Vodafone Nightmare- 10x my bill

jd93 · 12 October 2016 at 11:42PM

Please see my complaint below, I feel massively ripped off and I'm struggling financially because of it.

I am writing to complain about my recent bill and treatment from your team. I was recently shocked to find that I had £88.40 taken from my bank account for charges from Vodafone. My current bill is £9.00 a month including 1000 minutes a 3GB of data and unlimited texts. The money was taken from my account without any warning leaving me in my overdraft leaving me with gross bank fees and unable to pay my day to day bills. I cannot afford this cost.

I had unknowingly gone over my allowance by 132 minutes costing £79.40. I regularly check my Vodafone app and would never knowingly go over my minutes, especially if I had been aware of the extortionate cost. In addition have been charged going over my data allowance which again I checked and turned by data off to ensure this wouldn’t happen. I didn’t receive any notification at all to say I’d gone over my allowance and couldn’t even check as I turned off my data to stop this happening.

I feel that charging £88.40 or 10 times my monthly bill of £9 a month for 1/10th of my usual 1000 minute (for 1 month) allowance is completely unjustified and unreasonable. If this was a bank charge this would be illegal, this is taking advantage of a customer. I am shocked and appalled that Vodafone would charge me this figure without letting me know, causing me huge financial issues. I have had no warning that I went over my allowance and no warning that such a fee would be taken from my bank account. I simply can’t afford £90 worth of cost, which is why I opted for £9 a month deal.

I have spoken to one of your advisors who completely dismissed me and told me “tuff luck”. As a ‘valued’ customer I feel that I have been treated awfully and completely taken advantage of leaving me with no way to turn but to ask you to please remove this gross cost from my account. Your customer service has been appalling and caused me further stress and time wasted. If you value my custom at all please deal with this matter, I really can’t afford this unexpected cost.

If this matter is not dealt with I will be taking this to the Ombudsman Services Communications and will also forward this on to the Ofcom.

Yours Sincerely

forgotmyname · 12 October 2016 at 11:53PM

Without any warning? What about your monthly bill?

£79.40 for 132 minutes? Thats in excess of the current rate?

The vodafone app is not 100% upto date, it used to say it maybe 3 days behind. Not sure if it still does?

Unjustified and unreasonable? Those are the charges so excessive maybe but you agreed to them.

You turned off your data to prevent yourself going over your call allowance?

jd93 · 13 October 2016 at 12:05AM

i dont get a monthly bill sent to me, the only way would be to check online every month.

That is in addition to my £9 a month rate.

It may not have been up to date clearly.

If this was a bank loan the government would call it excessive and regulate, how can a company charge an excessive fee and not be regulated. Basically ripping off customers where possible.

Data was turned off to stop going over the data allowance, which somehow I did, not possible.

10x the 9 pounds for 1/10 the normal minute allowance, that is exvessive and unjust. This has to be regulated.

jd93 · 13 October 2016 at 12:06AM

I checked my account today, overdraft fee and a £90 bill with no warning.

Jon_01 · 13 October 2016 at 6:41AM

The out of bundle charges are detailed in their website, it's not like they keep them secret.

You admit you've gone over, so why do you feel you've should be treated differently to everyone else that exceeds they're monthly allowance?

glentoran99 · 13 October 2016 at 7:27AM

jd93 wrote: »

i dont get a monthly bill sent to me, the only way would be to check online every month.

That is in addition to my £9 a month rate.

It may not have been up to date clearly.

If this was a bank loan the government would call it excessive and regulate, how can a company charge an excessive fee and not be regulated. Basically ripping off customers where possible.

Data was turned off to stop going over the data allowance, which somehow I did, not possible.

10x the 9 pounds for 1/10 the normal minute allowance, that is exvessive and unjust. This has to be regulated.

you get an email when your bill is ready

mobilejunkie · 13 October 2016 at 7:55AM

If you don't bother to check the bills when they are on-line you only have yourself to blame - just as you do for exceeding your bundle for minutes. What they charge is NOT 10x times the normal charge. If you did not pay for a set bundle the charges would no doubt have been similar for the "in-bundle" minutes. I won't get into the bank charges comparison - it's irrelevant and a separate argument (which I also have little sympathy for).

If you aren't able to stay within your bundle either:-

A) buy a larger bundle

don't complain when you are charged the agreed costs for exceeding it, or
C) don't agree to a contract in the first place.

I wouldn't bother with the Ombudsman.

jd93 · 13 October 2016 at 8:06AM

I've never been notified that I have had a bill from vodafone, ever.

I have been charged 1000% of my monthly fee for going 10% unknowingly over my allowance. How is this not excessive? If this were any other fee say a pay day lender, people would be up in arms !

Without internet on my phone I could not have known In any way that I had gone over my allowance and has now put me in financial difficulty. You may not have sympathy and it is very easy to sit on your perch when you could absorb such a cost. I however bought a £9 plan as I simply cannot affort a £ 90 phone bill, or 2 days salary.

It is very short sighted of you to have no sumpathy, even for pay day lenders.

glentoran99 · 13 October 2016 at 8:10AM

jd93 wrote: »

I've never been notified that I have had a bill from vodafone, ever.

I have been charged 1000% of my monthly fee for going 10% unknowingly over my allowance. How is this not excessive? If this were any other fee say a pay day lender, people would be up in arms !

Without internet on my phone I could not have known In any way that I had gone over my allowance and has now put me in financial difficulty. You may not have sympathy and it is very easy to sit on your perch when you could absorb such a cost. I however bought a £9 plan as I simply cannot affort a £ 90 phone bill, or 2 days salary.

It is very short sighted of you to have no sumpathy, even for pay day lenders.

You need to get a away from your comparison with charges from banks and pay day lenders its not helping your case,

You signed up for an allowance, were made fully aware of the charges for going over the allowance. There are counters on most phones you can reset to monitor your usage. Its your reponsibility not vodafones, Rather that going in all guns blazing your best bet would be to appeal to them, "as a good customer" "unwittingly over used" yadda yadda, and as a gesture of good will they might help, they have for me in the past, you go on demanding something you have no chance, They haven't hidden costs, these aren't anything like bank charges etc, they are set price for a service, which you agreed to pay

as for not getting a bill you would need to be checking your email address and junk mail box etc as they send an email every month

even this site has highlighted the charges

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/phones/2016/06/vodafone-to-increase-out-of-allowance-costs-next-month---but-you-may-be-able-to-dodge-the-hikes

you spent over two hours over your allowance as well as over data

glentoran99 · 13 October 2016 at 8:15AM

In all honesty if you cant monitor your own usage you would be better on PAYG

jd93 · 13 October 2016 at 8:18AM

bank charge or pay day lender is a fixed charge and arent hidden. They were considered excessive and caused people financial difficulty.

This seems almost identical but instead of a loan it is a minutes allowance. I agree, my ownly chance is to hope for a good will gesture and I will never shop with vodafone ever again, I simply cant afford it hence why I purchased a £9 a month deal.

Its like enticing you in with a low package then massively charging you for unknowingly going over your limit with no sympathy. Seems very unethical....with a tory government I suppose more of this should be expected.

Vodafone Nightmare- 10x my bill

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