# Is TescoMobile Worse than eir for Customer Service?



## mathepac (19 Oct 2021)

In my view, a resounding "Maybe" is the answer.  How do I know? Have a gander at the following email, dated 15/10/2021, received by me 18/10/2021:

_"Dear  mathepac,

Following a review of your account (which is no longer active with us), *we have identified that a credit balance of €43.55* remains unclaimed.  Please find attached a letter which contains a barcode for the amount owed to you. 

In order to claim your refund, please present this barcode at any Payzone Agent (find a Payzone Agent close to you here: www.payzone.ie/consumer/agent-finder, select "Tesco Mobile Cash Payouts " as the product) who will scan the barcode and refund you accordingly. Please note, some Payzone Agents have scanners which won’t require a printout, whereas others may require a printout of the letter with the barcode. Once redeemed, the barcode cannot be used again. 

*Please note that the barcode is valid for 90 days from the date of issue, and failure to claim your credit within this time will result in you no longer being able to claim your credit.*

Replies to this message are routed to an unmonitored mailbox, so please do not reply to this email. Should you have any questions regarding the above, please visit (https://www.tescomobile.ie/customer-notification.aspx ) or contact us on FREEPHONE 1903 and one of our customer support agents will be happy to help you. 

Yours sincerely_

_Tesco Mobile"_

Yesterday I presented the hard-copy bar-code to a local CENTRA outlet, a PAYZONE agent, and despite two sales staff, the duty manager, and eventually the owner trying to secure a refund by scanning the barcode or typing it in at the terminal, they were unable to process the refund.  After phoning PAYZONE customer service, they were told that no facility exists to process TescoMobile refunds at PAYZONE agents' premises.  40 frustrating minutes expended.

My next port of call was the TescoMobile shop in Tesco Portlaoise. Noone was able to help me, despite the staff phoning through to centralised TescoMobile customer care twice and me leaving details.  Not counting the journey time to and from Portlaoise (I had to be there anyway) 65 minutes extremely frustrating minutes expended. I was promised a return contact by the agent within 24 hrs

Today I presented my email & barcode at a local filling station, another PAYZONE agent. Again the email moved up and down the chain of command until a daughter of proprietors rang PAYZONE to be told that no facility exists to process TescoMobile refunds at PAYZONE agents' premises today, but it SHOULD be working tomorrow!  28 more minutes wasted.

I trailed despondently home and as the 24 hrs since my visit to the TescoMobile shop in Portlaoise had elapsed with no contact, I tried TescoMobile customer service again.  I browbeat my way up a link in the command chain and got to a "manager" in the London office (she volunteered that information, innit) who said they had an established process and that she would not be able to issue a Tesco Gift Card for the credit amount.  I pointed out to her that the process was broken (day 1 deviation?) and I was giving her an opportunity to fulfill the customer expectation they had created without needing to involve a 3rd party. She recorded my call as a complaint and passed it into email-land.  I asked for her job title or area of responsibility but she resorted to "manager".  She said I'd have a response to my complaint within "24 to 48 hrs". I asked if this was on top of the 24 hr response I'd been promised the previous day and, ignoring the complaint bit, when I could have my refund. No response apart from "How else can I help you today?".  I suggested getting over the delusion she had been helpful in any way. 44 more minutes I'll never get back.

It reinforced for me the correctness of my decision to cross TescoMobile off my suppliers' list and to have nothing further to do with them.  They have my money for more than 4 years and counting and yet have the absolute temerity to put a stop-watch on my time to access my refund when their staff and processes are eating into the time they allow.

Steer clear, save your sanity.

The little maneen in Portlaoise accused me yesterday of being rude.  I wasn't, I simply asked him if he spoke Danish.  When he said he didn't, I introduced him to the old saying that I had kicked my dog on the phone and that it was now up to him to kick his.


