Please give me mobile internet

Earlier today I realised I didn’t have much credit left on my phone. Ever since 2002, I have had the same phone number; been with the same provider; been on the same plan. Today I decided to make the change and go with a plan that suits me a bit better – that has better bonuses. I’m with Vodafone, and maybe someone will make me change my views later down the track, but Vodafone are very unreliable. Primarily because their customer service is terrible. Their plans are fine, and their network coverage seems fine, but their customer service is about as useful as a toe sock with all the toes cut off. I’m not even joking.

I don’t really like watching current affairs shows on television because they tend to be ridiculously tantalised and over-the-top, and above all, simply stories that are exaggerated to gain viewers. However, I took their report on phone companies rather fairly and not as some kind of seething scam. Vodafone turned out to be the worst phone provider in terms of customer service.

This morning, all I wanted was the Text/Talk plan, plus an extras pack of mobile data so I can use internet on the move without incurring ridiculous charges ($2 a megabyte is frankly preposterous, I might add). Previously, I had been on a simple plan with just $30 of credit that would expire in 365 days. I’ll be honest, being on that plan was very depressing. I felt like I had to wait as close to 365 as possible before recharging my credit again. I felt like I was being horrible if I used up all the credit in just a month. Either way, I ran out of credit easily and it annoyed me to be low on credit, so I was constantly trying to make sure that I wasn’t, which meant that I avoided replying to people and calling people and spoke very fast when I called people.

I handed my phone to the sales representative at the Vodafone store just after my interview this morning so that he could set up my new plan. I asked him all possible questions I had before I decided to ask him to move me to the new plan. I watched what he did on my phone, I was happy with his explanations and when completed, he said my phone was ready to be used with my new plan. Thinking all was well and good I went on with my day, using the internet on my phone just as I pleased.

I was, however, not pleased to discover that when I went home, I was being charged for my internet usage instead of having it taken from the mobile internet quota I purchased. I was confused, so I called Vodafone for assistance. I had to wait on the phone for nearly half an hour before I was spoken to by a person (and trust me, the phone waiting music is bad). After that, I was told that I would get a refund but I would need to be transferred to someone else regarding the mobile internet as it didn’t seem to be “working” on my phone. While I waited to be transferred, the call was disconnected. /poo

This happened another two times. Once, the person on the other end just said to me “thanks for calling Vodafone, have a nice day” and hung up. Then, I was disconnected while being transferred to technical support, at which point I gave up. Apparently, because I bought my phone outright and not from Vodafone, I’m not allowed to have mobile internet.

What kind of ridiculous floozy is this? It’s preposterous. I can’t believe that they won’t let me use mobile data without paying ginormous fees, because I bought my own phone. It’s my choice, and I’m paying for their service either way. And either way, I am very angry and will most likely change providers very soon because I will be needing mobile internet more in the future, seeing as I got the job I had an interview for this morning, aaaand seeing as my future will most likely be a career in something related to the internet and the world wide web –

Oh, yeah. :) I start the new job next Friday. You might wonder about my other web designing job… well, I haven’t been called for a while, and I’m only a casual there, so I’m looking for another part-time job for the summer. Looks like I have my hands on one now.

The Jebediah tickets have been sorted, and tomorrow I’ll be going with Seb. I really want to photograph with my DSLR but I doubt I’ll be allowed; I’ll definitely get some photos either on my phone or one of my point-and-shoot cameras. I’ll let you guys know how the show goes – which should be in my next post on Sunday some time. /bounce

Comments on this post

Congratulations on getting the job :D I hope the experience is fun and you learn a bunch of cool stuff. (Y)

Vodafone lame :/ They’re just pissed at you for not buying your phone from them. You’ve been with Vodafone since 2002 :O ? That’s almost 10 years. They should recognize a good costumer when they see one. Guess its bye bye Vodafone, Georgina’s taking her business else where.

That is actually terrible and unacceptable. I feel like US companies tend to get cited for bad customer service all the time, but that’s worse than anything I’ve heard of. I don’t know much about mobile phones outside of the US, but I hope that your other options are orders of magnitude better!

Have fun at the concert! Don’t make yourself too busy during your break!

That is ridiculous!
My mom had been having a hard time with our phone company. They used to keep calling her, accusing her of keeping an old phone she was supposed to give back in exchange for a new one. The thing is is that she traded the phone for the new one in person, but they kept calling over and over again for around two months. Eventually they shut up, haha (:
Congrats on your new job!!

Aw those mobiles are a problem. I’m not a big fan of technology so I just use the same cell phone and T-mobile plan that my father bought to me 3 years ago. And I’m pretty happy with it.
Have fun in the concert!

Companies are just so whack like that. -__- I’m with a phone company called AT&T and I’m glad they aren’t like Vodafone! I have yet to get into a situation with them like yours since I have such a simple phone plan (no internet or anything else besides being able to call/receive calls and text) and I hope I never will. It’s bad enough I have such a hard time talking with those kinds of people on the phone. :T Let’s hope which ever other phone company you decide to go to is a bajillion times better!

Well, congratulations on getting that job! :D

Geez, companies are usually like that. It’s either they have low signal or poor customer service. That’s why my friends and family usually complain to their service provider because of their Blackberry Messenger is ‘pending’, means not sent.

And just a quick note that I changed my URL. I don’t know if it’ll be permanent or not. I love my .org domain, sadly ♥ .

Ugh…companies are just like that. In Indonesia, our providers provide either low signal or poor customer service. My internet service provider also has poor customer service, but I’ve never heard something terrible like this before /pow .

Congrats on getting a new job :) ! Hope you have fun spending time for it.

On other news I also have changed my URL. I don’t know what to do with the .org domain now..

I’m on Amaysim (piggybacking on Optus) and their service is AWESOME. The fact that I think it’s a Malaysian company, it’s surreal that the cust service has been excellent so far! I pay $10 for 1GB data valid for 1 month. I don’t really make calls or text, we have WhatsApp for that! Plus, I’d rather buy my phone outright rather than being tied to a contract… (H)

Last time, I was thinking of buying an internet USB modem who is Vodafone branded. Now that you mention about how awful the customer service is, I’m glad I didn’t buy the modem or I’m going to die out of impatient and frustration. I’m currently facing quite the same problem like you too; got three USB modems, one of them just won’t connect for some reason and the customer service is super awful. well, they do answer my questions and all those but the solution is always the same thing and it never ever work. ugh. /angry it’s driving me crazy,seriously. Especially knowing that how those famous providers do crazy commercials a lot of times, it pisses me off even more.
Like Nydia said there, the signal and providers and internet connection in Indonesia is super super awful. 😢
Did you go to Vodafone and complain about how disappointed you’re? If I were you, I think I’ll explode at their office or something.
Anyways, congrats on the new job! You seem like a cool and talented person who can get jobs easily, haha.

Costumer ‘service’ what a joke. This reminds me so much of the number I have to call when I have a question regarding my credit card. They barely speak English, and when they do not understand what your asking them, they simply disconnect you. Lovely. 💥

Congratulations on the job! Must be so exciting 👏