Vodafone overcharging

Armorel · 24 July 2010 at 11:53AM

My son is currently battling Vodafone who have been overcharging him for his mobile broadband to the extent that he literally has no money in his bank account to pay the direct debit. He is working part time but also on reduced benefits and his income is pretty low.

He was a customer of Vodafone for a year, on a good tariff, and not once did he go over his allotted download limit. He was an examplary customer and gave them no trouble.

When that contract expired, he suddenly found it was four times what he'd originally signed up for and decided to cancel the contract.

Vodafone called him and tempted him with a new contract (I believe it is an 18 month contract) so he agreed to sign up again. Since then he has had endless problems.

Basically, the software monitoring program that Vodafone provided with the mobile broadband dongle is telling him that he has not exceeded his 3Gb download limit but they are billing him for as much as 16G of internet usage a month :eek:
He has written several letters, the dongle has been back for checking, he's had to get help from the Citizens Advice Bureau but Vodafone are dragging their feet rather than sorting this out.

The upshot is this - he simply CANNOT afford to pay £100 a month for internet access when he signed up for a £15 a month contract with 3Gb download limit. He disputes the huge download charges that Vodafone are levying on him.

Vodafone insists that he telephone them directly to discuss this but he can't afford to be kept hanging around for twenty minutes on their helpline because he only has a mobile phone not a landline. It seems to me that Vodafone is going to extract money from him whatever he does :mad:

He's been forced to cancel his direct debit because, if Vodafone keep taking out £100 a month, he won't be able to pay his rent or buy food. He had absolutely no choice in this matter and we are desperately worried that he will get into serious financial and legal trouble because of it.

He is Asperger Syndrome and has already had a breakdown in the past. This situation is getting him down and we are desperately worried for his health. PLEASE can a Vodafone representative get in touch with me by private message on this forum so I can help him resolve this dreadful situation.

Thank you,

Armorel

cookie78 · 2 August 2010 at 5:54PM

Not a Vodafone rep but hopefully I can give you some information which may help. This was happening to me, the dongle was stating just over 3GB usage so I should have been charged £12 extra but Vodafone were charging me for 6/7GB usage. I finally got speaking to someone who knew what they were talking about, apparently every laptop downloads automatic updates and this uses up your allowance but doesn't show up on the dongle. Go to 'start' 'control panel' 'system and security' 'windows update' and in there turn off automatic updates. This has stopped it happening to me and I just do updares every so often myself when I have some free usage.

Hope this helps a bit!

kwikbreaks · 2 August 2010 at 9:54PM

Automatic updates don't chew through 16GB.

Put some independent monitoring software on the laptop (eg netmeter - http://www.softpedia.com/get/Network-Tools/Bandwidth-Tools/NetMeter.shtml ) and see what that says is being used.

I have a Vodafone dongle which I use quite heavily 4 days a week and only go through ~ 2GB and that includes all the Windows and FireFox updates. I've never been charged any excess.

My advice - use FireFox with Adblock plus and flashblock extentions and lay off YouTube and the like.

Vodafone · 13 August 2010 at 9:56AM

Hi Armorel

I can see you've already had some great advice from other MoneySavers.

In addition to this downloads and streaming can also increase the amount of data you use and depending how you do this it won't pick up in the data counter built in.

The data counter itself is as a guide. You can keep an eye on your usage throughout the month as well as how much your bill is by registering for online billing.

If your son would like us to take a look at his account for him to see what we can do to help, ask him to send us an email from here with WRT135 in the subject line (so it comes straight to my team) and we'll be in touch. Make sure he includes your username and a link to this thread.

All the best

Kirsty
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

no1sotonfan · 19 December 2010 at 4:40PM

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Automatic updates don't chew through 16GB.

Put some independent monitoring software on the laptop and see what that says is being used.

I have a Vodafone dongle which I use quite heavily 4 days a week and only go through ~ 2GB and that includes all the Windows and FireFox updates. I've never been charged any excess.

My advice - use FireFox with Adblock plus and flashblock extentions and lay off YouTube and the like.

Hi Hi. I have come looking about this as i'm a bit worried to be honest. I had the Vodofone dongle 3GB/month contract for...... 18 or 24 months I can't quite remember. Now... I always kept track of the software that come with and it not once told me I had gone over my 3GB a month limit. Got close a few times, but I considered myself quite a high user so wasn't suprised. My mate, who used his about an 1/8th of the time i use the web had the same contract. Both our contracts ended about 10 weeks ago and I thought nothing more of it.
My mate phones up yesterday, and says "Vodafone have charged me £90 for over-usage. Said as I was a valued customer they let me off of it but now I have left they want there cash!"
I moved house about 2 weeks after the contract finished so I have no idea if they are after me but if they are after him, I can near on guarentee they want me. What has really worried me is that when I googled it I saw that someone is being chased by Vodafone for £1500!! :eek:

BUT... My main point is, does this not smell a bit funny? If my first months bill come through at £100, alarm bells would ring and I would take a long hard look at my usage. But with no hefty bill, and the vodafone software saying that you are within your limit... To then bill for one huge lump of your accumalated over-usage AFTER the contract has been seen through, seems to me that Vodafone dont want you to know how far you go over in your first month, because when you see your normal bill, you will think your usage is normal, so will therefor continue. Leaving yourself 24 months down the line, in a big pile of trouble.