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## mathepac (20 Oct 2021)

I wasted another 11 mins of my life this morning talking to a customer service rep who'd had my "complaint" referred to her by the London manager.  We went all around the houses again verifying that I was the person they emailed with the refund notification.  This morning's version of TescoMobile customer service said she couldn't get me a refund but was verifying the facts gathered by her senior and betters in the UK before passing it all on to someone else, presumably to have them kick it to touch as well.

The essential facts were wrong of course proving that TescoMobile customer service staff, grunts, and managers alike, don't listen to customers.  This morning's rep enlightened me to a new snippet of information / blame-shifting; it's all COMREG's fault. COMREG suggested to TescoMobile that TescoMobile refund the money they owed to their former customers. COMREG suggested the PAYZONE debacle as the appropriate refund mechanism and TescoMobile fell over themselves to obey COMREG in order to get the €388k  of customers' money back to all 27,000 who'd been overcharged.

I asked could I have my money back and suggested other avenues for refunds apart from yesterday's suggestion of a gift card.  My bank account details are still on record as I was a bill-pay customer.  They had no bother taking my money for crappy service, surely a refund into that account was not beyond even them?  I also shop in Tesco from time to time and get vouchers mailed to me via my Club Card when I accumulate points, etc, what about extra ClubCard vouchers?  I use my VISA card when shopping, if I gave the details over the phone could she put the lousy few quid onto that?  No, no, no, and no to all the innovative and very sensible refund paths I highlighted, someone would ring me. Would they give me my money?  She was unable to speak for whomsoever might call me.  Could I have the money without having to speak to anyone from TescoMobile ever again and use up more precious time from my last few precious years? She was unsure.

Sin a bhfuil de cursai ecnomoiocht inniu a dhaoine uasla, slann go foill.


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## Shirazman (20 Oct 2021)

Just to add that I'm also having problems with Tesco Mobile - over an unlock code for my phone that was promised to me within 28 working days, but still hasn't come through after 40 working days.     So I've switched provider weeks ago, but still can't put my SIM in my (reasonably expensive) phone.  Infuriating!    And Tesco customer service are about as helpful as a lead parachute.


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## mathepac (20 Oct 2021)

I may ask them to send me the lead parachute and the lend of a plane if my fiasco continues  The pits.


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## cremeegg (20 Oct 2021)

Is TescoMobile Worse than eir for Customer Service?​
You spoke to a real person, in real life for 65 mins, then you spoke to another real person on the phone for 65 minutes. All this about a refund !

This is customer service on a level eir only dreams of. No TescoMobile is not worse than eir.

But keep up the sterling efforts and good luck.


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## mathepac (20 Oct 2021)

No the calls lasted those times, most of the time on hold, interactions were only small percentages of those times. Same story contacting PAYZONE "customer services", another catastrophe; long periods of listening to how to order rolls for the transaction terminals, minimal chat times.


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## AlbacoreA (22 Oct 2021)

I don't think any of the mobile providers have good customer service anymore. Holding credit and making it impossible for ex customers to get it back seems to be the norm across a few providers. Comreg seems to do very little and the sector abysmal treatment of customers, says all we need to know about comreg.


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## mathepac (22 Oct 2021)

No follow-up from either TescoMobile or PAYZONE so I rang PAYZONE a few minutes ago. 

I managed to get talking to a real human fairly quickly and she admitted that the facility to make refunds as described above was in fact vapourware and based on feedback she's received from merchants and customers alike, it continued to operate as vapourware until the last day or so.

She took the details of the agents closest* to me and promised to confirm where the closest working agent to me is. I think the non-working agents are referred to as "under-cover".

So it seems that Robin, whom I spoke to originally, and Una, my latest and greatest helpdesk friend, work for PAYZONE in different dimensions or have differing world views.

If and when the few quid appears I think I might frame it.

*geographically rather than emotionally


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## mathepac (22 Oct 2021)

I also batted it back to COMREG given that they caused all this by suggesting to TescoMobile they get off their butts and take action.  Complaint registered, emails forwarded, etc.


