Is Vodafone incompetent - or is it just me?

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The issue ...

Despite the professional image that it tries to project through its Web site and other forms of advertising, I cannot help thinking that there may be some odd pockets of incompetence hiding away in different parts of the Vodafone organisation. After my experiences of the last eight days I think I may well have stumbled upon some of these - or maybe its just me? Perhaps I have just been plain unlucky? No matter what the cause, my image of this organisation is heavily tarnished - so much so, despite having been a long-standing customer of Vodafone, I intend to dispense with the services of this company at my earliest convenience.

The start of my problems

My recent problems with Vodafone started on the 29th July (2010) when I wanted to do a simultaneous upgrade and downgrade of my services. Speed-wise, I wanted to upgrade my mobile broadband facility from 3.6 Mbps to 7.2 Mbps; in terms of volume of data, I wanted to downgrade from 'unlimited download' to 3.0 Gbytes per month.

I went into my local Vodafone store to make the necessary arrangements. After an extensive period of waiting, someone with the appropriate 'authority' was able to make the changes that I had asked for. He also gave me a new USB modem ('dongle') - unknown to me at the time, it turned out to be defective. Before leaving the shop, I checked exactly what I had to do in order to get the new modem up and running. I was told: Step 1 delete the current software from my computer; Step 2 install the new software from the new dongle; Step 3 transfer the SIM card from my old dongle to my new one.

I followed the above instructions 'to the letter'. Despite this, I could not get the new modem to work. After numerous phonecalls to Vodafone 'customer care', I was eventually able to find someone who could explain why my modem was not working. The software was out of date! He then explained that I had to download Version 10 of the modem software from the Vodafone Web site.

I thought the next step in the procedure was rather amusing! I now used my Orange modem to download new software for my defunct Vodafone modem. Interestingly, my Orange modem worked without any problems from the first day that I bought it and has never stopped working. I have never had any problems with it. Sadly, I cannot say the same about my Vodafone modems. However, there is one exception, the SIM card that is embedded inside my netbook computer has always worked fine (but that does not use Vodafone software).

Eventually, I got my USB modem to work. But, unfortunately, there were more problems on their way!

Yet more problems

Having got my mobile broadband to work, I thought I would now use it to have a look at my online account ('MyAccount'). When I logged in to the system, I noticed a rather strange message in my "Welcome Philip" window - see below.


I could not understand what the string "**important**" meant; nor could I see any way of finding out - I could not 'click' on it and there was no mention of it in any form of online help facility. So, back to the telephone. Unfortunately, despite numerous phone calls to various people in Vodafone, to this very day (August 6th), I have not been able to find out what is so important that warrants this message placement on my screen.

One helpful (I am being sarcastic here) employee in the customer-care department suggested that the account (which I had previously been using successfully for over two years!) had not been set up correctly. He then proceeded to delete it and instructed me to set it up again. [Case: #3271646]

I did this but the problem did not go away.

I thought I would next explore my Direct Debit arrangements. Herein lay yet another problem! I clicked on the appropriate button on the Vodafone screen only to be then presented with the following error message:

Error! We are unable to fulfil your request due to a temporary problem at our end. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience that this has caused. We hope to resolve this problem very soon, so please try again later.

I could not believe my eyes! Vodafone actually admitting guilt? I found this so difficult to believe!

Finally, I thought I would explore 'My Bills'. With this intent in mind, I clicked on the appropriate menu option on my screen. Behold, yet another problem presented itself - see the illustration below:

18.15 on Tuesday, 3rd August, 2010 Sorry, due to the high levels of registrations Vodafone Bill Centre is receiving it is taking a little longer to complete your registration. Please try again in a few minutes. The rest of MyAccount is available for you to use.

In the above message, the green text corresponds to my annotation relating to the time and date the message was presented to me.

As can be seen, the message on the screen suggested trying 'a few minutes later'. I did try several minutes later, several hours later and several days later. Whenever I tried to access my bills, I got the same message.

Further complaints to Vodafone led to the same response as I got before - but by a different respondent:

Another helpful (I am again being sarcastic) employee in the customer-care department suggested that the account had not been set up correctly. He then proceeded to delete it and instructed me to set it up again. [Case: #3318367]

And so, the problem continues ...

I just wonder how many more times Vodafone will delete my account (without even asking me!) in the mistaken belief that their users are incompetent and that their software systems are 'beyond reproach'?

My conclusion

It is my impression that the customer-care folk at Vodafone are trained to believe that their customers are 'idiots' and that all problems can be solved by deleting a customer's account and asking them to register again. I wish the world was that simple. Sadly, it's not.

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Enquiry-Based Learning - Query

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QUERY FROM CA

Hi Philip,

I'm reading through your paper. 'As is my wont' for every page I've read I've gone off on a number of tangents, however, I had a question/thought.

When I'm doing a presentation I'm reminded of the multiple ways that audiences like to receive information.

I tend to adopt what are probably two extremes - the 'marketing' sell through pictures style which I detect in your presentation and the 'dry' list of facts style that others, e.g., finance type people (I'm probably being unfairly general here) favour.

Anyway I'd be interested to know how you might approach enquiry based learning for the latter part of the spectrum of the audience.

Chris

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RESPONSE

I think presentations for mixed audiences (whose members have a wide range of capability and prior experience) are always a difficult issue! Some people like to listen, others prefer to watch while others like 'to do'. I guess it's all to do with learning styles and preferences.

In its broadest sense, enquiry-based learning (EBL) is about encouraging people to find out about and explore things for themselves. In many ways it is is very similar to problem-based learning - wherein students learn (that is, acquire knowledge and skills) by solving appropriate problems. The nature of problem solving is inherently enquiry-based (as discussed in the conference proceedings chapter). Within an EBL environment, the role of the instructor would be one of scenario setting (see below), help, guidance, encouragement and (possibly) resource provision.

Obviously, for any given cohort, the way in which the enquiry-based learning is implemented will depend upon the level involved and the knowledge and skills that are to be developed. A learning needs-analysis would therefore have to be conducted in order to identify the content and pedagogy that would be required.

For the type of people you mention, I would imagine the EBL would be based upon the use of financial models, simulations and spreadsheets. Some of the important concepts would need to involve the identification of important financial variables and the development of models to reflect the impact that these have on any spending decisions that have to be made.

SCENARIO

There follows a generic scenario that embeds enquiry-based learning pedagogy. This could be made more specific by giving details of the variables involved.

Here is a situation: X
This is what we want to achieve: Y
This is what we have to spend: Z

What possibilities exist for a realistic outcome to the above situation?
How might variations in X and Y influence the quality of the outcomes (Y)?
What contingencies might be put in place in anticipation of unforeseen events?
Provide supporting evidence for any decisions that you make.

ADDENDUM

As a result of our conversation, I have realised that there is a need for a good tool to support the concept of 'microblogging'. It would be useful to have a small blog facility that one could embed in a person's Web site so that people could pass comment on its content. For example, the content of this posting might be better contained in the Web site where my EBL material is actually located - rather than here on Blogger. Such a tool probably exists somewhere but I am unaware of it - if you know of such a thing please let me know; I don't have time to code one up myself.

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