Dear Mr. Read,

Its quite ironical that your last name should be 'Read' and i do hope that you will take time out to read this mail and I do fervently hope that this mail is not read by those wonderful people called Executive Assistants who will then write a very mechanical mail about how delighted they are that I chose to get in touch with you and that someone would contact me shortly. I also hope that with this mail I am addressing the right Mr. Read who currently holds the role of CEO- Asia Pacific and Middle East.

I am, as you would have guessed by the subject line as well as the opening lines, a brand new aggrieved customer of Vodafone from that wonderful country called India. My number for your ready reference is +91 9619947745. I subscribed to Vodafone services on 7th December 2009. I walked in to a Vodafone store in a city called Vashi not very far from Mumbai. I told the wonderful employees of Vodafone there that I was looking for a blackberry plan and that i would need ISD services as well. I was promised the moon and more while the plan was being sold to me including the activation of ISD services and what was being called an unlimited plan for 6 months ( Too much details I am sure for someone who has a 30000 feet overview but bear with me)

So I go back home after having completed requisite formalities secure in a misplaced belief that everything was allright with the world and Vodafone. my services were activated late in the evening and I thought that was a good sign. Clearly I was hasty in thinking that way. A day after the services were activated I decided to check if the ISD services were activated. It was not. I thought that it was allright since most services would get activated post the completion of a wonderful process called verification. By Thursday i hoped that things would change and that all services would be activated. However it was not. being the dutiful sheep I decided to call the customer care which turned out be a completely ineffective IVR the first time around. After fumbling a couple of times I figured out that the way to get to a human being on the other side of the line was to lodge a complaint and hence I decided to do the same.

So I call up to complain about the fact that ISD services were not activated and I managed to get through to one of your 'customer service representative' who then informed me that the verification had still not happened and this is three days after i have taken the connection. I then decide to wait for the ISD to be activated. In the meantime unknown to me bigger forces which you euphemistically call 'credit control' were at work. So here I am, a customer who by Indian standards has subscribed to a premium service (The Blackberry connection, Mr Read, is not a trifle) and who has committed to pay a substantial amount to you in good faith in return for what I assumed would be decent service. Imagine my surprise Mr Read when I receive an SMS informing me that my interim credit limit is 500 INR. This is despite the fact that my monthly rental alone would work out to more than that amount. In a few minutes I also receive another SMS that lets me know that since I have crossed my credit limit, my outgoing services were barred. This, Mr Read, means that I cant make calls or use SMS service or use the GPRS ( the funny thing is GPRS is supposed to be unlimited). Hence I was left with a phone that served little purpose apart from looking good in my hands.

I call up the customer service again and I am told that I can increase my credit limit by sending an SMS. This turns out to be blatantly misleading and false information as no such service is available through SMS to customer care as I discover later. This Mr Read is four days after I have activated my connection. In short I am left with no means of communication courtesy Vodafone. So the next day I head to the nearest Vodafone Store in Powai all charged up and speak to your representatives there who tell me they cannot do anything to help me and give me one piece of misleading information after the other which I point out because unfortunately ( for Vodafone) I am reasonably intelligent and understand the language well. Finally on the verge of losing my patience, my breakfast and also any control whatsoever of my blood pressure, I demand to speak to the Manager. The Manager or someone claiming to be the manager ( Goes by the name of Azimuddin in case you would be interested in knowing) comes and tries to placate me. One of the things he promises me is that he will look in my issue personally and resolve it. He tells me that he will call me back later in the day with the response to my complaint or he will try and resolve it latest in a day. In the meantime he advises me to make an interim payment to reactivate the service.

I had received an SMS for a payment of 1307 INR to be made and when the gentleman checks the system he tells me that I have to make a payment of 1504 INR. This surprises me because since services were disconnected and nothing could be done, I could not even with my stellar intelligence figure out how an additional 150 INR gets added in the space of a day. I let it pass and pay the amount. Today, Mr. Read, is Monday and I am yet to hear from this gentleman called Azimuddin.

If you expect my interesting story to end here then you are sadly mistaken for there is more!

So, Mr Read, as you no doubt would have figured out today is Monday nothing of note has happened vis a vis the deficiencies in service. Since there was no news of the ISD service being activated, In all frustration I go and buy a prepaid global calling card. I try to use it to discover promptly that ISD service should be activated on my phone. So I call up customer service again and this time a wonderful lady gets on the line. Mind you this is late in the evening at the end of a stressful day and I was not feeling so charitable and I was quite unhappy. The lady who after listening to my complaint tells me that I need to pay a deposit to activate the services. This time I am sure you will understand if I lose my temper hence the lady in question decides to cut the call. I am sure you realize by now I was not in a mood to accept this. Hence I call again and demand to speak to a manager. After a long wait a floor supervisor comes on the line. I do tell him that he would be incapable of resolving or telling me anything of import and demand to speak to the manager. I was told after another short wait that the Managers were in a meeting about improving customer service and therefore would not be able to speak to me. Hence after giving an earful to the man I tell him the issues and he tells me that the ISD services would be activated in two hours. So what should be done automatically was never done. The funny thing Mr Read is that by the time i disconnected the call the SMS informing me of the activation of ISD services was already sent to me.

