My internet connection in Berlin breaks down. I call the Vodafone support service from my Norwegian phone, have to talk to a bogus robot for minutes until I finally reach a human operator. She concludes that my router is broken, and arranges for a new one to be sent. After a few days, the new router arrives. We are now three days without internet. In the box lies the router, but there is no user manual. I call the Vodafone support, again having to chat to the nonsense robot - of course it advices me to seek information about installing Vodafone products online, which I cannot, because I have no internet - the human operator that I finally encounter, excuses herself, and promises to send me a user manual. By resorting to roaming via my Norwegian phone, I do finally find the right instructions. I enjoy six hours' of internet connection, until the red lamp at the router starts blinking again. I call Vodafone support again, fight my way through the robot labyrinth, and finally get to talk to a technician. This was last Friday, October 16th. He concludes that the error must be local (somewhere in my apartment, or similar), as none of my neighbors have complained. He says the problem lies in the connection itself, and therefore there is nothing that I can do. So, we need a technician to come look at the issue. The first appointment he can get me, is Tuesday between 11 and 14 hrs - that is, today. I wait patiently at home, but no one shows up. Of course, the Vodafone internet is still down. I try to phone the Vodafone technical support (0800 526 66 25) three times, but my phone calls are immediately interrupted - as if my number has been blocked. I try calling the standard Vodafone support service at 0800 278 70 00, and do not enjoy chatting to the nonsense robot again. When I finally get hold of a human operator, she says that an "intermediate instance" within Vodafone has decided that there was no need for a technician to show up at my address today. Well, I counter, there is still no internet... The operator tells me that "they have been trying to get hold of me". I have received no incoming calls from Vodafone, no texts and no e-mail. The operator asks me for my phone number, in order to set up a new appointment. For me, this means more days without internet, more useless waiting at home for someone that just might not show up. As my number is foreign, she cannot enter it into the Vodafone system. She asks me for a German number. The German fixed number that I possess, is not working because internet is down - and thus, I cannot be reached. She creates a new file on my situation, and explains to the technical department that I need to be contacted via e-mail. It will probably take another week just for someone in the technical support to say that actually showing up at my address to correct the error, probably is not necessary. Is this what Vodafone offers to people needing to work out of home under a pandemic? I cannot remember ever having been in touch with a more helpless, inefficient and incompetent company. It is incredible that they can treat a customer over five years like this.
