[rant] Today I realised why I hate companies like Vodafone. I have been waiting to upgrade my Sony Ericsson P910 phone to the new P990i since March. Every month I've been into a Vodafone shop asking when it will arrive. "Oh, we're expecting it in a couple of weeks," comes the standard reply. Anyway, I noticed that the Vodafone shop in The Strand had a big poster in the window so they're now available. This morning I trolled off down to Clerkenwell Road Vodafone to get one - new gadgets always put me in a good mood. Sadly the store had run out and so had a nearby one in Chancery Lane. But the good news was that the Upgrade would be free of charge - not bad for a £600 phone. The shop assistant told me that if I rang Vodafone they would send me one out through the post.
So I got back to the office, eventually got through to them and was told that, no, it wouldn't be free of charge, it would cost me £150. 'Er, but why was it nfree of charge in the shop, then?' I asked. 'Because you went to a shop Sir,' came the less than illuminating response. 'And why should that mean you can charge me £150?' I said. 'We operate on a different computer system'. Oh well that's alright then. Another satisfied customer. Not. I was then advised to go back to the shop if I didn't want to pay £150. Er, but they haven't actually got any of the wretched phones, I repeated.
Doesn't this experience illustrate just what is wrong with the customer service attitude of big retail companies. Their entire approach is driven by computer systems, which ignore common sense. If I could be bothered I would happily change - but mobile phone companies are like banks. They're all the same. They've adopted exactly the same approach to customer service as the nationalised industries used to have.
And I STILL WANT MY P990i! [/rant]
UPDATE: If you read THIS story yesterday you may have been given the impression that I hate Vodafone. The title of the post WHY I HATE VODAFONE was the clue. Today my faith has been restored.
I managed to buy a P990i at Charing Cross Station and got it for free. This afternoon has been spent trying in vain to sync my old phone to the laptop. No luck, so I phoned Vodafone expecting to be put through to a typical 'Computer Says No' person. As luck would have it I got put through to Duane, who has spent more than an hour helping me sync my old phone and then transfer all the data onto the new one. For anyone else thinking of buying a P990i you will also have to speak to Duane as Sony have cocked up on the sync coding. I won't bore you with the details but Duane is going to be a very busy boy if this phone proves popular.
Vodafone need more Duanes.
