The Phone Saga Continues
I thought that deciding on my new phone and tariff was the stressful bit and that once that was done, all I would have to do would be to sit back and wait the 3-5 days for it to arrive. But no! That would be silly and I would have nothing to post about, except 'oooh, look at my awesome new phone' and how boring is that? So thank you, Vodafone, for giving me something more substantial to post about
On Friday evening, I was looking at Vodafone's Black Friday offers out of curiosity and noticed the site had an option for tracking your order. I know, parcel tracking is THE greatest tease ever but I couldn't resist. The page wanted my order number and postcode, and it was at that point that I realised hadn't got any kind of confirmation of my order. My account still showed my old tariff details although I wasn't sure if that was because my old contract hadn't ended yet. So I went to the Live Chat section which said that all of their operators were busy. It took a while before the page finally said people were available, and I managed to chat to a customer service person. I can't remember the person's name but I was told that ze couldn't help and would transfer me to the upgrade team. I got a message that all their Representatives were busy with other people. Two minutes later I got the same message again. And again. And every two minutes for the next half an hour. At which point, it said there was no one to help me and to try back later. And of course, all operators were immediately busy. Some time later, I managed to get through to a second person, who ended the chat less than 20 seconds after greeting me. Another lengthy wait for someone to be free and I finally got to chat to Dhriti. That 20 minute conversation ended with the assurance that I would receive a confirmation email within 24 hours. I asked if that was 24 hours from my original order time or from the time of the conversation, and was told, "Yes!! You will surely get a confirmation tomorrow morning around 9.00-10.00 am". Okay then.
Saturday morning came and went with no email. I wondered if it was actually 9-10pm which would make it 24 hours since the Live Chat so I waited. 10pm came and went, and still no email. The Live Chat closed at 11pm and it was busy again - either there were a lot of people needing help on a Saturday night or not many operators! I didn't manage to get through to anyone, so I tried again Sunday afternoon. Astounding, it was not busy. When I got connected, it said I would have to wait 0 minutes and 2 seconds for an advisor. Blimey! This time I spoke to Sonam, one of the slowest typers I have ever known. After a long time spent watching the little icon showing me that someone was typing, I was told that as the team concerned didn't work at the weekend, I wouldn't get a confirmation email until Monday. I thought that was ridiculous, given that I'd placed the order on Thursday and so I said as much. Sonam put me on hold for a few minutes and then transferred me to another team. So that was another lengthy wait getting a message that all their Representatives were busy every two minutes.
It was getting close to half an hour and I was expecting to be told to try back later when I got a message that I was now speaking to Ryan. He was very nice, able to type with more than one finger at a time and a liberal use of smiley faces. He checked my account and found out that although the order was created, for some reason, it was never submitted. So there was no way I would ever get a confirmation because there was nothing to confirm! He said it sounded like I'd had a nightmare but he would get it all sorted for me. He put the order through again and when I asked if I'd have to wait another 3-5 days for it to be delivered, he said because of all the messing about I'd had, I'd get the phone on Tuesday at the latest and he'd credit the delivery charge too. So that was very nice of him. And sure enough, 10 minutes later, I got the confirmation email for my order. Woo hoo.
It was rather annoying and incredibly disappointing because I've never had any problems with Vodafone in the 6 years I've been with them. And that was the first time I'd ordered a handset over the phone, rather than doing it in store. I've always got a new handset in store ever since I've had a mobile, and the first time I do it differently, it all goes to pot! I wish I could find out why my upgrade order got created and then not submitted, especially as the lovely Irish woman I spoke to was so helpful to me. Ryan said he was going to escalate it to his manager to find out what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again, which is as it should be, although I want to know too! But now I've got the tracking open in a tab and I'm refreshing it regularly, just to maximise the teasing, despite the fact that it says my estimated delivery date is tomorrow. And you know it's going to be at the very last minute of tomorrow that it can possibly be.
On Friday evening, I was looking at Vodafone's Black Friday offers out of curiosity and noticed the site had an option for tracking your order. I know, parcel tracking is THE greatest tease ever but I couldn't resist. The page wanted my order number and postcode, and it was at that point that I realised hadn't got any kind of confirmation of my order. My account still showed my old tariff details although I wasn't sure if that was because my old contract hadn't ended yet. So I went to the Live Chat section which said that all of their operators were busy. It took a while before the page finally said people were available, and I managed to chat to a customer service person. I can't remember the person's name but I was told that ze couldn't help and would transfer me to the upgrade team. I got a message that all their Representatives were busy with other people. Two minutes later I got the same message again. And again. And every two minutes for the next half an hour. At which point, it said there was no one to help me and to try back later. And of course, all operators were immediately busy. Some time later, I managed to get through to a second person, who ended the chat less than 20 seconds after greeting me. Another lengthy wait for someone to be free and I finally got to chat to Dhriti. That 20 minute conversation ended with the assurance that I would receive a confirmation email within 24 hours. I asked if that was 24 hours from my original order time or from the time of the conversation, and was told, "Yes!! You will surely get a confirmation tomorrow morning around 9.00-10.00 am". Okay then.
Saturday morning came and went with no email. I wondered if it was actually 9-10pm which would make it 24 hours since the Live Chat so I waited. 10pm came and went, and still no email. The Live Chat closed at 11pm and it was busy again - either there were a lot of people needing help on a Saturday night or not many operators! I didn't manage to get through to anyone, so I tried again Sunday afternoon. Astounding, it was not busy. When I got connected, it said I would have to wait 0 minutes and 2 seconds for an advisor. Blimey! This time I spoke to Sonam, one of the slowest typers I have ever known. After a long time spent watching the little icon showing me that someone was typing, I was told that as the team concerned didn't work at the weekend, I wouldn't get a confirmation email until Monday. I thought that was ridiculous, given that I'd placed the order on Thursday and so I said as much. Sonam put me on hold for a few minutes and then transferred me to another team. So that was another lengthy wait getting a message that all their Representatives were busy every two minutes.
It was getting close to half an hour and I was expecting to be told to try back later when I got a message that I was now speaking to Ryan. He was very nice, able to type with more than one finger at a time and a liberal use of smiley faces. He checked my account and found out that although the order was created, for some reason, it was never submitted. So there was no way I would ever get a confirmation because there was nothing to confirm! He said it sounded like I'd had a nightmare but he would get it all sorted for me. He put the order through again and when I asked if I'd have to wait another 3-5 days for it to be delivered, he said because of all the messing about I'd had, I'd get the phone on Tuesday at the latest and he'd credit the delivery charge too. So that was very nice of him. And sure enough, 10 minutes later, I got the confirmation email for my order. Woo hoo.
It was rather annoying and incredibly disappointing because I've never had any problems with Vodafone in the 6 years I've been with them. And that was the first time I'd ordered a handset over the phone, rather than doing it in store. I've always got a new handset in store ever since I've had a mobile, and the first time I do it differently, it all goes to pot! I wish I could find out why my upgrade order got created and then not submitted, especially as the lovely Irish woman I spoke to was so helpful to me. Ryan said he was going to escalate it to his manager to find out what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again, which is as it should be, although I want to know too! But now I've got the tracking open in a tab and I'm refreshing it regularly, just to maximise the teasing, despite the fact that it says my estimated delivery date is tomorrow. And you know it's going to be at the very last minute of tomorrow that it can possibly be.