Originally Posted by topnotch_dx

MOB : 9833288805
DATE: 09/09/2011




To,
Senior Management,
Vodafone Essar Limited.




Sir/Madam,


I am writing this email to you hoping someone in your office would be concerned about the way your customers are being dealt with by the Vodafone Contact Centre. I write this letter with extreme disgust towards your incompetent and apathetic call centre advisor and the Team Leader who I had chanced to speak with yesterday.




Last week I had called Vodafone to activate internet services. I was told by your staff that I had 3G services activated on my account since 23/08/2011. When I inquired as to why the love from Vodafone, he said it was complementary and said that I must have taken a new connection during some offer period. I told him that I had this no. for more than 6 years. He then suggested that I send an email to vodafonecare.mum@vodafone.com asking for my COFU details. He had no clue as I was on corporate plan.




Yesterday, 08/09/2011, I received a call from Shradha from Vodafone who informed that I was given complementary 3G services for 6 months since 23/08/2011. She said that I had 1 GB free but still did not tell me why I was given the service free for 6 months. I informed her that I was able to use the internet without the settings but the speed was very slow. She said that I can call 116 and get the 3G settings as probably I had 2G settings. Also, she said that the 3G settings were different and not there on the Vodafone website.




Please Note : I had met with an accident and was admitted to Kokilaben Ambani Hospital during this entire conversation. I have come back home today.




So I called 116 and after 9 mins reached an advisor Ashish. Now starts the pain:


1. He said that he was from the customer service team. So my question is why do you have a separate 116 no if we land up back to the customer service team? And if that's how your IVR routing is then I believe the people who have designed the systems have not used common sense in spending resources when not allocating the no to the GPRS team directly.


2. Moreover, I don't see the point why Shradha did not transfer the call to GPRS team directly if she was from Vodafone?


3. Now, Ashish said that I'll have to pay 80% of the 3G services plan as it was not totally complementary!! Then after 10 mins he said that it was free!! Whats with the information gap at your call center? No one seems to give the same information. Please chek my previous history, I had to speak to the Nodal Officers thrice in the last 2-3 yrs for incorrect info given by advisors. You need to have a better training team and briefings should be conducted properly so all advisors know what they are speaking.


4. He placed me on hold 4 times without telling me what the hell he was doing. The first time I was on hold for about 5 mins then the second time about 8 mins and the third time I was on hold for above 9 mins. Please note its not a free call, I am paying for the call. This is totally un warranted for. You expect your customers to pay for getting placed on hold and getting such rubbish treatment?


5. Now he finally suggested that I speak to the GPRS team but I had to call from an alternate no. I lied to him that I was calling from alt no as he had asked me to give my mobile no. as he did not have it on the system (at the start of the call). Now he suddenly said he could see my no. Then I asked him why he made me repeat my no he had no answer but tried to avoid the topic.


6. After requesting and pleading to him that I was in hospital and there was no alt. no to call you from he kept saying point blank that he will not transfer the call if I dont call from alt. no. There was no empathy shown for my accident and he did not even consider my situation as I was in hospital and had no other way to contact you.


7. Finally frustrated, as you might understand, I asked for a manager. Initially Ashish placed me on hold and came back and told that even the manager cannot transfer the call. I had to literally shout at him and asked to put the manager on after he refused to do so. Again he placed me on hold for a good 13 mins before the supervisor could come on. 13 mins? What a joke?


8. Finally I spoke to Mohammed who introduced himself as a Team Leader. His English was all the more pathetic and was not confident at all. Where do you hire your TL from? I believe your HR team needs to select the right people.


9. He would not even empathise or apologise when asked why it took him such a long time to come on the call? Moreover, he would interrupt and tell me again to call from alt. no. I told him that I was no longer interested in the 3G services and just wanted to complain about such pathetic treatment by him and his advisor. He would not LISTEN to what I was saying and was totally unmoved or bothered by what I was saying. Finally he said that I can call 118 and complaint! What a superb way to fob off customer.


10. Finally he said that he will connect me to the GPRS team and took another 9 mins to get the call connected to the GPRS team.


11. The GPRS team advisor asked me to enter apn as "WWW" and that's all I had wanted. I had to spend 43 mins to know the setting. Couldnt the first advisor have given me the APN? Couldnt I have been asked to check on the Vodafone website, its available there?


12. Am I expected to pay for speaking to such people, wasting my time, getting my blood to boil and getting such crap?




Now just place yourself in my shoes to understand my plight and why I am soo frustrated and upset. Either you can take this up on a bigger scale and start working towards making your call centre better, else you can just shift-delete this mail and let other customer suffer like-wise. I have spent 45 mins drafting this mail believing it might help you to understand how your incompetent staff are delivering poor experience to your customers.




If you really believe in being "HAPPY TO HELP" kindly reply back to me with what your observations for each of the 11 points. Please don't call me and waste my time further.






--
Regards,
XXXXX XXX

Hello Sir/Madam,

We're sorry to hear about your difficulty and sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to you. We are working on your concern and will get back to you. Please email us at corporate.assist@vodafone.com for any assistance in future, or you can also register complaints on our toll free number 198.

Regards,
Vodafone Customer Care, Mumbai