£5000 Vodafone Phone Bill

MissG_2

Hopefully i will be able to offer some constructive help, buts its not good news i am afraid!!!

I know someone who works for one of the major networks (not Vodafone) and i asked him to look over your plight and see if he could assist.

In terms of reporting the handset as lost/stolen from an insurance point of view to the major networks you have a responsibilty to report the loss/theft of the handset/sim within 24 hours of the discovery.

I.E. you leave your phone at home, go on holiday retrun xx days later and you find you have been broken into. The would be theif had been using your phone for xx days YOU MUST REPORT IT TO THE NETWORK AND INSURANCE COMPANY WITHIN 24 HOURS OF THE DISCOVERY and you are fully covered. I cant be sure but i would review your T & C's on this point. If you dont have any visit your local Vodafone store and ask for an up to date copy which you will be bound by.

International calls can take upto 180 days to be billed, UK networks are reliant on the billing information being passed from the relevant network.

Ask for a itemised copy of calls made/received and also a copy of your personal account notes under the Data Protection Act which will confirm the date and time of when you reported the incident which would mean calls made after this time are not your responsibility.

Vodafone are not responsible for monitoring usage of your account, they may use an automated system which will flag unusual activity up to a human who ultimatley uses their discretion and decides whether or not to add a temporary restriction until it can be confirmed you are still in the possesion of the handset.

This is something they do to protect themselves, they dont have to do it.

In conclusion Vodafone seem to be being reasonable in their offer of 50% GWG but be careful of accepting as this may become an acceptance of liability. Contact Otello, register the complaint with them and ask for their advice. I would also try and obtain a copy of the Vodafone offer in writing.

You may wish to start seeking professional legal advice.

In the worse case scenario, a bill of £2500 or as you estimate 1/2 of £3700 would be a lot better than the havoc a CCJ can play with your credit record.

kai666

Amaxed wrote:

Vodafone are useless when it comes to things like this. i got charged over £400 for some pay as you go sims , took around a month to get it back

how did you get charged £400 for pay as you sims? How can they charge you?

Narva

hi, also work for a very large mobile never had sex company, and you are responsible for the phone until it is reported stolen. The networks are very slow sending the calls in, and until the company recieves these calls, they will not cut you off due to not knowing. At our company we monitor calls made which are out the of the usual from other calls, and pick fraud up a lot quicker. We would also offer you a 50% GWG however we dont have you and it is what it says, we as a company pay the other half for you. I would take it, and eat humble pie.

EdCov

Firstly have you got an itemised bill?

I would describe any service that allows you to be billed £5000 like that to be faulty, it is quite simply not fit for purpose. There must be some legislation that would protect you. A contract does not remove your statutory rights.

Vodafone's contract with the company that was collecting should have been passed on that responsibility. The itemised bill is to question which network did they roam on, if it was the same network then you have a possibility of negotiating what was a reasonable amount before that network suspended service on the phone. If it was different networks then it is more difficult.

I am presuming it is a contract phone, therefore they have a contract with you, and they have not upheld their duty of care on the contract and it may be worth investigating your statutory rights.

Of course any mobile company may do the same, the point is can they be stopped.

I can understand why you might want to hide your mobile phone, and therefore not check because it might alert someone to where it is hidden, but if anyone else is doing that hide the mobile but keep the sim card somewhere else safe, and treat it like you would a credit card.

Also at £2500 it may be worth fighting the billing network and seeing if they are prepared to drop any of the charges. How much are they billing Vodafone and how much is Vodafone markup. My guess is that the £2500 will cover all Vodafone's costs, but the person dealing with it may not be aware of that.

Also I'm presuming you do not have any insurance that will help cover this loss.

redux

EdCov wrote:

Vodafone's contract with the company that was collecting should have been passed on that responsibility. The itemised bill is to question which network did they roam on, if it was the same network then you have a possibility of negotiating what was a reasonable amount before that network suspended service on the phone. If it was different networks then it is more difficult.

EdCov, this is simply irresponsible - you're just making up imaginary laws and clutching at assumptions

Vodafone is the billing company, not some separate agency. What do you mean roaming on the same network - same as what? The OP does not negotiate with the roamed network, or about the division of charges between the networks. We know roaming is too expensive, but this is not the time to have the argument.

