{"id":9893,"date":"2009-10-01T14:09:00","date_gmt":"1999-11-29T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=9893"},"modified":"2009-10-01T14:09:00","modified_gmt":"1999-11-29T20:00:00","slug":"adventures-in-broadband-ii-vodafone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=9893","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Broadband II \u2013 Vodafone"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m adding to this post at the end as events take place.<\/em><\/p>\n

Back in early 2006 I chronicled my 3 month saga when Eircom hijacked my broadband from BT Ireland.\u00a0 They refused to deal with me and started billing.\u00a0 I refused to pay.\u00a0 A lawyer contacted me and threatened me on behalf of Eircom.\u00a0 He said I\u2019d never hear from him again after I promised to take his house, car, savings and pension fund.\u00a0 Eircom eventually sent me a formal written apology.<\/p>\n

On Sunday I got a call from Vodafone who I have a mobile phone contract with.\u00a0 They offered to sign me up to their home broadband for much less than BT Ireland.\u00a0 Cool, but I didn\u2019t have my UAN number on me.\u00a0 They promised to call this morning.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t.\u00a0 I checked the website and saw a plan with more capacity that was still cheaper than what I have with BT Ireland.\u00a0 Cool.\u00a0 I went through the process of setting up a transfer from BT Ireland.<\/p>\n

1 hour later I get a call from Vodfone\u2019s sales team.\u00a0 \u201cOh, you should have called us because we can save you 15% because you\u2019re a mobile pay monthly customer.\u00a0 Why not cancel that contract and sign a new one with us over the phone?\u201d.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

F-UP #1:<\/u><\/strong> I was signed into the Vodafone website where my pay monthly plan is visible.\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t the home broadband system detect this and apply the discount?<\/p>\n

I was OK with that, on the condition that they cancel the original web contract.\u00a0 \u201cOh yes sir, I can do that\u201d was the reply from Vodafone sales.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll do that now\u201d.\u00a0 He went on to sign me up for the reduced contract.\u00a0 We did the contract over the phone thing.\u00a0 I knew it was being recorded so at the end I was sure to ask if my original web contract was cancelled.\u00a0 \u201cOh yes sir, it is\u201d.\u00a0 He said he\u2019d call back to do some verification.\u00a0 5 minutes he called back.\u00a0 \u201cNow sir, you\u2019ll have to call 1907 (Customer Care) your mobile, press 2 and 2 again to cancel the web contract\u201d.\u00a0 What?\u00a0 He lied?<\/p>\n

F-UP #2:<\/u><\/strong> Don\u2019t lie to me.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like lies.\u00a0 I hate people who lie to me and who accuse me of lying.\u00a0 You won\u2019t like me in either of those circumstances.<\/p>\n

I called the number and used the exact options he gave me.\u00a0 You know what that does?\u00a0 It cancels your roaming international discounts that were forced onto the communications companies by the EU.<\/p>\n

F-UP #3:<\/u><\/strong> If you give instructions then make sure they are correct.<\/p>\n

At this point I decided to speak to a human in Customer Care.\u00a0 Frances answered and she said she could do nothing so I\u2019d have to go back to sales again.\u00a0 She transferred me to Corey, a lead in sales.<\/p>\n

I explained all of this to Corey.\u00a0 I explained that I\u2019d like this all to be sorted out quickly and I\u2019d hate to have to get ComReg involved because I was being double-billed because a Vodafone sales person screwed up and lied to me.\u00a0 He responded: \u201cWhat\u2019s ComReg\u201d.\u00a0 I was stunned.\u00a0 I asked him why he didn\u2019t know the name of the national communications regulator in Ireland.\u00a0 He and his staff are supposed to be selling according to the rules that they dictate.<\/p>\n

F-UP #4:<\/u><\/strong> Don\u2019t call me stupid.<\/p>\n

Corey then accuses me of being stupid for signing 2 contracts at once.\u00a0 (A) I was told by his staff member that the original contract was cancelled.\u00a0 (B) This jumped up Britney headset wearing beyotch who\u2019s dream is to make \u20ac25K a year calls me<\/em> stupid?\u00a0 I hung up.<\/p>\n

F-UP #5:<\/u><\/strong> Don\u2019t make me angry.\u00a0 You wouldn\u2019t like me when I\u2019m angry.<\/p>\n

I called Customer Care again.\u00a0 I told them I\u2019d like to cancel \u201cany and all\u201d (I was very clear about this) contracts with Vodafone.\u00a0 I wanted to be left on BT Ireland without any service interruption.\u00a0 Regarding the service interruption issue the woman hummed and doged the question like the offspring of Mary Harney and Biffo (there\u2019s an image!).\u00a0 I said I wanted a \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d answer.\u00a0 Eventually I was told that some time in the future my broadband would go offline and I would then be able to sign with someone else.\u00a0 And sure anyway, Vodafone were buying the BT Ireland home\/SME business.\u00a0 \u201cOK\u201d I responded, \u201cI\u2019ll switch my mobile phone to O2 as well while I\u2019m at it.\u00a0 And if I do have an outage, expect ComReg to call you\u201d.\u00a0 If I\u2019m promised a 7 day cooling off period then I expect to be able to use it.<\/p>\n

