Vodafone - 14 month battle

Up_the_reds

I am writing this in the hope that someone can help me with advice.

Back in 2005 I purchased a laptop from Toshiba. As part of the purchase I was sent a data card to enable me to use the internet from vodafone. At no point was this requested by me.

I never used the device and vodafone have confirmed this. They apparently assigned it to a mobile phone I had at the time. That mobile phone contract was terminated in 2007 in the correct manner which they have also confirmed verbally.

In Jan 2009 I received a bill out of the blue for £2300. Supposedly for use of this datacard.

The datacard had early been sold at a car boot by me with NO simcard in it.

I called vodafone to report the bill as being some kind of fraud which I thought had taken place against me. I even offered to call the police. Vodafone advised this was necessary and that they would investigate and come back to me and to ignore all correspondence from them regarding the bill.

Next month I received a bill for £300 which I ignored as instructed. The following month I received a letter informing my I would have my account terminated if I didn't pay up. What account???

I called having not heard anything about the investigation. They informed me then that they had decided it was owed by me. I again advised that I hadn't had an account with them for years and I hadn't used their equipment since and that it had nothing to do with me. I also asked if this was the case then why had the bill suddenly changed from £2300 to £300 and they said it had been a goodwill gesture( Really, does anyone owed £2300 do that?)

I maintained my stance and told then that this money wasn't owed by me.

The next thing is I start to receive aggressive correspondence from a debt collection agency called Capquest Debt recovery. I called them and wrote to them on numerous occasions advising the debt wasn't payable by me and I wasn't liable for it. I eventually found advice on this forum in who to deal with Capquest. I wrote to them enclosing a postal order for 1 pound and demanded to see a copy of the agreement they were chasing me for and that any further aggressive letters would be reported to the trading standards authority. This worked, they wrote back apologising to me and said I wouldn't hear from them again and they would pass the case back to vodafone. Fantastic I thought now we will get it resolved.

In the 14 months this has been going on. I have written to capquest and vodafone 7 times. Vodafone have responded once recently.

I first found out that Vodafone were not going to contact me when I started receiving letters from my credit card companies reducing my credit limits. On checking my credit file I saw that vodafone have recorded a default for £300 against me. They gave me no notice of this and did not contact me after I requested the agreement copy via capquest.

I since contacted ofcom who advised that they couldn't get involved as I had not been contacted by vodafone.

Huh??? Vodafone have never returned my correspondence so this means Ofcom wont get involved? Ofcom gave me a specific address to write to at Vodafone and advised that this was the highest escalation procedure. I did this and they wrote back saying they couldn't find my account details so could I ring them.

I did this and was again advised it was my responsibility. I again informed them I had never used this datacard, never signed any agreement, had cancelled my mobile phone in 2007 had never used the equipment and when I sold it it had no simcard in it. They have refused to accept this and said it must have had the simcard in it and that its my responsibility. I have recieved a letter fro m them now telling me they have deadlocked the situation as we cannot agree and I have 30 days to respond.

I really don't know what to do next. Can anyone anywhere advise me of what to do next?

Thank you

nsabournemouth

First get in touch with the credit reference firms and ask to put a Notice Of Correction on your file.

Second as they have now sent a deadlock letter you should be able to take it up with OFCOM or the like.

Third, write to Vodafone with an SAR and get all the information about this account, bills etc etc and it might be worth calling their bluff and asking them to take you to court where they should be able to provide an agreement between you both for the account.

Also pretty sure that by law they are required to issue you with a default notice so check that out too.

Up_the_reds

nsabournemouth wrote: »

First get in touch with the credit reference firms and ask to put a Notice Of Correction on your file.

Second as they have now sent a deadlock letter you should be able to take it up with OFCOM or the like.

Third, write to Vodafone with an SAR and get all the information about this account, bills etc etc and it might be worth calling their bluff and asking them to take you to court where they should be able to provide an agreement between you both for the account.

Hi, and thanks for taking the time to advise.

