Travel and Phones

The youngest returned for Christmas from the UK with a new phone, the eldest had a new phone also, it took 3 trips to Vodacom and cost R100 to perform a SIM swop, which failed and then purchase 2 new SIM cards, which both needed a further visit to get them activated and when I say 'them' I mean only one of them. The kids return to the UK soon and they'll have the same issues when they put their Vodafone SIMs back in.

Every time I travel to the UK I spend a fortune on getting my mobile phone to work.
I have O2 and orange SIM cards for the UK. I arrive at the airport, purchase airtime having swopped the SIM mid flight and turning off everything that uses up the data allowance.  Load the £10 airtime and by the end of the day it’s all gone.

As a result the first thing I do is go without ringing anyone to say I've arrived, try and find a spot of free WiFi to FB, email and message home to say ‘I’m here’ or ‘I’m on my way’

As I fly into London or Birmingham then rely on a train or coach to get to my destination and understandably family do not realise my need to sort my phone out it is usually 2-3 days before I get to a high street store and explain the problem.

And every bloody time...yes you’re on the ‘so and so package, just top up and it’ll be fine’ and every bloody time I end up with 2-3 trips to the store to complain all my allowance went within 2-3 days to be informed ‘that’s because your I phone used up all the data and it takes 2-3 days for your plan to activate’ Well FFS that’s what I said when I came in the store in the first place and asked for your help.

Finally getting the Orange EE phone sorted, I then discover that for some reason when my 1G data allowance runs out I can’t top it up, seriously, the woman in the store in Worcester, then the guy in the branch in Manchester just looked at me and said ‘ooohh it’s very expensive to add more data just for a few days’ and didn’t bloody sell me any and had I been given the price I could have made the choice as to whether I could afford it or not.

Enough is enough...no more moping

I've had it up to here with waiting for other people to get back to me.

I've had enough of companies failing to get back to me, individuals letting me down, by their lack of thought, effort and just dam right lies.

But no more...

I've been depressed, I've been ill, I've shouted, I've complained (telephone, email, letter and in person) I've cried.

And today it stops.

I've given up with my complaint against Vodafone for their complete lack of customer care, refusing to respond to emails, phone calls.

I will not dignify Britannia Movers with replying to their latest email that started....'without prejudice' and ended with 'we contacted the agent in the UK, they said they had no problems' so that's alright then.

I'm resigned to the fact that I don't have a volunteers role with The London2012 Olympics (if anything is offered now it will be accepted)

I'm not going to the Doctors for advice and guidance, they can give me pills, refer me for therapy, but they can't take away how I've felt for the past year, they can't magic me up a job (no one can, the laws of the country make it almost impossible for me to work her). No one can remove the damage that has been done to me as an individual from all the above.

It's my responsibility I've allowed these things to get to me in the absence of anything else in my life (work, study, friends)

I will continue with my quest for compensation with HSBC after I recieved a letter of apology for the fact their advisor and literature mislead us.

I will continue to chase Barloworld Toyota for my tyre pressure guage, even if I have to pay for it myself.

I've got out of bed, I've dressed, I've photocopied my passport to take to the police station to get finger printed so I can get my police clearance check and then I can call some organisations that people have recommend and start the voluntary work.

I'm going to sort Daniels provisional licence out, book Alex his scuba diving lessons, Go to visit the offices of Discovery Med Aid and ask them exactly how this bloody scheme works adn I'm going back to UNISA to find out what course I can study that is relevant to what I've already done and to living here. I've contacted the Open University to find out how/if I can continue with my studies.

But first of all I shall start with a cup of tea, after all I'm British and that's what we do in a crisis.

January's Letter home

So it's been over a year now since we arrived, still so many things to see, places to go and things to sort. This month I've been tackling a list of complaints and renewals for car and house insurance.
The UK Banks Santander and HSBC (overdrafts, change of address and missold policies)
Vodafone (lack of customer service)
Britannia removal firm (their continued failure to reply to my emails asking for help, which yes has now been resolved but all by me, funny that I don't recall paying myself 4K to do it)
Barlowworld Toyota (we will get back to you in 4 days, 11th Jan, in regards to the silly little problem of replacing a valve)
I've synced my diaries...well written down everything off all the bits of paper that have come home from school onto the wall calender and my handbag diary.
Written birthday cards up till the end of March for MIL to post from the UK, sent just as many emails to family and friends, updated facebook, twitter and my blogs and started an Instagram of a picture a day to reflect where i've been, what I've seen or what I've done.

So this months letter home is as follows. I've obviously personalised it with each and everyone.

'Wanted to wait a while before replying just in case anything exciting happened, like a herd of elephants on a drive or an unexpected trip to Bloemfontein or Alex back in hospital after a Heely accident.
Peter's mum was here for 3 weeks, it was lovely to have her, this is the 2nd full day with the kids back in school since she left and I'm missing the company..oh well...cant have it all.
We were in Durban for 3 days it was 40c and 89% humidity without any clouds, so hot our skin literally peeled off our bodies.
Dan was 17 this month and he went with Peter and his mates to Wanderers stadium in Jo'burg to watch SA v Sri Lanka, they were sitting right behind the batsman and were omn the telly every shot, they had a fab day, I stayed home watching crappy films and sleeping.
Alex is fine after his heely accident (official version was a stone jammed under his wheel, I suspect he was being towed by his mates in a golf cart) just a massive black eye which a week on is now green, bless him, the following day he was off to Durban on his school trip and Dan was somewhere in the mountains on his. Peter and I took the opportunity to drive to Bloemfontein for a night away (5 hr journey, combined with work) but it was time away without the kids, which is always nice.
We are starting to make a network of friends now on the estate and have started a school lift share, which I love, Peter takes to school and two other parents collect Alex after school and Dan after sport, I've given the kids a key so I dont have to rush back from swimming at the gym or shopping.
Jamie is coming out in May for 2 weeks, that's the hardest part of living here, is not just being there for the kids when they need us, probably would've gone months without seeing him in the uk anyway...lol. An old school friend is coming to stay also in March, I've seen her once in 20 years and that was in December, will be interesting to see how we get on. We are off for lunch in Soweto next month with a guy we met who is from there.
Still no word from the olympics, im resigned to the fact i havent got it, that way it will be a nice surprise.
Love to everyone
Suzanne and Peter'

I've also set myself a few tasks for February and hope that writing them down on my blog will prompt me to get on with them and blog them next month.

Get a post box...I'm fed up of post being stolen/going missing. We had one birthday card and one letter from the UK and two bills from Telkom arrive in January, the first post since October.

Plan a trip to Soweto for lunch out, make gifts, sort photos, find out if I've got the Olympic gig, book son's flight, get Dan's provisional driving licence (no additional charge for family members on insurance with OUTsurance) I have an appointment to see Discovery about how med aid works (fed up of being fobbed off by agent) I need to get my police check sorted so I can donate some more time with The Baby house and I have a few leads to follow about volunteer teaching in an informal settlement in Mamelodi.

update on vodafone

So yesterday I blogged about my troubles with Vodafone

http://chickenruby.blogspot.com/2011/09/its-shame-its-come-to-this.html

and someone on twitter sent my blog post to the CEO at Vodafone and I recieved an immediate response asking for my contact details, which I sent and at 4pm BST today I recieved a reply to tell me I can't transfer my contract to South Africa Vodacom as it's a seperate company.

I get that, I got that message in December when I rang Customer Services up and since then all I've asked for is for a reference for Vodacom to say I've been a reliable customer with Vodafone for 10 years, as I have no credit history here. In fact I get that message every bloody time I write, email, visit the store.

I've asked, begged and pleaded to get my online access sorted so I can ensure there are sufficient funds in my UK bank account to make payments, I've asked for all correspondence to be sent via email as the UK sim card is not active here and post can take up to 4 weeks to reach me.

I've also asked if they can let me know how I can go about getting my phone fixed, which has now died.

And last week I asked for an unlocking code for an old out of contract Blackberry so I have a phone to use with a Vodacom PAYG sim card.

So the beginning of September I lost my patience, I had a strop, I tweeted about how disgusted I was and finally 9 months later my online access is up and running.

But still the other questions go unanswered so I blogged and guess what? an unlocking code was recieved and I now have a phone I can use on PAYG.

I still don't have a reference and I still don't know why or even have an apology for why it took 9 months for my online account to be sorted.

As a gesture of good will Vodafone will cancel the contract with no further charge (runs out on December 24th and is only £20 ish per month)

I'm not feeling the good will.

It's a shame it's come to this

It seems the only way I’m going to get anything done here is to Name and Shame.
So here you go Vodafone.

Let me tell you a story...it all began in December 2010

I can’t access the online service, I’m moving to South Africa and I need to ensure there are sufficient funds in my UK bank account to cover the direct debit...
My phone is faulty, it keeps switching itself on and off, but I’m emigrating shortly?
How much would it cost me just to pay the contract off? Can I transfer it to South Africa? Could you provide me with a reference to say I’ve been a long standing and reliable customer of 10 years? Tis is done via email, visits to many stores and several phone calls

Account is allegedly reset

We move then to March 2011...I’ve been busy settling the family into our new lives.