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## mathepac (27 Oct 2021)

TescoMobile has agreed to refund the debt to my current account directly using the BIC/IBAN information they have on file for me. They're doing this as an exception, especially for me and as a once-off!!!!

I forwarded emails to their complaints department that certain retailers, Payzone agents, are refusing to process the refund bar-codes.  I also reported that a staff member in Payzone had referred me back to TescoMobile as they could no longer help me.

TescoMobile makes refunds on Thursdays according to my guy Ian today, so hopefully, my huge windfall will arrive soon thereafter.


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## twofor1 (28 Oct 2021)

I would like to nominate Virgin for the worst customer service award.

Virgins preferred contact method is wat’s app, the only reply I ever got was to say they can’t respond at this time as all their agents are answering phone calls, try web chat.

The robot from webchat says their agents are also answering calls and can’t respond to web chat at this time, the robot suggests wat’s app.

Phone waits in my experience can be up to 2 hours, that is if you are lucky enough that the line does not just go dead at any point and you have to start all over again. The exception is sales who are always readily available.
For those that can do a 9 am call to customer service, you have a chance of speaking to an agent in a reasonable time, after that, forget it.

Eir were very bad, Tesco might be worse again, but Virgin in my experience is way worse and definitely deserves the award.

Virgin’s broadband is great though, hopefully now that all is sorted, there will be no need to contact them going forward.

On refunds, I am still waiting on a €35 refund from Eir, I left on 09th August. I can deal with this through email, so not as head wrecking.


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## mathepac (31 Oct 2021)

Success!! The Dom Perignon is on me!

My current A/C with AIB show a credit €43.55 from TescoMobile Ireland dated last Friday and I got an email asking me to withdraw my complaint once they "showed me the money".  I'm in no rush, just in case it bounces, I'll wait a few days.

Meanwhile PayZone has arbitrarily cancelled my complaint registered with them  over their lack of service. Odd that given that the service has never worked and according to their help desk and customers, still doesn't.

I still have a complaint registered with COMREG, I'll deal with that once they contact me to see if my refund has happened.

Consumer 1, Bureaucracies Nil. Just as it should be, almost.


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## cremeegg (31 Oct 2021)

Well done on your perseverance Mathepac. Your efforts benefit us all to some extent. I suggest a bottle of wine to enjoy with a friend.


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## Tiberius (4 Nov 2021)

My Tescomobile story.
I got the Tescomobile refund email on 19th October.  Looked like a scam but a quick google appeared to show it was genuine.  Some customers concluded it was a scam and did no more with the email.  Instant save so in that case for Tescomobile.
Called to local shop no. 1.  Can't do payzone refunds.
Local shop no. 2.  Can't do payzone refunds.
I was noticing a trend.
Tried the helpline, which told me there was a waiting time and advised me to try to chat function on their website.
Tried my local Tesco, which had a TescoMobile counter.  They couldn't deal with me.  Has to be done at a payzone agent, they said.
Wasted 40 mins on a chat session on TescoMobile.  The delay between each question and response was painful.  The agent was probably multi-tasking across many chat sessions at the same time.  Thats the only explanation I can think of for the slowness, designed to make you give up.
The result of the chat session was poor.  They did nothing more than confirm my issue and capture my details (some of which were the details they had sent me - barcode no. etc).
Raised the issue on Twitter.  I got a response, and was asked to DM TescoMobile Ireland.
Over a series of DM's - eerily similar to the chat session - they captured the issues I had encountered and said they would escalate the issue.
Days pass.  No contact from TescoMobile.
DM TescoMobile again and they respond and, guess what, they suggest that I contact them via another chat session.
I gratefully decline and ask for their complaint process.  I'm still waiting.
In the meantime I had also tried another local garage (payzone agent) and no luck.
What I'd like to know is where Comreg is with all of this?  Tesco communicate that they have put a refund process in place but the whole thing is a joke, at the customer's expense and time.
I've never used payzone before.  Why have TescoMobile chosen this mechanism to pay / frustrate customers.  We don't pay our TescoMobile bills by payzone after all.
All the while the clock ticks on and at the end of the 90 days many customers will not have been able to avail of the refund as the process was broken and designed to be that way.