I have contacted experian and advised them this is in dispute and they are contacting Vodafone before they agree to include a note.

With regard to your second point that's a very good idea and I will make contact with them.

On the third point what is an SAR, forgive my ignorance I have not heard the phrase before.

Thanks again for your response and advise.

RevTheory

Up_the_reds wrote: »

Hi, and thanks for taking the time to advise.

I have contacted experian and advised them this is in dispute and they are contacting Vodafone before they agree to include a note.

With regard to your second point that's a very good idea and I will make contact with them.

On the third point what is an SAR, forgive my ignorance I have not heard the phrase before.

Thanks again for your response and advise.

SAR is a Subject Access Request, under the Data Protection Act, you have to send them a cheque of £10 and they MUST send you all information they hold on you

Up_the_reds

Thanks. I will do this. Much appreciated.

dazzc

Having recently encountered problems with TalkTalk and BT and not getting very far, I emailed the chief executives of both companies'. Surprise surprise within 36 hours both of my problems look like they are being sorted out.

I believe this is the email address for the vodafone chief executive ***

Drop him a line with brief summary of what has gone on. You never know, it might help clear the problem

Vodafone

Hi Up the reds,

I'm geniunely sorry to read about your experience here and can assure you that the Web Relations Teams are keen to get this looked into and sorted out.

To allow us to do this could you send us an email with your details to [EMAIL="webrelations@vodafone.com"]webrelations@vodafone.com[/EMAIL]? When emailing us could you also include a link to your MSE thread this will help us to identify your query.

Many thanks and I look forward to hearing from you again soon.

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

caffinebassman

Good luck with this. It sound like a really bad joke particularly if Vodfaone have confirmed to you that everything was terminated, that you have no account with them and that there was no usage of the data card.

I have such a data card with a separate sim - I had thought of selling it (minus SIM of course) but on hearing your story I think I'll just keep it in a drawer somewhere until I recieve a letter from vodafone confirming cancellation.

Up_the_reds

Hi All,

Dazzc, thanks very much, I wrote an email last night to Mr Laurence and hope I receive some form of response. Thanks mate.

Lee, thanks for your assistance I have sent an email this morning as instructed. Would very much appreciate some assistance.

Caffinebassman, it has been a nightmare. Vodafone wont accept that I took the sim card out. Even though I have categorically stated the sim card was removed and destroyed. Unless the above two options work, the next step is to look at costly legal assistance. I never received a default notification and have never signed any agreement for the equipment in the first place. What has appalled me mostly is that in 14 months I have had one communication from them and that was a deadlock letter. They are simply attempting to bully me into paying something I never signed up for, never used and are refusing to budge.

I asked if I sold a second hand mobile phone without a sim would I be liable and was told no. They asked me to explain how the datalink card was used without a sim, as I am not a tech expert I had no idea obviously. Despite categorically telling them constantly that no sim was included they have said in the letter that because the sim was in the device then I am liable???

I am disgusted by the whole thing to be honest.

Thanks for your comments of support.

Vodafone

Hi again Up the reds,

Although I didn't get chance this afternoon I thought I'd come back to the thread this evening to let you know that I couldn't see your email in our inbox before I left the office.

When did you send it and would you mind sending it again for me and feel free to mark it for my specific attention?

As soon as you let me know you've resent it I'll keep an eye out and will get on the case as soon as I see it.

Thanks,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

Up_the_reds

Vodafone_company_representative wrote: »

Hi again Up the reds,

Although I didn't get chance this afternoon I thought I'd come back to the thread this evening to let you know that I couldn't see your email in our inbox before I left the office.

When did you send it and would you mind sending it again for me and feel free to mark it for my specific attention?

As soon as you let me know you've resent it I'll keep an eye out and will get on the case as soon as I see it.

Thanks,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

Hi Lee,

It was sent at 12:52. I have resent and marked it FAO: Lee in the subject header. Hope this finds you.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Chris