F-UP #6:<\/u><\/strong> I\u2019m a hard negotiator.\u00a0 Don\u2019t make the mistake of motivating me even more.<\/p>\n

I offered this customer care rep an alternative option.\u00a0 \u201cFax me a copy of Corey\u2019s P45\u201d.\u00a0 That\u2019s the form you get when you\u2019re sacked.\u00a0 \u201cIf you do that then I\u2019ll stay with Vodafone.\u00a0 I\u2019ll consider not bad mouthing your company to every person I meet.\u201d\u00a0 So there it is, Corey\u2019s job versus my money going to Vodafone.\u00a0 I was told I\u2019d get some sort of call later today, hopefully from Corey\u2019s boss.\u00a0 A formal complaint against him was taken.<\/p>\n

It reads to me like a cluster-F by Vodafone.\u00a0 My advice.\u00a0 If you are looking for Home broadband or DSL in Ireland then steer clear of BT Ireland (because they will be Vodafone soon) and Vodafone.\u00a0 If this is what sales and customer care are like then the product must be rubbish.<\/p>\n

EDIT #1:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

This morning I chased up with Vodafone.\u00a0 I was promised action by midday, a deadline I set.\u00a0 At 16:00 I get a call.\u00a0 A weak apology and a promise to call me at 09:00 on Monday.<\/p>\n

At 16:45\u00a0I took\u00a0a call from Ian D. in Vodafone Ireland.\u00a0 Someone told him about my blog post and he’s actioning responses.\u00a0 Ian was very reasonable.\u00a0 He beleived the website should have offered me the discounted rate after I was logged in.\u00a0 He’s going to follow that up with the devs.\u00a0 I already know that Corey is being talked to.<\/p>\n

I’ve agreed to continue with Vodafone.\u00a0 They are the cheapest land boradband operator in Ireland.\u00a0 I have no interest in unreliable wireless broadband.\u00a0 I barely get a phone signal in my house at the edge of town.\u00a0 My mobile forwards to the landline when I’m here and I’ve sarted using Skype.<\/p>\n

Then something disturbing.\u00a0 Vodafone Ireland is assuming that everyone will be OK with being offline for 3 days during a transfer to them.\u00a0 They are not<\/em> sending out usernames and passwords in advance to customers during the transition.\u00a0 Here’s their flow:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. You sign up.<\/li>\n
  2. 10 days later your phone transfers.<\/li>\n
  3. 21 days after that your broadband transfers to Vodafone.<\/li>\n
  4. You now have no Internet access, email, VOIP, etc.\u00a0 There goes your business.<\/li>\n
  5. 3 days after this outage you get a new router, all configured to go online … assuming An Post doesn’t delay delivery or you’re in when they call around.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I told him this was unnacceptable to anyone who works from home or for any small business that uses the domestic package (many do!).\u00a0 He took that, noted it and said he’d give that feedback to the product owner.\u00a0 I followed that up by suggesting that it would be bad to act like Eircom when they are trying to tease Eircom customers away with mass media advertising.\u00a0 Heck, I should have even said the dreaded UPC!<\/p>\n

    This is how it should go:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. You sign up.<\/li>\n
    2. You get an email & letter with instructions, passwords and usernames.\u00a0 That’s what happened when I switched over from Digiweb to BT Ireland.<\/li>\n
    3. 10 days later your phone transfers.<\/li>\n
    4. 21 days after that your broadband transfers to Vodafone.<\/li>\n
    5. You change your password\/username in the router and have minimal downtime.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      We’ll see how this goes.\u00a0 Ian gave me the broadband username\/password.\u00a0 I told him I would be chasing Vodafone for lost downtime and costs incurred.\u00a0 My work relies on me being online.\u00a0 I will be trying to configure my router with them when the inevitable outage occurs.\u00a0 Any failure will lead to actions being taken due to lost business and expenses that take place to compensate for lost broadband.<\/p>\n

      See more here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I’m adding to this post at the end as events take place. Back in early 2006 I chronicled my 3 month saga when Eircom hijacked my broadband from BT Ireland.\u00a0 They refused to deal with me and started billing.\u00a0 I refused to pay.\u00a0 A lawyer contacted me and threatened me on behalf of Eircom.\u00a0 He … Continue reading “Adventures in Broadband II \u2013 Vodafone”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9893\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}