuck from teh first week but nobody told me cause they knew it would take a month to fix. then I get told various different things, oh fill in a form, oh the broadband isnt with us... no sorry our mistake yes it is, oh sorry we cant do this while a bill is outstanding it caused something to get stuck cant unstick till it's paid....but not saying you should pay but it needs to be paid...or hey how about Mobile Broadband?, oh sorry no the stuck process isn't to do with the outstanding balance afterall even though the last person said it definately was and made a point of telling you the amount of that balance and offered you Mobile Broadband as if to say there was no way for you to have use of that line till the balance is paid.

 

Anyway yeah glad to finally have internet working....been messing with my smart TV just now, can finally make use of it's "Smart" functions at last

 

Gonna go play Smash WiiU now, had it since day one, this will be my first time playing online tonight

[MoogleViper]

That's why people go postal.

[jayseven]

Complain.

 

First with Vodafone direct, then if they do not satisfy your qualms go to ofcom. If ireland is covered... I don't know.

 

Don't let them faff you around!

[Jimbob]

Complain.

 

First with Vodafone direct, then if they do not satisfy your qualms go to ofcom. If ireland is covered... I don't know.

 

Don't let them faff you around!

 

I second this.

 

Don't let the company win, i didn't let EE win after they messed up and that turned out ok in the end. Have a look online, i reckon you could find a direct contact for the director of Vodafone somewhere. Go as high as you can go, usually the issues get sorted that high up as they don't tend to like complaints about their company.

 

But on the plus side, welcome back to the 21st century Mokong.

[Jonnas]

Hey, welcome back, Mokong I did wonder the other day how come I hadn't seen you post lately. I now see that you went to Vodafone hell and back

[Mokong]

Complain.

 

First with Vodafone direct, then if they do not satisfy your qualms go to ofcom. If ireland is covered... I don't know.

 

Don't let them faff you around!

 

Considering I don't have an account with them I don't see what taking it further would do. Not like they could give me free internet or anything as I opened an account with a different provider. And no, Ofcom is not here, our version is a crowd called ComReg I think.

 

I second this.

 

Don't let the company win

 

Considering I got what I wanted (the previous persons account cancelled, the line freed up and my own account opened and now working with the provider of my choice) I consider myself to have "won".

 

i didn't let EE win after they messed up and that turned out ok in the end.

 

There's a story waiting to be told there :wink:

 

 

 

Anyway for anyone who would like to hear me verbally rant about the topic, for your listening pleasure play the below vid

 

(It would would probably be faster to read the wall of text in teh first post than for the vid to play haha

 

[jayseven]

I'd still complain. I'd write them an email with my specific points of dissatisfaction -- the point is that whether you were their customer or not they made you timeframe promises that they were not able to keep, which in turn affected your ability to sustain your regular daily routine.

 

I would simply write them something along these lines;

 

To whom it may concern,

 

I recently encountered a series of issues with your service. I recently moved into a home where the previous occupiers had not closed down their account properly. I contacted you on [date] and was told [what I was told]. Subsequently [this didn't happen, called again on this date, another promise made, then another promise broken].

 

Whilst I am not a paying customer of yours, these exchanges have left me to conclude that I will quite likely never be a paying customer. Your staff's efforts to up-sell to me were transparent and at no point did I feel that your staff understood the situation I was in, nor were they able to offer me accurate resolutions to my problems. I further state that due to the inaction of your company my family and I were unable to rejoin our regular daily routine of having internet access, which impacted our ability to plan weekend activities, keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues, and generally reduce our enjoyment of entering a new home.

 

 

I am aware that I have a right to offer you the chance to rectify this situation before I pass it on to the regulatory ombudsman. If I do not hear from you within 14 days I will pass this complaint on to their attention.

 

____

 

something like that will ensure you get an eye-roll reaction from their complaints team. They will almost certainly fob you off with a generic response saying "we are sorry to learn you were dissatisfied with our sales team/etc, however please be ensured we do everything within our ability to make sure we maintain a high level of customer satisfaction. We apologise for your experience, and hope that in future should you contact us again we would be able to satisfy your requirements more promptly."

 

If they simply apologise then reply stating that their apology is not adequate for the disruption that they caused, and demand that they respond promptly with a more appropriate solution.

 

When they come back with a £10 voucher or whatever, then take it or leave it -- or take it to the ombudsman.

 

The joy in this is simple; if the ombudsman has to look at the case then they charge the company. It can be hundreds or thousands of pounds just to look at the case. The ombudsman may agree with vodafone's offers of reconciliation -- but they would still have charged them for having to look at the complaint.

[Jimbob]

There's a story waiting to be told there :wink:

 

Story's been told here and here. And here