After her contract with Vodafone finished, my sister upgraded from iPhone 4s to iPhone 5. She decided to give the iPhone 4s to our friend but as the sleep/wake button in it was broken we've been told we can exchange it at the Apple Store for £140. We've paid, we got the new iPhone 4s from Apple and this is when the problems began.
As the contract has finished my sis was entitled to unlock the phone (so our friend could use it. She's in different network).
To make it clear: I’m going to call the original iPhone 4s she my sister had as ‘the old handset/iPhone’ and the exchanged iPhone 4s as ‘the new handset/iPhone’. The iPhone 5 my sister got with the upgrade is not the subject of that story.
Vodafone was telling us it's up to Apple to unlock the new handset while Apple said there's no way they can do it and it's Vodafone’s responsibility. After visiting the Apple and Vodafone stores several times and keep contacting their customer services for 2 weeks we finally got to the point where it was obvious it's Vodafone's fault. They should unlock the iPhone for us. And they haven’t done it so far.
FYI: Every single handset has its own specific IMEI number. When the network is unlocking your iPhone it's actually unlocking its IMEI number so you can use it with any other network.
Vodafone couldn't recognise the IMEI number of the new phone, even though [1] it was sent to them via specific unlock request form on their website, [2] given them on phone by us [3] and by Apple as well, [4] updated at the Vodafone store a couple of times, [5] sent to them in the document confirming we did exchange at the Apple store.
What's worse, Vodafone unlocked the old handset by (their) mistake and then refused to unlock the new one as you, as a customer, are entitled to unlock only one handset per contract! So we had to explain everything over and over again.
Every time we were trying to solve the problem we were forced to talk to a different person who didn't know the whole story. That was extremely frustrating and annoying.
By the way the email addresses provided by Vodafone Customer Service to send the documents seemed to be wrong several times. We had to re-call them and were suggested to try another address again and again.
A few days ago, while visiting the Vodafone store, we've been told their customer service can't really help us because their offices are placed in Egypt and they can't understand a thing! Would you believe?!
Yesterday my sister and I visited the Vodafone store again. And the lady who’s the store assistant manager told us we should jailbreak that phone because she had no idea what the problem might be. Obviously she sent another email to their technical team and we're forced to wait again.
It's been 3 weeks now and there's no hope for any solution. We still cannot use the iPhone we’ve paid for as it’s locked.
The Vodafone sellers were unwilling to help, they never offer calling Customer Service and help us with solving problem. They always persisted we need to send the unlock request form from the website to unlock the phone, even though we had done it before several times, and if that doesn't help than there's nothing they can do. So, for Christ sake, who can?!
We're going to contact Custom Advise Bureau and Watch Dog and let them know about it.
Sadly, I understand they're Goliath and we're David in this case. But at least we can warn some people to avoid Vodafone and their outrageous customer service.
Think twice before you decide to sign a contract with them, please.
Any helpful suggestion would be highly appreciated. Thank you.
Kind regards,
Rob
As the contract has finished my sis was entitled to unlock the phone (so our friend could use it. She's in different network).
To make it clear: I’m going to call the original iPhone 4s she my sister had as ‘the old handset/iPhone’ and the exchanged iPhone 4s as ‘the new handset/iPhone’. The iPhone 5 my sister got with the upgrade is not the subject of that story.
Vodafone was telling us it's up to Apple to unlock the new handset while Apple said there's no way they can do it and it's Vodafone’s responsibility. After visiting the Apple and Vodafone stores several times and keep contacting their customer services for 2 weeks we finally got to the point where it was obvious it's Vodafone's fault. They should unlock the iPhone for us. And they haven’t done it so far.
FYI: Every single handset has its own specific IMEI number. When the network is unlocking your iPhone it's actually unlocking its IMEI number so you can use it with any other network.
Vodafone couldn't recognise the IMEI number of the new phone, even though [1] it was sent to them via specific unlock request form on their website, [2] given them on phone by us [3] and by Apple as well, [4] updated at the Vodafone store a couple of times, [5] sent to them in the document confirming we did exchange at the Apple store.
What's worse, Vodafone unlocked the old handset by (their) mistake and then refused to unlock the new one as you, as a customer, are entitled to unlock only one handset per contract! So we had to explain everything over and over again.
Every time we were trying to solve the problem we were forced to talk to a different person who didn't know the whole story. That was extremely frustrating and annoying.
By the way the email addresses provided by Vodafone Customer Service to send the documents seemed to be wrong several times. We had to re-call them and were suggested to try another address again and again.
A few days ago, while visiting the Vodafone store, we've been told their customer service can't really help us because their offices are placed in Egypt and they can't understand a thing! Would you believe?!
Yesterday my sister and I visited the Vodafone store again. And the lady who’s the store assistant manager told us we should jailbreak that phone because she had no idea what the problem might be. Obviously she sent another email to their technical team and we're forced to wait again.
It's been 3 weeks now and there's no hope for any solution. We still cannot use the iPhone we’ve paid for as it’s locked.
The Vodafone sellers were unwilling to help, they never offer calling Customer Service and help us with solving problem. They always persisted we need to send the unlock request form from the website to unlock the phone, even though we had done it before several times, and if that doesn't help than there's nothing they can do. So, for Christ sake, who can?!
We're going to contact Custom Advise Bureau and Watch Dog and let them know about it.
Sadly, I understand they're Goliath and we're David in this case. But at least we can warn some people to avoid Vodafone and their outrageous customer service.
Think twice before you decide to sign a contract with them, please.
Any helpful suggestion would be highly appreciated. Thank you.
Kind regards,
Rob