Long winded, I know... My bad.

Vodafone · 22 December 2010 at 6:31PM

Hi No1sotonfan,

I can understand your concerns. If you would like us to have a look into this for you, send us an email here with WRT135 in the subject and we can check if there are any payments outstanding on your account.

Thanks,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

angrysibling · 19 February 2011 at 2:30PM

Hi, wondering if anyone has been in this situation or can offer some advice. My sister broke up with her boyfriend and when she moved her stuff out he didnt hand her back her vodafone dongle, she stupidly didnt remember she had it and never cancelled the contract or tell them it was lost, and a few months later was given a £622 bill. She is a student and doesn't have that amount of money. She went to the advice beaureau and they basically said tough, can anyone give me advice on how to take this further or even if she can take it further?

macman · 19 February 2011 at 3:03PM

Unfortunately not-she is liable for the remainder of the contract and any excess usage on it, until such times as she cancels it-which will of course result in an ETC being payable on top.

walltoall · 8 June 2011 at 8:09PM

Today my wife's AND my son's mobiles were found to be 'restricted' by the provider. Having resurrected mine, which I rarely use, I find it also "restricted". All three mobiles are managed from one #Vodafone account, my wife's #Vodafone account, the same #Vodafone account she's had for 20+yrs. Yes! And has always been an exemplary customer. She added the other devices to her #Vodafone account recently to 'simplify things'.

#Vodafone told her on the phone she had racked up £800 of charges on her #Vodafone account in the past week and inferred 'while abroad'. The a/c is now "restricted" until she shells out at least £550. Yesterday we returned from a 7day break in Iceland. Is that co-incidental or central to today's trouble? #Vodafone is unable to provide detailed breakdown of the alleged usage (they claim they can't do so until Friday!) and will not restore the account until payments are made. My wife has no intention of paying large wads of money under ANY circumstances other than receipt of loadsamoney.

We figure her speech/text usage at about £45 for the time we were in Iceland and suspect she has been charged for web usage. She has an I-fone but was following texts from the provider which claimed to warn her if she got near her daily usage limit. She was careful to heed these messages and at no time had any reason to hear alarm bells.

Before I move onto Twitter and Facebook to really make some waves I would like to know this forum's opinion. Is this a systematic rip-off or a bit of crass stupidity? :embarasse

Cypherite · 8 June 2011 at 8:15PM

walltoall wrote: »

Today my wife's AND my son's mobiles were found to be 'restricted' by the provider. Having resurrected mine, which I rarely use, I find it also "restricted". All three mobiles are managed from one #Vodafone account, my wife's #Vodafone account, the same #Vodafone account she's had for 20+yrs. Yes! And has always been an exemplary customer. She added the other devices to her #Vodafone account recently to 'simplify things'.

#Vodafone told her on the phone she had racked up £800 of charges on her #Vodafone account in the past week and inferred 'while abroad'. The a/c is now "restricted" until she shells out at least £550. Yesterday we returned from a 7day break in Iceland. Is that co-incidental or central to today's trouble? #Vodafone is unable to provide detailed breakdown of the alleged usage (they claim they can't do so until Friday!) and will not restore the account until payments are made. My wife has no intention of paying large wads of money under ANY circumstances other than receipt of loadsamoney.

We figure her speech/text usage at about £45 for the time we were in Iceland and suspect she has been charged for web usage. She has an I-fone but was following texts from the provider which claimed to warn her if she got near her daily usage limit. She was careful to heed these messages and at no time had any reason to hear alarm bells.

Before I move onto Twitter and Facebook to really make some waves I would like to know this forum's opinion. Is this a systematic rip-off or a bit of crass stupidity? :embarasse

Data is very expensive abroad. Were there any apps running on the phone which could have been using data in the background?

kforshaw · 8 June 2011 at 8:21PM

A quick glance on Google threw up http://www.vodafone.co.uk/personal/price-plans/managing-my-costs/travelling-abroad/using-the-internet-abroad/index.htm

£2 per day for 25mb and £5 for every mb after :eek:
Did she have a data usage monitor on the phone at all?

I've hardly used my Android today..a few checkins on Fb, twitter and the usual weather update and email without attachments and I've used 15mb

Vodafone overcharging

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