It’s over, Vodafone. I’m leaving you.

Dear Vodafone,

It’s been 5 years now since we first got together. I said back in 2006 that I love you and that I would never look at another mobile phone provider but things have changed since then.

You’ve changed since then.

I used to phone you up and you’d answer within seconds. You were always happy to hear from me and did whatever you could to help. But these days I sit on hold for ages, and when I do get through you are rude and unhelpful. You’ve even hung up on me.

It’s been going downhill for a while now. It just seems you don’t want us to be together anymore. I’ve tried to talk to you so many times to try to sort things out between us but you just push me away or tell me it’s my fault or try to pretend there isn’t even a problem. 

You add extra numbers to our bill that we hadn’t asked for. You say you’ve made requested changes to our account but it never gets done.  You promised to replace the broken phone that’s still under warranty, but you still haven’t. You say you’ll refund us for mistakes you’ve made, but we have to keep chasing you to get it done. You take money out of my bank account that isn’t yours. You say you’ll call me back, but you don’t.

We just can’t go on like this any more.

Recently you added over £500 to my bill for data charges because you forgot to add the Blackberry service to one of our phones (which would have meant I paid more like £15). After much arguing you finally agreed to reduce the charge to £250 and implied I should be grateful.

How can you think that’s acceptable? We’ve been together so long and now you treat me like this? I don’t understand where it all went wrong. Was it something I did or said? I’ve always been good to you. I paid my bills on time, I paid you compliments in public, I told all my firends how great you are. Haven’t I been a good customer? I just don’t understand why you’re treating me like this.

I’m not naive, I know that when I’m not around you talk to other customers that mean more to you than I do. I only have seven phones with you which is probably below average for your typical business customer, but I’m sure I’m not as worthless as you’ve been making me feel lately.

I’ve been speaking to some of my friends about the relationship they have with their mobile provider, and I can’t help feeling envious of what they have. It reminds me of the good times we used to have that now seem so distant and long ago.

I don’t want to lie to you, so I’ll come clean. I’ve started looking for someone else, someone that appreciates me, answers the phone when I call and doesn’t try to blame everything on me.

I will miss you and I’m sure that occasionally, perhaps late at night laying awake in bed,  I will wonder what could have been – what the future may have held or us if only things went differently. 

We had plenty of good times together, so I’ll try to just remember those and not dwell on the bad times.

I hope you see the error of your ways and don’t end up losing everyone that’s around you. You need to listen to what people are saying about you before it’s too late – you used to be so great, but now people want nothing to do with you.

Take care of yourself, Vodafone. I really do wish you the best for your future. I know that deep down there’s still a great company in there somewhere.

Duane
x x x