I had a rather peculiar discussion last week with Vodafone customer services, who (completely inaccurately) seemed keen on pretty much disowning Vodafone’s own online shop.
As I was nearing the end of my mobile phone contract, I’d called to explore my options. I was expecting to discuss the relative merits and costs of choices like continuing as I was, upgrading my handset, switching to a pay monthly SIM-only deal, changing to pay as you go, etc. Armed with all that info, I’d then be able to decide whether to stay with Vodafone or switch to another network.
The peculiarities first arose when I mentioned an interest in a particular handset. This phone was available to buy online through Vodafone’s online shop, yet I was initially told that the phone wasn’t yet available through customer services (which also proved to be inaccurate, as it later transpired). Feigning ignorance of Vodafone’s inner workings, I asked how this could be when it was being sold through Vodafone’s own online shop. In response, I was told something similar to this: “They may well have it, but we don’t yet. The online shop isn’t actually run by Vodafone. It just has our name on it. It’s run by a separate company”.
As it happens, I already had a fairly good understanding of how Vodafone’s online shop is run, thanks to our business relationship with them. So that aspect of the underlying structural arrangements wasn’t news to me. But considering the conversation from a consumer’s perspective, I was staggered to hear someone from Vodafone effectively disowning any meaningful relationship between “Vodafone proper” and their online shop. Perhaps it was an unintended, yet telling insight into internal culture. Even if that’s true, such thoughts should never be voiced when speaking with customers. A better explanation would obviously have been something like “online customers sometimes benefit from faster access to the latest handsets, but we’ll be getting all the details here too very soon. Would you like me to give you a call in a couple of days?”.
Vodafone invests vast sums of money in building its brand through advertising, direct marketing, sponsorship and all sorts of other activities. So for someone dealing with a customer - especially when the relationship is most vulnerable - to paint such a disjointed picture of Vodafone’s internal workings really isn’t very clever at all.
Funnily enough, a similar explanation was later given for the retention team’s inability to match a SIM-only deal that I’d also noted as being available online.
Generally speaking, there’s nothing wrong with any given company’s online deals being cheaper. Often, this is a very deliberate policy - reflecting the cheaper costs of acquiring and servicing customers online instead of through other channels like call centres or shops / branches. For example, most of the cheapest gas and electricity prices are available to people through online-only price plans. The same also often applies with mobile phones.
It’s unfortunate that, on this occasion, Vodafone didn’t seem to have the flexibility to offer certain online deals even for existing customers who might otherwise leave. But therein lies a valuable reminder that it often pays to shop around - and that the best deals are usually waiting to be found by those who do their shopping around online!
As for the comments by the customer services rep, I can and should gladly clarify that Vodafone is intimately involved with the management and running of Vodafone’s online shop, which runs very much in parallel with their other channels. Whilst certain roles may be outsourced, that’s hardly unusual.
Vodafone’s online shop currently offers a host of products and services for consumers and businesses including pay monthly and pay as you talk mobile phones, SIM-only deals and mobile broadband. The new BlackBerry Storm mobile phone is also currently available for pre-order online, where it’s in very popular demand.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Captain’s Blog™ : To comment on this post, register using the comments link below.
Forum: You can also discuss issues on our forum, for which separate registration is required.