Service Review: Vodafone IOU

I’ve been on Vodafone mobile phone network ever since the mobile phones flooded society in very late 90s and early 2000s. Few years back they introduced this system called “IOU”, in case if you ran out of credit, you text a certain number, it loads $5 onto your phone, which is then paid back when you top up next. Simple enough, right?

Wrong! Here I am somewhere on a bus station, desperately needing to call somebody but I don’t have credit. “Of course”, I thought, “I’ll text that IOU service”. Wrong! The IOU service needs to be set up in advance. Damn.

At home I tried to set it up, but it all turned into a fiasco. The entire Vodafone NZ website is unnecessary crowded with all sorts of things complicating everything. Wanted to send them an email to complain about not being able to set up the IOU, but couldn’t even do that.

First you have to set up “My Help” account. Which I tried, only to keep getting a frustrating message “Email already in the database”, or similar. Oh, for @#$% sake! The email help request form is far too stringent for what should be a simple inquiry.

Would have made a complaint to Vodafone about it, if I was able to. Instead I kept thinking about going to Commerce Commission or Better Business Biro (if there is such a thing in New Zealand), but then thought that probably the most effective way to draw the attention of Vodafone’s well salaried head honchos is to contact NZ Herald’s Sideswipe section.

In the end this service review ended up on this Blog. Vodafone charges $1 per call for a customer enquiry. How’s that for customer service? I am not going to pay that as a matter of principle. That fee goes against the grain of capitalism and free enterprise. We the people should not be paying that.

That’s why I wanted to send an email to them instead. Which seems to be purposefully complicated so you can’t get in touch with Vodafone that way and you have to call them. It all resembles an extortion racket enforced upon Vodafone users.

Conclusion: it seems easier to get on North Korea’s official web page and request a signed autograph from “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il, than it is to email and get help from Vodafone.