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## mathepac (5 Nov 2021)

Tiberius said:


> Why have TescoMobile chosen this mechanism to pay / frustrate customers. We don't pay our TescoMobile bills by payzone after all.


ComReg nominated the Payzone refund method. It has been suggested to me that this was to prevent Tesco from offering their vouchers or gift cards thereby limiting the outlets for spending the refunds.  It was and is a stupid idea with no follow-up from ComReg to ensure it was working.  I wonder how big the bonuses will be for the bureaucrats this year?


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## RetirementPlan (5 Nov 2021)

Thanks for saving me some time in trying to get this payment from Tesco.


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## mathepac (5 Nov 2021)

No bother @RetirementPlan, you're welcome. I think it's why we're all in here, to give the occasional dig-out to Seán and Síle in the face of bureaucracies whose only interest is in perpetuating themselves.


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## mathepac (5 Nov 2021)

Tiberius said:


> I gratefully decline and ask for their complaint process. I'm still waiting.


If you can spare the time (and your nerves) to get through to a humanish Tesco-bot, go through the verification of who you are and what you want, then ask to have your enquiry escalated to a supervisor. Once you get through to the supervisor, register a complaint.  Ask for the complaint reference.


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## RetirementPlan (5 Nov 2021)

mathepac said:


> I wonder how big the bonuses will be for the bureaucrats this year?



Probably zero, same as last year.


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## Tiberius (5 Nov 2021)

Thanks for the advice.  On 3 separate occasions I have asked to raise a complaint and I have continually fobbed off.


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## RichInSpirit (5 Nov 2021)

I've only experience of contacting tescomobile from a few years and I always found them very good to deal with.
I'm still with them but I have no reason to contact them at the moment.
It may be the Covid-19 and lockdowns that caused their customer service to decline.
I have had some acrimonious dealings with 3 of the other telecommunications companies.


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## Shirazman (6 Nov 2021)

Tiberius said:


> Thanks for the advice.  On 3 separate occasions I have asked to raise a complaint and I have continually fobbed off.



I have just emailed Tesco Customer Care regarding my long-running issue with them, *and I cc'd that email to Com Reg *with a line explaining that I didn't wish to raise a formal complaint at this point in time* .   *

I previously used this approach (with eir/eircom) who very quickly resolved my problem.   Then, some days later I was contacted (by email) by Comreg who asked me whether I had been sorted or whether I wished to raise a formal complaint.

Worth a try.

emails are:    consumerline@comreg.ie       and    customercare@tescomobile.ie


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## paper-folder (18 Nov 2021)

Just to let anyone else who is trying to get their Tesco refund know, that the Payzone scheme is a broken as ever.   

Mrs PF has been going through the same frustration as everyone else.   The local Payzone knew nothing about it.  The Tescomobile bot told her that only certain Payzone outlets were taking part.  Tried two others without success, they only took in Payzone money, they couldn't pay out.  

Moved on the local Tesco store who are also listed as Payzone agents, except they aren't anymore.   They rang Tescomobile but couldn't get through.  Helpfully rang the next Tesco store who still are Payzone agents, except they are only agents of the taking-in money variety!

Next step is to contact Payzone directly on their website where they promise to be in touch if you are unable to get a refund at a Payzone agent. Not holding our breath on this one!


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## paper-folder (19 Nov 2021)

paper-folder said:


> Just to let anyone else who is trying to get their Tesco refund know, that the Payzone scheme is a broken as ever.
> 
> Mrs PF has been going through the same frustration as everyone else.   The local Payzone knew nothing about it.  The Tescomobile bot told her that only certain Payzone outlets were taking part.  Tried two others without success, they only took in Payzone money, they couldn't pay out.
> 
> ...


Happy Days!  Tried another Payzone shop and they paid out without blinking an eyelid.   At least some of the agents must have heard about this.  Now, what to spend the €18.56 on!


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