End of the line with Vodafone/options ?

Samsquanch

I have Vodafone mobile broadband for about one month. Since day one the signal has never been good. I rang them about this initially and was told that a mast was down locally and that it would improve soon. It did slightly but disproved shortly after and I was given another reason for that. Then last week I was told it was slow becasue I was on an unlimited download service but the engineer ensured me a proper download speed would be available the next day, it didnt.
Anyway at this stage I am tired of the excuses I am just wondering what my options are. Am I stuck in a 12 month contract even if the service is really poor ??

Biggins

Edited due to part irrelevance.

As regards your contract question, I asked in the legal section (HERE) about escape clauses and this was a response I got:

seamus wrote: »

If something is not up to scratch - i.e. not satisfactory within the contract, then you could claim that the contract has not been fulfilled by the other party and cancel it without penalty.

There are more specific regulations too. The distance-selling regulations allow you to return any item purchased at a "distance" - i.e. without going into a shop and buying it - within ten days (I think), for any reason and without penalties. I know this applies to physical goods, but I don't know if it also applies to contracts (such as mobile phone plans).
Afaik, if you arrange for something to be delivered from a shop you should also have the right to cancel the delivery for a full refund since the contract has not been fulfilled until you accept the goods.

There is also legislation dealing with loan agreements. Again, I think the term is ten days - you have ten days from the date of signing the loan agreement, where you can back out without penalty. The bank will not provide you with any money until those ten days are up, but you can also sign a waiver saying that you do not need these ten days and you want your money now.
Of course, allowing people to waive their right to change their mind makes the whole thing pointless, since someone in desperation will always sign the waiver.

I would suggest you do constant tests from www.speedtest.net and keep them as a record for your claim that they are not living up to their end of their contract. Do testing of the line hourly, daily as many times. The more testing the better, adds to your claim. You might have to produce your records later as evidence.
Then go after them. It will be tough but your not on your own.

watty

But it's mobile, not DSL vodafone.
If it's mostly connecting it's performing sadly. There is no guaranteed speed

See http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055442502
and generally http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1147

Samsquanch

Yeah I am getting a connection alright, its just that most of the time its crappy. Its a pity becasue I had O2 mobile broadband last year and it was fine, the odd hicup but generally great, I am so angry I switched
When I called to complain one of the Vodafone reps told me I should try using it somewhere else, a different area...I mean WTF. I know its mobile but I aint moving around like a traveller just to get a good signal

Samsquanch

Well, after another lengthy call with Vodafone I am no nearer sorting this issue. Finally got them to admit there were no masts down in the area this time and no other issues with my device that might be causing my problem

They have offered me next months service for free, fair enough, but to be honest I need good broadband, which I am willing to pay for, not a 'free' dial up connection

Cant believe I am stuck in this contract for 12 months

jay93

Done the same as yourself back in december switched from 3 to vodafone and ive never been driven demented so much by a broadband proivder as vodafone done..mast was fine early hours of the morning max speeds 1mb go away vodafone ..
expect it to get worse alot worse
it will probably get so annoying you wont even want to go online with it :(
very bad service and they lie alot when you ring them up with a problem

th3 s1aught3r

Me too. Got Vodafone mobile and the service has been crap. I am pretty sure though that if you have a contract and you are not receiving the advertised speed then there must be some grounds for being allowed to get out of that contract as there is no performance at their end
Its worth looking into

jay93

I have tried to get out of the contract but they would not let us even tough it would barely stay connected for 5mins it would still be connected but pages would time out etc no matter what time of day or night it was always the same!:(
i told vodafone that we where not paying them anymore unless this issue was resolved returned the modem to the store told them to take it back that we didnt want it and if they didnt take it it was going in the bin so now they still sending letters they broke the contract by not providing a service that was advertised and they blame us saying nothing is wrong with our connection if only they could come out and try use the damn thing they would know how bad it was..overall vodafone are the worst lieing bunch of twats ive ever dealt with and will never go near them again ..sorry for this bit of a rant but they get your temper boiling at times:rolleyes:

gogo

Ok, had this problem last year, got vodafone mobile broadband and to be fair at first it was grand, slowly but surely it got worse. Rang several times, always on the phone over an hour as I was passed to technical and then back to customer service, and never got any closer to resloving the problem. They admitted that I had 'poor' signal.
Each time I spoke to them, I took the name of who I was talking too and when.
I asked them to cancel the broadband as no service to me, meant not paying them. They kept going, 'no, technical will resolve this for you', back holding for 25mins while I was put through. After getting sick of this I hung up and
went to the bank and cancelled the direct debit myself, but kept receiving bills from vodafone. I then recieved a threatening one. so I rang again and explained the situation (names/dates everything), the guy said he'd refer it to his manager and would ring me back the next day at the same time. i didnt hold my breath, but lo and behold he rang me, and said that bill was quashed and not to worry, they could see I didnt use it since I cancelled the direct debit, and all bills were paid up to that, so they would call it a day. This was seven months into contract.

Anyway, he said that as I wasn't recieving any service, I 'couldnt' be tied to a contract.
Their technical department can monitor your signal strenght, ask to be put through to technical when you ring and take the name of the guy you talk too. They couldnt argue with me, when i was able to say "well dave in technical says I have no signal whatsoever, etc,etc".

Samsquanch

Would there be any sense in contacting ComReg about my problem ?