Hi Vodafone,
I have been a long standing customer of 3/Vodafone with a mobile contract and was recently given a new Samsung Galaxy Tablet that I wanted to buy a sim card for to use Internet on the go.
I went into my local vodafone store, holding the new tablet and asked for one of the $29 monthly prepaid mobile broadband sim cards. As the sales assistant preceded to help me and fetched the sim, I asked him, "can you please show me where I insert the sim into the tablet?" and his response was "I will show you after I have processed it". Sure enough, he processed the sim to then discover that this tablet is wifi only and does not take a sim card.
He then told me he would be "Back in a minute" and disappeared out the back only to return to tell me I now had to pay for the sim, which of course, I can't use! If he had showed me where to insert the sim as I had first asked, he would have seen there and then that it wasn't compatible, saving me the transaction.
When I asked to speak to a manager, they refused to speak to me, and the sales assistant said he had "assumed" I knew the tablet could take the sim card. I'm sorry but, with the device right in front of him, he didn't need to "assume" anything, especially when I asked as I myself was unsure.
I was then told to call Vodafone Customer Care who I was told would take the amount off my next bill, but Customer Care then told me to go back to the store as they were responsible and needed to reimburse me. My Customer Care contact on the phone told me he would ring me back in 10 minutes when I got back to the store to explain to the manager that I needed a refund so I went back and was left feeling embarrassed when the call never came. I was once again told there was nothing they can do and that I was responsible for the mistake and they were not liable. and - the Manager again refused to see me, surprise surprise.
By this stage I was quite upset, I was taking the blame and literally paying for something that wasn't my fault and could have been easily avoided if the sales assistant had listene to me.
I gave Customer Care one last try and this time spoke to a very helpful lady, by the name of Stella I believe, and she spoke to her supervisor who approved the $29 sim card amount to be taken off my monthly mobile bill.
So, this problem was eventually resolved after much hard work, however it never should have occurred in the first place and the appalling instore treament made me feel very small and like I didn't matter - certainly not how longstanding Vodafone customers should be treated.