Now comes the icing on the cake. I then decide to use the world calling card and activate it now that ISD has apparently been activated. well it would come as no surprise that the calling card doesnt work and there is a discrepancy since the activation system asks for a 12 digit code while the card which i have brought is 14 digits. Hence I have spend another 110 INR for a service that is completely useless.

Therefore Mr Read I am sure by now if you are still with me will be feeling terribly proud of the organisation that you lead. If the levels of service that you provide to someone who subscribes to a premium service is so appalling, I shudder to think how it must be for other customers. Perhaps the dog in your advertisements tom-tomming your customer service is symbolic of how you view your customers. In short other than increasing the street value of a breed of a dog, there is precious little that you have achieved when it comes to customer service. I wonder if it would have been more beneficial for you to have spent the money on actually doing something to improve the customer service.

Mr Read, do not view my complaint less than favorably. think of this as honest feedback and then explore what it means to actually help a customer. As for me, Mr. Read, dont worry about me. I plan to disconnect the services at the earliest and find some other appalling service provider who perhaps is a little more honest about the fact that they care two hoots about the customer- someone like Reliance.

Happy to help Mr Read?

Regards

Pradip Nair

dear sir,

i had taken the postpaid connection of vodafone in the month of march 2009 on the behalf of my company in lucknow city, india . in this issue i ma not getting any type of bill from the last four month, before these month i had to gone for collect my bill to the headoffice of vodafone. they are not giving any type of bill from the last four month and also charges the amount whatever they want. please if possible then please take a strict action on this behalf...
my complaint name is
ashutosh kumar srivastava
number 9918801436
alambagh
lucknow
226005

I submit a complaint one month ago.Vodafone Co. added downloads charges in my bill but my handset unable for GPRS. I complaint at Vodafone Store but there is no response to me and they added Rs.435/- downloads charges in my next bill.What I do I don`t understand.

Dear Team,


This is Nitin Swami from Mumbai and I have been your customer
since almost 3 years. My vodafone no. being 9820117833. The no. is a
corporate no. which is in the name of my sister Ms. Aarti Swami. Recently I
finally went to your vodafone store in Borivali-west 16TH Oct, 2009 after
strolling around in vodafone store of prabhadevi and Borivali-west to get
the no.(9820117833) transfered on my name; And I must say that the
slogan *HAPPY
TO HELP* should be changed to *PROUD TO CHEAT*.

I was told to get MY documents and my SISTER's document for
change in address and also for photo Id proof for which I carried both our
passports. During the submission of the document you vodafone executive
Mr.Tripurari Subedar Vishwakarma (Borivali-west) tried to *forge my original
passport by trying to darken my signature* in front of me to which I
objected and he took a dark xerox and told me to get my outstanding cleared
of rupees 1600. I was told that the no. would get transferred by 23rd of
Oct, 2009. But it failed as your executive did not process my form and due to
his negligence it is still lingering and the transferred has not taken
place.

*Umpteen times have I been to your stores but still there is
no moment in the documentation and all I get to witness is your executive
trying to forge my document in front of me !!!
IS THIS WHY I HAVE CHOSEN VODAFONE?????? IS THIS IS THE WAY
YOUR ORGANISATION TRY TO HELP CUSTOMERS??????????
WHO IS ACCOUNTABLE FOR YOUR EXECUTIVES BIZARRE ACT LIKE
THAT??????? HOW CAN I TRUST VODAFONE FOR THE SAFETY OF MY DOCUMENTS?????????
*
Kindly look into the matter and I expect a reply for the
same.


Nitin Swami
9820117833

I am post paid customer of Vodafone. I hvn`t received the Bill of my Vodafone no. 9711311751 from two months but paid it at Vodafone Store Netaji Subhash Marg Daryaganj New Delhi:-110001 and sumbit the complaind against un received Bills. Then the Vodafone Co. sent me a bill no. 0088181697 dt 11/10/2009 Rs.1247.77 for the period 11/09/2209 to 10/10/2009 and added Rs.685/- downloads charges but my handset unable to web and GPRS. Vodafone Execative told me that you downloaded the games but this facility not avilable in my handset. I request you to please help me for this matter and what I do.
Thanking You
Ved Parkash Sharma
4666, Mahavir Bazar
Cloth Market, Delhi :-110 006
E mail: [email protected]
Mobile no. 9711311751