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back to article Vodafone reports sliding revenues but customers don't hate them as much

Vodafone's UK reputation is improving thanks to network improvements, the company said, pointing to a higher net promoter score as it revealed its results today. Vodafone phased out its low-end brand Talkmobile during this period. It claims a better network (with just 0.49 per cent of calls dropped) and better 4G coverage …

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  1. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Danny 14
      Reply Icon

      Re: Maybe Its The Coverage...

      About once a month i get a 'we are improving coverage in your area!' Then another with 'we have finished!'

      Never noticed any difference, still naff in same areas and good in other same areas.

      But in our bit of Cumbria vodaphone still has the best coverage so im stuck with them. Their call centre is a joke and if you have any sort of billing issues then good luck as noone seems to have the authority of refunding and rectifying the issue.

      0 0 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My UK Vodafone ADSL connection drops out for several minutes quite often. The "Demon" helpline run their tests. They then say they have done something that will "equalise" the line - and that my problem will go away in a couple of days. Never does though. BT said they would be monitoring my line for a longer period - and then silence.

    Thinking of moving to AAISP who say they will do their best to fix any such outstanding problems.

    1 0 Reply
    1. m0rt
      Reply Icon

      Zen Internet. I have nothing but glowing glittery niceness to say about them.

      4 0 Reply

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. lglethal Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Joke

      BT said they would be monitoring my line for a longer period - and then silence

      oh I'm sure they're still monitoring the line, but you know it takes time to build up a proper picture of the results, so I expect the Monitoring Phase will be over sometime (*cough*in 2025*cough*) and then after someone analyses the results, they'll be in touch. How does December (*cough*2030*cough*) sound to you?

      3 0 Reply
      1. Danny 14
        Reply Icon

        They will do nothing unless really prodded. You will have a bad connection in the box or naff interconnects. There wont be any pairs free as redundancy was used up by the new builds down the road. A proper ISP might have weight to sort it because they will have a better SLA with BT

        0 0 Reply
  3. Tony W

    Maybe having a big price hike wasn't such a good idea

    when their prices are already at the top end of the market.

    4 0 Reply
  4. Ben1892

    I walked from VF broadband earlier this year, generally a good FTTC service once they got it up and running but being forced to use their buggy router was the tip in the balance to go somewhere else

    1 0 Reply
  5. AndrueC Silver badge
    Unhappy

    Really? I don't hate them as much? Hmmm. It's true that I haven't had to contact them recently so perhaps that's it.

    Mind you it was good to see last week that the signal around Brailles in Warwickshire is as non-existent as ever. They are consistent, you have to give them that :-/

    3 0 Reply

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  6. deive

    I haven't complained... just swapped to someone else (who are just as bad, now been though all providers and they all suck as bad as each other)

    I drove past their HQ a while ago (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/A339,+Newbury+RG14/@51.4153245,-1.3232139,17z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x4876a604698ccf73:0x6ee3bf6a83b9da20!2sNewbury+RG14+2FN!3b1!8m2!3d51.4166833!4d-1.3197471!3m4!1s0x4876a603427ccb35:0x666ab9b394d7ceaf!8m2!3d51.4143074!4d-1.3220766?hl=en) and had 1 bar of 2g signal!

    3 0 Reply
  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "pointing to a higher net promoter score"

    I think I've found the problem.

    Net Promoter Score is a proprietary technique that can work well, but is unfortunately easily manipulated, simply by choosing who is asked to rate the service, and at what point they are asked. Anybody familiar with a helpdesk run under SLA will notice that requests for feedback seem to crop up for all the easy, first time fixes, but never when you're querying an unresolved, complex ticket that's months overdue.

    NPS can work very well, but it is a bit like immunisations - you need to have a very high coverage for it to be effective at a population level. In practice, companies latch onto to NPS, pay the licence fee, and then incentivise managers to improve the figure. The NPS score improves, and the companies kid themselves that they are improving, even though nobody outside the company believes this. I speak from experience, working for one of a number of energy suppliers who use NPS, and our scores have (apparently) improved considerably and consistently over recent years. Until you look at impartial and external data, like customer complaints, time to complaint resolution, ombsudman referrals, and customer losses, all of which show no improvement at all. Looks the same over at Toadafone.

    3 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "pointing to a higher net promoter score"

      Yes impartial and external data is much less easy to manipulate than NPS scores

      But I'd like to add a few points:

      Some external data is less impartial than it first appears. For example the P3 Network Quality tests are run by the P3 Group. They publish their methodology, and they use trained engineers to execute the tests. OK, however they are sponsored. Sponsored in particular by Vodafone. Frequently the tests are run in countries where Vodafone already has a good idea that they have a good network. Often to underpin advertizing campaigns.

      Secondly making a complaint to Ofcom is relatively simple (Google "Ofcom complaints"). So I'm sure with a bit of social networking you could actually drive the figures up if you wanted to? And note Ofcom don't publish deep analysis on the type of complaints received.

      Thirdly I worked for a large networking equipment vendor and they had a Customer Satisfaction score. I initially had reservations about the objectivity of the process until I realised that it was more about Customer Loyalty: Did the sales guy have a strong enough relationship to get the purchaser to tick the right box? NPS probably is a useful in a similar way as long as the process is sufficiently sound?

      But, as you imply NPS improvements should be viewed with great suspicion. And generally used more internally, and at a lower level in an organization, rather than CEO/investor analyst eye candy.

      0 0 Reply
  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Talkmobile

    Shame about closing TalkMobile. I've been on it for some time and it works all the time, a great service for a great price. All I want is some data and a reliable phone signal.

    They should promote the brand instead of sacrificing it. This worked for VW and Skoda, why not Vodafone?

    1 0 Reply
  9. silks

    Vodafone perform consistently poorly in the UK in Rootrmetrics.com independent testing for their network performance relative to their main rivals. Reflects my real world experience too - moved to EE when 4G first came out and didn't look back.

    Vodafone used to play on their wide usage by the emergency services but I suspect this is for their relatively good 2G network and not for today's ever increasing needs/expectations of a 3G/4G network.

    0 0 Reply
  10. iDavid

    I've stuck with Voda since they were a Newbury start-up in 1985 when their numbers began with 0836. At times they've tested my patience but whenever I'm tempted to migrate I hear lurid tales of poor coverage and CS which suggest that all UK networks have similar issues.

    In my hospital bed last week and with WiFi <1.0Mbps I was pleasantly surprised to get 55Mbps down on 4G. Thanks Voda, I'll be staying for now.

    0 0 Reply
  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Their systems are absolutely hopeless and their customer service even worse. It took them 3 months earlier this year to change me from a contract that'd doubled in price back to a fresh contract. I spent over 25 hours on the phone to their customer services dept in India. Truly the worst customer service I've experienced with any company - all they want to do is to get you off the phone so they have no hesitation in lying and making false promises.

    If you have problems with them then I can recommend going direct to the CEOs office as chances are you'll go around in circles with their CS dept.

    I would have changed networks but they're the only provider with signal where I live and I'm on call for work so need to be contactable.

    1 0 Reply

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