Excessive Vodafone Bill - has anybody successfully negotiated a refund

Highway61

Hi ,

I bought my 12 year old daughter a Blackberry for her birthday on a Vodafone monthly contract at £25 per month. I pay by direct debit and it's been coming out at around £30 per month - though i told her to keep an eye on her usage so that we can get an understanding of what it is - the £25 per month includes 100 mins talk time and 500 texts as well as internet. It's been working fine for a couple of months then yesterday she gets the message - SIM not provisioned. I called Vodafone and he guy tells me that the number has been suspended due to use - turns out that my next bill is going to be £376!!! due to 4000 texts. My daughter is a good kid and I know that she genuinely didn't realise that the number would be so excessive. The guy at Vodafone tells me that he can turn the phone back on but would need a card payment of £300 and the £76 could be done by the usual direct debit. So I tried the sympathy vote i.e. my daughter only 12... didn't realise...going to struggle to pay so much...etc. Asked if anything could be done but the answer was "no". Asked if I upgraded to unlimited for an extra monthly payment would they consider a reduction but the answer was still "no". I asked why it took so long to suspend the number and he gave me some line about me probably having a good credit rating so they allowed it to go over; they also have customers who use it for business who don't mind it going over the usual amount. I told him that I would need to think about it for a couple of days. Whilst I'm not disputing that the excessive texts had been made I'm reluctant to just pay when I feel that they could have warned me sooner. Has anybody had any success in negotiating with Vodafone in a similar scenario?

Thanks in advance.

daveboy

The success other people would have had would have been to NOT give a 12 year old girl a phone on a monthly contract to begin with.

Talk about irresponsible.

Surely a cheap PAYG mobile and adding £5 every so often would have been easier? Maybe you'd roll over if she wanted the latest hi-spec phone so that probably was a no-no.

You're responsible for the usage, you pay £376.

I don't even have kids, and I'd know not to give a mobile phone to a child when they can run up a bill without limits.

A child that age should only have one for the sake of safety - and a cheap one at that.

christineperseus

'Unlimited' is 3000 texts - which my DS still managed to go over!!!
my sympathies - but you'll have to pay - this happens all the time.

fitshase

500 texts in the package and your daughter sent 4000?!

I cannot see why any phone company would reduce the payment as you/your daughter have used the service and ran up the bill. It's like staying at a hotel and drinking the mini-bar and eating room service. You used it so you have to pay it. Sorry.

In future, ask Vodafone to put a limit on the service once the bill reaches a certain figure (say, £40). At least then you'll know when it is reached.

Also, register for online billing and check on a regular basis. I find the Vodafone billing site quite good and use it to keep an eye on things during the month:-

https://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Page_Registration_Service_Seam&pageID=AR_8001&FLOW=REGISTRATION

Mine looks like this:-




and:-

kai666

Make your daughter pay. That will focus her mind on how much she has used it in future.

Vodafone

Highway61 wrote: »

Hi ,

I bought my 12 year old daughter a Blackberry for her birthday on a Vodafone monthly contract at £25 per month. I pay by direct debit and it's been coming out at around £30 per month - though i told her to keep an eye on her usage so that we can get an understanding of what it is - the £25 per month includes 100 mins talk time and 500 texts as well as internet. It's been working fine for a couple of months then yesterday she gets the message - SIM not provisioned. I called Vodafone and he guy tells me that the number has been suspended due to use - turns out that my next bill is going to be £376!!! due to 4000 texts. My daughter is a good kid and I know that she genuinely didn't realise that the number would be so excessive. The guy at Vodafone tells me that he can turn the phone back on but would need a card payment of £300 and the £76 could be done by the usual direct debit. So I tried the sympathy vote i.e. my daughter only 12... didn't realise...going to struggle to pay so much...etc. Asked if anything could be done but the answer was "no". Asked if I upgraded to unlimited for an extra monthly payment would they consider a reduction but the answer was still "no". I asked why it took so long to suspend the number and he gave me some line about me probably having a good credit rating so they allowed it to go over; they also have customers who use it for business who don't mind it going over the usual amount. I told him that I would need to think about it for a couple of days. Whilst I'm not disputing that the excessive texts had been made I'm reluctant to just pay when I feel that they could have warned me sooner. Has anybody had any success in negotiating with Vodafone in a similar scenario?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Highway61,

I can certainly appreciate your concerns here and would be happy to take a closer look at this to see what we could do to assist further.

To enable us to do this could you email your details across via the Contact us form on our website here and to make sure the email comes through to me could you quote WRT135 - FAO Lee in the subject line and I'll come back to you as soon as I can?

Many thanks,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

4$£&*(£$&*(!

I think giving any child a contract mobile phone is asking for trouble. They are not needed and usually purchased through pester power (as a result of peer pressure). The old excuse 'it's for emergencies' doesn't go down well with me.

I do feel sorry you have learnt the hard way, but if you insist a child has a mobile phone make them responsible for the top-ups and only ever use pay as you go.

lbaxx

I am with '3' and so are my children. After the first month one of the children went over their allowance by a small amount (about £5.00 or so), but I was not happy with this.
I called '3' and asked if they could put a stop on their outgoing texts and minutes once their allowances had been reached. They had no problem, did this immediately and we have had no problems ever since - 3 years ago.
It does look like you will have to pay the outstanding amount, but I am sure Vodafone can do what '3' did for me.
Good luck.

robt_2

Vodafone_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Highway61,

I can certainly appreciate your concerns here and would be happy to take a closer look at this to see what we could do to assist further.

To enable us to do this could you email your details across via the Contact us form on our website here and to make sure the email comes through to me could you quote WRT135 - FAO Lee in the subject line and I'll come back to you as soon as I can?

Many thanks,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

You aren't going to reduce the bill. Stop trying to make Vodafone look like they care.

kier333

Well the way i would look at its done now, plus these things happen. If i were you i would cut my losses and arrange a payment plan on vodafone, ie pay so much off monthly and leave the phone susspended, this will also teach her a lesson. You could also consider getting your daughter a Giff Gaff sim, unlimited text on most Bundles and i would just put the voda sim in away and not use it, i do realise you will still have to honour the contract but after a few they will drop it down to £10pm and for £10pm with Giffgaff you get 250mins, unlimited text and i mean unlimited and unlimited internet, plus its payg so once the inclusive mins used there is not extra cost and she can continue to text.

voda will also give you the phone unlock code if you ask.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

robt wrote: »

You aren't going to reduce the bill. Stop trying to make Vodafone look like they care.

I did thank your post, but this is worth a mention too. Vodafone don't care how customers are affected, this is from first hand experience.