So I write to customer services, outlining the above problems, I receive a reply
Blah, blah, blah committed until December 24th 2011 , price plan has been changed, need to give 30 days notice so November 20th 2011 is the earliest I can write back to do so.
Online billing is active and here’s your account user name and secret question to reset your password, last 3 months of bills are being sent and you will be charged £1.54 +vat for them.

I never requested the bills and don’t want to be charged and I still can’t sign into my account despite resetting my password.

I forget all about it, well not really but I’m not getting anywhere so on May 24th 2011 I write back.

I enclose a screen shot of the message I receive every time, which says ‘Your account administrator hasn’t approved your account yet. Until then there may be some parts of your account you can’t access’
I tell them I’m living in South Africa; I tell them I’ve tried to sort this in store, online, over the phone, via email and letter. I tell them what the last letter said, how I’ve been charged for services I didn’t request.
I TELL THEM AGAIN, ONLY REPLY VIA EMAIL AS MY POST TAKES UP TO 4 WEEKS TO BE FORWARDED TO ME.
I tell them again my phone is faulty.
I ask again for a reference so I can take an account with Vodacom.
I tell them that this situation is ridiculous.

I receive a reply, via post, June 9th 2011
They’ve checked my account details and if I still wish to leave, I have to give 30 days notice.
Three paragraphs follow re how I do this and that is all. They have IGNORED the other points, but I know they’ve had the letter because they’ve WRITTEN back to the new address I requested.

I start tweeting, I start emailing off their web page, I don’t have a copy of the sent emails, via this system...I give up

August 2011

I arrive in the UK, I visit my son, I visit my Mother in Law and I visit Vodafone in Bath. I explain the problems and the staff in the shop are aghast, they call up customer services, they have the letters and emails in front of them, they explain the whole situation...the account will be reset and someone will call me in 72 hours, guess what? Still can’t access account and no phone call. I continue with my HOLIDAY, I visit my Mother, I meet my new niece, I go out with friends for meals and I return to the shop in Bath on the way back to my Mother in Laws and I explain the whole situation, all over again. This time however the account is reset and my account is credited, I need to wait 48 hours before I can set the account up again and I return to South Africa. I’ve spent two whole afternoons in the shop sorting this out.

Tah dah...I get the same message I’ve been telling them about since December. I’m angry now, I tweet, I ask for an email address, I get NO apology, NO explanation, NO reply to my email, I email again and low and behold I’M BACK ONLINE...September 2011

But they still haven’t addressed my other issues, they still haven’t said sorry and quite frankly I AM PISSED OFF

Last week, as I’m still unable to get a contract with Vodacom, I request via email on their web page for information as to how I can unlock an out of contract UK Vodafone BlackBerry as my phone is now stuffed. Automated response...’we will contact you in 24 hours’ that was the 19th of September...so I tweet


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VodafoneUK Vodafone UK
@
@chickenruby Do you have the reference from the auto-response so that I can chase this up for you? ^SM
20 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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chickenruby Suzanne J S
@
@VodafoneUK 7396031
20 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete
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VodafoneUK Vodafone UK
@
@chickenruby You can request unlocking codes online directly here http://goo.gl/9waLh ^SM
20 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

chickenruby Suzanne J S
@
@VodafoneUK it wouldn't let me do it as phone is out of contract that's why I was told on here to email you with info..any idea why no reply
19 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete
»


VodafoneUK Vodafone UK
@
@chickenruby I can see your email is assigned to one of our Customer Services Team. They'll be in touch shortly. ^PW
18 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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chickenruby Suzanne J S
@
@VodafoneUK they said 24hrs...it's really not good enough ESP as they took 9 months to sort out online access and still haven't replied to
18 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete
in reply to ↑

@VodafoneUK Vodafone UK
@chickenruby Sorry to see you feeling that way. They'll be in touch as soon as possible for you. ^PW
18 hours ago via CoTweet Favorite Retweet Reply


And I’m still waiting for a response......
I think I should ask for compensation, payments on my account since December 2010 to be refunded and my contract cancelled with no further costs at the very least.
I dread to think how much of my time has been spent on this matter, family time, holiday time, my time right now, phone calls, time spent on emails and visiting the store.
I have names, I have letters and if Vodafone need proof they can trawl through their emails and tweets to see I’m NOT making any of this up.