The OP has a contractual arrangement with Vodafone and that is all. I can't tell if you consider Vodafone, some fictitious separate billing company, and the roamed network as 3 parties or what. A roamed (hosting) network does not have information about the billing history and credit rating of visitors; it trusts it's arrangements with that subscriber's home network. So it is totally irrelevant for you to pick fights with other agents, as nobody else is joined to this dispute.

The OP is in the !!!!!!; we must sympathise, but unfortunately it is the OP's negligence that started the problem, though the lack of a credit limit is something the phone company ought to explain

feival

Out of interest which networks in which country was the phone used in?

mhamill_2

Many thanks for the responses.

Not looking too good I guess....

To quickly answer some questions: Country is Algeria. Yes I have a local police report. Insurance will cover phone but not calls. Yes I have the itemised bill. Yes I'm an idiot not to have locked the sim.

The thing is I'm not trying to say I'm not responsible - far from it, I realise and fully admit my responsibility. Hindsight is 20:20 and I wish I had taken some precautions. But don't Vodafone have any responsibilities? Surely the very least I can expect for 5k is a half decent explanation. If they will simply give me the information that backs up their claim to have acted immediately I wouldn't be happy but I would at least have no reason to doubt what they say.

As it is the only explaination I got was that call records from abroad can be delayed - "up to 7 days". I note that some of you say that it can be much longer but that is what Vodafone told me.

They refused to tell me when they got the info exactly nor how large the bull was when they acted. As I said, I did some checking with a friends Vodafone phone here in Algeria and all his calls where reported within 3 days. That indicates that the bill was allowed to get to well over 3k before it was cut off. Even if I allow a full 7 day delay the bill was still 1.5 k before it was cut off. That just doesn't seem right given the number of people reporting their phones cut off after just £200 or £300.

I did some research on the web for similar cases. One interesting high profile one in Canada was almost identical to mine. They took the phone company to court under the basis that the phone company had the info to act but choose not to as the customer had a good credit rating and they were happy to bill for it. They won the case. Obviously different country, different laws etc. But very similar situation.

Of course it is all very well taking about legal action but the reality is I'm in deep sh*t with 2.5k bill, let alone 5K + legal costs.

I have the offer of 50% GWG in writing but there is a time limit by which I must accept. Presumably if I make a complaint to OTELO I will lose this - not a very fair tactic - what so you think? No doubt prefectly common practice for the Vodafones of the world. The cards are stacked....

rowantoad

Accept the 50% and try and get some press coverage, speak to your mp as well if people don't complain they'll continue to fleece people. This has gone on too long it's ridiculous they don't want to prevent this as it's obviously a money spinner. I don't buy the ah but the foreign network didn't tell us, if they wanted to they could introduce a system where even when roaming this could be prevented, the system is flawed and this is not something that impossible to prevent.

Alternatively the cave option is possible, I believe you would only have to live there for 6 years.

redux

I don't know what to suggest, much more than talk to the Citizens Advice Bureau and try to research similar instances, which you're obviously doing already. And then, however it goes, I'd be leaning on them for interest-free credit to pay over 3 or 5 years or so, and a very big discount (say 90%) on future line rental if you stay with them.

One thing it has pointed out to me is how near useless some insurance is anyway. I've just got a new contract with one of those 3 months free insurance and looked at the details. Consequential losses and calls are not covered, which you said above. The excess is £25 and liability cannot exceed the replacement value of the phone. I might as well cancel today in case I forget in 2 months time.

Sorry not to be more helpful

Encantador

As has been suggested, I would get some legal advice.

or try the CAB

or

Try and negotiate with them, they want some money, how much they will accept, we don`t know. Even if they take you to court and win, there is no guarantee (depending on your financial situation) that they will ever see any money.
They would need to prove to a court that the figure is correct. There is no reason why they should not prove that to you now.

Make them an offer of lets say £500, making it clear that you believe that they have responsibilities too.

What have you got to lose.

Good luck.

P.S. If you do want to contact your MP, their email address is probably surnamefirstinitial@parliament.uk as in..... blaira@parliament.uk