Vodafone: grrrrr!

jacflash

I was on a £20 per month contract with Vodafone, and some months after the end of the contract decided that, being happy with my handset and not using anywhere near £20 worth of calls/texts per month, it would make sense to go PAYG. I duly contacted Vodafone, and was told I would be transferred to PAYG on 11 Jan.

Two days later I was called by someone at Vodafone who talked me through a £10 per month 18 month contract with 200 mins calls and unlimited texts, to which I agreed. I was told that I'd be put on to that at midnight that day. About a week later I received a letter from Vodafone confirming my upcoming transfer to PAYG. I never heard anything more about the £10 per month contract.

In an attempt to clarify, I emailed customer care via Vodafone's website, and asked what was happening - PAYG or contract? The response, from India, was pretty much unintelligible but ended by saying that I should let them know which I wanted to do, and they would see to it that that was put in place. I asked to continue with my original plan of going PAYG. This then happened on 11 Jan.

Today I checked my bank account and discovered that £199 has been taken by Vodafone by direct debit. £185 of this is a cancellation charge for the contract, £6 service charge from 1-10 Jan, £5.50 for calls 1-10 Jan and £2.25 VAT on the whole lot.

I've spent half an hour on the phone to them, gone through the whole story twice to two different advisors. Fortunately, they had the email string on record and were able to confirm that there had been no mention or warning of a cancellation fee. They saw my point that my paying £185 to cancel a contract which would have cost £180 to run its course, only to transer to PAYG makes no sense.

Eventually it was agreed that the £185 will be refunded to my bank account, and this will take 7 to 10 working days. So here I am, not having the relaxing Friday night I'd planned. I am left with things very tight financially until the refund comes through. I think the whole £199 should be refunded, but am not sure I have the wherewithall to call again and argue it.

Ironically a few days ago I did a survey about mobile phone operators and was fairly complimentary about Vodafone! Other than the confusion experienced over changing to PAYG my experience had been good and I'd seen this as an unfortunate glitch. Discovering £200 gone from my account today has changed my opinion somewhat. My daughter is of the opinion that Vodafone has tried to pull a fast one.

Rant over, sorry for the length of the post, just had to get it all off my chest. Thanks for reading

PS: Anyone calling Vodafone in the near future may find lengthy periods on hold, the woman I spoke to this evening said that because they have staff in Egypt, the situation there is having quite an impact on their operations.

Vodafone

Hi acflash,

I'm genuinely sorry to hear about the difficulties you've come across and am keen to ensure that they do get sorted out for you.

From what you've posted it's apparent that my colleagues, who handled your emails, hadn't realised that your minimum contractual commitment had been extended when allowing the transfer to PAYG to continue. Had they at the time then I can assure you that action would've been taken to amend this in order to prevent you from being billed an early cancellation fee.

However, I'm pleased to see that arrangements have been made to return the fee to your bank account and should you wish for us to look into the remaining amount you're welcome to email us via the Contact us form on our website here quoting WRT135 - FAO Lee in the subject line.

When sending the email could you also include a link to your thread so I can correspond your email to it?

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

Guys_Dad

No offer of any token compensation, such as £20 top up on the PAYG, I see.

maryjudith

i like this

jacflash

Lee at Vodafone: thanks for your response. I've just sent you an email using the link you provided, and have linked to this thread in my email. I hope you are able to look at my file and see how things unfolded. I was going to attach the email exchanges I had with Customer Care for your information, but couldn't do that on the webform provided. Hopefully you are able to look at them on my account records at your end. I look forward to hearing from you.

Guys Dad: I like your token compensation idea! At the very least it would make me feel less sore about a weekend ruined by the stress and embarrassment of finding myself with an empty bank account. I had to borrow money from my sister to do some food shopping. I'm still awaiting the refund, and this whole week has been about watching every penny to make sure we get through. Horrible when you have young children.

MaryJudith: :)

jacflash

An update:

Sent an email to Lee at Vodafone, as suggested above, quoting ref number and linking to this thread.

Struggled through last week with no money (5 working days and counting).

On Monday I got an email from India asking me to answer some security questions so that I could be helped with my query. Answered immediately. Nothing.

Today (Wednesday). 8 working days, still counting. No money. Daughter's birthday on Monday, and I have no money thanks to Vodafone.

I send another email: did they get my answers to the security checks? Is my refund imminent? Get a reply for someone else in India. The refund has not been processed. No credit has been put on my account, so no money hitting my account in the next day or two.

The email says the credit has now been applied, it has been passed to the relevant department, and the money should be back in my account, wait for it, .......in 7 to 10 working days!

Feel like I'm going mad. Have struggled through two weeks with no money, and now facing two more. I just can't do it. Replied to the email explaining the direness of my situation and asking if the refund can be sped up. No response.

I wonder:

Why does it take 7 to 10 days to put (my) money that was wrongly taken back into my account?

Having made me wait 8 working days for a refund that wasn't going to happen, how can they seriously tell me that they have failed to deal with it properly, so I have to wait another 7 to 10 working days?

How do I know that the same thing won't happen again? I can fully imagine them turning round next week and saying, oh, the credit wasn't applied. Another 7 to 10 working days?

Why have I now had to deal with 6 different people at Vodafone regarding this saga? Can't one person see it through?

This is my money, and I want it back! Email to the CEO coming up. This whole thing has got me down so much, the stress, worry and frustration just huge.

If anyone has any thoughts about what I could in relation to this nightmare, please let me know.

Sorry so long, thanks for reading.

robt_2

Sadly this just goes to show that "Vodafone company representative" is indeed a PR department rather than a department for dealing with issues

Vodafone

Hi Jacflash,

I am sorry to hear that this hasn't been resolved for you, I can understand your frustrations with wanting to get this sorted out.

So that I can find your email, do you have the email reference number?

Best wishes,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

pcal

i have had nothing but problems with vodafone. i took out what i believed to be a 40 a month contract but when everything is added on its 56 . really struggle to afford that sometimes. and last month they tried to take 88 but i hadnt even gone over my minuites text etc. so they said it was a mistake and they wouldnt take it, i had to cancel my dd with them as it would have took me overdrawn . and now pay by debit card with costs me even more £3 each time, so my £40 a month contract really cost nearly 60. its wrong and i really wish i had never gone near the company.

jacflash

Hello Heidi,

The email number is 5653118. Really hoping you can help. Please don't refer the matter to your Indian colleagues (as Lee appears to have done). No offence to them, but I want communication that I can understand clearly, and it feels as though one part of Vodafone doesn't know what another part is doing.

Above all, I just want my money back as soon as possible. Please let me know if you need any further information.

Thanks

Vodafone

Hi Jacflash,

I have found your email however I can't pull the email into our queue to take a look at it, can you resend then email to us here with WRT135 in the subject. Make sure you don't put any spaces in that as I think that's why it didn't come through to our inbox.

As soon as we receive it, someone from our team will contact you.

Kind Regards,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK