CPW and Vodafone messing me around!

Thenotsowyzewun

Hi,

This'll probably be very longwinded, but they owe me about £280 now and I want to get it back!

Basically, I've got 2 mobile contracts with Vodafone, which I opened through CPW (CarPhoneWarehouse).
Because I opened the acc's thru them they were in charge of my accounts, up until about 2 months ago when the acc's were both transferred to Vodafone (as in, the account management is now done by them instead of CPW).

Anyway, about 2 months ago I sent CPW a msg via their MyCarPhoneWarehouse website (https://www.mycarphonewarehouse.com) asking them to cancel both contracts.
They said I'd have to do it by post, which I wasn't inclined to do, so I sent them another msg with the Cancellation Reference number that they'd given me and asked them to accept it electronically and if necessary print it off and mail it to the correct department, whatever, I just wanted it dealt with.

I got a response saying this was possible and indeed had been done, so when I received another £35 bill for each contract on schedule about a month later I just assumed they had a 30 day cancellation period like everyone else (I've got an account with 3, and I've cancelled an account with T-Mobile and Orange in the past who both had cancellation periods like this.

But no, the next month I received another bill. So I went online to https://www.mycarphonewarehouse.com to login and check my account status. I couldn't login, because as the system informed me my account management had been passed over to Vodafone.
So stupidly I let it hang; I'm starting up a company at the moment so it's not exactly at the top of my list of things to do.

A month later (last month) I received yet another bill, and decided to do something about it. So I called up Vodafone (on their 0870 number I'll add - I hate 0870's but I'd already destroyed and disposed of the Vodafone simcards a few months ago so I couldn't dial 191) anyway they said I'd have to write in to cancel, and when I explained I already had cancelled she said OK I'll just talk to my supervisor and give you a call back (or something to that effect). I asked when I'd get a call back too and she didn't really give me a proper answer (I wanted to know because it was about 10PM and I was about to go out).
Well I went out, but was above ground (aka not in the underground rail network) for about another hour so they were closed by then (they close at 11PM).
When I didn't receive another call or some voicemail I decided I'd better call again, so I explained the situation all over again (the original rep had only left very basic notes of what I'd called about so I needed to go through it all again) and I was told I'd have to write in to cancel (with no mention of what I should do about the £210 they already owed me in line rental!) so I called yet again to try and get someone who would try and address that issue.
I got someone who said they'd deal with it; they told me I'd need to write into cancel, but that their supervisor would give me a call back to give me a special reference number to use since I also needed to claim back previous line rental.
Well guess what, no-one called!

I called again today to make a complaint and was told they don't have a cancellation dept and that I'd have to write in.

So I'm not sure what to do. All I'm trying to do is get back money for a contract I haven't used for months, that I gave written notice of cancellation for a few months ago (electronic communications are just as legally binding as paper) BUT because I sent the message via the MyCarphoneWarehouse's internal messaging system (which I can no longer access because it just takes me to a page telling me my account management has been moved to Vodafone) and BTW I would've emailed but they only had the option to send the message internally (so they could pidgeonhole it with a subject: dropdown, etc presumably), I don't have a copy of those messages.

Would I be able to retrieve such information under the Data Protection Act? I think the simplest way to get them to stop messing me around is to take them to the Small Claims Court, but I'd need a copy of those messages first.

Thanks very much for any assistance you can offer; I don't really want to just send them a cancellation letter and a letter of compliant because I'm sure they'll just cancel the contract and send me on my merry way, what with not being a customer of theirs anymore and all.

Also, is it possible for me to get the money back via the Direct Debit guarantee (i.e. phone my bank and request they reverse the transactions)? The only problem with that approach is Vodafone'll start threatening me with bailiffs, it'll damage my credit rating, and unless I have a copy of those messages I don't really have a leg to stand on!

Thanks again,

Duncan

P.S: Sorry this is so long, I rewrote it attempting to shorten it too!

Thenotsowyzewun

BUMP!

C'mon guys, why're y'all ignoring 'lil ol' me (I don't really talk like 'dis, no reealy).

seaniboy

direct debit refund as you cancelled accounts - show bank if poss contract that verifies you were out of your 12/18 month contract, if its over 12 weeks go straight to otelo and make a full formal complaint

midlands_lad

Hi,

I work for Vodafone and I’m sorry to hear of the problems you've been having with the switch from Carphone Warehouse (CPW). Vodafone took over the billing of CPW on 1st August 2006 and CPW passed on their account notes and history to us.

What Vodafone would do is look into the account notes from CPW to get an understanding of what had happened on your account, and try and advise you accordingly.

If you're still having problems getting this sorted, and to save calling by telephone, you could always go to https://www.vodafone.co.uk, select 'contact us' and then select the email option. If you type the code FIT135 in the email field this will route your query to someone who will be able to investigate this further for you.

You’d need write a description of the problem in the email, or copy the link into this thread so we can see the detail from your post.

Hope this will help and give you another option for getting things sorted out.

wunderbar

A vodafone person that is being helpful?
More power to you! Vodafone is my next network!

Thenotsowyzewun

Update, I accepted about £60 from Vodafone to settle this; because I cancelled it via the MyCarPhoneWarehouse site and didn't keep a transcript elsewhere (I didn't know I was going to be locked out of the MyCarPhoneWarehouse site, after all!).
Anyway it's done with now, when I posted this I'd already been trying to straighten it out for a month + and I'm starting my own company otherwise I probably would've taken them to court (then again they probably would've just ensured they didn't dig up the evidence I needed, if they even kept a copy of it).