Help! Ripped off by vodafone mobile contract

laurabrook87

Last year I took out an 18 month mobile phone contract with Vodafone Limited. After having the contract for several months I took out another contract on behalf of a "friend" who failed to pay me her telephone bill. This resulted in both contracts being frozen and me being unable to use mine without paying her half of the bill.
I am now in debt with vodafone for £960.32 with use of neither contract and would be willing to pay the full amount if it meant that both contracts were reinstated and I was in control of both. As without this I am effectively paying for a service that I have not received.

I imagine this sort of thing has happened to plenty of people and I was just wondering what my options are. I have agreed to pay them £5 a week in repayments (even though the thought of paying for something I havent used is really annoying me!!)

Am I within my rights to expect to be able to use the contracts or am I going to be wasting my time?

Please help!

Laura

atlantis187

U are fully responsible for the contract u took out for your friend in ur name.

If ur friend has stopped paying u then thats not vodafones fault. U still need to make the monthly payments wether u are using the phone or if ur friends using it.

soolin

You say you are willing to pay off the £960.32 but you then say you have offered £5 a week, can you please just clarify what you mean.

If you have offered them a lump sum of £960.32 and they still say that even after paying all that your accounts would be restricted then yes I would be jumping up and down and making complaints to anyone who would listen

If however you mean that you only want to pay £5 a week but want your accounts released now, then no I don't think that is reasonable. As far as Vodafone is concerned you and you alone have run up a debt and it seems unlikely that any company would allow you to incur more debt until you have paid off all that is owing.

At £5 a week even without interest you are going to take 16 years to pay this off, that must make you look like a bad risk.

Guys_Dad

Your post subject is a bit misleading. It should read "Ripped off by a friend".

The position, as you describe it, is that you have had both contracts suspended. Vodafone wouldn't have done that if the monthly charges had been made, so I guess she didn't pay her contract and you were paying yours, though?

Vodafone have you down as the single customer who has 2 contracts and, on their books, you were in arrears, so they suspended the service. They would, however, have contacted you first. That is when it should have been sorted out.

You must have been in the current position for some time, for the debt to be so high, so it begs the question, why leave it till now?

From their position, you are a large debtor, so why should they open one contract up mfor you to use when you have a history of not paying and a large debt? Yes, I know it was your friend who didn't pay, but you made the mistake of underwriting her ability to pay for the phone by entering into a contract on her behalf.

So, unless you can convince Vodafone that you are to be trusted to pay for your contract's debts and to keep paying, as well as coming into an arrangement on the 2nd contract, then you have to face the unhappy consequence that the debt will rise without the service being reinstated.

But it is NOT Vodafone ripping you off, get that 100% clear.

dazzaofdagenham

if you are in a position to make full payment then do...

When vodafone switch the phones back on,.....you can then request that
your "freinds" one has a call bar placed upon it so that no outgoing calls can be made..


Darren

laurabrook87

At the time I was not in a position to pay 2 mobile phone contracts (totalling £95 per month) . I always kept up to date with my payments, but Vodafone wouldn't let me pay one without the other. £960.32 is the total amount owed on both contracts. I contacted Vodafone and explained the situation, saying that the outstanding amount still had to be paid (of which I understand as I did enter into a contract) but I was unable to pay both at the same time. After they didn't receive payments after 2 months it was totally cut off and full payment demand was made.

I am happy to pay the full amount to get use of the contracts that would have then been paid for, but having spoken to a member of customer services they said this is unlikely to happen and that I would have to write to head office.

So unless I get use of calls and texts that I am going to have to pay for, I am in no rush to pay them-hence £5 per week payments.

Is that being unreasonable?

Laura

OneADay

If you pay £5 a month (without formal agreement) - they will no doubt pass the debit on to a debit collector.

I suggest you visit the vodafone eforum site - they have their customer service people on there who will pick this up quicker and hopefully more helpful than trying to do it on phone.

Assuming you are 12 months into the 18 months contract and you want to use the phones, you should offer to make up the payment outstanding up till now (with agreement from them to allow you to use the phones) and continue paying till end of contract the montly amounts as a normal contract.

There is also a vodafone rep on these forums (not sure you can send a pm to them) but they appear sometimes. But use the eforum for a quicker response.

DarkConvict

Try sending a PM to http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/member.html?u=791417

But i agree with the others, you signed up to two contracts, and have defaulted on making payments for one of the contracts. So to try and get payment they have locked out both accounts. Generally even if you pay you will not be given your suspended time back (the time you have been unable to use the phone)

Vodafone

Hi Laura

I can understand where you're coming from. I would also feel aggrieved to be left paying for someone elses bill.

I'd suggest getting in touch with your friend to see what's happened and chase him/her for the money to help clear the balance.

If you would like us to look into some payment options for you then you can send us an email from here with WRT135 in the subject line and a link to this thread along wtih your details in the body of the text.

I'd really like to help get you an answer to this.

Thanks

Kirsty
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK