Vodafone Contract termination

Legacy_user

My father has written to Vodafone giving them the required 30 days notice to terminate his mobile phone contract.

He has been with them for more than 10 years but the Nokia 6124 Classic that he got from them as an upgrade in 2008 has now stopped charging, but when he asked them for a new phone, they wanted to charge him, hence why he wants to terminate.

In the letter he has asked them to send a PAC number so that he can retain the phone number.

Does anyone have any experience of how long Vodafone usually take to send a PAC number ?

Thanks

lucylucky

As long as he is out of contract he should get his PAC number within 2 working days of asking for it

System

My father received a letter from Vodafone nearly 2 weeks after sending his letter off to them.

They want to charge him an early termination fee of £60 which we dispute since he has been a Vodafone customer since the late 1990s (over 10 years) and the last significant event on the account was on 2 JUN 2008 when he got a phone upgrade with an 18 month contract term. Obviously with a bit of maths, that means the new contract would have expired on 1 DEC 2009 so how can Vodafone say his contract minimum term expires in JUN 2011 ?

Since my dad is in his 80s, I got him to phone 08700 700 191 to register to authorise my name to speak about his account.
The call centre representative made a note of my name and an agreed password for me to use, but the idiot registered this info on the account notes which can only be accessed after passing DPA, and since I cannot pass DPA not being the account holder, other call centre members cannot check the account to see if I am authorised.

This shows a level of incompetence which is staggering.
Also, there is no way for me to speak to a supervisor without first passing DPA - so it is impossible to complain about call centre staff who have failed to do their job.
I got the distinct feeling that the call centre were just erecting barriers to prevent me from complaining, they think I will just give up. Well they are going to be in for a shock, because I am not going to let them get away with charging an old age pensioner £60 for a contract where it's minimum term expired nearly 12 months ago.

Vodafone - you should be ashamed of yourselves ! :mad:

Annie._2

Would it have been possible that your Father could have taken a further SIM only 18 month contract when his contract expired December 2009. It would make the dates match with a further contract ending June 2011.

It would also account for a handset charge. If you have a SIM only contract, you provide your own phone and get your line rental a lot cheaper.

System

Ann_S wrote: »

Would it have been possible that your Father could have taken a further SIM only 18 month contract when his contract expired December 2009. It would make the dates match with a further contract ending June 2011.

It would also account for a handset charge. If you have a SIM only contract, you provide your own phone and get your line rental a lot cheaper.

Hi Ann

He has not made any changes to his contract (SIM only or anything else) since the upgrade phone back in 2008.

If it were that simple, I'm sure that when he spoke to Vodafone the first time, they would have informed him that their records show - whatever they think makes his contract expire in 2011 - but they cannot see any reason for it on his records.

Thanks for the thoughts tho

noelphobic

BAA1 wrote: »

Hi Ann

He has not made any changes to his contract (SIM only or anything else) since the upgrade phone back in 2008.

If it were that simple, I'm sure that when he spoke to Vodafone the first time, they would have informed him that their records show - whatever they think makes his contract expire in 2011 - but they cannot see any reason for it on his records.

Thanks for the thoughts tho

Can you access his Vodafone account online? You would be able to see when the contract is due to expire and see if that matches what they have told you.

My contract for my son's phone expires on 3rd January so I will be on the phone asking for my PAC soon. I found that date online.

System

noelphobic wrote: »

Can you access his Vodafone account online? You would be able to see when the contract is due to expire and see if that matches what they have told you.

My contract for my son's phone expires on 3rd January so I will be on the phone asking for my PAC soon. I found that date online.

I wish I could, he has never registered on the Vodafone site and I cannot register for him because part of the process is for them to send a security code via a text to his phone. His phone doesn't work so that scuppers that idea.

I guess my only option is to draft a letter with all the relevant facts to challenge the early termination fee, get my Dad to sign it and send it off to Vodafone. But if their mail handling processes are as poor as their call centres, I may have to wait a while to get a satisfactory resolution.

OneADay

Sounds like the previous contract would have ended around Dec 2009, 18 month minimum auto-renewal would mean June 2011 would now be the new contract end date.

Early termination of £60 would probably mean he is paying about £10 a month.

If you simply want to see his contract details - you could stick his sim into your own mobile (if you have one) and do the online registration process. Or ring them and I think they can do it over the phone.

System

OneADay wrote: »

Sounds like the previous contract would have ended around Dec 2009, 18 month minimum auto-renewal would mean June 2011 would now be the new contract end date.

Early termination of £60 would probably mean he is paying about £10 a month.

If you simply want to see his contract details - you could stick his sim into your own mobile (if you have one) and do the online registration process. Or ring them and I think they can do it over the phone.

What is this "auto-renewal" about ?

I would not think it would be valid in contract law for any company to try to enforce an auto extension with minimum contract term without the customer's agreement, would it ?

OneADay

BAA1 wrote: »

What is this "auto-renewal" about ?

I would not think it would be valid in contract law for any company to try to enforce an auto extension with minimum contract term without the customer's agreement, would it ?

If you are nearing end of contract, you are obliged to give 30 days notice to end a contract. Otherwise, network will auto renew the contract for minimum term. Vodafone still do that I think (in the T&C probably somewhere). Other networks stick you on 30 day rolling contracts.

Something from T&C for pay monthly

"Minimum period – a period of time shown on your order form/welcome letter/welcome email, which begins when we connect your SIM card to the applicable price plan. In the case of a change, renewal or upgrade to your price plan, the minimum period begins when we change your price plan and continues for the remainder of your previous minimum period plus any new period of time shown on the changed price plan in your new order form/welcome letter/welcome email."

System

OneADay wrote: »

If you are nearing end of contract, you are obliged to give 30 days notice to end a contract. Otherwise, network will auto renew the contract for minimum term. Vodafone still do that I think (in the T&C probably somewhere). Other networks stick you on 30 day rolling contracts.

Something from T&C for pay monthly

"Minimum period – a period of time shown on your order form/welcome letter/welcome email, which begins when we connect your SIM card to the applicable price plan. In the case of a change, renewal or upgrade to your price plan, the minimum period begins when we change your price plan and continues for the remainder of your previous minimum period plus any new period of time shown on the changed price plan in your new order form/welcome letter/welcome email."

Cheers for finding this info, I'll have to read through the T&Cs in detail, but I still think an auto-renewal clause would be deemed as "unfair" in contract law. See this "What Consumer" article as an example.