Legal standpoint with Vodafone Contract

hektik

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone had a better idea on where i stand legally with the following situation.

In March I upgraded and switched my Vodafone contract to a different tarrif. They offered me my old deal (200 mins, 250 texts) for £15. I agreed but to get the phone I wanted they could only offer it for £25. To get it cheaper I agreed to halve the minutes. My final understanding was that for £19 a month I would get a new phone, with 125 mins and 250 texts.

I checked the first bill and all seemed correct. I've only just checked again (online bills and forgot my password) and it appears I'm paying for texts and my bill this month is at £60.

Now I realise it's my own fault for not catching it earlier by checking my bill properly or my bank statements (and certainly not very money savery) but surely Vodafone are not providing me with the service I agreed to pay for?

I'm planning on phoning them tomorrow lunchtime but would appreciate any insight in whether I have a leg to stand on to getting my money back or whether I've just learnt a very expensive lesson?

Cheers!

Jonni2bad

Not sure why you think this is "your own fault"...

You entered into a contract, checked the details in your first bill, no further changes agreed to.

Phone them and explain the situation - if you don't have immediate success in rectifying it, send a letter (getting FREE certificate of postage) to their customer relations department. In that letter, explain that they have breached the agreement but you are willing to continue in the contract so long as you receive the refund immediately and that they confirm in writing that the original deal is in place.

It is not a fault to have missed the fact that they charged you more - why should you have been looking?

This is their fault, get them to correct it.

hektik

Cheers Jonni,

Just to clarify, I think from the very beginning they have been charging me for texts, it's just on the first bill I checked it was the crossover between old and new tariffs and I couldn't see that I had been charged for any texts (because my old tariff was still partially in effect) so assumed everything was okay.


I phoned them earlier and the best they can offer is 100 texts free of charge. (i.e. a tenner). Hmmmmm. The adviser's argument was that they could do nothing as it has been 6 months and I should have picked up on it when the first bill/letter of confirmation (I had no confirmation, just the bill) came through.


I declined the 100 texts and ended the call as I wanted a clearer view of where exactly the contract exists between vodafone and its customers and whether after 6 months I can complain it's not being fulfilled to what I believed to be agreed. Is it the phone call I had when changing my tariff?


Looking on my new tariff and older tariff bills, the included items were as follows:

OLD - CTRA200+3MHP+10%LR+STC+18M
NEW - Anytime125 + STC + VP

I mention this in case they say I should have noticed the lack of "+250 texts" on the bill since, as you can see, they weren't on there on the old bills.


Soooooooo, my question is: Legally, after 6 months of inaction by myself and them always charging me for texts...do I have a leg to stand on since what I'm being provided with is not what I agreed to?

Cheers

stugib

Similar/same happened to me after I upgraded with them. Upgrading online was supposed to come with a free add-on of 250 texts per month but post-upgrade I started getting billed for every text after the first 50. Granted I noticed this during the first month, and I had to ring back after the next billing date, but I didn't get any objections and they sorted it out without any niggles, so I'm guessing it probably happens quite often. Just ring and explain.

Also remember the case last year when they were billing Internet usage for customers with the 'unlimited' web add-on - they ended up refunding people from about the previous 3-4 months, so their billing system will be able to handle this.

Jonni2bad

hektik wrote: »

Soooooooo, my question is: Legally, after 6 months of inaction by myself and them always charging me for texts...do I have a leg to stand on since what I'm being provided with is not what I agreed to?

Cheers

Short answer....

YES.

Now get writing to them and make your position very clear. Give them 14 days to respond, tell them they have breached your contract which was a verbal agreement on (date).

Tell them you do not want credit on your bill (unless you'd be very happy to do it that way) but that the over-payments should be returned by way of cheque.

State that your phone call to resolve the matter was met with a negative response. Make clear also that you are prepared to enter into legal proceedings to resolve the matter, but you hope that they will not force you do to so.

hektik

Thanks Jonni for your advice and Stu for yours,

I plan to write to them shortly if this not resolved but before I resort to that I have noticed that other people have had success dealing with the Vodafone eforum team as an alternative to speaking to advisers so I shall pursue that avenue of settlement before getting legal on their as*es

Thanks again, I'll keep you updated either way.

Jonni2bad

Yeah, good call. I didn't know about the eForum...