By Gavin Mackintosh-
Vodafone is to be investigated further by the Ombudsman for further negligence against customers.
The eye of media.com has reported the telecom network for neglecting complaints of one of our writers.
After being charged £4.6m for overcharging customers, the network neglected complaints from one of our writers about overcharges to America.
We can reveal that nine phone calls were made by the writer whom we will not name, but whose identity both Vodafone and Ofcom have for he purposes of the investigation.
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The nine calls were made over a four months period between July and October , and each time , our writer was promised that someone will call back to investigate the complaint, but no call back was made. A spokesperson for Vodafone told the eye of media.com ” this is very bad, at least somebody should have got back to address the problem. Even if it was to say what the problem was.
In the meantime, the writer’s bills continued to mount, but was not paid because of the contested bill. His phone line was repeatedly suspended over the bill, but was lifted each time because of the pending complaint.
NEGLECT
Despite their awareness of the problem, Vodafone staff continued to neglect the problem, and the
global network refused to address the complaint. When the complaint was eventually reported to the Ombudsman, the Ombudsman instructed the company not to restrict his line until the investigation was completed, but this did not lead to a resolution by the company.
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The ombudsman eventually asked the writer to submit a list of dates and names of the people they spoke to about he complaint before he investigation could begin.
However, Vodafone said they were not at liberty to divulge that information, highlighting a contradiction in the expected understanding between the Ombudsman for Vodafone and Vodafone itself.
When the contradiction was highlighted to the Ombudsman, Ombudsman staff strangely repeated the request for a list of dates and names, despite knowledge that Vodaphone were requiring them to provide it. Mark Mullard and Mary Hayden Frazer, who both work for Vodaphone, shamefully sent repeated emails to the complainant requesting the same information , after being told that Vodaphone was declining to provide it.
HONORABLE
Eventually, an honorable staff from Vodafone supplied the full list of names, which the eye of.media.com will publish once the respective individuals has had an opportunity to explain their alarming negligence.
This level of failure is disgraceful, and further shames the telephone network which has been pushing hard in advertising their highly flawed and dishonorable services.
Surprisingly, Vodafone was aware that the complainant was a member of the eye of media.com, but so great was their negligence and arrogance that it did not prevent them from continuing in their shame.
It raises questions as to how many other complainants have been similarly neglected for want of detailed information of who they spoke to.
And the eye of media.com has also cautioned he ombudsman slowness and incompetence in addressing the complaint. Leah Connor from the Ombudsman for Vodafone told the eye of media.com on Wednesday that they had no processes in place for addressing Vodafone’s failures to comply with their request to supply names and dates of who they spoke to, even though this is a requirement for them to follow up a complaint.
When the eye of media.com asked Vodafone to supply information about the percentage of cases whose complaints had now been resolved, they declined.
They said a policy from ofcom does not permit them to supply such information because of the potential damage to their commercial interests. Ofcom has denied this. A spokesperson for Ofcom today told the eye of media.com ” we don’t investigate complaints based on individual cases, but instead observe trends of negligence or misconduct and launch a full investigation when those trends reach a certain level for the same type of complaint”. However, regulator Ofcom said it had noted our complaint and added it to their records for ongoing monitoring.
Vodafone has refused to disclose the percentage of complaints in relation to its services which has been resolved. Yet, Vodafone have recently embarked on a promotional package for its services. The eye of media.com urge the public to beware of them. As an organisation, they cannot be fully trusted. Any organisation that ignores complaints of overcharges, resists the process of investigation, should not be trusted, even if they provide other services that appear appealing.
No amount of improvement in deals or enhancement of service provision can substitute a breach of policy to honorably charge their customers fairly and attend to their complaints professionally.
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