About 3 months ago I went into my local Vodafone shop looking to make some savings on my mobile plan. I documented my experience on this blog.

Well, my 1 year anniversary of contract ticked over last weekend so on Monday I went back to the Vodafone shop with my expectations set from the previous visit. However, to add a twist to the tale, I had since decided that there may be some value in the ‘Family’ add-on which, according to the Vodafone web site, could not be added to the iPhone plan I wanted to switch to, only the (more expensive) YouChoose plan I was already on. So my plan was to discuss my options and see which worked out for the best.

Well, I was in for a surprise and it wasn’t a pleasant one.

I spoke to a young lady who I know has worked there for a while. In fact, I’m pretty sure she was there on or before the original iPhone launch night last year. In any case she was, for the most part, polite, efficient and professional. I explained the situation and she immediately expressed doubt about the simple point of whether I could switch from YouChoose to iPhone plan for nothing (notwithstanding a $30 charge to break my data plan contract). She consulted with another employee (who was out of sight in an office) and confirmed that she was “200% sure” that it would cost me hundreds to break my contracts.

When I re-iterated my previous experience where an actual change order was entered into their system and indicated the $0 fee for the phone plan and $160 fee for the data plan, later dropping to $30 she once again exuded confidence that it would be an expensive proposition on the basis that “it’s a break of contract”. So, in fact, without specific knowledge of the scenario she roundly insisted that I would be seriously out of pocket and that although she was (now) not sure, she didn’t want to make the change on my say so, only to have “a $400 charge on your account”. Clearly it was a figure she had plucked out of the air, but it reflected her view that it would be an expensive proposition.

At about this point, I recognised the chap I had spoken to last time who was now standing right next to her. I indicated this was the case but she made no effort to talk to him. To be fair, he was with another customer.

So I decided if I was going to be stuck on the YouChoose plan I may as well add the Family add-on which the lady had confirmed would not be available on an iPhone plan. She proceeded to set this up quickly and efficiently and I went on my way, somewhat miffed!

That night, as I again recounted the events of the day in my mind, I put fingers to keyboard and wrote an email to Paul Brislen – he of Vodafone PR that runs their Twitter account. I had alerted Paul to my previous blog post and he had in turn referred it on within the company. It is perhaps because of this and because in Monday’s email I reminded him of this, that he didn’t write me off as a raving loony. My email was mostly carefully thought out and worded, but there was a LOT of use of CAPITAL LETTERS. I considered when doing my final review that I should perhaps reduce the capital letter count, but then thought better of it – it reflected how utterly pissed off I was feeling at having been given the run around.

The email ended with something I like to do in these situations. A challenge. I challenged Paul to show me Vodafone still cared about their customers. I explained how good Vodafone customer service used to be, back in the day, and challenged him to show they could find their way back.

Once again Paul indicated to me he had forwarded it on within the company. Given that nothing had come of the last time, I didn’t hope for much out of it.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email on Tuesday afternoon from Gareth at Vodafone. Gareth indicated he was one of the complaints managers and requested my account number and a contact phone number. ‘This’ll be good!’ I thought to myself as I replied with the details. My experience with various other companies – including a certain other telecommunications carrier – did not lead me to believe this was going to be a pleasant experience.

How wrong I was!

In a little over 48 hours from that first email, I had concluded the conversation and had come out of it much better off than going in. I won’t go into the details here, but suffice to say Gareth was completely understanding of my ire and he was certainly no Vodafone stooge! Let’s just say that things were said which you’d not expect from an employee. Deals, concessions really, were offered to suit my situation as recompense for having been given a complete run around by staff in the shop and I gratefully accepted one.

My dealings with Gareth were very straightforward. At no time did I think he was hiding anything or trying to pull the wool over my eyes or treat me as inferior or expendable. Above all, he was honest and, I think, embarrassed to some extent. It was clear I was the customer and that his job was to make me happy. That is all I had asked for.

Now, let’s not forget that the fundamental issue of the plans still exists and probably if I went back to the shop today I would get the same level of confusion. That’s not something Paul or Gareth can actually do anything about. However, Gareth did promise me that the issue as it had occurred would be directed to the correct parts of the company as feedback. Paul also said he was going to get someone to address staff training at the shop in question.

In short, I was taken seriously, at least at some level.

So kudos points for the way my complaint was handled, but unfortunately minus several million points for the way the company chooses to conduct business. From my experiences, I can only assume that people left Telecom for Vodafone somewhere along the line and took the corporate ethos with them. Yes, I’ve had run-ins with Telecom, but those are stories for another day.

I feel sorry for people like Paul and Gareth having to pick up the pieces. Really their jobs should be relatively easy, but I think they more than earn their crust.